Netherman's 2023 Hunting Season Recap

[Netherman]

I've enjoyed doing these write ups the past few years and think it's been huge in helping me grow my skillset. The feedback from more senior members as well as the self reflection aspect has been very helpful. So, without further ado, here's the wall of text no one asked for.

2023 (Bonus Hunt)

A co-worker drew a MI cow elk tag, so I get to start my year out helping him. After that a friend and I would be bow hunting Kansas whitetails for a week then heading to MT for rifle deer with his family and two of our buddies. Not sure how I feel spending a weeks’ vacation on a species we have at home, but with everything I’ve heard about giants around every corner I’m interested in giving KS a try.

2023 MI Cow Elk

A month or so of e-scouting and a few phone calls to the local biologist and I was on my way up in late august to meet my friend. The Michigan elk hunts are broken into two season each with three 4-day periods. We’d be hunting the first season and with my limited vacation I planned to hunt the first two days of the first period then all four days of the second.

Day 0/1

The season started with a mandatory meeting for all tag holders on a Monday before the Tuesday start of hunting. As a non-tag holder, I worked Monday and left after work. I headed up to meet my friend at a campground near our planned hunting area that he’d been at since the weekend as he had to attend the meeting. After a few last-minute truck issues corrected I was on my way and arrived at camp around 9pm. Two beers, a morning weather check, and alarms set, and we were off to bed.

At early dark thirty we were in the truck headed to our hunting area. I’ve been in the opening day game long enough to know that we needed to be at “our” spot 30 minutes or so ahead of our actual need to beat the crowd. Well, we got there early but no one else showed up. We waited until gray light then headed in towards our destination glassing area while still hunting along the way. After glassing a few groups of deer, I noticed my friend didn’t have his, actually my, binos with him. I told him we needed to go back for those as we’d be using them all day and sharing wasn’t an option. Back at the truck another car was pulling in. I went and talked to them about our plan, and we agreed to split the area in half with us sticking to the north half while they hunted the south half.

With the area split and binos in hand chest packs we were back on our way. We continued spotting deer, but no sightings of the species we were after. Eventually, we made it to our planned glassing area. We spotted a few groups of deer including a nice 10-point buck. We worked the edges glassing everything we could and eventually spotted three elk feeding out in front of us. All bulls. Of course, we have a cow tag... As we continue watching them, we spot two more elk following them. A small bull and a cow! We crept in closing the distance but ran out of cover and couldn’t get closer than 330. Wanting a shot inside 200 we waited for them to hit a pocket of cover and got after them. Slowly we walked out after them glassing where they had come from worried about more trailing elk. Suddenly the elk had made it thru the pocket and were back in the open with us out in the open. We hit the deck, but too late, they had spotted us. Waiting until they moved back into the cover, or we ran to get into position where it looked like they would pop out again. Just like that and they were out in front of us three bulls and one cow. Shouldn’t they be in bachelor groups this time of year? “Are you sure that one’s a cow?”. Sure looked like it. And then she turned towards us, and then we saw HIS nubs. DON'T SHOOT. Couldn’t have been more than 3 inches, but they were there. Well shit… Back to the drawing board.

On the plus side, it started raining. That perfect amount of rain and warm weather where you’re not sure if you want to sweat in rain gear or just get, we from the rain. I opted to get wet (never the right call, but the one I typically make). We continued hiking and glassing and were getting a good feel for the area. We found some food plots that the DNR had put in, some large aspen stands, and some open grassy areas. At one point I thought I found an area that smelled “elky”, but nothing really panned out there. Around 11 we decided to go check out one last open pocket, head back to the truck, get some lunch, and make an evening plan. On the walk back the rain that had been going on and off all day picked back up heavy again. Already wet, it seemed pointless to put the rain gear on, but on it went. A few hundred yards from the last field we turned a corner and were 150 yards from a herd bull with 6 cows. Let the rodeo begin. Only the bull had seen us and was feeling spooky but didn’t want to leave his cows. The bipod was too low to shoot over the small berm, so I told him to shoot off my shoulder. I’d done this a few times and thought it would work but didn’t account for the frame on my pack. I realized my error when I felt the forearm of his rifle on the top of my bicep. Trying my best to hold still I realized this wasn’t going to work. I pivoted my had down to my side forming a triangle and immediately felt things steady up and BOOM! It looked like a good hit, but they all balled up trying to figure out what was going on in the downpour. He reloaded and we moved up to the top of the berm, got the bipod set, and waited until all the unwounded elk moved away. One more (likely unneeded) shot and she was down for good.

The tagging process in MI is super involved. You put your tag on them, then you call the DNR, and they come check the elk. There are so few tags that they are able to manage them at this level, collecting samples for testing, as well checking that you shot the correct animal. We sure were glad we got some good looks at that first “cow”. from there on out it was all sunshine and rainbows, both literally and figuratively. The rain stopped, the sun came out, and the DNR officer opened a closed road for us so we could drive to the elk. It was the best packout I’ll ever experience. We quartered the elk straight into the cooler in the bed of the truck. We were back at camp by 3pm and after a victory beer I was headed home less than 24 hours from when I had left. I don’t know if MI elk hunting is this much of a layup or if we ran into some special circumstances with the overcast and rainy weather keeping them on their feet late into the morning, I just hope I get my own chance to find out one day.

Lessons Learned: If you are moving in on a target animal, go as quickly as possible. Bumping trailing elk might have hurt that opportunity but would not have caused a negative impact on our target animals. Make your move and make it as efficiently as possible.

Questions: N/A

Trip Thoughts: The whirlwind trip is going to keep this short. I had a great time seeing a new part of my home state but feel like we got a bit cheated tagging out so quickly. We never got a chance to look at other areas, but an elk sighting rate of 2 per hour blows my western elk hunting out of the water. Even if we had a bull tag, we would have at least tried to hang in on the midday herd bull. Hoping to get my change one day and I’ve definitely got a good starting point.

Noteworthy Gear: Not much to talk about here. Binos were the ticket and with the thickness of MI tripods and spotting scopes wouldn’t do much good unless you had pre-scouted vantage points (there might be 1 within a 50 mile radius).

Gear to Buy/Consider: I wish we had a standing height bipod. It would have worked better than my chicken wing and been quicker. I also think 15s would have been cool for this hunt. Something with a bit more zoom would have been nice when we were trying to make sure it was a cow and not button bull. They’re already on the list but do feel like a niche type item as 10s + spotter can do everything the 15s can.

 

[Netherman]

2023 KS Whitetail and MT Deer (The Main Event)

Last time I did a two-week trip I said I’d never do one again unless it was an Alaskan hunt where that length of time is nearly mandatory. Well here we are. Figuring out how to jam gear for a whitetail bowhunt and a western rifle hunt into a ½ ton truck with cooler space for the possibility of two bucks and does in KS then 4 more deer in MT. Needless to say if we catch fire, we’d be doing some boning.

Day 0/1

Ducked out of work early, got the truck packed, and were on the road by noon. As always driving thru Chicago sucked, but otherwise the drive went smoothly, and we arrived at the campground somewhere between one and two in the morning. Got the tents up and alarms set for 45 minutes before sunrise. We got up and our first day plan was to scout all day. Driving and glassing our way different WIH and state areas. Before graylight turned to color we spotted a good buck in what looked to be a winter food plot on state land. Continuing on we drove a few more properties and saw one other hunter. One hunter?!? This was a dramatic shift from our typical experience on MI public. On a piece of WIH we spotted a bachelor group of good bucks with one giant feeding in sorghum. We spun around and walked into the area towards what looked light a high vantage, hoping to glass the bucks. Unfortunately, the trees were too tall for the hill we were on so we decided to walk in to some of the water and check for sign. After that, we scratched a few areas off the list and walked into a few more. One we walked into without bows and would have had a gimme on a doe. KS gives you a doe tag when you buy a buck tag, but I didn’t want to shoot one unless it was convenient. 15yds broadside would have fit the bill, but my lazy ass left the bow back in the truck. Rather than glassing again that evening we decided to sit the green field and see if that same buck fed back out.

I found a scrape to set up on just inside the treeline and my friend set up on the inside corner. As I sat the more I wanted to get down and move in further. Unfortunately doing that would blow my wind in front of my friend and potentially ruin his hunt. About an hour before end of legal shooting I hear a deer blow towards my friend’s location, grab my bow, and get ready. A few minutes later a doe moves thru at 50 yds, no shot, and not really sure I want the chaos that would ensue after a shot anyway. After that I watched a few does filter into the field about 100yds away. Then darkness set in and I headed back to the truck.



Lessons Learned: When doing tandem hunts try and separate enough so you are able to make moves without impacting the other guy.

Questions: N/A

 

[Netherman]

Day 2

We spent the morning glassing some more and midday went back and scouted the WIH area where we saw the bucks the previous morning. Wanting to look for sign in the patches of timber my friend got set up on the downwind side while I walked thru with the wind at my back. The dream was to get a look at the sign while also being in the game in case the bucks were bedded in there. Well, we were half successful, there were lots of tracks and some with bucks standing in them. I spotted them frozen at 70yds looking thru my soul. After a short stare down, they took off wind to nose. Friend never even saw them.

For the evening hunt I decided to try and get close to the pockets of trees that the midday bucks ran towards. Not sure if they kept going or were holed up in the trees it seemed like a 50/50 shot. Luckily it was a windy day as the gusting allowed me to creep then crawl thru the thigh high sorghum. I got within 50yds of one pocket and the small depression we had seen the bucks the previous morning. After an hour baking in the sun wondering why I had brought so many clothes it finally started to cool off. About two and a half hours before last light a giant stood up 80yards away next to a second pocket of trees. He was BIG, with a giant body that almost made his impressive rack look small. Before I had a chance to decide if I should grunt or wait, he took off on a trot. A few seconds later he was cresting the hill and out of my life. Did my wind swirl in the bowl, did he hear or see me? With no idea what had happened I decided to sit it out and see if more deer popped out of the trees I was set on. About 20 minutes after the buck blew out I spotted a bobcat in front of me. It was the coolest looking bobcat I had ever seen with lots of spotting on its sides. Did it bump the buck? Seems plausible, but as it walked into the pocket I was on my confidence sank. And rightfully so as I didn’t see anything the rest of the night.

Lessons Learned:N/A

Questions: N/A

Day 3

After seeing a buck in the green winter food plot two mornings in a row I decided to hunt the wood edge he was moving back into. I got in a half mile or so away from the field and got set on an inside corner. I saw a few does move thru on private, but not sign of the buck. Maybe they reacted to a bit of our pressure from the past evening sit? I also wondered if I was lulled into a bad sit due to the lack of pressure. Sitting a field edge for a big buck is something I would never do on MI public land.

That evening I went for a scout/still hunt on the WIH piece around some water. Bumped a few does and one unknown, but pretty uneventful.

Lessons Learned: N/A

Questions: N/A

 

[Netherman]

Day 4

Not having much intel from the evening I decided to sit the timber pockets and see if I could beat them back to bed. I heard some birds and a racoon fight, but no deer. We’d been having some weird shuddering in the truck since we arrived in KS so we decided to do some investigating. With some googling and tools I’ve got access to at work we were able to figure out that there the torque converter was going bad. Which is pretty suboptimal when you’re 1000 miles from home. After a few phone calls to GM dealers we began to appreciate the small town experience. One dealer directed us to a local transmission repair shop. They seemed very knowledgeable and understanding of our situation. They made us aware of the potential for transmission damage as a result of this, but that it might just need a new torque converter. We got a rental car and a promise that the truck would be fixed by Friday so we could continue on to montana.

That evening was a quick walk/hunt as we didn’t make it back to the WIH area until 530pm. I didn’t see much, but my friend saw two good bucks on the edge of a sorghum field.

Lessons Learned: I got surprisingly cold this morning. Being down in that bottom bowl caused the cold air to settle and I didn’t want to be there (maybe the deer didn’t either). Looking back it might have been a place to check into mid-morning when things heated up and the deer needed to get somewhere cool.

Questions: I haven’t experienced those levels of temp swings in the more timbered state of MI. Will the deer re-bed mid morning in prairie country from a warm spot to a cooler one? Seems plausible.


Day 5

I decided to sit the bedding area I had bumped the deer out of the previous day. It was a disaster with the wind direction. Swirling every direction. I had a W wind moving E and every which way. I had a deer blow at me 20 min or so before first light and by the time I had the wind figured out in the pocket/elevation I think I missed my opportunity at a clean hunt. Midday we hiked into a few new WIH areas and creek bottoms. We found one area with a good amount of buck sign but nothing worth walking away from the other area.

That my friend wanted to hunt where he had seen the bucks the night before and I decided to go sit a funnel leading to water. When I got there I wasn’t in love with the spot as there was a lot of open area. I just didn’t feel like I’d see daylight movement thru so I continued up the draw into a second pinch. Same result. It looked like deer would move thru here, but still felt very open. I kept walking in until I was out space for the deer to come from. Moving towards another pocket of trees I heard a deer spook but never saw it. Moving to the other side of the pocket I tried to get between it and the water. I was a bit late to the game and got busted by a group of does crossing the wide open. (maybe they do that around here). I ran around trying to get back in front but never saw anything after that.

Fortunately, my friend had a better evening than I did. He shot a doe early, got down to make sure she was down and 15 minutes after he got back in his tree a giant stood up on the sorghum. It was bedded 80yds from him and luckily the higher winds kept him oblivious to the happenings just outside his pocket of solitude. Unfortunately, his shot was a bit back. Not seeing much and him wanting to give the buck a bit of time, he climbed down and I climbed up. In the tree less than 30 min and a doe walks in (this spot is ridiculous). She walked in along the fence line and once she got inside 20 I lined up and let the arrow go. CRACK. The arrow looked like it planed and went off into the woods. Did I hit her or could I have hit a strand on the fence? I hadn’t even considered that prior to the shot. With an hour left I decided to wait it out and see if another big boy rolled thru. No big bucks, but a second doe came thru grunting inside 10yds and away from the fence, but without confirmation on my previous shot I let her walk. No bucks walked thru so I got down and found my arrow no blood and no significant damage to the broadhead. Was my drop away not working correctly?

After dark I found my arrow clean and chipped, we got my buddies doe quartered and back to the rental, then we started looking for the buck. Within 50yds we found half the arrow (strange for a gut shot) but it was bloody and smelled like gut so we decided to give it the night and check back in the morning. Lots of question marks kept us both up thru the night. His being worry about finding the buck and mine worry about a bow issue causing the arrow to plane.

Lessons Learned: Shoot your bow when you arrive and continually thru the hunt as convenience allows. Doubt is a terrible thing to have with your weapon.

Questions: N/A

 

[Netherman]

Day 6

I couldn’t get the bow thing out off my mind so at 5am I decided to go shoot my bow. Unfortunately, the bow target was back at the transmission shop with the truck. I keep a small game tip in my quiver for grouse (never saw one in KS and didn’t know if they were open anyway). I was able to take a few shots with it and confirm that the bow was functioning properly. After that it was time for me to head out for the morning hunt. The plan was for me to try and sneak into the bedding pockets, hunt the first hour or so before “good” light then head over and help look for last night’s buck. Knowing where I wanted to get and a steady W wind I walked into the pocket, but quickly found why the liked bedding in there so much. The wind was everywhere. Mostly W, sometimes N or S, and occasionally E. Far from optimal but with no time for a plan B, I sat it out. After the 3rd deer blew at me I let my buddy know I was on the way.

The blood started good and was darker and less “gutty” than we had been expecting. It started out great with a good “blob” of blood, but after a hundred yards or so it slowed way down and the real work began. Hands and knees bad we circled around my bow marking last blood. Little by little we pieced it together until we hit a water hole. We found blood entering the water and then the same large tracks on the other side moving into a pocket of trees. Between the water and pocket we didn’t find a drop of blood. Having busted deer out of the pocket previously we decided on a body search. 30 minutes later we were back at the water discussing dogs, the possibility of losing the deer, and how you could end up with half an arrow on a gut shot. Still looking I found blood on the far side of the water (he must have gone in, out, in, and out). Back on the trail we were back to the hands and knees with blood specks coming every 30-50yds. Eventually we connected back to a meadow we had followed the first trail thru. Did he walk back thru? Maybe the blood clot was from the second pass. We followed it back to the shot assuming he had walked back thru with no revelations. Out of ideas we decided to grid search the close trees (a L shaped patch roughly 50yds wide). At one point I called my friend over because I thought I smelled gut but seemed like it was from the previous night’s doe. After the search was completed, we were back at the shot thinking what to do next. The last idea was a grid search of the sorghum he was bedded in the night before. It was a small 6-8 acre field. The day was getting hot and without water we decided to get the first pass thru, hit the truck for water, and finish after that. Miraculously, the buck was laying 5 rows in and possibly in the same bed he had stepped out of the night before.

With that stress out of our lives I ran back to the rental and got some water, Gatorade, and busch lights (we earned them). Holy shit, was his body big. He was far and away the biggest whitetail I had ever walked up on. I’m not one for weighing deer, but he was a good 30% bigger than most “big” Michigan bucks I have walked up on. He made my 220lb buddy look small. I wouldn’t be shocked if you told me he weighed 350lb. Quick trophy pics and we started quartering him. It would have been an 300yd drag, but with the gut compromised and since he’d end up quartered in the cooler anyway we went “western” style on him. Packing him out with a fully empty pack he was still heavy, but laughable compared to some of our previous packouts.

Having mucked up the area with my morning “hunt” and blood trailing I opted to hunt a different sorghum field that evening. It was a bit of a walk, but I found an inside corner with a scrape and a good wind. There was river bottom bedding in some willow and likely sorghum bedding. With a strong W wind I should be set up will for both. I climbed three trees within 30yds of each other before I was happily set. Then the three hour wait for things to cool off began. Closing in on prime time the wind swirled from the N. I glanced back at the willow bedding, but it seemed like it was still avoiding their fortress of solitude. Was that a… Giant buck! Who is now running away from me. He must have walked in from a different direction or skipped the willow ramp up to the field and was going to climb up behind me. It at least seemed like that was his plan prior to winding me. Now he was running out of my life forever.

Without better prospects and still clean in the sorghum I sat out the evening. 10-15 minutes before last light another giant stood up in the sorghum. He was 120 yards away and just standing looking. 5 minutes went without a move. Then 10, then 15, then it was after legal light. He kept standing there and I kept watching him until I couldn’t see. Not wanting to spook him, but not wanting to spend the night in the tree either, I decided to leave my sticks and platform in the tree. I eased out of there as quietly as possible, planning to be back in the same tree the next morning.

Lessons Learned: Stay the course on a blood trail. Don’t try and take a shortcut and jump ahead in the last direction. This can speed up the process, and probably not horrible if it’s an easy track, but this one wasn’t easy.

Questions: N/A

 

[Netherman]

 

[Netherman]

Day 7

Back in the tree dark and early. It was an uneventful morning. Had a racoon walk under me and a coyote walked the sorghum edge 25yds in front of me. I did see two does walking the far treeline, but that was over 500yds away and not very promising. Mid-day we picked up my friend’s truck and I headed back out for the last evening.

Limited for time, not overly excited about a third sit, and with a hot day. I decided to hunt the water hole that the buck had walked thru. The W wind was good for either the N or S pocket of trees. I brought my saddle but couldn’t find a tree to get into. Had I planned ahead, I would have brought a hang on and tied down some branches in a lone cedar. It would have been perfect. Instead, I ended up sitting on the ground next to the berm the cedar was next to. I tied two branches down and had a good window to the S and only my head was visible to the N.

About an hour before last light, I spotted a doe and fawn trotting down a cow trail mouths open. They looked as thirsty as I felt (forgot to bring water). Wanting meat for the freezer I decided to shoot the doe if I could. I was hidden behind the berm but needed to stand to shoot and would be exposed. There was a single tree that they were headed towards that might give me enough cover to stand and draw. Trying to stand I slipped on the hill, hit a knee, then got up. I drew then peered over the hill and the deer were still trotting in clearly focused on water and not me. Watching her trot right to left in front of me I tracked her in my sight and wondered if I should try and stop here or not. Loud mmmeh, whistle, shoot on the move??? Better decide... there’s a bush she’s about to get behind. 15yds should be a layup, maybe I should just… aaaaaahhhhh… whump. I watched in disgust as my arrow flew right thru her guts. I panicked and blew it. I’ve never shot a walking deer and in hindsight should have taken a breath, tried to stop her, or even let her make it to the water and try and make another move. On the ground inside 20yds is a whole other level of intensity vs rifle hunt or even a treestand. I sat until dark and did have a doe come in (broadside at 15…), but never saw a buck.

Back at the truck I told my friend the bad news. Needing to leave for MT early the next morning we opted to give it 4-6 hours before picking up the trail. Knowing better and praying for a bit of liver or artery luck we slowly followed the blood. After the first 200 yds without a bed it wasn’t looking promising. We painstakingly followed blood another 400 yds around the small sorghum field and into the large sorghum field. 200+ acre large. Silently realizing it was a lost cause and with daylight approaching, we made a few halfhearted passes and headed back to the truck.

Lessons Learned: Don’t shoot in a panic. I’ll be doing some work on this from a target panic shooting perspective as well as mentally. Being “removed” from things either in a tree or behind a scope seems much different for me vs on the ground and “in their world”.

Questions: Always looking for tips and tricks to help with target panic and mental state.


Day 8

It didn’t and still doesn’t feel great not finding the doe, but we needed to be on the road to meet our crew in MT. My friend and I had two guys from our fraternity coming out to hunt with us. Neither of them had hunted out west before, so we’d be splitting them up and doing a bit of “guiding”. We spent the rest of the day driving and arrived in camp around 10pm, unpacked, organized gear, loaded packs and I tried to get into a better headspace for this weeks hunt.

Lessons Learned: Don’t feel like you are wasting time not sitting a “stand”. I think I should have spent more time observing before committing a morning or evening. Getting up on a ridge or tree and just glassing to pattern a deer seems like a better strategy in hindsight.

Questions: N/A

 

[Netherman]

Day 9

Truck packed from the night before we headed out early and arrived at our hunting spot with no trucks in the parking area (always a win on opening day). Not getting a buck in KS and likely killing, but not finding, that doe really had me in a bad headspace. I’m extremely competitive in all things and filling tags is arguably something that I focus too much on. Sometimes I need to step back and think how I’m doing pretty well for a guy with only 10 years of hunting experience. Hell, I’m out here “guiding” a guy who’s been hunting MI longer than I’ve been alive. Thinking of the guiding, I need to get my head right for his sake. He didn’t buy a tag, allocate vacation, and make the 2,000 mile commute for me to pout about a previous hunt all week.

With a “fake it ‘til you make it” mentality, we hiked into a glassing spot I knew about from previous years. Once gray light hit I was “straining” to find a deer but coming up empty. I knew better, but every year I get that mild panic that we aren’t in the right spot as the daylight grows. Eventually it actually becomes light out and we start spotting deer. A group of does here, more does there, and a bigger group with a forky. Nothing to write home about (guess I’ll write here then…) but seeing deer is wayyy better than not seeing deer. We sat a bit longer and with no new prospects, we decided to still hunt a few cuts and get some closer eyes on the group with the forky and see if there’s a buck on the outside we missed. We bumped a few does and spotted a white coyote laying across a cut from us, but nothing we were after.

Talking to my buddy who was hunting a few access points away said there was a lot of pressure, which killed our plan of walking in from a new access I hadn’t been to before. Instead, the afternoon had us walking into a new area I wanted to check out. It was some rolling stuff that fell into a river. It looked sweet on the map which is probably why there were so many hunters in the area. Eventually we found a section without other hunters, and we started our walk in. with the above average temperatures we got to a decent glassing spot and waited for things to cool off. Not loving our view, or lack thereof we started walking a thick timbered knife ridge and peered into the cuts falling off of it. First, we spotted a group of does, then another, eventually we spotted a fork the next ridge over. We stared at him for a bit, but he didn’t seem to have any buddies. We walked around and spotted a doe at last light but nothing making us want a return trip.

Lessons Learned: All the deer we saw were in green patches of snowberry. Something to keep in mind going forward.

Questions: N/A

 

[Netherman]

 

[Netherman]

Day 10

With the pressure report high in our favorite area I decided we’d go on a walk in some coulee country that I’ve never had much luck in but had seen a few bucks and always felt like it should hold more than I’ve seen. We went on a good long walk and found an alfalfa field “protected” by an electric fence. There were plenty of places the fence was low, and a deer could cross easily. We spotted a group of 5 does bedded but no bucks. Continuing on, we got a good view of a cliff band about a half mile away. We picked it apart off the tripod with 10s and the spotter. We found a few doe groups and one fork, but nothing to get excited about.

Maybe if we hung around until the evening, we’d get some movement and possibly pick a buck, but with past experience in this area saying density was low, we kept moving. Back at the truck we decided to check out another new area. It was lower, but had some good topography, and looked like it had water. We hiked up a small hill and peered over the edge. We didn’t spot anything but dropped the packs and got comfortable. We had a good vantage and could drop behind the hill if we needed to make a move quickly.

Not long after got set up to glass we spotted two muley does. They were quartering towards us feeding and the group began to grow. Eventually they picked up a buck my “client” was interested in. They were on a great path for us to intercept. We’d just need to drop back sidehill over above the small saddle they seemed to be working towards and wait. We made our move in 5 minutes or so and when we got eyes back on them they were on high alert. Not from us but from a group of coyotes that was 100-150 yards away in the long grass. Eventually the does decided they’d had enough and began pulling the group along the bottom of the ridge we were on. They followed reluctantly single file with one straggler doe keeping an eye on the coyotes. Eventually she retreated with the rest of her buddies. Once we were out of sight we got behind the ridge and booked it along our side of the ridge to hopefully cut them off before they made it to the private. We popped over the lip just in time to watch the group hopping a fence onto a private hay field. We stared at them for 30-45 minutes wishing they’d decide there was better stuff on our side of the fence, but when they moved into the hills above the hay and bedded we decided to move on.

We glassed around a bit but came up empty. With they coyotes presumably blowing out the bottom we decided to walk thru and get a better lay of the land. We made a big loop and worked in to see a low spot that looked like it held water. As we got close a nice whitetail buck appeared at 200 yards broadside. He was about as surprised to see us as we were him. My “client” didn’t want to shoot a whitetail and my rifle was strapped to my pack (amateur hour). By the time I got it off, a bolt ratcheted, and on the bipod set he was 300 and counting. As expected, he never stopped and jumped over the fence onto private.

It was about as good as an unsuccessful day could be. We got on deer and had opportunity. Going into day three on a six day hunt the “gotta get one” pressure was creeping back in. We’ll be back in the morning and hopefully get it done. On the plus side my friend and his “client” got a buck. 1 down 3 to go.

Lessons Learned: N/A

Questions: Beyond “quit worrying about it” are there things that could help with stress from wanting to be successful?

 

[Netherman]

Day 11

The next morning the wind had flipped so we were walking in from the opposite side of the property. It had another long ridge that we hiked up onto. We found a great vantage but with the fog we only had 300yds or so of visibility. We decided to wait an hour and see of the sun would burn it off. If not we’d go on some walks thru the cuts and hope to get eyes on one before it saw us. The fog started to lift but was still coming thru in waves. It was pretty frustrating as we’d get a window and be able to see 800-1000yds but then get right back to 300. As it rolled back in you would focus, then focus, then strain, then realize it was fog and you weren’t going to get thru it.

We spotted a group of does at the point of our ridge. A few fog cycles later they had a decent buck trailing the group. We didn’t need to see more so off we went. Once we got off the ridge and into the cut we started tip toing thru the rolling fog. They looked like they were traveling on a mission, but once they made it into the cut maybe they’d stop and browse around a bit. Creeping thru the fog we moved our 300yd circle of visibility all the way to the end where there was a small pond. As if we were mountain hunting I spotted the deer on moving above “the clouds” thru a small saddle 500yds or so away. Looks like we needed to pack running shoes into this area instead of boots. We took off after them but by the time we’d crested the hill they were gone. We made a big loop thru some more coulees but couldn’t turn them up. On our way back to the truck we jumped a group of deer in the tall grass on the public private edge not far from the saddle we had last seen them. No sign of the buck but it seemed likely that this was the direction they had gone once they crested.

Having walked thru most of the 1.5-2mile area we decided to give the spot a rest and check out some new areas. We drove to a new spot I wanted to check out, but it must have recently flipped to a mule deer draw area (good thing they had a sign posted at the sign in box). With that area a bust and limited time we hurried to the area we hunted the first morning that we call “the gates”. It holds deer and didn’t have any pressure on the opener. Hopefully we’d be alone and the deer would be around. We arrived a bit late but the access point was empty. With the wind blowing hard off the hills we hiked straight towards them to a vantage that would let us scan the treeline.

Glassing on our hike in I spotted a deer in a pocket of trees, just below treeline. Stopped and glassed and there were two bucks, then three, then we stopped looking and started moving. We got a hill between us and the bucks, rolled around to get the wind right, and worked in towards the deer. We dropped our packs, an OnX pin on the packs (that pin drop was a hard learned lesson), and dropped his rifle. He’d be using mine as he didn’t have a bipod and I knew a longer shot over tall grass might be required. A few low crawls, one wire fence, and we were crawling in. we got to 250 and started peeking at them there were 9 bucks in the group. My theory is that the screaming winds got them out of the thick timber and into somewhere they could see better.

We sorted thru them and there were three all about the same class. With the howling wind and the deer still bedded we decided to get closer. We crawled into 150yds and were on the crest of the hill. We probably could have gotten closer but prone on the slight hill was going to be better than anything closer. We settled in, but didn’t have long to wait. 10 minutes or so later they started standing up. Two bucks clinked antlers and eventually one of the ones we were after stood up. A few steps later and the buck cleared the pack. Boom. Watching the shot I saw blood fly below his belly. Shoot him again, I yelled. “Why” was his response… the buck ran and tipped over a few seconds later shot thru the heart. I sure wish I had that level of confidence…

Down at the deer we discussed whether he wanted to cape for a shoulder mount. He wanted to do a euro so that would save some time. He was very interested in the gutless method as little to no one does that in MI. We ran back, grabbed our gear, and got to work on the buck. We knocked it our pretty quick and were finishing up just as the sun had left the sky for the night. Got him a few cool pack-out pictures and began our hike back to the truck. Mostly downhill and only carrying half a deer made things nice. Quick stop for gas and a victory beer and we were back at the B&B before two other groups (how’s that for efficiency).

Lessons Learned: Not everyone likes to crawl. I really like a quote from Remi Warren that’s something along the lines of “go the best way, not the easy way”. No one likes crawling, but most everyone I know likes being successful.

Questions: N/A

 

[Netherman]

Day 12

Now I’m on deck. I really wanted to try the treestand game on a pancake flat piece of public where I had seen some good whitetails, but with a spectator in tow that wasn’t going to work. Instead we did a slow creep thru the piece. Spotted a few does and a big group of cattle, but no bucks. I’m sure they were in there, but we’d need a different approach or more patience to be effective.

That evening me and my tag carrying buddy decided to rode together to a whitetail area we like and hunt separately. I went on a loop thru an area I had shot a good deer a few years ago and he went into one we had bumped a really good buck out of before. We got in fairly early so I hiked into a spot I could glass a bit from cover and wait for prime time. A storm was blowing in so we had N winds with on and off snow, so hopefully things would get a bit of an early start. An hour or so in I heard a truck rolling down the two track back towards my location. I knew that might be a possibility when I walked in. The two track is closed, but there’s no gate and I’d seen trucks on it before. As they drove by I started walking to hopefully get to an area they could see me. I missed them on the way in, but they ended up driving to the end of the road then turning around. I caught them on their way out and gave them the “got here first” wave. Hopefully I wouldn’t see them again. Either way I wasn’t pumped on the cover between me and the road so I decided to give it up and hike thru it to the other side. From past experience the majority of the deer come from that side anyway and I’d at least have a head start on anyone else that might drive down the road.

As I worked towards the bottom cover I was in a coverless alfalfa field. The only cover I had was topography. Luckily this area had a bit of a plateau in the field that I could crawl around and glass 270* from. I quickly spotted two does feeding so I crawled in for a closer look and saw 6-8 does all feeding. With them missing headgear I backed off and crawled to a different edge. Over there I saw a doe way out in the bottom I thought they’d be coming from. 10-15 minutes of watching an no more deer spotted I decided to peek over the third lip. Over there I saw more does and they were all wrapping around towards the first edge. Not sure if I missed a buck moving between spots I crawled back over to the first spot. There were 10-15 deer now all does. There was still a spot I didn’t have a good angle on and with 30 minutes of light left I decided to try and crawl into position in view of the does. I was doing ok but eventually with so many eyes I got spotted. Luckily I was spotted by “the doe who cried wolf”. She stomped and stared at me as the other dismissed her. It was pretty cool to see the herd dynamic. But now I was pinned as the doe wouldn’t let it go. Eventually she started walking in at me stomping every 10-15 yards. Once she got inside 50 she’d had enough and took off running pulling the heard with her. I jumped up to try and get a look at the group. Through the white tails I searched for antlers, but never saw any. There must have been 30+ deer in the group so I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a small buck, but I’d be surprised if I missed a good one.

Back at the truck my friend had seen a few bucks and a couple decent ones, but couldn’t get close enough before it got too dark. With two days and two tags left we decided we’d both walk into that spot in the morning and sit on two different bedding areas.

Lessons Learned: I think the truck coming thru changed my strategy too much. Rather than find a stadium seat to watch from I ran onto the field and was too close to get a good view of the game. I don’t think there was a good buck in that group, but if I had been 4-500 away on the next hill over I would know.

Questions: N/A

 

[Netherman]

Day 13

Back dark and early we were walking in. The plan was to setup along a bottom covering some good thick bedding cover. On the walk in we bumped into a group of does. Luckily they saw us and circled downwind before trotting away without blowing. No harm no foul; no deer were alerted, and no big buck was coming in downwind of us anyway. I got set where I could see across some pasture land into a thin strip of trees. Our plan was to sit until 10 and see what came in to bed, moved thru the treeline, or bedded out there. It was bitter cold and I was sitting exposed. I slowly got all my layers on as quickly as I could. As daylight grew I spotted movement in the timber. Unfortunately it was a group of young cattle. Not going to get much excitement warmth from that. As the morning parade of cattle wore on I was thinking we really should have agreed on 9…

Sometime around 9 or 9:15 I start hearing this bird chirping behind me. It sounded a lot like my friend’s half assed whistle. After it made a “Nick” call, I realized what was going on. My friend was tired of the cow parade and wanted to move on. We talked about the bitter cold while I packed up. Mid conversation my friend spots a deer out on the treeline. “it’s a buck, not a shooter”. We keep looking and spot a trailer that’s a good bit better. We scramble to get guns ready, while the deer run right at us. Literally trotting across the pasture, hit our side of the cover and turn broadside at 80. I struggled to get my bipod fully extended (it must have got some condensation on it that froze in the near zero conditions). Eventually I gave up and opted to shuffle over 3-4 feet on the hillside, got steady looking thru the tips of the tall grass, and let one go. He bolted into the cover, into a small opening and tipped over.

I still don’t know how they didn’t see us. We were sitting in some thigh high grass and I was moving around packing up. I think they ran across the field because they didn’t like being exposed but they would have been too close to the cattle to make the next bit of cover. Whether it was a deaf, dumb, blind, or all three buck I was pumped to get one down. It’d been a long two weeks. After the high fives and pictures, I sent my friend on his way to go find a buck. I shouldn’t be bad to break this one down and packed it out. It was a mile and a half but fairly flat bottomland and was a deer not an elk.

With it being so easy terrain I decided to pack it all out in one trip. Whole bone in deer plus a 25-30lb pack is never a good plan and wasn’t this time either. After I got it all sinched down I sat next to my pack, slid my arms thru, buckled the chest and belt straps, rolled to my knees, and struggled to stand. It didn’t happen the first try. Round two I did a longer split lunge step up and struggled to my feet. Now I had a new kind of trouble. How would I get this pack off? Not sure how to get down without hurting myself I decided my best option was to get to the truck and drop it on the tailgate while I was still standing. It SUCKED walking with this much weight. My knees hurt and I could feel every tendon in me legs as I trudged along. The worst part was the gate crossings. Trying to balance the load while undoing the pressure wire gate was nerve racking. I cranked up the music on my phone to help drone out my thoughts of what a bad idea this was. With “Fred Bear” helping me along I kept going. 2-3 rests later I made it back to the truck, got the pack off, and texted my friend that he’d be packing solo if he got one…

He didn’t find one. He ended up walking a big loop thru some bedding we’d seen them in before, but didn’t turn anything up. Wet and cold from sweat and snow, we headed back to the B&B to get some dry clothes for the evening hunt. With the lack of observed pressure and group of 9 well… 8 bucks running around we decided to head back to the area we call the gates.

It was another world from what I had seen two days ago. Everything was covered in a foot of snow or more. We hiked into a glassing spot that would let us stare at the bedding location from two days ago as well as a lot more treeline. We weren’t hurting for sightings or bucks. And good ones. Unfortunately, they were all on the wrong side of the line. We spotted doe group after doe group strung out along the treeline, but nothing we were interested in. As we debated moving in for a closer look at some close to the line I spotted a good buck (big framed 4x4) back in the bowl all the bucks were in before. It was ¾-1 mile away and we were on the clock. We double-timed it to get closer and checked the wind (wasn’t as good as last time). With limited time left the best option was for him to basically go straight at him and try and keep the wind “just off” to the side. I hung back not wanting to add scent to a delicate situation I’d also be able to see if the buck spooked and get an idea where to start in the morning. I never heard a shot and out of the darkness I spotted his headlamp and quickly turned mine on. He made it up there and thought he kept the wind good, but found and empty bowl when he got up there. It was a long time between the spot and when we got up there. My money is that he just finished feeding there and moved on down the backside of the cut where we couldn’t see him.

Lessons Learned: Heavy Heavy packouts are dumb. I could have injured myself potentially impacting next year hunting or even longer. It’s not worth it or really that much work to make two trips. I don’t know what my pack weighed but would guess in the 90+ range. I’ll be doing some at home testing and rough quarter weight research to try and come up with a limit and plan for how heavy I am comfortable/willing to accept.

I also wish I had stayed back at the original spotting point or maybe moved a tad to get the optimal view of where the buck was. I wasn’t needed on the stalk and keeping tabs while moving might have allowed me to either speed up my friend or direct him to the new location. Some agreed to hand signals will also be needed.

Questions: What are some good hand signals and how do you use them? A game of gestures is fun, but not great when there’s a big buck to get on.

 

[Netherman]

 

[Netherman]

Day 14

After the previous evening we knew where we’d head this morning. The wind was a bit worse so we planned to make a wide loop around to get eyes on the bowl again. It was the coldest day of the trip, and the snow was limiting visibility to 4-500 yards. We trudged along peeking into a few small cuts along the way. Empty. Empty. Empty. Getting the feeling that the 15” of snow was pushing the deer down into the lower ground we dutifully marched on. As we got closer to our “target” spot we crossed thru a cut that we’d had a run in with a black bear a few years ago. Something about that reminded me that hunting was fun and that we weren’t enjoying ourselves at this moment. We were zombie walking our way thru just hoping to cross the finish line. I told my friend we needed to quit going “thru the motions” of hunting and put our game faces on.

We tightened up, looked before moving, and tip toed our way into view of the bowl. We started moving thru the bedding area from before. Prowling, not simply trudging thru. Cresting the top of the bowl we stop and look. And look and look some more. Then we spot a doe with a fawn. We tucked a bit further behind the tree we were glassing behind and kept looking. “there’s a fork with some does”. It was a bad day to be any buck… I started calling ranges and after a few minutes of getting set and waiting for the buck clear the does and turn for the “camera”. Boom, the buck jumped back, took a few steps forward, a few sideways behind a tree, then reared up on his hind legs and tipped over.

We quickly got him quartered and loaded in the packs. In the frigid temps I put my nitrile gloves over my wool liners to try and keep my hands warm while maintaining my dexterity. It worked pretty well, but wasn’t going to keep my toes warm. Luckily with two of us it went quick and we were back at the B&B drinking beers, boiling skulls, and celebrating the trip.

Lessons Learned: Focus on the hunt and not get into the zombie mode. I’ve struggled with this at other times. Notably when walking out of the field midday. Either to move to a new area, hide from the heat, warm up, or get something to eat. Whatever the reason you should be in the “hunting” headspace whenever you are out there. I’ve been getting better at recognizing it and “getting back in the game” and can think of at least three kills that were a result of this. Keeping your head up while walking is another similar situation. I haven’t tripped over a deer yet so best keep your eyes looking where they might be.

Questions: N/A

 

[Netherman]

Trip and Gear Report

Trip Thoughts: It was a challenging trip for me mentally. I’ve got a lot to sort out in the stress for success department. An objective based mentality is a good thing, but I’ve surpassed the unhealthy threshold where it starts to spiral into negativity vs motivation. The two week trips are also tough on me with a young family at home and I’d really like to move away from 2 week trips. Hopefully I’ll be able to find a September hunt and a later October/November hunt next year. We’re starting to stack up some points and are approaching “no mans land” with a few of them. Need to try and use them up to rebuild into realistic point totals vs living behind the creep.

Noteworthy Gear: Bringing both a tree saddle and hang on stand. When the truck was in the shop, and we had to pare down our gear I left the treestand. There were a few cedars that the saddle wouldn’t have worked without some serious landscaping, and I would have been very hidden with the stand. A rifle bipod that adjusts up to sitting height is super helpful in the way I hunt. Speed of deployment and ability to get rock solid even shooting over sage or grass is huge. A system more than gear, but keeping the spotter hooked to the tripod with a marsupial cover was money for run and gunning. We’d get a spot and could quickly get a closer look to see if it was worth the walk. Layering system. Not a purchase but learning how/when to manage layers has made a huge improvement in my comfort level. Bino harness. If you don’t have one, get one. The “client” didn’t have one and his binos were some porro monstrosity. He wasn’t comfortable and wasn’t spotting much because of the hassle to get at them. He said that was the number one thing he’d make sure to have if he went again.

Disappointing Gear: One vehicle in KS. It wasn’t a huge deal but would have kept our options open if we had more individual mobility. In MT the single truck was fine as hunting in pairs seems more effective for that style of hunting. Bipod. It’s a must for me and I love the hatch bipod I have, but it freezing shut was frustrating. I think it was condensation induced ice so I’ll be thinking of ways to prevent that from happening in the future. I’m thinking oil or some sort of coating but will be reaching out to hatch to see if they’ve got any suggestions.

Gear to Buy/Consider: Mittens. Not exactly sure what I want but wish the chopper style ones I have had longer cuffs to help keep snow out. I like removable/replaceable liners so maybe a different shell is all I need. Marsupial no mag. I really miss having a pin on compass attached to the harness. It’s super efficient in the dark or thick. I love the harness otherwise and am glad they’ve come out with a no mag version. It is a bit irksome the way the try and downplay this issue, but I don’t think there’s a better no mag option on the market. Maybe they hunt in open well lit areas and can use terrain association to navigate, but I’ve never had reliable readings with a compass, OnX with I-Phone 10/12, or Garmin 66 next to it. I keep thinking about 15s and then I think of better ways to spend 2k… Maybe one day.