Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 20, 2009, 06:17:57 PM
So, we got up and got out there by 5:30 am and hiked an hour to get back into our spot. Wouldn't you know it? Fog. Lots of fog. In fact, we were socked in with fog until 7:30 am. When the fog lifted.... OH MY GOD. :yike: There were hunters EVERYWHERE. It seemed like there were two guys in every draw :bash: I am used to things being a bit crowded opening weekend, but this was ridiculous.
To make matters worse, 3 of these idiots had driven right out into the middle of the CRP and were just glassing out their %$#@ truck windows!! >:(
And, to top it all off, they changed Pathfinder Jr's football game from noon to 10:00am (told us Thursday >:(), so we had to leave by 8:00am to get him to warm-ups.
What a bust. As we were hiking out, the shooting started. We did manage to see a herd of does with thier tounges hanging out running from one draw to another ducking bullets.
After the game Jr was wiped out, so I told him to take a nap and I went out alone, hoping things would have cleared out. I put 6 miles on the boots Saturday afternoon, did a beautiful stalk on a bedded deer in the tall brush that I swore had a rack. Unfortunately, when it stood up, the antlers stayed where they were :chuckle: About 2 hours before dark, the mob started moving back in. When the second pickup truck pulled out into the middle of the CRP I just left.
We hunted whitetails that night in another spot. We saw 2 does and 10 hunters :bash:
The next day was not much better. We hunted hard all day and saw about 8 deer. Nothing legal.
At that point, Pathfinder Jr said that he would be OK with shooting a whitetail doe this year. He has football practice every night this week except Monday, so we decided to try for a whitey doe when he got home from school the next afternoon.
I took Monday off work, hoping that the crowds would have thinned a little. I decided to go back to our opening day spot and see if anything survived the onslaught. I left the truck at 5:30 and hiked an hour and 15 minutes to get to the canyon I wanted to watch. I got there in the dark, got situated, and as it began to get light, I started to glass. At about 7:00 I spotted a gray figure about 600 yards away, feeding it's way towards me through the brush. By 7:10 I could tell that it was a decent buck. It made it's way into the bottom of the canyon. At this point, there were about 5 draws that he could have worked it's way up, so I was getting ready to move to intercept him if I had to, when lo and behold, he chose the draw that I was sitting at the top of. About 300 yards from me, he spotted me. I had him in my scope, but the brush was so tall, all I could see was his head, (and not very clearly as there was condensation all over my scope lense and I was looking into the rising sun). He stared at me for about a minute, figured everything was OK, then started working his way in my direction again. About every 20 yards (his body still obscured in the tall brush and the contour of the hill) he would stop, look at me for about a minute, then go back to browsing and walking. At 200 yards something spooked him (not me, I wasn't moving and the wind was perfect), and he ran 10 yards to my left. I thought the gig was up, but he stopped, looked at something out of my view (maybe a coyote?), and slowly started working his way up the draw again.
I had never seen this buck before. He has a pretty distinctive rack, and I don't think he was a "resident". I think he may have been run over to this area from another ranch.
At 150 yards he stopped and looked at me again. Unfortunately, I had chosen that moment to shift my rifle to be in line with him, and he picked up the movement. He threw his head up, and took a step backwards like he was about to bolt. All I could see was his head and neck, and I figured it was now or never. I had a steady rest with my bipod, so I touched off a round. I heard the bullet hit, and when I recovered from the recoil, I couldn't see the deer.
By the time I got to him, he was dead, his spine, windpipe and jugular shattered by the 130 grain Nosler.
After a short prayer of thanks, tagging and gutting I looked around to assess my situation. It had taken me over an hour to walk in there, and I was easily 3 miles from my truck. I have shot several bucks in this area, but never this far back in the brush.
To make a long story short, thank God for CoryTDF's deer cart and JohnnyTDF's willingness to help pull. Thanks guys. We got him out by noon.
I'll tell Pathfinder Jr's story in another thread...
Post by: gasman on October 20, 2009, 06:32:29 PM
Post by: scoyoc5 on October 20, 2009, 06:42:02 PM
Post by: markts on October 20, 2009, 06:42:10 PM
Post by: nw_bowhunter on October 20, 2009, 06:43:34 PM
Post by: BENCHLEG on October 20, 2009, 06:46:14 PM
Post by: firecrotch on October 20, 2009, 07:35:08 PM
Post by: wilsongideon on October 20, 2009, 08:26:35 PM
Post by: WAPITIHUNTER on October 20, 2009, 08:31:59 PM
Post by: Watimberghost on October 20, 2009, 08:33:03 PM
Post by: gramps on October 20, 2009, 08:43:09 PM
Are you heading east soon??
Good Luck
Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 20, 2009, 08:51:12 PM
nice buck . .. that is a very distinctive rack on that deer. . . i chased one like that on saturday but never got a shot
Agreed, a very distinctive rack. And I scouted that area hard and have never seen him before. That's why I think he may have been run into the area by the opening day mayhem. Then again, maybe I am just being arrogant, not being able to accept the fact that he just avoided me all Aug/Sep... :dunno:
Nice buck, Congrat's. Man I sure do not miss rifle openers. :dunno:
Yeah, I am tooling around with the idea of hunting muzzy next year. I can't do archery because of my elk camp. If I hunted deer and elk in the same month, I would end up divorced.. :chuckle:
Congrats on a great buck. I agree, love the character that deers rack has
Yeah, I dig his little kicker point. I've never shot a mulie with a kicker. I kind of feel bad for shooting him, he was a young deer. His teeth say 2 1/2 years, his body size says maybe 3 1/2, but no more. In another couple of years he would have been a monster. If it were private land with controlled access I would like to see him grow a little, but on public land in the open country... well, you know how it goes... if you don't shoot him someone else will.
Thanks for all the coments guys. Good luck to those who haven't tagged up. I'm gonna post Pathfinder Jr's thread now...
Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 20, 2009, 08:53:24 PM
Nice Buck !!
Are you heading east soon??
Good Luck
Thanks Gramps. Not heading to Montana until the rut gets in full swing. I'll probably sneak out of work early on Nov 13th and try to make it as far as Missoula.
Post by: tbrady on October 20, 2009, 10:25:50 PM
tim
Post by: bowhunterforever on October 20, 2009, 10:36:12 PM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 20, 2009, 11:13:00 PM
Nice buck,Congrats! :tup: He's a heavy horned deer for a young one.Tall with decent mass, especially for a young deer. I have killed three like that since I moved here. I just can't seem to find a buck with width. I know they're out here. I see them during the rut. I see other people kill them. I just can't seem to bust the 18 inch mark. Oh, well. No complaining. After opening weekend I thought I was gonna eat tag soup.
Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 21, 2009, 02:40:27 PM