So here’s the update. I pulled out my quad and was getting it ready for the hunt. It wouldn’t turn on so I pulled out the carb I had just rebuilt less than a year ago and assumed maybe it was bad gas. The carb was perfect so after some digging I realized my spark plug wasn’t sparking. It was the resistor and I didn’t have time to get a new one so I left the quad at home.
I started at the north end of one of the units I had previously escouted and glassed up a good 3 point on Friday morning, about 3.5 miles from my truck. I couldn’t keep track of him from that distance through the trees so I loaded up 3 days of food and water so I could get up there and figure out his routine a bit. Saturday morning I had him bedded at about 800 yards with good wind and a great approach route but I was just waiting for the thermals to settle for the afternoon. I triple checked that I had my tag on me and realized that the season didn’t open til the next day. I watched a few more days and made a trip back to the truck for water and food. After 6 days of trying to get him bedded in a good spot and a few close calls couldn’t get the right opportunity for a stalk. A storm rolled in on my last day up there and I got caught in some lightning so I dropped off the mountain and back to the truck.
I took a night off the mountain for a shower and for some ice. I figured I’d try to take a road around the mountain and try another shorter but steeper approach on my way back. I tried two trails to get around the range and ended up having to turn around when I was almost at a good spot because the road was just too risky for being solo, this is where the quad would have come in.
Since there was another day of lightning in the forecast I took the chance to drive around and glass some new country. I figured if I didn’t see anything better I’d drive back around in the morning and make my way back up for my last week of the hunt. Just before evening I caught a pair of bucks moving up a gully at the base of small mountain full of mahogany trees. I decided to set camp on a knoll nearby and see if there were anymore bucks moving down in the morning. At first light I caught 5 bucks moving down into the gully. I couldn’t cut them off because of the wind so I watched them until they made there move back into the trees. By this point the thermals and directional wind were in my favor. I positioned myself and had them feed right to me. I had a nice 3 point at 15 yards. As soon as I saw his antlers drew my bow and waited. Suddenly his head ducked and I couldn’t see him. I look over to my right and realized the biggest buck in the group crested first and saw me draw back. They took off about 250 yards and I noticed they settled down and began to feed again. Again I cut them off and got caught by the larger buck again, this time as i was drawing on him at 35. Fortunately for me a smaller buck stepped out at 45 and couldn’t pass up a chance to kill my first archery buck. I got him down, quartered him out and made the easy 250 yard pack out to the road. Although I didn’t get the kill at the top of the mountain a week of backpacking the high country and hunting one buck really taught me a lot. I have a couple more tags this year and some other hunts so I’m confident I’m another step closer to “taking the best buck of my life.” Thanks Robby Denning for the info in your book “Hunting Big Mule Deer.” This book proved to be a great resource in understanding deer behavior, tactics, and discernment when making decisions in the field.
Next time I will definitely quad.
