jdmdavey
Lil-Rokslider
Hike in/Day 1
Started out taking two very inexperienced hunters up to camp at 7000'. Hiked in after dark which made the day even longer. Took around 3 hours to reach our camp spot, 6 inches of crusty snow welcomed us. Got setup and cozy. Temps were dipping down into the 5-10 degree range at night..
I Had a great plan. I had scouted the area alot this summer and early fall and was ready for some success. I had found a perfect pocket for deer and had seen alot of nice bucks this summer/fall. As we were hiking along the spine of a ridge opening morning to get to our spot I was horrified to see 8 dirt bikes and a full camp not a 1/4 mile down the trail. The wind was taken out of my sails at that point and I was extremely suprised to see anyone up there to be honest. In all my scouting trips I haden't seen a human sign all summer.. I talked to them briefly and found out that they had come in a few hours before us the previous night. As we approached the drainaige I was planning on hunting the horror continued as I spotted two headlamps in the distance making there way right to our spot. I made a descision at that point to not push into the area as I had been beaten to it. We decided to head back and hunt the opposite side of the ridge and saw a nice buck kick out from another hunters shot at about 7:30 opening morning. He moved into an impassible canyon, much to steep to safely traverse. Rocky and loose as all hell. I had a friend moving up from below and radioed him the position of the buck I had seen earlier. We waitied him out for 2 hours and he was not coming out. So we moved on and not 45 minutes later the sound of two shots rang out and the radio chimed with my buddies success. He had moved up just as the buck walked out of his bed. Yet another defeat.. After helping pack out the buck I had missed, we hunted hard all day and saw a few mediocre bucks and passed on them. It was hard to help bone out such a nice buck that we were right on top of!!
Heres the buck I couldn't seal the deal on..
Day 2
Up at 4:00am after a quick breakfast moved into another area at the opposite end of my hunting grounds. I was hoping to play the pressure and bet on all of the hunters pushing bucks into our area. We setup to glass on a large monolithic rock and waited all moring. The bet paid off, and at about 8:45 a nice 2-3 year old wandered across a low point in the ridge(a natural crossover from feeding to bedding areas). Perfect setup feeding down hill, no idea of our presence. I dropped the hammer on him..the 165gr Federal Game King hit its mark at 160 yards, spined him, and he dropped like a sack of hammers. He never knew what hit him. Definatley not the buck I was looking for but filled my tag and got to take my best friend on his first mule deer hunt. Made some great memories and started a new tradition with my best buddy hunting high country mulies. Hes hooked!! Now its on to general elk season here in Washington..Spike only unit! Wish us Luck!
He was loving it! Smiled more than I did after seeing a buck go down!
All in all a great time with great friends! Thats what its all about right?
Started out taking two very inexperienced hunters up to camp at 7000'. Hiked in after dark which made the day even longer. Took around 3 hours to reach our camp spot, 6 inches of crusty snow welcomed us. Got setup and cozy. Temps were dipping down into the 5-10 degree range at night..
I Had a great plan. I had scouted the area alot this summer and early fall and was ready for some success. I had found a perfect pocket for deer and had seen alot of nice bucks this summer/fall. As we were hiking along the spine of a ridge opening morning to get to our spot I was horrified to see 8 dirt bikes and a full camp not a 1/4 mile down the trail. The wind was taken out of my sails at that point and I was extremely suprised to see anyone up there to be honest. In all my scouting trips I haden't seen a human sign all summer.. I talked to them briefly and found out that they had come in a few hours before us the previous night. As we approached the drainaige I was planning on hunting the horror continued as I spotted two headlamps in the distance making there way right to our spot. I made a descision at that point to not push into the area as I had been beaten to it. We decided to head back and hunt the opposite side of the ridge and saw a nice buck kick out from another hunters shot at about 7:30 opening morning. He moved into an impassible canyon, much to steep to safely traverse. Rocky and loose as all hell. I had a friend moving up from below and radioed him the position of the buck I had seen earlier. We waitied him out for 2 hours and he was not coming out. So we moved on and not 45 minutes later the sound of two shots rang out and the radio chimed with my buddies success. He had moved up just as the buck walked out of his bed. Yet another defeat.. After helping pack out the buck I had missed, we hunted hard all day and saw a few mediocre bucks and passed on them. It was hard to help bone out such a nice buck that we were right on top of!!
Heres the buck I couldn't seal the deal on..
Day 2
Up at 4:00am after a quick breakfast moved into another area at the opposite end of my hunting grounds. I was hoping to play the pressure and bet on all of the hunters pushing bucks into our area. We setup to glass on a large monolithic rock and waited all moring. The bet paid off, and at about 8:45 a nice 2-3 year old wandered across a low point in the ridge(a natural crossover from feeding to bedding areas). Perfect setup feeding down hill, no idea of our presence. I dropped the hammer on him..the 165gr Federal Game King hit its mark at 160 yards, spined him, and he dropped like a sack of hammers. He never knew what hit him. Definatley not the buck I was looking for but filled my tag and got to take my best friend on his first mule deer hunt. Made some great memories and started a new tradition with my best buddy hunting high country mulies. Hes hooked!! Now its on to general elk season here in Washington..Spike only unit! Wish us Luck!
He was loving it! Smiled more than I did after seeing a buck go down!
All in all a great time with great friends! Thats what its all about right?
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