flatlander51
WKR
We'll this year I ended up back in region h for the second time. After hunting there in 2012 I felt pretty good about going into some familiar country. We packed in on Thirsday the 25th a day before elk season. We had both deer and elk tags. We packed in about 4 miles on top of a beautiful bowl. That a buddy of mine hunted the week prior and saw some good bucks in. Friday I found myself glassing some beautiful country. Elk wallows off in the distance below me and awesome rock outcroppings all around me. A great spot to glass from. Friday evening I spotted a huge buck about a thousand yards away. After a quick glance I new I had to make a move but there was one problem there was about a 500' cliff between me n him. Lesson number one glass from somewhere you can move quickly from. So I watched him disappear and figured sat am I'd try n find him again put him to bed then make the long stalk to his location. So as I went to bed Friday night I herd the blistful sound of rain falling on my tent. I woke up sat am and made my way to my glassing location in the rain. I glassed for about three hrs between the rain drops and the fog I never did find him. So after lunch me n my hunting partners decided we needed to drop in elevation since my buck was lower as well as the two good bucks and nice 6x6 bull my partners also saw that evening were lower.and not stalkable. So we moved
Miday in the rain and set up camp in some timber at the valley floor. The fog and rain didn't let up for days. I hunted my butt off but never could turn up the buck I saw the first day. So by day 4 of rain and fog with no sign of it letting up we decided to head to town for a night and dry out. We laid all our gear out in the rental cranked the heat and went to bed.we slepted in the next morning which I'm still not happy about but I guess after 4 days of still hunting in crappy weather isn't to bad. Which brings me to my next leason. Be prepared physically because you never know what the mountains will throw at you! Me and one of the other guys in my hunting party who have been training were ready to roll while the other two were in no condition to pack back in another 3 miles and hunt for the last day and a half. So me and one of the other three got dropped off at the trail head and started hiking the weather had subsided and dropped about 15* it was perfect hunting weather. With a positive attitude we hiked in and set up camp. After setting up camp we headed out to glass the evening on our way up to our glassing location I hit the cow call and we herd some sticks crack heading in our direction. We were pumped! I call again and hear more sticks crack even closer I go to click my saftey off and it's stuck!!! I play with the bolt and try again still stuck! Wth!!! I remove the bullet and try to beat it with the butt of my knife, no luck!!! I must have made to much noise and whatever was coming in ran off. Now I'm bummed. We played with my gun for awhile with no luck and continue to our glassing location. At this point I had thrown in the towell and figured my hunt was over and I would just film my buddy. Close to dark a small 3x4 fed out about 300yrds from us and my buddy decided he would take him as a meat buck since it was our last evening. I got the cam ready and videoed him make a good clean kill shot. We were like little kids killing their first deer I haven't been so pumped over a little buck like that in a long time. But after the week we had had we were ecstatic to put some meet in the cooler. We packed him back to camp and had tender Loins over a fire! It was a very rewarding meal I can tell you that. Over dinner he said now it's your turn. But I didn't have a gun and he still had an elk tag to fill. He told me if it wasn't for my persistence he would be in town with the other two and have never gotten a deer. So I accepted his offer to use his gun and we went to bed. The next morning we were up early and glassing the canyon across from us. We didn't turn up anything and it was getting late in the morning and I was losing faith. I decided to go sit on his gut pile from the night before in hopes that I could maybe get a shot at a bear as a last ditch effort. We only had two hours left to hunt then we had to pack up camp and be at the trail head by noon. On the way to his kill site I jumped a decent 4x4 and it was on I ran to the top of the knoll that he dropped off of and found him looking back at about two hundred yards I laid prone and made a good shot. He Was down. Again we were like little kids one day one gun and two deer!!!! It was an awesome hunt! Leason number 3 never give up!!! We hunted our butts off and although our deer weren't what we were after ive never been more proud of a deer. My hats off to him for giving me his gun on the last morning of our trip. Without each other, pushing each other we would have been in town drowning our sarrows. Instead of giving it he'll till the last moment of the hunt! This was one hell of a trip and it really showed me what men a capable of if they put there minds to it. I can't wait to go back in 2016!
Miday in the rain and set up camp in some timber at the valley floor. The fog and rain didn't let up for days. I hunted my butt off but never could turn up the buck I saw the first day. So by day 4 of rain and fog with no sign of it letting up we decided to head to town for a night and dry out. We laid all our gear out in the rental cranked the heat and went to bed.we slepted in the next morning which I'm still not happy about but I guess after 4 days of still hunting in crappy weather isn't to bad. Which brings me to my next leason. Be prepared physically because you never know what the mountains will throw at you! Me and one of the other guys in my hunting party who have been training were ready to roll while the other two were in no condition to pack back in another 3 miles and hunt for the last day and a half. So me and one of the other three got dropped off at the trail head and started hiking the weather had subsided and dropped about 15* it was perfect hunting weather. With a positive attitude we hiked in and set up camp. After setting up camp we headed out to glass the evening on our way up to our glassing location I hit the cow call and we herd some sticks crack heading in our direction. We were pumped! I call again and hear more sticks crack even closer I go to click my saftey off and it's stuck!!! I play with the bolt and try again still stuck! Wth!!! I remove the bullet and try to beat it with the butt of my knife, no luck!!! I must have made to much noise and whatever was coming in ran off. Now I'm bummed. We played with my gun for awhile with no luck and continue to our glassing location. At this point I had thrown in the towell and figured my hunt was over and I would just film my buddy. Close to dark a small 3x4 fed out about 300yrds from us and my buddy decided he would take him as a meat buck since it was our last evening. I got the cam ready and videoed him make a good clean kill shot. We were like little kids killing their first deer I haven't been so pumped over a little buck like that in a long time. But after the week we had had we were ecstatic to put some meet in the cooler. We packed him back to camp and had tender Loins over a fire! It was a very rewarding meal I can tell you that. Over dinner he said now it's your turn. But I didn't have a gun and he still had an elk tag to fill. He told me if it wasn't for my persistence he would be in town with the other two and have never gotten a deer. So I accepted his offer to use his gun and we went to bed. The next morning we were up early and glassing the canyon across from us. We didn't turn up anything and it was getting late in the morning and I was losing faith. I decided to go sit on his gut pile from the night before in hopes that I could maybe get a shot at a bear as a last ditch effort. We only had two hours left to hunt then we had to pack up camp and be at the trail head by noon. On the way to his kill site I jumped a decent 4x4 and it was on I ran to the top of the knoll that he dropped off of and found him looking back at about two hundred yards I laid prone and made a good shot. He Was down. Again we were like little kids one day one gun and two deer!!!! It was an awesome hunt! Leason number 3 never give up!!! We hunted our butts off and although our deer weren't what we were after ive never been more proud of a deer. My hats off to him for giving me his gun on the last morning of our trip. Without each other, pushing each other we would have been in town drowning our sarrows. Instead of giving it he'll till the last moment of the hunt! This was one hell of a trip and it really showed me what men a capable of if they put there minds to it. I can't wait to go back in 2016!
