B zone opener

[sojourner]

Who's going to be getting after it with the bow? I hope to be a few miles deep into the Marbles come opening morning!

 

[bsanders8181]

I'll be out there somewhere. Even if it's just windshield time I'll be around.

 

[kickemall]

I'll be over around Cedarville.

 

[3pointer]

I’ll be in the Marbles myself !! Not many deer but some good ones

 

[RosinBag]

Trinity for me!!!

 

[oldskool67]

Won’t make the opener do to military obligations but will be out in southern B zone off FH 7 the following week

 

[flytrue]

I'll be out there between Willits and Laytonville. Been trying to get some pics of some bruisers I've seen while driving to and fro.

 

[MeatBuck]

I'll be over around Cedarville.

The cedarville I know ain't in b zone

 

[MeatBuck]

I'll be in b zone as long as I'm not chasing a big a zone buck with rifle

 

[goph707]

Marbles as well.

 

[hayesplow]

Good luck guys, Post Pics.

 

[kickemall]

The cedarville I know ain't in b zone

Good point, I wasn't paying attention to the title of the thread. I should have said I'll be in A6 on the B zone opener.

 

[jb229]

Taking my boy out for his first Deer hunting trip for the opener to tag along with me.

 

[Mountainist]

Good luck everyone!

 

[Ihatecrashing]

Got out to the Trinity’s for the opener with my cousin on my first bow hunt. Well my first hunt period. Apparently I screwed up and shot a really nice buck that’s going to be hard to match!

 

[3pointer]

Congrats bud !! Beautiful buck! How about a story ?

 

[Ihatecrashing]

Congrats bud !! Beautiful buck! How about a story ?

Ok, story time.

I bought my bow around November of last year but held off shooting until I got my hands on a back tension release. Yes, I am an avid Nock On fan. So I didn't really start shooting until February, got my license in April and started planning a back country hunt with my 'cuz. We had scouted the area out in the spring of '18 on a 45 mile backpack trip and had a good idea where to find wildlife.

We made the plan to bomb up there Friday before opening and start glassing. After 11 miles of hiking, passing lots of backpacker's, (who snitched out every animal they saw) we finally settled into our first camp high on a ridge and began glassing. Mostly I listened to what he was saying and just tried to do exactly what he said. In my head, I had already told myself that this was a "hunting trip" not a "killing trip", just to be emotionally prepared for a potential strike out.

As the light started to fade, and only spotting a few does, we switched sides of the ridge. Almost immediately, my cousin whispered "I got a buck!". When I inquired "where?" he gave me the best answer possible, "By the rock!" As we both giggled, I finally spotted the little brown spot against the granite and green feed. My cousin switched out to his spotting scope and zoomed in to see this beautiful buck. Immediately we decided he was the one we were going to hunt. The nice part is that he was about a mile closer to the truck than we were! We planned on getting up early to glass him opening morning and try to pattern him, then move our camp closer and start the "hunt". When we got up we glassed for quite a while, spotted some other shooters in the same area, but no sign of Big Poppa. Knowing he couldn't have gone far, we moved camp closer to a water source and closer to the bucks.

That evening we set up in another location to glass and see if we could put a stalk on a buck. I have to admit, I was really hoping to get a chance at Big Poppa, but I was also ok with trying to bag any legal buck. We glassed for several hours, spotted three does and three fawns between us and two legal bucks several hundred feet up the granite from us. Slightly discouraged we retreated to camp after dark and prepared for another early morning attempt. Sunday morning we got up, went to our glassing spot and sat for awhile, the does came out again but no bucks. We decided to explore the area and see if we were missing a piece of the puzzle and possibly stumble upon a shooter. We hiked for about 45 minutes to an hour, trying to figure out where the bucks were headed. Suddenly, one of the small bucks ran up the hill behind us, I think he winded us. I whispered "buck" to my cousin who was about 20 feet down an embankment in front of me. Right then, we heard a rock fall and Big Poppa bounded up the hillside from in front of us! The young guy stuck around so we put a stalk on him, but he snuck up to high country before we got an angle on him. We decided to head back to camp and put our ambush plan into effect.

The goal was for me to hike up into a group of trees where we had spotted all of the bucks feeding around and wait for one of them to come close enough for me to get a shot at. As we got closer to their feeding time, my cousin set up his binos to watch and I began my lonely hike. I climbed up to the group of trees and tried to find a level spot that I could get a good stance to make a good shot from. Cleared out a couple of shooting lanes as quietly as possible and cleared dry twigs, leaves and bushes from where I would be standing and possibly turning around in. Once I had that dialed, I lazed every rock I thought I would have shots at bucks near and essentially memorized all the distances so I could keep movement to a minimum if anything walked by. I finished and hunkered down for the waiting game. Luckily we had a pretty strong wind out of the south that was blowing horizontally across the hillside, and I was directly under where we had been seeing the bucks appear.

Eventually, I caught a glimpse of Big Poppa crossing a small opening in the granite and knew that I was about to get my chance! He SLOWLY fed down towards me, but still probably about 50-60 yards line of sight above me. As he got closer, just the tips of his antlers were visible and I started the shaking! I couldn't believe he was still coming my way. He stepped out from behind a rock, still above me, that I had ranged at 40 yards (angle compensated) and I remembered the last thing my cousin said, "Draw when he puts his head down to feed". He put his head down, I started to draw, then I realized half of his vitals were covered by another granite boulder. He needed to move about six feet to the right and his full body would be in view. He glanced my direction and I figured I was toast. To my surprise, he bent down, fed a little more then took the 3-4 steps I needed. Then he looked my direction again, and popped a squat! That was the longest deer poop session I have ever witnessed and he stared me down the whole time!

I stood there quivering, sure that he was going to pick me up, so I avoided eye contact just in case! He stood back up, bent over to feed and I drew my bow back. During the previous few days I had kept repeating to myself, "Go through the shot sequence and the top pin is 30!" As soon as I anchored, I was screaming in my head, where did my peep go?!? Finally I acquired it, then promptly put my top pin on his vitals. "NO DUMMY THATS THE 30!" Finally got the 40 pin on him, slowly released the safety, then just thought, "pull pull pull". The arrow launched and the buck did his best impression of a bucking bronco and a Warren Miller ski film crash down the granite. It took me a solid 3 seconds to realize my arrow struck him and he wasn't getting away. He stopped 15-20 yards to my left, exactly at my elevation broadside. I had already nocked another arrow because I had heard a few podcasts with hunters who said to always be ready for a follow up shot. He had the look of animal who was dead on his feet, but I felt the ethical thing to do was to help it go faster, so I put a second arrow through his front shoulders. He leapt twice and crumpled at the base of a few trees.

I felt overwhelmed, excited, nervous, proud and a sort of respect for the situation all at the same time. Right then, I heard my cousin let out the biggest yell from the bottom of the hill. I climbed up to try to find my first arrow, but spent too much time and light started to die off on me, so I made my way down to the buck where my cousin had climbed up to. Big Poppa was pretty torn up from all his flailing down the mountainside but he was magnificent. It was fun to hear my cousins perspective of watching the whole thing unfold, it sounds like he was just as nervous as me!

We got him quartered out and back to camp late in the night, the next morning was the typical getting packed up for the hike out, but I must say, the weight of that buck and those velvet antlers on my back were lighter than I expected when we walked by other hunters! What a great way to get introduced to hunting. I seriously couldn't have done it without my cousin there guiding the way and providing the glass!!!

 

[Mtnman84]

Great buck and great story, looking forward to hunting in that area again. I heard the guy you were hunting with took some long naps during the middle of the day

 

[Ihatecrashing]

Great buck and great story, looking forward to hunting in that area again. I heard the guy you were hunting with took some long naps during the middle of the day

While hiking out, a packer gave one his clients crap for “sleeping when he should be hunting” like my buddy and I... we didn’t mention anything about mid-day naps.

 

[Shotshill]

Got out to the Trinity’s for the opener with my cousin on my first bow hunt. Well my first hunt period. Apparently I screwed up and shot a really nice buck that’s going to be hard to match!

Very nice. Congrats