First season doing the high hunt in WA state, 2nd season ever hunting. I'm 23 years old and don't know my ass from my elbow...but have somehow managed to find a zone deep in the cascades that is absolutely loaded to the gills with deer.
I saw multiple shooter bucks during the summer, and it's now September 23rd...3 days left to pull off the unimaginable.
I hiked back into the same zone a storm had pushed me out of earlier in the week, skiff of snow on the ridges and no sign of the one other camp that had been in there...the stoke was high.
I wanted to hunt a basin I hadn't seen before, but figured would have deer pushed into it, so I camped below a ridge in the timber and was to my glassing perch first thing the next AM.
Within the first hour I've got an honest dozen shooter bucks on a hillside less than 1500 yards away, including the 2nd largest WA buck I ever saw while living there...just a specimen of a 4x4 typical with some trash, 30" wide, dream high 180" buck, perfection.
I had seen them all feed up through a burn and they were as relaxed as deer can be until mid day when they were all bedded and out of sight.
I ran back down to camp, packed my stuff, and started the trek over the ridge, down a super sketchy scree field, and to the spot I was going to spend the night, with plans to be patient and set up the next AM overlooking the chute the bucks fed up.
Took me the rest of the day to pick my way down through the bowl and get settled in.
Next AM rolls around and it's prime time. Cold, clear, wind in my face...if I knew then what I know now I'd have guaranteed a buck was dying that day.
So it's barely light, and I start picking my way towards the intended ambush spot... I'm telling myself SLOW SLOW SLOW...not wanting to bump any deer. They had come into view about 8AM the previous day, so i wanted to be in place by then, no earlier, no later...
About 30 minutes into creepin' over to my spot, I keep pushing closer past where I planned, because I'm antsy and want to see deer...in doing so, I bump the only bull elk I've ever seen in a WA state wilderness area, in a zone that isn't supposed to have any elk.
Big ol sixer and his harem are running full bore towards the chute I'm expecting the deer to come up, so my gaze shifts to where they're headed....I see deer heads everywhere. 2x as many as yesterday, does AND bucks.
They're on high alert, hearing the commotion just 150 yards away but haven't busted. I'm frantically scanning with my binos trying to find Mr. Big....there he is, bringing up the rear, not more than 150 yards downhill, at the foot of the exact chute I was trying to get to.
I panic....never expected to be in a situation like this on high hunt number 1. I quickly realize I'm creeping through the timber without a round chambered. Friiiiikkkk. Slowly try to cycle the action on my Tikka and I bet you could have heard it in Seattle. CLIIINK, CLINNK...all hell breaks loose. There are deer bounding everywhere. I shoulder my rifle and try to get Mr. Big in the scope...tree, doe, doe, tree, other buck, small buck, doe, tree...OK GOT HIM, just need a shooting lane. It never came, he was gone with the wind never to be seen again.
I have replayed that moment so many times, and would have done several things differently with my current knowledge:
1) if you decide to go SEAL Team 6 into the timber after a buck, load your gun.
2) if you've patterned deer, setup your ambush/observation point far enough away that bumped critters aren't going to mess things up. Be patient and trust your data. If I'd have stayed put...those deer would have walked right into my lap
3) at that point in time, a 300 yard shot would have been a poke for me, so I had to get in tight. If I had the shooting skills I now have, I'd have been up high on a perch at 5-600 yards free of buck fever and ready to drop the hammer on demand.
I was actually depressed for the next month or so, but man that hunt laid the foundation for what has become an absolute obsession!