Timberninja
Lil-Rokslider
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2013
- Messages
- 277
Thought I’d share a recap of my short archery hunt.
With a newborn and a 2-year old, I knew my time in the mountains would be limited to quick hunts this fall. During summer, I did a whopping 2 days of scouting. The first area I went to was more overgrown than it looked on google earth and would be tough to hunt. The second area held some bucks (I’m not a picky..) and that’s where I set my sight for opening day.
Night before opener I packed in and was soon joined by 7 other hunters. I somewhat expected company but not this much. Opening morning I had some bucks feeding at 180 yards below my glassing spot but they ended up disappearing in dark timber. Also bedded two bucks on a separate ridge but before I made my way over there, two other hunters spooked them. Due to the traffic, I packed out early and cashed in some family time.
With limited backup options, I still opted to head back to the same area the following weekend. 4am I was at the trailhead and made it to my glassing spot just before daylight. I quickly picked up two bucks feeding in the basin but they were moving to a saddle at a pretty good pace and I wouldn’t make it there before they disappeared in the timber. I shifted focus to a different ridge in the distance and picked up a buck feeding in a steep chute.
Soon I picked up 3 of his friends as well. I had to shift glassing spot a couple of times to keep track of them but they eventually bedded in a spot that looked doable.
I took some reference notes/photos of the area and decided to go for it. It would be a pretty long trek but I felt hopeful they would stay bedded for a while. I left the glassing spot at 8am and didn’t make it up to the other ridge until 1pm. The last 1k of elevation were tough, to play the wind with margin, I motored straight up some steep brushy terrain that was far from fun.
Before dropping elevation to get to the bucks, I started picking the shadows apart and sure enough, found a different buck bedded facing uphill.
Initially this threw me off..But he looked stalkable and as mentioned before, I’m not picky.. He was bedded on a high point far above the other bucks so even if it was a fail, I’d hopefully still have a chance on the other group, assuming they were still there.
I moved around the ridge and dropped in from the same elevation he was bedded at. The first 80 yards were tough as I was in the sun and there was no cover. I’d move when he looked away. It took some time but I finally made it down to a little gully. Moved in closer and took off my boots and pants, after a blown stalk due to pant noise, I opt for baselayer if the weather allows..
I quickly made it to 60 yards. And I could cut the last 30 out of sight thanks to the hill he was bedded on and boatloads of grasshoppers making noise. I was coming up on him from the side, going uphill. But as I was getting close, I realized why he was bedded facing uphill (or at least I think so). There were strong gusts coming straight down the mountain every minute or so. I decided to take my chances as I was coming in from the side. I had some good waypoints and knew where he was bedded but with the uphill slope, I couldn’t see him. I stopped at 30 yards and waited. Had barely stood there for 5 minutes when I felt the wind swirl. I was at full draw but nothing happened. I started wondering if he’d already spooked. A minute later, he stands but there was a big deadfall covering his vitals.. Seconds later he bounced off. Disappointed I snuck up towards his bed and checked it out. Then another buck that I hadn’t seen bounced off the other way. He ran downhill towards the opening I’d come from so I tip toed after him but he was already out of sight.
Double disappointed I sat down on a rock above a big cliff. The area below the cliff was where my intended target(s) had bedded but my expectations were low. There were clusters of pines within eyesight and I started picking them apart with the binoculars.
When I got to the last one right below me, I saw the faint flick of an ear, then an antler. Disappointment turned to excitement fast. I knew exactly how to get down there as I’d mapped out the path around the cliff. But rather than heading down there immediately, I decided to get a better understanding of how he was bedded etc. I ranged the trees at 40 yards and it was more or less straight down. To my surprise, the buck stood up and stretched his legs. Amongst many things, I thought back to a Gritty Bowmen podcast where they discussed how rangefinders aren’t great at calculating really steep shots. When I listened to it, I thought, “it will never happen to me” but here I was, high/steep above a buck. Better hope that Vortex had it right.. On the other hand, I checked my third axis before the season and it was dialed. After standing for a bit, he slowly moved through the trees and his head popped out. It was the same buck I glassed up first. He then takes a couple of steps forward and starts raking a small pine. Quartering away from me, I ranged him again, 44 yards. For some reason, a massive calm set in. I normally get pretty decent buck fever but maybe I’d burnt it on the first stalk, who knows. The knowledge that I was “completely” out of his vision also helped. I drew back, leaned forward, took some sweet time splitting the pins, leveling the bubble and barely remember squeezing the trigger.
I couldn’t see where the arrow went but heard it hit. He ran straight down the hill and I could see the entry hole, looked good given the angle. Just before he disappeared behind some pines, it looked like he stared doing the sideway stroll and just after he was out of sight, there was a cloud of dust. I tip toed back to my boots/pack and sat down to wait. I hate waiting. 30 minutes later, I was on top of the cliff again, trying to find an angle where I could see more country but didn’t see anything.
Snuck down to the patch of pines and started looking for blood/arrow. Looking turned into crawling around in the underbrush and eventually I found the lower half of my arrow, blood looked good (to me). I slowly starting following his path scanning for blood, nothing. After 20 yards, I hadn’t seen a spec and I started getting worried. A couple of steps later, I glassed the area and saw a tine sticking up from a gully. Buck down. I took quick pics and got to work since it was pretty warm.
Foolishly I decided to pack out the whole deer, head/cape and gear in one trip. I made it 20 yards down the gully until I got cliffed out. Coming back up, I realized just how tired I was and decided to leave half in the shade of a pine next to a cliff.
I've had more fun packouts. It was really steep and I had to climb/scoot my pack down some cliffs. When it got really steep I’d slide on my butt. But what was worse is that I'd ran out of water before the stalk and hadn’t eaten enough. Eventually made it back to truck at 11pm. Headed out again at first light to get the rest of the meat before it got warm. It was cool and dry.
A couple of additional things I thought I share.
- Waypoints/reference photos. Taking some time to thoroughly get markers/waypoints from the glassing spot. Photos and videos from a phone scope or similar really helps navigating when you get to “the other side”. This didn’t look that bad until I got over to the “buck side”
- Rick Young bino harness. I wouldn’t want to use it during the entire hunt (vs a pouch) but I put it on for stalks and it’s awesome for that purpose. Totally silent, quick and easy to use one handed. 1 oz worth it’s weight.
- Base layer stalking. Super silent.
- Drink/eat. I bonked hard.
- Bring more water. I had pills with me but never came across any water.
- Nice hikers I bumped into on way out. They gave me a bottle of water, pure gold.
- Hiking poles. So awesome.
- Spot tracker. Lady appreciates knowing that I’m late. Well, appreciates might be a strong word but at least she knows…
- Cell phone camera mount for tripod. Not as good as a separate camera but makes it easier to take some decent pics.
- A bit of luck. Always handy when it happens.
With a newborn and a 2-year old, I knew my time in the mountains would be limited to quick hunts this fall. During summer, I did a whopping 2 days of scouting. The first area I went to was more overgrown than it looked on google earth and would be tough to hunt. The second area held some bucks (I’m not a picky..) and that’s where I set my sight for opening day.
Night before opener I packed in and was soon joined by 7 other hunters. I somewhat expected company but not this much. Opening morning I had some bucks feeding at 180 yards below my glassing spot but they ended up disappearing in dark timber. Also bedded two bucks on a separate ridge but before I made my way over there, two other hunters spooked them. Due to the traffic, I packed out early and cashed in some family time.
With limited backup options, I still opted to head back to the same area the following weekend. 4am I was at the trailhead and made it to my glassing spot just before daylight. I quickly picked up two bucks feeding in the basin but they were moving to a saddle at a pretty good pace and I wouldn’t make it there before they disappeared in the timber. I shifted focus to a different ridge in the distance and picked up a buck feeding in a steep chute.
Soon I picked up 3 of his friends as well. I had to shift glassing spot a couple of times to keep track of them but they eventually bedded in a spot that looked doable.
I took some reference notes/photos of the area and decided to go for it. It would be a pretty long trek but I felt hopeful they would stay bedded for a while. I left the glassing spot at 8am and didn’t make it up to the other ridge until 1pm. The last 1k of elevation were tough, to play the wind with margin, I motored straight up some steep brushy terrain that was far from fun.
Before dropping elevation to get to the bucks, I started picking the shadows apart and sure enough, found a different buck bedded facing uphill.
Initially this threw me off..But he looked stalkable and as mentioned before, I’m not picky.. He was bedded on a high point far above the other bucks so even if it was a fail, I’d hopefully still have a chance on the other group, assuming they were still there.
I moved around the ridge and dropped in from the same elevation he was bedded at. The first 80 yards were tough as I was in the sun and there was no cover. I’d move when he looked away. It took some time but I finally made it down to a little gully. Moved in closer and took off my boots and pants, after a blown stalk due to pant noise, I opt for baselayer if the weather allows..
I quickly made it to 60 yards. And I could cut the last 30 out of sight thanks to the hill he was bedded on and boatloads of grasshoppers making noise. I was coming up on him from the side, going uphill. But as I was getting close, I realized why he was bedded facing uphill (or at least I think so). There were strong gusts coming straight down the mountain every minute or so. I decided to take my chances as I was coming in from the side. I had some good waypoints and knew where he was bedded but with the uphill slope, I couldn’t see him. I stopped at 30 yards and waited. Had barely stood there for 5 minutes when I felt the wind swirl. I was at full draw but nothing happened. I started wondering if he’d already spooked. A minute later, he stands but there was a big deadfall covering his vitals.. Seconds later he bounced off. Disappointed I snuck up towards his bed and checked it out. Then another buck that I hadn’t seen bounced off the other way. He ran downhill towards the opening I’d come from so I tip toed after him but he was already out of sight.
Double disappointed I sat down on a rock above a big cliff. The area below the cliff was where my intended target(s) had bedded but my expectations were low. There were clusters of pines within eyesight and I started picking them apart with the binoculars.
When I got to the last one right below me, I saw the faint flick of an ear, then an antler. Disappointment turned to excitement fast. I knew exactly how to get down there as I’d mapped out the path around the cliff. But rather than heading down there immediately, I decided to get a better understanding of how he was bedded etc. I ranged the trees at 40 yards and it was more or less straight down. To my surprise, the buck stood up and stretched his legs. Amongst many things, I thought back to a Gritty Bowmen podcast where they discussed how rangefinders aren’t great at calculating really steep shots. When I listened to it, I thought, “it will never happen to me” but here I was, high/steep above a buck. Better hope that Vortex had it right.. On the other hand, I checked my third axis before the season and it was dialed. After standing for a bit, he slowly moved through the trees and his head popped out. It was the same buck I glassed up first. He then takes a couple of steps forward and starts raking a small pine. Quartering away from me, I ranged him again, 44 yards. For some reason, a massive calm set in. I normally get pretty decent buck fever but maybe I’d burnt it on the first stalk, who knows. The knowledge that I was “completely” out of his vision also helped. I drew back, leaned forward, took some sweet time splitting the pins, leveling the bubble and barely remember squeezing the trigger.
I couldn’t see where the arrow went but heard it hit. He ran straight down the hill and I could see the entry hole, looked good given the angle. Just before he disappeared behind some pines, it looked like he stared doing the sideway stroll and just after he was out of sight, there was a cloud of dust. I tip toed back to my boots/pack and sat down to wait. I hate waiting. 30 minutes later, I was on top of the cliff again, trying to find an angle where I could see more country but didn’t see anything.
Snuck down to the patch of pines and started looking for blood/arrow. Looking turned into crawling around in the underbrush and eventually I found the lower half of my arrow, blood looked good (to me). I slowly starting following his path scanning for blood, nothing. After 20 yards, I hadn’t seen a spec and I started getting worried. A couple of steps later, I glassed the area and saw a tine sticking up from a gully. Buck down. I took quick pics and got to work since it was pretty warm.
Foolishly I decided to pack out the whole deer, head/cape and gear in one trip. I made it 20 yards down the gully until I got cliffed out. Coming back up, I realized just how tired I was and decided to leave half in the shade of a pine next to a cliff.
I've had more fun packouts. It was really steep and I had to climb/scoot my pack down some cliffs. When it got really steep I’d slide on my butt. But what was worse is that I'd ran out of water before the stalk and hadn’t eaten enough. Eventually made it back to truck at 11pm. Headed out again at first light to get the rest of the meat before it got warm. It was cool and dry.
A couple of additional things I thought I share.
- Waypoints/reference photos. Taking some time to thoroughly get markers/waypoints from the glassing spot. Photos and videos from a phone scope or similar really helps navigating when you get to “the other side”. This didn’t look that bad until I got over to the “buck side”
- Rick Young bino harness. I wouldn’t want to use it during the entire hunt (vs a pouch) but I put it on for stalks and it’s awesome for that purpose. Totally silent, quick and easy to use one handed. 1 oz worth it’s weight.
- Base layer stalking. Super silent.
- Drink/eat. I bonked hard.
- Bring more water. I had pills with me but never came across any water.
- Nice hikers I bumped into on way out. They gave me a bottle of water, pure gold.
- Hiking poles. So awesome.
- Spot tracker. Lady appreciates knowing that I’m late. Well, appreciates might be a strong word but at least she knows…
- Cell phone camera mount for tripod. Not as good as a separate camera but makes it easier to take some decent pics.
- A bit of luck. Always handy when it happens.
