HockeyDad
Lil-Rokslider
Well I capped off one of the most memorable 2 hunting weekends I can remember. Since my daughter and son are busy with Hockey in the fall, its difficult to get time to hunt with them, so I have tried to just get doe tags and focus on having them try to fill a tag over a weekend. I was successful 2 years in a row with my son, and this year was attempt number 2 with my daughter. My Son was supposed to be here for the weekend - but hockey kept him away (the only bad part of the whole weekend(s)).
Last weekend was opening of Colorado second rifle, my daughter, dad and I headed out. On saturday we hit a few of our promising areas, but only saw coyotes in the morning. In the afternoon we took a drive around looking at some new public land spots and saw over 80 deer on private lands. That evening also proved to be a bust tag wise as we only saw 2 bucks (2ithin 200 yards to beat!) on public land. We had 3 doe tags.
One lesson learned - After convincing your daughter to climb up and up and up. Dont ask her to lead the way down. Especially when cliffs are between you and the truck/lunches! That cliffy photo is the path she took down! All the time pointing out the deer tracks and how I usually suggest that game trails are the easiest way to move around the mountains! Fortunatly we only both fell once each!
Sunday morning broke crisp and clear, but the deer were still in hiding. After glassing a promising looking brush bowl for 2 hours we headed out towards greener pastures. On the way out, we spotted a Doe (a radio collarded one to boot) heading up the mountain. With a good idea where she was heading - we turned around and hoofed it back up and started glassing the draw leading up to the brush bowl.
Holly started getting imatient after 5-10 minutes of no deer and wanted to go look lower, but I had a good feeling that she was in the draw or the flat leading to it. I convinced her to give me a bit longer to glass the flat really good before we moved - It payed off. The doe was standing in a clump of oakbrush watching her backtrail. She was 300 yards away and too far for a shot. So after some GPS work to ensure the deer was on public land and planning a stalk - a final check with the binos showed she had bedded down!
We closed the gap to 175 yards and wasnt going to get any closer. I was able to determine how she was laying and spent some time discussing shot placement to Holly. We had talked about shot placement for most situations except a downhill bedded deer! Holly said she was ready and got the gun on the sticks for the shot.
After the shot, the doe jumped up, ran about 30 yards and toppled over. of course, as always seems to happen when I am hunting with Holly - the extraction is difficult! It wasnt the distance (only 1/2 mile) but the uphill through thick sage and brush to avoid the private land and get back to a place the truck could reach.
Happy that Holly got a deer, we called it a day and got back home. This was good enough to call it a season. Then, this weekend, somehow there was no hockey scheduled for saturday - this is something that never happens. So friday morning Holly says we need to go hunting and get a doe for grandpa Larry and me on saturday! So off we go.
As any expert 15 year old deer hunter would suggest - we found ourselves catching daybreak at the brush bowl again. Unfortunatly the deer didnt read the script and after a few hours we got down the hill and headed to a new location. The snow that came through during the week made me feel that some of the new public land we saw the previous week was worth a look.
We drove along and glassed several valleys that went back into the hillside until we finally found a group of does feeding on the sage hillside. Out of the truck and up the hill we went. After executing a perfect stalk that grandpa was able to watch from the vehicle, I had the gun on the sticks and was waiting for a nice fat doe to turn broadside for me at about 200 yards. Then for reasons only know to them, they busted us and trotted over the ridgeline.
Since all of these little valleys were timber on one side and sage grass on the other - I had a hunch they would make it to the other sage side and get back to feeding - So Holly and I were off. Further up the hill and over the ridge we go. As we were cresting the other sage side, we would look closely and hoped to see the deer - finally we picked up a rump in the oak brush - Doe slight quartering away 150 yards uphill. I got the gun on the sticks, waited for a doe behind to clear and let loose.
We trudged up the hill, and quickly found a good bloodtrail. This provided a great teaching lesson for Holly as her deer the week before fell in sight. After 100 yards of the easiest bloodtrail I have ever followed, we found where she went down - and slid/flipped/stumbled another 40 yards down the hill.
After some quick pictures and gutting it was time for an easy drag. Get her down to the valley floor and out through a aspen grove and then across the sage to the truck all on the snow. NOT! Did I mention that I never have an easy extraction when Holly is with me? Did I mention this was a new area for me? Unknown to us, the most massive blowndown tangle mess of aspens called that valley floor home (I called it something else).
These are memories that will stay with me forever!
Last weekend was opening of Colorado second rifle, my daughter, dad and I headed out. On saturday we hit a few of our promising areas, but only saw coyotes in the morning. In the afternoon we took a drive around looking at some new public land spots and saw over 80 deer on private lands. That evening also proved to be a bust tag wise as we only saw 2 bucks (2ithin 200 yards to beat!) on public land. We had 3 doe tags.
One lesson learned - After convincing your daughter to climb up and up and up. Dont ask her to lead the way down. Especially when cliffs are between you and the truck/lunches! That cliffy photo is the path she took down! All the time pointing out the deer tracks and how I usually suggest that game trails are the easiest way to move around the mountains! Fortunatly we only both fell once each!
Sunday morning broke crisp and clear, but the deer were still in hiding. After glassing a promising looking brush bowl for 2 hours we headed out towards greener pastures. On the way out, we spotted a Doe (a radio collarded one to boot) heading up the mountain. With a good idea where she was heading - we turned around and hoofed it back up and started glassing the draw leading up to the brush bowl.
Holly started getting imatient after 5-10 minutes of no deer and wanted to go look lower, but I had a good feeling that she was in the draw or the flat leading to it. I convinced her to give me a bit longer to glass the flat really good before we moved - It payed off. The doe was standing in a clump of oakbrush watching her backtrail. She was 300 yards away and too far for a shot. So after some GPS work to ensure the deer was on public land and planning a stalk - a final check with the binos showed she had bedded down!
We closed the gap to 175 yards and wasnt going to get any closer. I was able to determine how she was laying and spent some time discussing shot placement to Holly. We had talked about shot placement for most situations except a downhill bedded deer! Holly said she was ready and got the gun on the sticks for the shot.
After the shot, the doe jumped up, ran about 30 yards and toppled over. of course, as always seems to happen when I am hunting with Holly - the extraction is difficult! It wasnt the distance (only 1/2 mile) but the uphill through thick sage and brush to avoid the private land and get back to a place the truck could reach.
Happy that Holly got a deer, we called it a day and got back home. This was good enough to call it a season. Then, this weekend, somehow there was no hockey scheduled for saturday - this is something that never happens. So friday morning Holly says we need to go hunting and get a doe for grandpa Larry and me on saturday! So off we go.
As any expert 15 year old deer hunter would suggest - we found ourselves catching daybreak at the brush bowl again. Unfortunatly the deer didnt read the script and after a few hours we got down the hill and headed to a new location. The snow that came through during the week made me feel that some of the new public land we saw the previous week was worth a look.
We drove along and glassed several valleys that went back into the hillside until we finally found a group of does feeding on the sage hillside. Out of the truck and up the hill we went. After executing a perfect stalk that grandpa was able to watch from the vehicle, I had the gun on the sticks and was waiting for a nice fat doe to turn broadside for me at about 200 yards. Then for reasons only know to them, they busted us and trotted over the ridgeline.
Since all of these little valleys were timber on one side and sage grass on the other - I had a hunch they would make it to the other sage side and get back to feeding - So Holly and I were off. Further up the hill and over the ridge we go. As we were cresting the other sage side, we would look closely and hoped to see the deer - finally we picked up a rump in the oak brush - Doe slight quartering away 150 yards uphill. I got the gun on the sticks, waited for a doe behind to clear and let loose.
We trudged up the hill, and quickly found a good bloodtrail. This provided a great teaching lesson for Holly as her deer the week before fell in sight. After 100 yards of the easiest bloodtrail I have ever followed, we found where she went down - and slid/flipped/stumbled another 40 yards down the hill.
After some quick pictures and gutting it was time for an easy drag. Get her down to the valley floor and out through a aspen grove and then across the sage to the truck all on the snow. NOT! Did I mention that I never have an easy extraction when Holly is with me? Did I mention this was a new area for me? Unknown to us, the most massive blowndown tangle mess of aspens called that valley floor home (I called it something else).
These are memories that will stay with me forever!