My Dad was drawn for a withrow doe tag this year and I am very happy to say that he has notched that tag.
The months leading up to opening day were filled scouring over maps and google earth and talking to members here to find some ground that looked promising and speaking to land owners that graciously gave permission to hunt their land, a big thank you to the land owners and members here, and many mornings and evenings watching the draws, fields, and deer. i think i was more excited about the tag my dad drew than he was.
the night before opening morning we went out and watched two groups feed until it was dark and thought we had a pretty good game plan scratched out, i honsetly figured we would be done by 10am opening day so enter opening morning. we get up there around 5:30am only to see that 4 other rigs had beat us there and rig number 6 comes and parks right next to us, there went my game plan. any way after it was light enough to see we get out and follow our original plan, didnt see any deer where we were expecting them to be. so we hike a couple of rises and spot a group of does about 600yds out on the edge of the field. we came up with a plan of attack, we got within 200 yds and noticed there was a buck in the group, while we were glassing him and waiting for him to turn his head to show us his antlers we heard a shot and that famous whop! (turns out he was a nice 3x2) there was another hunter sitting on a finger ridge watching the canyon below and saw that buck. well that group dissapeared so we hike around for awhile and decide to sit on a knob and watch a few draws to see if any does come back. one came back to the field, here we go its on now or so we thought. so we back down the knob, circle around and sneak up the next rise and there she is completely oblivious and has no clue we are there. we are 75yds from her and dad is down on the bipod setting up the shot, i take one last look around (dont know why but i did) and notice two hunters had crested the rise that she was standing 30yds below. i tell dad to hold on the shot hoping that they would circle in behind us and not spook her, but one of them took it upon himself to inform us at the top of his lungs that she was only a doe, thanks for letting the entire county know. we didnt see any more does in range all day.
Day 2: we get back up there and to our surprise we are the only people there. so we head out walking the breaks and at about a mile from the truck we spot a small heard of does and a couple basket 2pts. so we get in closer to the point where we had to belly crawl over the next little rise to get a shot, in the process of doing so i was not paying attention to the plants in front of me and grab a handfull of russian thistle and hard, i tried to hold back the string of expleletives that ran through my mind but one must have slipped out and we heard grandma doe let out a snort and off they went down a deep ole canyon. after dad gave me a look that made me feel shorter than the wheat stubble we were crawling through we gave chase down into hells kitchen. once we were down there we sat on a knob and waited for them to come out of the timber. while we were waiting dad saw something in a cleaning across the canyon, i glassed it and there was a cougar slinking around, i really wanted to take the shot but it was 700ish and all we had was a 243. about 15 minutes later we hear something that we couldnt place and all of a sudden about 12 deer came busting up over the ridge right at us and zoomed right by us at mach 2, we could have skewed a couple if we had spears. those were the last deer we saw on day 2
Day 3: we start walking the same route as previous days at shooting light at about mile 1 we spot a group of does feeding in the field, we formulate a plan and start the stalk, well somewhere in the stalk when we dropped onto the backside of the rise we missed the rise we wanted and ended up right on top of them with no cover and no options as they spotted us cresting the rise. after several minutes of playing peek-a-boo and grandma doe getting ancy dad took a shot and missed cleanly. that ended day 3 as dad had errands to run and i had class to get to.
Day 4: we pull up and there is a group of does about 300 yds from the truck so we wait for them to walk over the hill before we got out. once they were out of sight we geared up and started the chase. we crested the first rise and looked into the first bowl, where i expected them to be, and they were not there so we continued to the next rise and they were in the bottom. so we start getting ready to setup the shot when we here someone not to far from us unloading about half a box of shells. so much for shot setup, the deer started trotting towards the break, dad let off three shots that all missed clean at apprx. 275yds. now with it being day 4 and him having four misses in two days dad was bumming hard and wanted to head home for the day i talked him up a bit and convinced him that we needed to go check out this one bowl in the canyon i noticed the other day, he agreed. as we started to drop out of the fields into the top of the bowl we saw a group of 5 deer. i glassed them and saw 3 does, a spike and a basket 2x2, so we snuck around the edge of the bowl to a dirt clearing and sat down to get a better look 3 of them walked into some trees leaving a doe and the spike. dad got settled down on the bidpod in the sitting position, he said he wasnt going down there was taking the shot. i said ok told him the range and watched the doe in the binos, i heard him click off the safety take a deep breathe and then boom! i watched as she bucked up, fell over backwards rolled got up and ran 10yds before giving in. dad had made a perfect 300yd shot!
