DeerCatcherUT/CO
Lil-Rokslider
Never stop hunting is a lesson I’ve learned the hard way too many times to count. I’ll probably have to learn it a few more times before I’m done. Opening day found me and my dad looking over 19 does within 60 yards between 6 miles of hiking and my dad dropping me off in a burn so he could do some “shopping” on the road from the side by side that evening. We were seeing a good amount of deer regardless of hunting in a unit with one of the lowest deer densities in the state.
Sunday morning came in strong with me hiking in solo at 4 am and being met with 50+ mph winds and snow right to the face. If I wasn’t looking through my glass, I was crying trying to stare into the cold winds. I stayed on my glassing knob until 8:30 when I began to still hunt off the ridge into a quakie draw that ran into a small patch of pines. I kept my wind right as I snuck to the pines and meticulously glassed the trees as I moved across the edge of the pines. When I was 30 yards from the end of the trees I became lazy. My steps became loud and fast and I didn’t glass the last of the trees. As I came out of the trees and into the sage, a nice wide 4 point is feeding 30 yards from me and bounds off through the pines and into the thick shit in the bottom of the draw. Learned it again! Never stop hunting. I had a nice buck at 40 yards and I stopped being a predator and started hiking instead of hunting and blew it.
That night we went back into another spot and on the way in I saw a TOAD with a giant dropper in the bed of a guys truck near where I hunted opening morning. They were in there I just had to find one and stay on my A game.
Monday morning was hard hunting. Other hunters in the area had pushed a lot of deer out of the drainage or into the very tops. Stayed 3 miles in until it was too dark to see and found where they had ended up.
Tuesday morning was more wind and snow. Had to still hunt the lower stuff because I didn’t think the deer would want to ride out the storm up in the tops where the wind was really whipping. Saw some does and a two point in the morning and a good buck track. That evening I went in 3.5 miles to the top of the drainage to look into 3 secondary canyons where I hadn’t seen anyone. I arrived at the top of canyon #3 at 4:20pm. It gets dark at 6:38. The first and furthest canyon I looked into had 14 deer including 3 two points. I stayed and watched for an hour trying to find a mature buck but had two more canyons to look into before dark. I hurried to the rim of the second canyon and was surprised to find two does and a two point at 60 yards feeding through some quakies. After half an hour looking into trees and sagebrush I had about half an hour and half an hour to the last canyon. I slowed my pace and began hunting as I came into the top of the third canyon. I slowly worked my way through the burn and checked my glass as dark began to set in. I was within 300 yards from the bottom of the canyon when it was too dark for my Vinod. I put them away and checked my scope. Still good. I kept creeping and looking through the burn and quakies for anything that caught my eye. After jumping the wide buck the second morning I knew it was a matter of time before I got another chance. I happened to look downhill towards a water trough my grandma shot some deer off of and saw two donkey ears silhouetted against the snow. I pulled up my gun and saw a 4 point looking straight back at me. No shot. Just ass and ears. (Texas heart shot). It was dark enough it was messing with my depth of field. I guessed 100 yards and I ranged him at 290. I took off my pack and rested my gun against my pack standing up as I took a knee. The buck had taken half a step to the left opening up an extreme quartering away shot. I aimed for his second to last rib on his left side so the bullet would exit just behind his right shoulder. Boom! I see the buck bound downhill then I can’t pick up any movement.
I found the bucks tracks in the dark and found where he was standing when I shot him. No blood. No hair. Shit I missed I thought. I followed his tracks as he bounded four times downhill then turned right. I thought at that point that he was going to go uphill and I had definitely missed. I looked up and my headlight showed me a dead buck at 20 yards. Buck down and still not a drop of blood! I double lunged him and he didn’t bleed until I dragged him a couple hundred yards to where my dad could find me.
Never stop hunting. If I would have just started walking out at near dark I would have walked right past that buck. If I would have kept hunting on Sunday morning, I could have killed a nice wide buck at 30 yards but maybe wouldn’t have burned such a hard lesson into my mind. Be on your spot before first light and until after glassing light. If you have a tag in your pocket keep hunting. If you’re still hunting, stop and glass often. Don’t get lazy and you’ll eventually get an opportunity that you wouldn’t otherwise get.
Sunday morning came in strong with me hiking in solo at 4 am and being met with 50+ mph winds and snow right to the face. If I wasn’t looking through my glass, I was crying trying to stare into the cold winds. I stayed on my glassing knob until 8:30 when I began to still hunt off the ridge into a quakie draw that ran into a small patch of pines. I kept my wind right as I snuck to the pines and meticulously glassed the trees as I moved across the edge of the pines. When I was 30 yards from the end of the trees I became lazy. My steps became loud and fast and I didn’t glass the last of the trees. As I came out of the trees and into the sage, a nice wide 4 point is feeding 30 yards from me and bounds off through the pines and into the thick shit in the bottom of the draw. Learned it again! Never stop hunting. I had a nice buck at 40 yards and I stopped being a predator and started hiking instead of hunting and blew it.
That night we went back into another spot and on the way in I saw a TOAD with a giant dropper in the bed of a guys truck near where I hunted opening morning. They were in there I just had to find one and stay on my A game.
Monday morning was hard hunting. Other hunters in the area had pushed a lot of deer out of the drainage or into the very tops. Stayed 3 miles in until it was too dark to see and found where they had ended up.
Tuesday morning was more wind and snow. Had to still hunt the lower stuff because I didn’t think the deer would want to ride out the storm up in the tops where the wind was really whipping. Saw some does and a two point in the morning and a good buck track. That evening I went in 3.5 miles to the top of the drainage to look into 3 secondary canyons where I hadn’t seen anyone. I arrived at the top of canyon #3 at 4:20pm. It gets dark at 6:38. The first and furthest canyon I looked into had 14 deer including 3 two points. I stayed and watched for an hour trying to find a mature buck but had two more canyons to look into before dark. I hurried to the rim of the second canyon and was surprised to find two does and a two point at 60 yards feeding through some quakies. After half an hour looking into trees and sagebrush I had about half an hour and half an hour to the last canyon. I slowed my pace and began hunting as I came into the top of the third canyon. I slowly worked my way through the burn and checked my glass as dark began to set in. I was within 300 yards from the bottom of the canyon when it was too dark for my Vinod. I put them away and checked my scope. Still good. I kept creeping and looking through the burn and quakies for anything that caught my eye. After jumping the wide buck the second morning I knew it was a matter of time before I got another chance. I happened to look downhill towards a water trough my grandma shot some deer off of and saw two donkey ears silhouetted against the snow. I pulled up my gun and saw a 4 point looking straight back at me. No shot. Just ass and ears. (Texas heart shot). It was dark enough it was messing with my depth of field. I guessed 100 yards and I ranged him at 290. I took off my pack and rested my gun against my pack standing up as I took a knee. The buck had taken half a step to the left opening up an extreme quartering away shot. I aimed for his second to last rib on his left side so the bullet would exit just behind his right shoulder. Boom! I see the buck bound downhill then I can’t pick up any movement.
I found the bucks tracks in the dark and found where he was standing when I shot him. No blood. No hair. Shit I missed I thought. I followed his tracks as he bounded four times downhill then turned right. I thought at that point that he was going to go uphill and I had definitely missed. I looked up and my headlight showed me a dead buck at 20 yards. Buck down and still not a drop of blood! I double lunged him and he didn’t bleed until I dragged him a couple hundred yards to where my dad could find me.
Never stop hunting. If I would have just started walking out at near dark I would have walked right past that buck. If I would have kept hunting on Sunday morning, I could have killed a nice wide buck at 30 yards but maybe wouldn’t have burned such a hard lesson into my mind. Be on your spot before first light and until after glassing light. If you have a tag in your pocket keep hunting. If you’re still hunting, stop and glass often. Don’t get lazy and you’ll eventually get an opportunity that you wouldn’t otherwise get.
