The Pink Shirt rides again and meat bucks on the table...................

Just got back from an AMAZING evening. The four of us were packing into our spike camp and on the way in, we spotted lots of deer on a ridge and mark and I decided to go after them being the bucks are on the make! Even though we have seen lots of smaller bucks, it is so nice to see them. Sooner or later, if a group of does show up, mr. Big is gonna show. Mark and I had the only two deer tags left so we went after the deer. My brothers, Jeff and Dave continued onto our Ridgetop spike camp where we had located some elk with shooter bulls.
We hiked up a drainage about 700 feet or so and we were seeing deer everywhere although we were in the middle of numerous snow squalls so we had to wait to spot in between storms. We had just about called it and head to our spike camp when the weather cleared and we immediately started seeing deer out in the sage feeding. We were looking over several bucks and mark said , "that oNE is pretty wide." I was somewhat taken back as I was looking at several smaller bucks and mark said that the one he was looking at was to the left of the small tree. I found him throught the binos and it was indeed a very nice buck with dark/orangish horns. The 6.5 x 55 swede once again found the mark. 385 yards with a 140 berger made my buddy a happy man. After dressing and a packout each with half a deer, we were happy to have survived one of those packout from hell. Pics to follow and hopefully my brothers are burrowed in as it is snowing and supposed to all night.

Randy
 
Awesome Randy. Look forward to the pictures! You guys are piling then up now.

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Not that this is a live hunt as we have no technology service but came out of the high country for a breather. One can only smell bad for so long plus we ran out of game bags. As my brother said, "that is a good problem to have"

I managed to connect on a nice 4 x 4 yesterday and shot a spike elk this morning. My brother has missed twice so far on bulls. Don't know really why as he is a good shot and good hunter..
Pics and LONG write up to follow but I have hunted for almost 48 years and have never seen a season like this. We have been seeing 10 to 20 bucks every day on public land and it is SO refreshing to see! You absolutely have to love hunting off your back.
I hope everyone else is enjoying the season.
It has been a hoot so far!

Randy

Randy
 
Ran out of game bags and had to come down. Awesome problem to have. Can't wait to follow this hunt back up the hill

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Hey, i knew i recognized that shirt when we passed your truck earlier this week. Glad you guys had luck up there. We came out with a spike but seen multiple other bulls and a couple bucks.
 
Can't wait to read about the experience you guys have had, congratulations!!!
 
IMG_3100.jpgIMG_3101.jpgIMG_3103.jpgIMG_3121.jpgIMG_3136.jpgWell, unfortunately our general season came to an end. As hunting stories go, some have good endings and some have not so good endings........
We were in an area where we could both hunt deer and elk. All four of us had already tagged out on deer but 2 of us still had an extra deer tag and 3 of us had elk tags for a legal bull.
One of the things that really came to light (as if I had any doubt) is that I am a mule deer hunter pure and simple. This was cemented when we had hiked into a remote basin by daylight and there were deer everywhere so I was looking for Mr. Big. A herd of elk came over a saddle into this basin and I coulda cared less----where are the bucks? But I was trying to get my brother a branched bull which he has never shot so I had to look away from the deer to the elk-----dang it. Low and behold a really nice 6 point was bringing up the rear. This is the sad part of our season----Jeff missed twice at 430 yards as one round just went over the back and the other went ???????? Have no idea why as he is a really good shot and he also had missed the day before on another really nice 6 point bull at 450. We checked the zero and it was spot on at 500 yards. He was really bummed out and still is a little. I later spotted a buck bedded and we decided that he was worth a closer look. As we got closer to the timber he was bedded in, we jumped a really nice 4 point who made the fatal mistake of turning around at 555 yards on the opposite hillside. One round with my tikka 30-06 Ackley killed the buck and we made short work boning and packing it back down to our spike camp.
So the next day we tried the same thing figuring that the elk most likely would be in the same area. Sure enough, we crested the ridge and a lone spike was out feeding so jeff called the range and I was able to connect with the Ackley again at 400 yards. It was literally 150 yards from the previous days buck harvest. The next couple of days was spent hunting in the morning still trying to get Mark and Jeff and elk and packing my buck and elk down 2000 feet, 2 miles to the trailhead. Brutal pack out but survivable.
I take lots of photos so i'll share a few of them............

Randy
 
One of the things that I would like to mention is this:
All four of us this year were shooting tikka t3's. Man, I have to tell you----I am so impressed with this rifle it just makes me laugh. I made mine into an 06 Ackley as well as my brothers. Both shoot half an inch and I also load for my buddies who is shooting a 6.5 x 55 swede also a half inch shooter. I shot 3 rounds and shot 3 animals----555 yards, 400 yards and 287. They are the ultimate backpacking rifle as far as I am concerned and I am really looking forward to "my relationship" with it. Hope your seasons are going well!

Randy
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the update and congratulations on an incredible hunt. Love the pics too!
 
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