Montana 2020

[hobbes]

The buck was right at a mile from the truck, so we hauled a small ice fishing sled out and put the four bags of meat in and hauled it back.


We picked Finn up at the kennel early and boy was he happy to see me. We were going to bird hunt tomorrow and then Isaac was planning to leave Sunday, but he's decided to drive back tomorrow and take Finn with him. I'll just concentrate on deer. I have until Wednesday morning, but I can't hunt Monday morning.

 

[hobbes]

For those of you that are interested, I gross scored Isaac's buck at 142.5. it was a pretty quick rough score on the tailgate but close enough to know he'll gross 140 anyway.

 

[hobbes]

I got a late start today helping Isaac get on the road. Temps are fairly warm but clouds, wind, and snow flurries have moved in. The wind sucks and I'm tucked in glassing from the downwind side of a hill. I've seen two does. These deer tend to stay in the bottoms out of the wind from my limited experience and I'd suspect are all tucked in on the back side of everything mostly out of my sight. Wandering aimlessly through this maze has never been productive for me, so I glass until I find a buck worthy of a closer look. I'll change location around noon if I can't find anything here.




I'm sitting on an 18" piece of an old thermarest foam pad to keep my cheeks dry.

If this damn snow keeps picking up, I'll be in the truck sooner than noon.

 

[204guy]

Congrats to Isaac.

 

[hobbes]

Today was very uneventful besides getting Isaac and Finn on the road. I also had a run to the truck into a 25 mph wind and big wet snowflakes just after my earlier post. The wind is supposed to be much less tomorrow. I'll be out glassing early tomorrow.

 

[hobbes]

Buck down!!!

 

[hobbes]

 

[Shrek]

Congratulations !!!

 

[Fatcamp]

Nice bases!

 

[hobbes]

Today I hunted farther into a place that I've hunted before, hoping to find deer that had moved to avoid pressure. I found does skylined right at daylight.

They were on top of this:

 

[hobbes]

I kept tabs on them and a couple more groups of does. I eventually saw a borderline shooter with a second group of does and a 4 point that I wasn't interested in skylined with the first group. I decided to reposition higher on a butte, but not before spotting a couple more does and another young 4 point. I got a photo through my spotter of the new buck.


I moved up higher after determining that I wasn't interested in the new buck.

 

[hobbes]

I watched the first group of does for a while from a better vantage point. During that time I heard 4 shots south of me. I was finally able to glass 3 hunters about 3/4 of a mile from me. They were spread across a hill trying to sneak over to a group of deer that already had them pegged. Apparently the first round of shooting didn't go so well. They headed back the way they had came after waving each other down and regrouping. It looked like quite the cluster from my high vantage point and had me considering an exit.

I went back to watching the does and they had gotten up from their beds and fed off the north side of the butte, knob, hill, whatever these things are called. I don't think they liked the shooting and I think they could see the hunters from their vantage point.

At some point while watching them, I caught a quick glimpse of two bucks moving downhill. I only saw them for a split second each. I assumed one was the first buck that I'd already decided wasn't a shooter.

 

[hobbes]

I circled around the top of the butte that I was on out of sight of the does. I dropped off once they got out of sight and worked toward a ridge just across from them.

I peeked over the ridge and could see some of the does. It wasn't long before I buck came into view nosing a doe. He looked better than the buck I'd watched earlier, but I couldn't make my mind up if he really was. I knew he wasn't wide, but the mass looked pretty good. He was at 290 when I first saw him.

He'd come in and out of view over the next 30 minutes and eventually ended up perfectly broadside at a hair over 200. I had him in the scope but was trying to decide if I wanted to shoot him. I took the safety off and back on twice deciding that I wouldn't kill him. I was concerned that I was just convincing myself that he was bigger than my first impressions and I wasn't so sure that there wasn't a bigger buck around.

Of course I was afraid I'd made a mistake when he eased out of view again. He came back out at around 250 within a few minutes but never really offered a shot, so I didn't shoot at him. I did notice his eye guards this time and how one of them had a crook in it.

Over the next half hour I'd see him occasionally at the 290 to 315 mark, but decided that if I'd passed him at 200, I wasn't shooting at him at 300. My neck was beginning to hurt because I was laying prone trying to not be noticed by a doe that had bedded facing me.

Over the course of an hour, I decided that he was a buck that I should be shooting. If he gave me another good opportunity closer to 200, I was going to kill him.

He came back out trailing the same doe and I ranged him at 212. I had to let the doe get out from behind him. I shot him when she moved. He took a couple bounds out of site before I could get him back in the scope but I was sure that I heard it hit him.

 

[hobbes]

I stayed there for 30 minutes watching and the does acted like nothing had happened. His love interest came back into view looking downhill where he'd went but he never showed. I ranged the spot again while sitting up and got 255. I'd accidentally gotten a reading on a hump between him and I while laying prone. I wasn't too worried about that, but was a little concerned since I didn't see him go down.

I slipped in on where he'd went and bumped all the does, so was worried that I could jump him if not hit well. I had turned my scope down to 5 in case I needed a finisher. When I eased over the rise, he still had his head up bedded behind some sage.

This is nasty broken country and I didn't want him jumping and getting out of site, so I took all of about 2 seconds to put a finisher in his neck since that's what I could see.

The first shot would have done the job, but was back farther than it should have been. I went gutless, but I'm assuming I hit liver considering the amount of blood that he was spilling and how the shot quarter through him.

I cant blame it on the range. I suppose he may have taken a step. I could even blame it on laying there prone for an hour, but I suspect that I just shot too fast and yanked the trigger. It could have ended badly, but fortunately it went my way.

 

[hobbes]

He turned out to be better than what my initial impression was. His body, at least his neck, was bigger than I realized. I was happy that I decided to shoot. I had a heck of a time getting my phone set up for photos.

 

[2ski]

What kennels are your three griffs out of? I'm hoping for July for my first one. Lots of people not breeding in 2021.

 

[hobbes]

I took photos then quartered him and hiked back for the sled. OnX showed .98 miles to the truck. The first 200 yards required leap frogging quarters so I didn't lose them and the sled into a couple deep ravines. After that it was relatively smooth sailing, but I didn't get to the truck with him until after 5. I'm beat. Dang a hot shower and some food felt good.

 

[hobbes]

What kennels are your three griffs out of? I'm hoping for July for my first one. Lots of people not breeding in 2021.

Finn is from Creekside in Lewistown. Kassie isn't from a kennel. Cash is a GWP and not a WPG.

 

[mt100gr.]

I took photos then quartered him and hiked back for the sled. OnX showed .98 miles to the truck. The first 200 yards required leap frogging quarters so I didn't lose them and the sled into a couple deep ravines. After that it was relatively smooth sailing, but I didn't get to the truck with him until after 5. I'm beat. Dang a hot shower and some food felt good.
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Congrats on a solid buck. I enjoyed following along on this thread. I have had many fun rut hunts in very similar looking country - well worth the drive to get there.

 

[Jsuss]

He turned out to be better than what my initial impression was. His body, at least his neck, was bigger than I realized. I was happy that I decided to shoot. I had a heck of a time getting my phone set up for photos.

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Great buck and great story! Thank you for sharing