AlpineRidge
FNG
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2023
- Messages
- 16
Awesome story man. I'm in the same boat as you, I didn't grow up with hunting and don't have anyone to go with who I feel will put in the same energy or effort that I will. I got a barley legal buck my first year in 2020 and have been addicted ever since. I bumped a monster muley in D5 in 2021 and didn't take a shot although in hindsight I could have easily taken him, but I'm still happy with the decision. And last year I had another shot opportunity but passed as I was stuck in a crap situation being forced to freehand a 130 yard shot, almost took it, but didn't. I know the feeling of struggling mentally as the season goes on, knowing the old lady is just a few hours drive and the bar and friends are an even shorter drive after that. Staying persistent pays off tremendously. I know how you felt when you got that buck, congratulations.I told myself this year was the year that I wanted to prove to myself that my first public land archery buck from last year was not a fluke. 2019 I was able to successfully take a decent forked buck out of a CA’s d3-5 public land! It was was my first buck and I had been archery hunting for a few years prior to 2019 with no success, not even any decent stalks on deer. Shooting that first buck and being able to seal the deal with my bow was a highlight of my life.
2020 was my year that I made up in my mind was my proving year, my year to tell myself that determination, patience, and preparation can put me into positions of being successful consistently.
In preparation of the 2020, I had found myself, months prior, out of shape, over weight and in no place physically prepared. I went on a pretty radical calorie deficient diet and pushed myself to create healthier habits in the kitchen. I lost 20 lbs in 1 month as well as completely got off sugar and started eating clean. I shot my bow everyday with a minimum of 20 arrows a day. I started training with body weight workouts, as well as hiking with my pack loaded with a 60 lb sand bag. But most importantly I scouted the most I had ever done in pre season. I felt prepared for the first time going into a hunting season.
Opening morning came and I found myself hiking to my glassing spot in the dark the morning of the opener, it was about 3:30am and I had a decent hike ahead of me. Got to my spot where I wanted to glass and was a littler jittery with excitement. I had seen one buck in this area one time before during pre season, but o only saw him once and just for a split second. However I was hopeful that something would show up. Sure enough, after sitting for a few hours in the dark, listening to the countryside come alive I saw movement with my naked eye on top of this basin I was glassing. Behind the glass I was able to see a nice 4X4 blacktail feeding his way down the canyon. Working from coffee berry bush to coffee berry bush, I watched him in excitement. I watched him bed down only about 250 yards from me, but with the hot weather in CA I knew it would be difficult to get into a shootable position without making a lot of noise. Boots came off, and I continued to work myself into a position over the next hour. I found myself 48 yards from the tree I new he was bedded under however I could not get a visual on the deer because of the downward slope he was on. If I could get only a couple more feet closer I might be able to get eyes on the bedded deer. I took five steps closer with a long pause between each step. On my last and fifth step I almost step right on a bedded down fawn that was about 2 feet in front of me in the tall grass. She jumped up and scared the living daylights out of me and runs straight at that deer. Buck gets up and gone just like that.
Over the next 3 weeks I hunted every weekend, and week day that I could get out there. I hunted 16 days straight never saw that or any other buck in that basin. I was devastated, starting to lose hope and noticing myself switching gears mentally into rifle season. I was super bummed, started replaying that stalk in my head over and over every time I was sitting their on the glass. I felt like I rushed it, questioning why I wasn’t patient? Why didn’t I wait for the deer to stand naturally? All these things started to weigh on me as the season moved closer and closer to the end.
Here I am, night before the last Saturday of the season. I hunted the evening at my spot and saw nothing but does and one spike. I get defeated, got home and told my wife that I was going to throw a Hail Mary and hunt a different spot in the morning. I spot that was very popular for rifle shooting on public land but one time when I was shooting out there I had seen a buck as I was driving in.
I show up in the morning around 4am and start slowly pushing to a small bowl I knew of back down a fire road. It was a decent hike to get their but I told myself that I wanted to move slow as to not spook anything that might still be up since it was a full moon that night. By the time I got to the bowl it was light enough to legally shoot. I approached the top of the bowl and looked down into the tall grass and tree line and was able to glass a rack move. However the grass was high enough that I could barely tell it was a buck bedded in the wide open in tall grass. My heart started racing trying to scramble a game plan. I wanted to get a better visual on the deer before I tried getting closer, as to confirm it was a legal buck. I climbed a rock next to me to be able to get a little more elevation, and I was able to glass up that he was a very nice 4x3 and he was already hard horned. My heart started pounding and I sat their repeating in my head, calm down be smart, be patient, don’t rush anything. I ranged the buck at 462 yards bedded. However their was a fire road that skirted this entire bowl, so my stalk was going to remain quiet since I wouldn’t have to get into the grass.
I worked my way down the fire road, very slowly using the tall grass as cover, and keeping my self lower than the grass, as I got closer I slowed WAY down as to not make too much noise. When I felt as though I was within shooting range I slowly picked my head up above the grass line and saw the buck staring down the hill at 42 yards, however I could only see his head and the top of his back from how he was bedded. I sat down, adjusted my sight to 40, breathed in and out a few times to relax. I drew back while below the top of the grass line and then stood up while fully drawn, the buck flipped his head around and was staring right At me. I picked a spot through the grass where I felt his vitals would be but it was through the grass so hard to tell. I sent the arrow and immediately heard the air come out of him he stood up and bolted. As he was running I could see blood coming out but the wound, however it looked to be higher than I anticipated. I sat down after I watched him disappear into the tree line. I listened to the leaves and pine needles crack as he left in the tree line.
I knew it was a decent enough shot to put the deer down so I sat and waiting as to not rush the tracking process and bump him. I went over to where he was bedded and found my arrow, it was a full pass through with decent amount of blood on the veins as well as the ground. I started following the trail and found myself around 300 yards down to the bottom of the bowl where I saw the deer in the tree line but standing, he was looking down hill and I could see blood leaking out of his wound. I ranged him at 63 yards broadside, drew the bow, settled the pin and pumped a nice shot straight through the pump house where he immediately dropped and expired!
Ecstatic is an understatement, I had gone through so many ups and downs, all the years of hunting without even seeing legal deer, not growing up learning about hunting, not having any hunting partners or friends in my area who to hunt with, teaching myself and trying to learn, slowly, with every mistake I make, then to get my first deer with a bow on public land, and to follow it up with getting this buck with my bow on public land two years in a row with my bow! I was overjoyed, relieved, and felt blessed beyond belief. All the hard work, the persistence, the patience, and most of all, staying mentally engaged the entire season payed off. I felt like getting this deer was proof to myself that I can do it, and that it’s not luck, but the willingness to work and keep going even when you don’t want too. That 2 mile hike out with 88lbs and a buck that I will be proud of forever on my back, was not easy at all, but I smiled every step of the way!
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