Thanks for the compliments, I appreciate it. It was quite an adventurous trip to say the least. It's a long story but I'll try to be brief.
I promised a lifelong friend this year that I would take him on his first deer hunt this year under the new WDFW hunter Ed. waiver program. We hiked in Friday night in a rain storm through thick and wet brush, putting some serious miles and elevation to a base camp which was in a few inches of slush. Opening morning we hiked in a couple miles to where I wanted to be and my new hunting partner realized how demanding it is to access and then effectively hunt extremely rugged country. His spirits were low so I put him under a dry tree to take a nap and get off his feet. The rules state that we can separate, but no more than shouting distance, so I told him to try and watch the game trails if the rain let up and the fog lifted, as he was in a great spot. I can't sit under a tree on opening morning, so I told him that I was going to head up hill and glass what and when I could. He said to take 2-3 hrs. if I wanted so I did and it proceeded to poor buckets and the wind picked up with 60 mph gusts snapping live old growth in half. When I was slowly making my towards where I left him the buck stepped out uphill within 50 feet from the tree that my friend was supposed to be under. The buck provided me with a safe, broadside shot at 40 yards and I quickly assessed that he wasn't a monster at all, but he was at least a solid 4 pt. with at least a few cheaters on the side I could see and since I had already had a great high hunt and have other obligations, I should take him- I almost passed him up and I'm glad I didn't. Thinking that the buck was going to role into the lap of my buddy, I ran down hill and he was nowhere to be found (turns out he got bored, unloaded his gun and headed back to camp to get under a tarp but he got lost on the way and I found him at 9 PM later that night when I was returning the couple miles back to camp and followed the screams down one steep ass canyon). Anyway, I caped and butchered the buck, taking the head out and started back out through rock shoots in the dark. Woke up in the morning, went back to the kill site solo because my partner didn't think he could make it back up the hill, packed the meat back to camp, finished caping, loaded meat, a soaked and large camp and gear (including such stupid items as a hatchet, spotting scope, tarps, tripods, etc.) then headed out behind my friend who had left 30 minutes earlier to get a head start due to the fact that it was getting dark. I hiked about 4 miles before I noticed his tracks had left the trail that he was supposed to be following and heard his screams again off-trail by about a mile. I dropped my 150-160 lb. pack, stripped off my clothes to my long underwear and ran as fast as I could towards the screams, as they were growing fainter and further away. Got him back (not easy) and did the last 5 miles back to the car, where beer was waiting.
I had to leave out a lot to protect the innocent- it's really much longer and better story. I didn't get mad and I feel bad for my buddy, but he says he had a great time and we are headed back out (more forgiving terrain and he is not allowed to leave my side) in a few days! He said he was in great shape and it is extremely steep stuff- I'm not crouching in the photo, I'm standing up straight!
I removed the blaze orange for the photo.
