After coming home empty handed from 4 days of hunting the opener of our second tag, I was left with only 5 days to fill my first tag. I took the first day off to sort stuff out at home and got back after it yesterday morning.
Went to a public land spot I havenāt been to yet this season. Itās the last week and if any rut type activity is going to happen itās now. So I went to check does. This spot always has some does and several weeks back we saw two small bucks chasing a doe and lip curling near there. So figured Iād give it a shot.
Got there just a hair later than usual for walking where I do and bumped three deer off my glassing knob. Well at least I could start a tally for the day. Set up my glassing chair and went to work looking things over. I have a huge vantage to look over but started low and close because the wind was blowing pretty good. Figured theyād want to be off the top and tucked away from it.
Spotted a doe and fawn not long into the morning and then a doe and fawn closer that were acting spooky. Thatās when I noticed a small spike buck nosing the doe. A good sign but no other bucks there. So I kept picking apart country with my 15x56s. Eventually spotted a third deer in with the first doe and fawn. It too was a small spike and it was trailing the doe and gave a lip curl as well. āJust a matter of time before I see something legalā, I thought.
Right before 9a I finally spotted a dark coated deer up high on the hill. I noticed legal antlers and thought he looked good enough. He immediately went from feeding in the brush to walking up hill into the oat grass to start eating acorns under an oak. As he fed around I got my shooting mat rolled out and bipod leveled out. Pulled my squeeze bag, cellphone with dope chart as well as my rangefinder out and made everything handy. Even took the time to get video going after dialing elevation on my scope. It was windy, 10-12mph steady with gusts of 20mph plus according to the forecast and it seemed like every bit of that.
The buck ranged at 700yds. While I gave it all the effort of setting up everything I opted not to take that shot. Eventually he walked away when I wasnāt looking and I spent a good deal of time waiting for him to come back out of the last place Iād seen him. Only to watch the video back and see him exit stage left.
. Ok back to checking the deer Iād already seen and looking for more.
Back in my glassing chair I scanned the area over for more deer. Iād now seen 10 but hit a wall there for a bit. Close to 11a now I was looking over the doe and fawn I had seen first. Sure enough there was another deer there now. Dark thick bodied but head was obscured. As the doe moved right this deer went head up and I could clearly see that I needed to be back behind the rifle immediately.
Everything was set up to shoot high on the hill but needed to be shifted to shoot almost straight across and left. So I started taking down the bipod and getting rifle leveled on my pack. Squeeze bag was under the butt and I started looking for him in the scope. Some oat grass and star thistle was blowing around a few feet in front of my scope and causing shine. So I crawled out and snapped everything off best I could and snuck back behind the gun. Hit the ranger and got 488yds. I dial for 490.
Now where the heck did he go? He was just right there in the open. Back to the 15x56s I see his head only sticking out the right side of a small bush. Clearly get a look at his 4pt rack and now my nerves are starting to go. He stands there and stares at the doe awhile not allowing an unobstructed shot. Im back on the gun now and watching through the nx8 on 32 power as he spins a 180 and goes to raking the backside of the bush with his antlers. When he was satisfied he kicked a bed out and laid down completely obstructed from my vantage.
Iām a ball of nerves now but the longer he laid there the calmer I got. I had to bust out the eye patch and get it on as well as pop in the ear protection. Once I did that I was starting to think all the things that could go wrong. Not good. I just thought āhe didnāt get that big from being stupidā. And āanything can happen at any timeā. So I stayed ready to shoot. I hardly realized it but Iād been there about 30 min already.
Finally the doe came into view below him and he stood to get a look at where she was headed. I knew this was going to be it and fingered the safety off. Got steady and waited for him to step out right of the bush. When he did I touched the shot off anticipating he would step into the path of the bullet. Everything went black when the recoil hit and I used that opportunity to just throw the bolt before trying to recover. Dialed back out and saw nothing. With my ears plugged I heard nothing of a report back. Awwwww F! What just happen?
Back to the binos I see the fawn standing in the open feeding. No doe, no buck. Did I roll him? Did he run out of sight when I was reloading?
All the bad things are racing through my mind. Then my phone rings, itās my cousin. (An old die hard blacktail hunter in his 70s and the man who taught me to butcher bucks.) So I answer. He starts in about wanting to thank me for cleaning his big buck mount a few days prior as he had just been out and noticed it. I said no problem and then āwant to hear a funny story?ā.
I tell him what had just happened not 5min before. As we are chatting about it I see a doe walking down towards the place the buck was when I shot. She was cautiously approaching, staring down at that spot. My cousin assured me the buck was there and that the deer would lead me to it. So Iām itching to get off the phone as I start thinking I must have dropped him behind a dark thick green oak bush and just canāt see him.
Well sure as sh!t. The doe goes right above there and intently stares in. Now I see movement from the bush. Oh Fā¦. Heās not dead. The bush is now moving and a little dust starts kicking up.
The doe spooks from the commotion and walks uphill left toward the fawn. I move left in the hillside with my glass to see if I can get a look at him but I quickly get āthat feelingā and head right back for the rifle. Now Iām back on the rifle again. Got my spare 156hh round out of my bino harness and put it in the rifle thinking having two shots available was better than one if he got up.
Itās now been probably 15 or so minutes since the shot and Iām able to make out his back legs sticking out vertically left side of the bush. As Iām watching and trying to figure out his position through my scope a black bodied buck walks in frame from the right. Walks to the bush and spooks back hard. He half circles up hill and postures ready to fight. Now Iām certain Iāve hit the buck and heās down, crippled and thrashing to get to his feet. Dust flies and I see his front legs kicking. Now I have an estimate of his body position and location behind the oak bush. The second buck is a nice heavy horned forkie and looked ready to finish off my buck but decided that he would just bypass the downed buck and go for the doe. Off they went.
Now I was playing a waiting game. Will he expire soon? Should I try to send one where I think he is back there? Another 30 min passes and he still hasnāt died or moved from there. Iām still afraid to leave my post and am texting one buddy to help calm my nerves and call another to see if he was in the area and could come up and walk in on the buck and finish him or bump him up so I could. But no matter what I didnāt want to leave the rifle and my steady shooting position until he was dead. No answer from him.
So Iām now back to measuring up where I think he is in my scope. I see that an hour had nearly passed from first shot and decided itās time to try sending a second shot. Picked up his front legs and moved right into the bush and got still. Off with the safety, one ear plug out to listen for a flesh pop. Squeezed it off and heard that sweet sound of a hit. His back legs moved a bit (I believe as he went limp)a few seconds after the shot. I stayed another 30min keeping a close eye for movement while messaging my buddy and letting the old lady know I had one down and wouldnāt be home when I said I would.
Ate some food and drank something finally. Had been behind the glass or gun since day break and was in dire need of something in my gut. Got that and got packed up. Now to cross the canyon and see what happened over there. Hopefully find a dead buck.
Dropped some weight from my bag at the bottom and headed up the other side. His location was obscured by the lay of the land for much of my approach. When I got to where I thought I was close I readied my rifle. Approaching with caution I knew I was on the trail that lead to him and was ready for anything. But he was dead. Laying on his side up against the bush. I unloaded and set my stuff aside in the shade so I could have a look at him.
The first shot landed high of shoulder. From his bed the trail actually went down slightly and I had no idea of that when I squeezed the shot off but I believe he stepped down just enough to land the shot high. The second shot through the bush landed high shoulder. One very large entry, no exit. Angle was such that the shank is probably lodged in the neck somewheres. Looks to have hit brush and tumbled in. No matter. It was fatal.
Thanked him and then started to admire his beautiful coat, double white throat patches and thick neck. Dislodged his antlers and snapped a few pics before dragging him out of his shady little hole. He sported a nice 4x4 rack without any eye guards. Looked to be 17āwide or so. Took more pictures before deciding that dragging him out was the best option from there. That was, as it turned out, a bad decision for my back. I got him out and into the back of the truck but man was it a struggle and did it ever do a number on my back.
Ended up stopping at my cousins place on the way back to finish the cleaning and skinning process and chatting with him about bucks and whatnot. Quite a bit of loss due to location of hits. My poor backstraps
. Some random holes in hide I think from petals from the first shot. Didnāt do a very good inspection of things as I was bsing and getting a hand skinning from him. No pics after skinning either.
Heās one of my better bucks for sure. Ended up seeing 12 deer total, 5 bucks, three legal.
That makes three punched tags with hammers for our group this season. Next week hopefully we can get back up to try to fill our second tags.
.)
would be no sign of him, come help look.
