My 2016 Deer-Edited with story
I finally found a buck that I got excited about on Friday. He isn't the biggest one out there but I am happy with him. I think the pictures turned out fairly well too considering I was there by myself
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EDIT: Ok you guys asked for the story so here goes nothing lol
I was able to sneak away from work on Thursday of last week when I had thought I was going to have to work through Friday. Due to this I was going to be by myself for the hunt on Friday but I figured what the heck it is worth a shot and all I was really hoping to do was to locate some animals to go after on Saturday. Anyways I got all of my stuff rounded up Thursday afternoon and loaded up all of the 4 wheelers for me my wife and my dad to use for the weekend once they were able to join me Friday night.
I left the house at 5:30 am, I am lucky enough to live in a place that is close to where I hunt, made one quick stop at the gas station to fill up all of the 4 wheelers and gas cans for the weekend and away I went. From the front door of my house to where I park the truck is only about a 30 minute drive. I was a little behind where I wanted to be time wise but I figured that it wouldn't matter that much because I would be able to hunt my way into where I wanted to glass from.
A little back ground on my hunting adventures since I was a little kid. I have lived for the outdoors since I can remember and moving from California to Wyoming when I was 11 certainly helped me out in that department lol. Anyways ever since my grandfather has passed away (I was 9 or 10 I think) every time we are going hunting and see a shooting star someone in our group kills something. So fast forward to this Friday on my drive up in the dark with just a skiff of light coming up over the mountains low and behold a gigantic shooting star that started over the mountains on one side of the valley and continued all the way across to the mountains on the other side. I instantly thought to myself that this is going to be a good day of hunting with grandpa. I called my dad right then and said "I'm killing something today!" he laughed and said good luck and be careful and to let him know where I find a spot to set up camp that evening before I lost cell phone signal.
So I got to the parking area a little later than I would have liked to, so I was hurrying to get a 4 wheeler unloaded and all of my gear put on it. I then bundled up since it was 18 degrees according to my truck when I parked and I had about a 14 mile ride to do in the dark (mostly). I took off out of there and headed up the mountain towards the hill I wanted to glass that morning. As the sun came up I was still riding in although there were no fresh vehicle tracks from that morning in front of me which surprised me, so I slowed down just on the off chance that I saw something off of the road. I ended up getting to my desired parking spot about 20 minutes later than I would have liked but quickly shed a couple layers and threw the pack on and up the hill I went.
I made it to the top of the hill and sat down with my spotter to start picking apart my hillside. I quickly became cold while glassing because I sweated pretty good coming up the hill trying to make up time. I wasn't seeing a whole lot so I decided to pack up and move down the ridge line a little to try to get a better view into the openings that I was looking at, and find a spot where I could be sitting with the sun on my back while glassing. On my ways down I spotted something moving in a lower opening about a mile out so I quickly got set up on it and watched this nice young bull slowly feed his way across the opening to the treeline. By the way please excuse the bad pictures through my spotter throughout this write up because I haven't been able to pick up a phone skope yet.
He stopped at that treeline and stood there looking around for quite some time before moving off out of sight. This was my elk area this year as well but I was already tagged out with a decent 6 point in bow season. My wife still has this tag however and would be tickled with a bull like this so I was trying to get some pictures to show her.
Anyways after he was out of sight I started trying to glass me up a deer and as soon as I started my search I was able to fine 3 deer in the same opening that the elk was in feeding up the treeline. This turned out to be 2 does and a very unique buck that had me thinking for a minute. His frame was maybe 12" wide at the widest point and then came back to about 9" wide at the top but I'd bet he was every bit of 25" tall. He was a 3x4 frame but then had two 4-5" kickers off the G2s on both sides. He was pretty cool but not really what I was wanting to kill. I tried to take some pictures of him but every time I would catch him in the open by the time I got my phone on the scope he was behind another tree already (I really need a phone skope). So after deciding that I wasn't going to be going after him I began to pick apart the other openings that I originally wanted to glass in the first place. This was the view of these openings from my perch a mile or so away (You can see the top of the opening that the elk and the first buck were in on the upper left of this picture).
Almost immediately I found a nice bull and cow moose moving across the openings quickly down towards the creek that is between me and them. Then as the sun started to hit the openings a bit more I started to pick out deer all over the place. It seemed like everywhere I looked I was spotting does and fawns and some bucks. So here are some of the pictures from me looking around at all of them over the next half hour or so.
Throughout this time I had 3 deer spotted bedded down in one of those openings but they were getting blasted by the sun so I was unable to tell if they were bucks or not. I was really not seeing anything that made me want to make the trek over to them but I figured that I should at least wait until those bedded deer stand up. I figured that it shouldn't take too long since they were in the sun and after maybe 15 minutes the first one stood up and started feeding. Another 10 minutes or so went by with me not so patiently watching that one doe feed before the rest decided it was time to get up. The three that I had initially seen were all does and there were actually 5 of them in total. I decided to glass just behind them in some small jack pines just in case there was a buck with them in there and sure enough as soon as I got my scope up there my buck stood up and shook then turned his head so I got to see how deep his forks were. That was about all of the time that I needed to make the decision that he was a buck I'd be happy with so I got up and started packing up all of my stuff. Looking back at it now I wish I would have taken a couple of minutes to get a few pictures of him alive but oh well.
I was worried that they would just feed off into the timber and not out into the open more so I was hustling down the mountain then across the creek (icy rocks about made me bust my butt) and back up the other side. I thought that I was only about a mile from him when I first spotted him but I later found out that it was 1.8 miles via gps. Anyways I slowed down as I came into the first opening, I had picked out a tree that I thought I would be able to see him from on the bench below him so I was working towards that. I was about 20 yards or so into that first opening when a group of 7 does and fawns came out of nowhere feeding along the top of the opening I was in. I froze and watched to make sure there wasn't a buck with them until they fed out of sight. I continued on my way up the meadow towards my selected tree. I was about 60 yards from that tree when I caught a doe locked up on me about 80 yards to my right and slightly up hill. All I could see was her face sticking out from behind a tree looking directly at me. She was between me and where I had last seen my buck so I thought that I was screwed but she let me side step a couple of time really slowly to the left so that I got a tree behind me to break up my silhouette. This commenced a stare down that seemed to last an eternity. When she finally decided that I was nothing she actually fed towards me and way from where I thought that my buck was much to my disbelief.
I was still caught in the open so I couldn't move still but she finally made it to where there was a couple of trees between me and her in the middle of that opening which allowed me to get back to the treeline at least. From that treeline I made it another 20 yards or so to the edge of another opening that I didn't know was there initially (this is the one that the first group of does fed into). Now I was only 30 yards or so from the tree that I had picked out but it was wide open between me and it and that doe was still close so I had to wait once again. While standing there I was glassing uphill to the bench that I thought that my buck was on when I caught a deer back just over the bench edge from me where I couldn't see anything but the top of its back. I got ready in case that this was actually my buck but when it picked its head up it was just a doe. I figured that this was one of the does that he had been bedded with so they had actually fed down hill a bit more into the open which was good for me since I kept having to stop due to deer.
I gave it another 5 minutes or so while I watched up there to see if he'd show up but he never did. I figured that by this time that doe that was close had plenty of time to feed out of my way so I made my move across the open to the tree that I had picked out. I made it there without any problems to speak of but I was now too close to the bench to see over it so it became apparent that I was going to have to get onto the same bench as him in order to get a shot. So once again I started moving up hill along the edge of a timber line when wouldn't you know it that doe had doubled back and blew out at 15 yards. Some profanity went through my head but then for some reason that deer stopped running at the bottom of the hill to the next bench (the one I thought he was on) and stopped to look and see what had spooked her. By this time I was sitting down and watching her through my binos.
Go for round two of the staring contest. Once again she is between me and where I think my buck is so there is nothing I can do. For some reason she decided that everything is fine once again and started feeding back down away from where I am heading towards a different patch of timber. As I was waiting for her to reach the timber I slowly took off my pack and figured that I was close enough to him now that I could come back and get it if I got him. Once that doe was finally out of my way (15 minutes probably) I made my way up to the bottom of the hill that he would have been on top of. Then I turned and quartered too where I thought that he was halving the distance that I thought I would have to shoot since I was out of sight I thought that this was a good idea. During this process I blow out yet another doe on the same bench as me but luckily she went straight away from where I thought my buck was. I picked the last two trees that were on the edge of that bench below him to try to disguise me as I topped out.
Story to be continued down below in the replies #20 & 21 I think (got a little long after editing)
I finally found a buck that I got excited about on Friday. He isn't the biggest one out there but I am happy with him. I think the pictures turned out fairly well too considering I was there by myself
.EDIT: Ok you guys asked for the story so here goes nothing lol
I was able to sneak away from work on Thursday of last week when I had thought I was going to have to work through Friday. Due to this I was going to be by myself for the hunt on Friday but I figured what the heck it is worth a shot and all I was really hoping to do was to locate some animals to go after on Saturday. Anyways I got all of my stuff rounded up Thursday afternoon and loaded up all of the 4 wheelers for me my wife and my dad to use for the weekend once they were able to join me Friday night.
I left the house at 5:30 am, I am lucky enough to live in a place that is close to where I hunt, made one quick stop at the gas station to fill up all of the 4 wheelers and gas cans for the weekend and away I went. From the front door of my house to where I park the truck is only about a 30 minute drive. I was a little behind where I wanted to be time wise but I figured that it wouldn't matter that much because I would be able to hunt my way into where I wanted to glass from.
A little back ground on my hunting adventures since I was a little kid. I have lived for the outdoors since I can remember and moving from California to Wyoming when I was 11 certainly helped me out in that department lol. Anyways ever since my grandfather has passed away (I was 9 or 10 I think) every time we are going hunting and see a shooting star someone in our group kills something. So fast forward to this Friday on my drive up in the dark with just a skiff of light coming up over the mountains low and behold a gigantic shooting star that started over the mountains on one side of the valley and continued all the way across to the mountains on the other side. I instantly thought to myself that this is going to be a good day of hunting with grandpa. I called my dad right then and said "I'm killing something today!" he laughed and said good luck and be careful and to let him know where I find a spot to set up camp that evening before I lost cell phone signal.
So I got to the parking area a little later than I would have liked to, so I was hurrying to get a 4 wheeler unloaded and all of my gear put on it. I then bundled up since it was 18 degrees according to my truck when I parked and I had about a 14 mile ride to do in the dark (mostly). I took off out of there and headed up the mountain towards the hill I wanted to glass that morning. As the sun came up I was still riding in although there were no fresh vehicle tracks from that morning in front of me which surprised me, so I slowed down just on the off chance that I saw something off of the road. I ended up getting to my desired parking spot about 20 minutes later than I would have liked but quickly shed a couple layers and threw the pack on and up the hill I went.
I made it to the top of the hill and sat down with my spotter to start picking apart my hillside. I quickly became cold while glassing because I sweated pretty good coming up the hill trying to make up time. I wasn't seeing a whole lot so I decided to pack up and move down the ridge line a little to try to get a better view into the openings that I was looking at, and find a spot where I could be sitting with the sun on my back while glassing. On my ways down I spotted something moving in a lower opening about a mile out so I quickly got set up on it and watched this nice young bull slowly feed his way across the opening to the treeline. By the way please excuse the bad pictures through my spotter throughout this write up because I haven't been able to pick up a phone skope yet.
He stopped at that treeline and stood there looking around for quite some time before moving off out of sight. This was my elk area this year as well but I was already tagged out with a decent 6 point in bow season. My wife still has this tag however and would be tickled with a bull like this so I was trying to get some pictures to show her.
Anyways after he was out of sight I started trying to glass me up a deer and as soon as I started my search I was able to fine 3 deer in the same opening that the elk was in feeding up the treeline. This turned out to be 2 does and a very unique buck that had me thinking for a minute. His frame was maybe 12" wide at the widest point and then came back to about 9" wide at the top but I'd bet he was every bit of 25" tall. He was a 3x4 frame but then had two 4-5" kickers off the G2s on both sides. He was pretty cool but not really what I was wanting to kill. I tried to take some pictures of him but every time I would catch him in the open by the time I got my phone on the scope he was behind another tree already (I really need a phone skope). So after deciding that I wasn't going to be going after him I began to pick apart the other openings that I originally wanted to glass in the first place. This was the view of these openings from my perch a mile or so away (You can see the top of the opening that the elk and the first buck were in on the upper left of this picture).
Almost immediately I found a nice bull and cow moose moving across the openings quickly down towards the creek that is between me and them. Then as the sun started to hit the openings a bit more I started to pick out deer all over the place. It seemed like everywhere I looked I was spotting does and fawns and some bucks. So here are some of the pictures from me looking around at all of them over the next half hour or so.
Throughout this time I had 3 deer spotted bedded down in one of those openings but they were getting blasted by the sun so I was unable to tell if they were bucks or not. I was really not seeing anything that made me want to make the trek over to them but I figured that I should at least wait until those bedded deer stand up. I figured that it shouldn't take too long since they were in the sun and after maybe 15 minutes the first one stood up and started feeding. Another 10 minutes or so went by with me not so patiently watching that one doe feed before the rest decided it was time to get up. The three that I had initially seen were all does and there were actually 5 of them in total. I decided to glass just behind them in some small jack pines just in case there was a buck with them in there and sure enough as soon as I got my scope up there my buck stood up and shook then turned his head so I got to see how deep his forks were. That was about all of the time that I needed to make the decision that he was a buck I'd be happy with so I got up and started packing up all of my stuff. Looking back at it now I wish I would have taken a couple of minutes to get a few pictures of him alive but oh well.
I was worried that they would just feed off into the timber and not out into the open more so I was hustling down the mountain then across the creek (icy rocks about made me bust my butt) and back up the other side. I thought that I was only about a mile from him when I first spotted him but I later found out that it was 1.8 miles via gps. Anyways I slowed down as I came into the first opening, I had picked out a tree that I thought I would be able to see him from on the bench below him so I was working towards that. I was about 20 yards or so into that first opening when a group of 7 does and fawns came out of nowhere feeding along the top of the opening I was in. I froze and watched to make sure there wasn't a buck with them until they fed out of sight. I continued on my way up the meadow towards my selected tree. I was about 60 yards from that tree when I caught a doe locked up on me about 80 yards to my right and slightly up hill. All I could see was her face sticking out from behind a tree looking directly at me. She was between me and where I had last seen my buck so I thought that I was screwed but she let me side step a couple of time really slowly to the left so that I got a tree behind me to break up my silhouette. This commenced a stare down that seemed to last an eternity. When she finally decided that I was nothing she actually fed towards me and way from where I thought that my buck was much to my disbelief.
I was still caught in the open so I couldn't move still but she finally made it to where there was a couple of trees between me and her in the middle of that opening which allowed me to get back to the treeline at least. From that treeline I made it another 20 yards or so to the edge of another opening that I didn't know was there initially (this is the one that the first group of does fed into). Now I was only 30 yards or so from the tree that I had picked out but it was wide open between me and it and that doe was still close so I had to wait once again. While standing there I was glassing uphill to the bench that I thought that my buck was on when I caught a deer back just over the bench edge from me where I couldn't see anything but the top of its back. I got ready in case that this was actually my buck but when it picked its head up it was just a doe. I figured that this was one of the does that he had been bedded with so they had actually fed down hill a bit more into the open which was good for me since I kept having to stop due to deer.
I gave it another 5 minutes or so while I watched up there to see if he'd show up but he never did. I figured that by this time that doe that was close had plenty of time to feed out of my way so I made my move across the open to the tree that I had picked out. I made it there without any problems to speak of but I was now too close to the bench to see over it so it became apparent that I was going to have to get onto the same bench as him in order to get a shot. So once again I started moving up hill along the edge of a timber line when wouldn't you know it that doe had doubled back and blew out at 15 yards. Some profanity went through my head but then for some reason that deer stopped running at the bottom of the hill to the next bench (the one I thought he was on) and stopped to look and see what had spooked her. By this time I was sitting down and watching her through my binos.
Go for round two of the staring contest. Once again she is between me and where I think my buck is so there is nothing I can do. For some reason she decided that everything is fine once again and started feeding back down away from where I am heading towards a different patch of timber. As I was waiting for her to reach the timber I slowly took off my pack and figured that I was close enough to him now that I could come back and get it if I got him. Once that doe was finally out of my way (15 minutes probably) I made my way up to the bottom of the hill that he would have been on top of. Then I turned and quartered too where I thought that he was halving the distance that I thought I would have to shoot since I was out of sight I thought that this was a good idea. During this process I blow out yet another doe on the same bench as me but luckily she went straight away from where I thought my buck was. I picked the last two trees that were on the edge of that bench below him to try to disguise me as I topped out.
Story to be continued down below in the replies #20 & 21 I think (got a little long after editing
)
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