My partner and I had a successful deer hunting trip down on the Snake River. Monday we went downriver about 11 miles, glassing the hills and gulches along the way and were seeing nothing but does. Got out of my boat and went for a hike up one gulch and other than does and one spike buck, it was a bust. That afternoon we drove to some State Land and must have seen 50 deer, all does except for one 2 point buck. Tuesday we went upriver and must have seen at least 100 deer, but nothing legal. Wednesday was a great day; and a day from hell! Went back downriver at first light and finally saw a legal buck way up on a hill so we beached the boat and started our stalk. He was bedded down on a hill that overlooked most of the land we had to walk in order to get near him, so we had to make a wide loop to avoid being seen. Finally got to the last hill and once I popped up over the crest, he was still a good 500 yards off. Finally, he got up and started walking downhill towards me but disappeared in the bottom of a gully and never came back out, so I figured he'd bedded down again. While my buddy was watching from the top of our hill, I made my way to the next hill and started easing down the gully he was in. Finally caught sight of a buck about the same time he saw me and since he was facing me dead on and I was afraid he was getting ready to bolt, I took the shot. He went down, but then got back up and turned broadside, so I shot him again. Radioed to my partner that he was down and then suddenly I hear him shooting. Turns out the first buck I had seen earlier had bedded down below me and took off at my shots down the gully and when he came out, my partner shot at him; however, he didn't think he hit him. So.....I field dressed my buck and we attempted to drag him towards the river - at least 1 1/2 miles away! Got about 100 yards and he walked back up to where he had last seen his buck and found blood. About 30 yards downhill, there lays his buck! Now we have two bucks to drag out, lol! I decided to hike back to the boat to get the plastic deer sled I had to help drag the bucks out - 3 mile round trip. Got back and we took his buck out first since it was smaller. Came back and my deer was too big for us to drag out without killing ourselves, so I cut him in half and we started back to the river with the first half. One more trip to the boat and back and a return for the hindquarters; tired as hell and our tails are dragging! Got the last half back to the boat right as it was getting dark - we shot these deer at around 10 AM! Loaded up the boat and by now it's pitch black out. Headed upriver to camp and out of the dark a huge navigational buoy appears alongside the boat, no frigging light, and we just missed hitting it by about 3 feet! Scared the crap out of both of us. Got back to the boat ramp and of course, the light at the ramp is out, so while I'm walking up the dock I stepped off and fell onto the concrete ramp about a 2.5 foot drop and landed on my bad leg. Rolled around on the ground cussing and clutching my knee for about 5 minutes before I was able to get up. Luckily, 6 guys from other camps came over and helped get our deer out of the boat, into my truck and then helped hang them from the trees; I'd have never been able to do it the way my leg was feeling! Anyhow, finished skinning the deer by 10 PM and it was finally time to end our LONG day. Figured we had put in over 12 miles of humping up and down the hills to get both deer out!
