I really enjoyed posting the details of my hunting trip last year. I also learned a lot from more experienced members comments and answers to my question. I've decided to follow the same format this year and hope to continue my education as well as sharing my story and thoughts.
The plan for our trip this year was to hunt one week with my CO resident brother then drive north to MT and hunt with my friends brother and two cousins. We had deer tags in CO and the Deer/Elk combo license in MT. We decided to do back to back weeks as it would save us 40+ hours of driving.
Day 0:
Started the drive Thursday after work. Drove straight thru and made it to our planned camp site around noon Friday. Got the wall tent setup and a decent wood pile stacked and ready to go. I dropped a google maps pin for my brother to find our camp. Unfortunately, between my phone and his it jumped 20 miles to a nearby mountain. After struggling to inch his questionably equipped explorer up the mountain trail in 12+ inches of snow he determined that he needed to walk the rest of the way. Luckily, we got cell signal at our camp location, well a 6’x8’ area anyway. After an hour or so after he was supposed to meet us I called him and incredibly he happened to walk thru a spot that had service. After a realizing what happened we decided to meet him in town.
By the time we met him it was almost 4pm so we hustled back to a few glassing spots we had identified from GE. Turns out we need to do bit more GE to reality crosschecking as more than a few of the vantage points we had identified were either too brushed in or sheer cliffs with no good way to climb. Thru our travels we saw a lot of doe a few forkys and my buddy saw two really nice deer (he put them around 160).
Back at camp we introduced my brother to ziplock boilable meals and talked over our plan for the next day. The plan was for my friend to go after the two premium deer that he had spotted and my brother and I would head out together and check out a valley that we hadn’t yet seen but looked promising from 100,000 ft. After a few beers and laughs it was time for bed. With less than 3 hours of sleep on the drive out I was going to sleep good tonight.
Lessons Learned: When meeting for a hunt always meet at the nearest town and drive to camp together.
Questions: N/A
- - - Updated - - -
Day 1:
Got up at dark thirty and headed out to our glassing spots. After two hours of glassing and discussion on how a stalk might go, we had seen two doe in our valley and nothing else. We decided to move to the next ridge over to get a better/different view of the valley. On our way over we bumped a deer in the pinion. Was it a buck? Eventually we saw it enter the valley about 150yds away. It was a smallish 3x3. As it trotted thru the bottom. It did a classic mule deer stop and check its backtrail at 200yds. In hindsight I should have had my brother get setup and ready once we bumped the deer down the hill. At this point we hastily tried a setup but couldn’t get comfortable prior to the buck slowly plodding up the hill and out of our lives.
Less than 5 minutes after the buck walked over the hill we heard a shot in that direction. My brother was instantly texting my friend to see if he had shot the 3x3. Wait, we have cell service here? Good thing we I bought an InReach and service plan… Sadly he had not taken a shot. The shot we had heard was another hunter shooting one of the two big boys that my friend had seen the previous night. As the morning was getting late and hot we decided to go check out some more country. Crack! Another shot from the direction my friend was hunting. This was quickly followed by a text [Got One]. We started that way and he had already gotten it halfway quartered by the time we got there. It was a nice 4x4 which we later scored in the 120s, but not one of the big boys.
We quickly finished quartering the deer and headed back to camp. After unloading and repacking for the evening hunt my brother and I were off. We spent the evening glassing and with a few hunters and even fewer deer spotted we returned to camp. After a premium meal of heart tacos we began the planning process for the next day. Our new plan was for my tagless friend to hunt with my brother while I hunted on my own. We were going to go after the remaining big buck. Divide and Conquer.
Lessons Learned: If you aren’t picky and bump a deer in the direction of a good shooting lane that is possibly a shooter. Get set up on that lane and be ready. You can always choose not to shoot.
Questions: N/A
The plan for our trip this year was to hunt one week with my CO resident brother then drive north to MT and hunt with my friends brother and two cousins. We had deer tags in CO and the Deer/Elk combo license in MT. We decided to do back to back weeks as it would save us 40+ hours of driving.
Day 0:
Started the drive Thursday after work. Drove straight thru and made it to our planned camp site around noon Friday. Got the wall tent setup and a decent wood pile stacked and ready to go. I dropped a google maps pin for my brother to find our camp. Unfortunately, between my phone and his it jumped 20 miles to a nearby mountain. After struggling to inch his questionably equipped explorer up the mountain trail in 12+ inches of snow he determined that he needed to walk the rest of the way. Luckily, we got cell signal at our camp location, well a 6’x8’ area anyway. After an hour or so after he was supposed to meet us I called him and incredibly he happened to walk thru a spot that had service. After a realizing what happened we decided to meet him in town.
By the time we met him it was almost 4pm so we hustled back to a few glassing spots we had identified from GE. Turns out we need to do bit more GE to reality crosschecking as more than a few of the vantage points we had identified were either too brushed in or sheer cliffs with no good way to climb. Thru our travels we saw a lot of doe a few forkys and my buddy saw two really nice deer (he put them around 160).
Back at camp we introduced my brother to ziplock boilable meals and talked over our plan for the next day. The plan was for my friend to go after the two premium deer that he had spotted and my brother and I would head out together and check out a valley that we hadn’t yet seen but looked promising from 100,000 ft. After a few beers and laughs it was time for bed. With less than 3 hours of sleep on the drive out I was going to sleep good tonight.
Lessons Learned: When meeting for a hunt always meet at the nearest town and drive to camp together.
Questions: N/A
- - - Updated - - -
Day 1:
Got up at dark thirty and headed out to our glassing spots. After two hours of glassing and discussion on how a stalk might go, we had seen two doe in our valley and nothing else. We decided to move to the next ridge over to get a better/different view of the valley. On our way over we bumped a deer in the pinion. Was it a buck? Eventually we saw it enter the valley about 150yds away. It was a smallish 3x3. As it trotted thru the bottom. It did a classic mule deer stop and check its backtrail at 200yds. In hindsight I should have had my brother get setup and ready once we bumped the deer down the hill. At this point we hastily tried a setup but couldn’t get comfortable prior to the buck slowly plodding up the hill and out of our lives.
Less than 5 minutes after the buck walked over the hill we heard a shot in that direction. My brother was instantly texting my friend to see if he had shot the 3x3. Wait, we have cell service here? Good thing we I bought an InReach and service plan… Sadly he had not taken a shot. The shot we had heard was another hunter shooting one of the two big boys that my friend had seen the previous night. As the morning was getting late and hot we decided to go check out some more country. Crack! Another shot from the direction my friend was hunting. This was quickly followed by a text [Got One]. We started that way and he had already gotten it halfway quartered by the time we got there. It was a nice 4x4 which we later scored in the 120s, but not one of the big boys.
We quickly finished quartering the deer and headed back to camp. After unloading and repacking for the evening hunt my brother and I were off. We spent the evening glassing and with a few hunters and even fewer deer spotted we returned to camp. After a premium meal of heart tacos we began the planning process for the next day. Our new plan was for my tagless friend to hunt with my brother while I hunted on my own. We were going to go after the remaining big buck. Divide and Conquer.
Lessons Learned: If you aren’t picky and bump a deer in the direction of a good shooting lane that is possibly a shooter. Get set up on that lane and be ready. You can always choose not to shoot.
Questions: N/A
Last edited: