Opening morning went up high, around 12,500 feet and got blown around by 30+ mph winds. Waste of a morning. Went low that evening with the masses, nada. Second morning, went high but not the top. Area had potential, but nothing again. That evening a guy camped near me got a nice 4x5 with a strange kicker off the side - cool buck. I went in that area the next morning and found deer, and bucks, but they found me first and I didn't get a shot. One was a good buck too. . Is in/on the edge of a burn from a few months ago. Tried again the next morning, but they were gone. Followed their tracks and they went straight onto private property. Kept hiking, about two miles over, in and out of the burns. Was in one with some decent tracks and looked across the ridge. Didn't see anything at first, but then saw a smaller buck on the top of this ridge 335 yards away. Given this hunt so far, I'd be happy to take this guy. Wasn't the big buck I was looking for, but it was the quality hunt I love. And I had ditched my pack the day before, that had my rangefinder in it. This morning I decided to put it on my belt - good choice.
So this buck appeared to go over the ridge some and I could only see his head. Game over I thought. Looked some more and turned out he bedded down, but all I could see was his head. Side hilled it trying to get a better angle and each time I stopped it looked a little better. Got to the point where I was 293 yards and could see his upper half of his body and slightly quartering away. Didn't have anything for a rest I could use at the time, so put the rifle up against the side of a tree. No shot, branches in the way on my side of this canyon - I'm in the burn still. Move to another, same. Get to another and had a shot if I ducked down a little. Looked a few times over a minute, dialed my scope for the shot, took my time, looked good - POW! I love ear pro when taking the shot.
Looked at him through the scope, rolled over and never got up
Nice little 3x3, good weight to him and will eat well
Was .6 miles off the little ATV trail, 1.9 miles from my quad, and 2.6 miles from the "road" which is nothing but big rocks. Love the quad! And not seeing any elk. Have seen two old sets of tracks and that's it. Did see about 60 elk on the private ranch down below, but nothing on public land.
Little camp
Hunter orange aside, the camo is great
From where he was bedded down, looking to the burn I was in
145 LRX did the job, never got up
With the 280AI
A lot better than packing him out
