So I'll start at the beginning.
Day one /opening day.
So I got up at 3:00 in the morning,toss all this last minute junk in the truck. Leave the house by 4 . Get to spot little after 5.
I just sit there quietly, waiting for first light.
Going through my hunting bag, tossing stuff in or out.
Trying to lighten the load.
Right before light I hear a ATV on the upper Rd,which is an open Rd.
I left the truck at 6:30 , figure I could walk in dark to the first corner and wait for light . Watch the first open hillside.
Right then it starts dumping rain, at the spot ,I could see a headlamp or some kind of light way up on the mountain.
I flashed my head lamp a few times at them ,then they turned there light off.
As soon as it started raining,fog and mist started .....in and out.
So the peeps above are working the top half,I'm kinda working the middle ground.
So first lower spur ,I took it to put even more space between.
A muley doe jumps the road ,maybe 10 yards in front of me.
At this point ,fog is in and out very bad.
I watch her and look around for buck. Brush on the bank/uphill is bad. I can't see no buck anywhere. I have a pic of the doe.
I push ahead ,leave the doe,get about a 100 yards or so up the road.
I look back and see a muley,I thought it was that doe.....nope.
That's a buck!
So I carried my tri-pod,got that,then goty binoculars,all kinds of stuff out all setup in the road.
This buck is looking right at me, I can't put any points on him.
So I'm waiting for his head to turn,even tried rattling at him.
He just keep looking at me . So I'm waiting,seemed like forever. Probably 10 minutes and the fog rolls in and completely white out the whole area.
I started the story here,cause I believe this to be the same buck I took on Monday.
Rest of the day completely screwed,fog,and opening day shenanigans.
Day two.
Came up with a plan.
Too many people and what not.
I decided I hunt this timber patch,screw the clear-cut. Figured it would be fogged out. Same up early,to the spot before light.
Fog wasn't bad at first light ,but was in and out again.
Figured if I can only see a hundred yards in the fog,might as well hunt this timber patch.
So I start in there,maybe 30 yards in ,WT jumps up 3-4 point.
Runs behind some brush and timber. Can't see him at all.
At this point I thought maybe he slipped uphill,nope .....one step and he bolts out .....gone
But at this time ,I hear another stick break a little ways up the hill.
I walk up and see the bed from the first buck,work my way up.
Another buck jumps up , except this time ,spike WT ,head and shoulder visible from behind a tree. No broadside shot.
So I wait, thinking I'm gonna shoot this guy if he walks out and stops..... Nope. He bolts just like the first one.
I finished my little hike in there, come back down.
Snowing like you wouldn't believe. I figured most the animals are beded in cover. Waiting out the storm. Still even more opening weekend stuff ,target shooting the whole nine yards.
So figured I'd come back and hunt on a fresh snow,with less peeps.
Day three /final day.
Same as before,up early, except I added pickup chains,otter sled,and a hand saw,and firewood in the bed for weight,and snow shovel.
Doing that stuff,kinda put me behind the 8 ball.
Took about an hour to do that stuff.
Not up there as early,but still plenty of time before light.
So decided I'd head back to the clear-cuts on day one.
I get up there,the road going in is complete garage.
The snow pushed down a lot of brush into the road.
This is about an hour before light,so I get my headlamp and hand saw and start going to town on this crap.
Working in the headlights,and headlamp at times.
First hour in the dark,light comes and I'm still road brushing the road. At this point I'm getting annoyed,and thinking some buck is gonna cross the road. And I'm gonna be standing here with a hand saw. Rifle hundred yards back in the truck.
So I get to a point ,where I'm close enough to walk.
But still a half mile to a mile from where I want to be.
Already soaked and tired from two hours of road brushing.
I start the hunt.
So I get to walking, I cut very large buck tracks.
But they look like middle of the night,and a little snow in them .
Fresh,but not right in the morning,they are headed into the steepest, nasty,gully that nobody wants to go. Come across half a dozen doe going into the same gully. Another smaller set of buck tracks same direction. So I continue up road ,to the top of this ridge.
I can finally see the area I intend to hunt. Big open face back there,I'm looking with my naked eye. Are those deer over there.
No orange ,no people tracks around. I'll just take a peek through my rifle scope. Bunch of deer,two bucks fighting! HOLY CRAP.
So I take off towards that direction,then I think about the situation.
This road will lead me below them,I'm like NO.
So I double back and go up,I already know that it's gonna take a lot of time to get above and take the high ground.
As I go up this ridge, there is a spot where I can look into that first gully. Where I cut the large tracks. I bounce off the road to do that.
I'm fighting more brush, trying to find a rock perch I used 6-7 years ago to watch that gully. I get about a 100 yards in ,screw it ,I'm gonna continue to the two bucks fighting.
At this point in the hunt ,I'll never know how the hunt may have turned out. I know there was deer in there from the tracks in the snow. That gully and being solo ,not sure I would of got a giant out of that hole anyway. Buck fever from seeing two bucks fighting, setting in. I yet double back to the road and continue on.
When I spotted the bucks fighting,I measured the distance from where I first spotted the deer. Half mile straight line on onx.
So I finally arrived above where I seen the fighting going on.
Haven't laid eyes on them for over an hour,maybe longer.
Of course first deer spotted is a muley doe. I get my binoculars on.
No tri-pod didn't pack it. So I'm waiting,about half dozen doe floating around. I finally spot them ,way down at the bottom.
They basically just crossed a cat road. I get just a few second glimpse through the binos. Even the one I got has a big fork on one side. I'm thinking,great looks like two forkys fighting.
The bucks go into the draw in the brush,out of sight.
I decided to start dropping down,try to get a closer look.
So I drop ,like 50 yards or so at a time. Looking for stumps and objects I can lean on to rest my rifle and wait.
I drop down a few times,each time a few doe would run off.
Then I get within 150 yards of said brush patch,all doe are gone now. I'm thinking these bucks gave me the slip.
They finally pop out on the same cat road,I confirmed the one is forky. The other is finally standing broadside on his three point side.
They are getting ready to bolt. So I lay in the snow, send it.
Perfect shot,runs,drops in ten yards.
I walk down there,the forky is standing next to his buddy.
I look at the tracks in the snow,those bucks was eating brush pushed down from the snow. Same brush I cut for almost two hours to get in there.
From the time I spotted them fighting,till I took the shot.
This hunt seemed unreal to me ,had a great time muley hunting in the snow.
That's my 2025 season.
I'll add a few pics later.
