Well no dead animals here, but a story none the less.
Well if you are looking for dead mule deer, you came to the wrong spot. We saw a few before the season started (we arrived to this new area 4 days before the opener). Here are Tony (tfinalshot) and me at the trailhead in high spirits. Tyler (1-pointer) showed up several days later and that is a story in itself.
We were rather limited where we could camp as water was not very abundant at the top of the mountain, but we did find this small pond about 500 yards from camp. Unfortunately, there was already a group of four hunters and 8 horses within 100 yards of the pond as well. I tried to be sociable and asked where they would be hunting, so we wouldn’t be on top of them. There response, “Five miles in every direction”. I guess we would be seeing each other then.
Here are a couple of bucks we found near camp, but obviously not the caliber we were looking for.
Here is a shot of Tony scoping out a hillside at the top of the mountain. We spent a couple of evenings and mornings at this spot locating some decent bucks. We had one group of 14 bucks with two that were over 170” (in other words, ones that I was willing to try for). Tony also spotted another that he thought would go 180”, but I was glassing the other side at the time.
Tyler finally showed up the afternoon before the opener. Apparently my directions sucked and he went cross country for most of the hike. Due to the rain, he was a wet rat so we felt it was a good idea for him to stay near the main camp. Tony and I were not as sharp and headed to the area where we had seen the good bucks from a distance. The weather and terrain were not to our advantage. We crossed two large rocky slope to get to our destination. Here is the second one. We came across from what is on the left side of the pic.
Here is another view of the area from the next day. We camped in the lower trees. It was very cold (water bottles froze solid) and we were wet and sweaty when we set up the camp. Because of the conditions, we were in the tent at 4 in the afternoon and spent the next 14 hours trying to sleep and stay warm.
At six the next morning, I spent about 3 minutes trying to force my legs through my frozen pant legs and then glassed from the edge of the tree while Tony hit the other side. Right away I found three bucks headed our direction. No shooters, but as with the other mornings, I guessed that the bigger boys would join the group as they moved towards our position. I ranged them at 455 yards, so I got Tony and had him come over to the vantage point. Just as we got settled in, “BOOM, BOOM…” from about 75 yards above us. One of the medium deer was tumbling down the hill and deer were hauling ass in every direction, actually in one direction, down hill and away from us.
We chatted with the father son team after they retrieved their deer (two 150 class bucks). They said they had seen our tent the night before and I am guessing that is why they pulled the early triggers. They had also seen bigger bucks in the basin the day before, but apparently wanted to shoot these. They also mentioned the 30” bucks and drop tined deer they had killed during the last couple of years, but I had to wonder why they were now pulling the string on these dinks opening morning. Oh well, that is hunting and they were very nice guys anyway.
After that escapade the hunting was very poor, so we headed down the mountain and tried the area I had hunted the year before.
Well if you are looking for dead mule deer, you came to the wrong spot. We saw a few before the season started (we arrived to this new area 4 days before the opener). Here are Tony (tfinalshot) and me at the trailhead in high spirits. Tyler (1-pointer) showed up several days later and that is a story in itself.
We were rather limited where we could camp as water was not very abundant at the top of the mountain, but we did find this small pond about 500 yards from camp. Unfortunately, there was already a group of four hunters and 8 horses within 100 yards of the pond as well. I tried to be sociable and asked where they would be hunting, so we wouldn’t be on top of them. There response, “Five miles in every direction”. I guess we would be seeing each other then.
Here are a couple of bucks we found near camp, but obviously not the caliber we were looking for.
Here is a shot of Tony scoping out a hillside at the top of the mountain. We spent a couple of evenings and mornings at this spot locating some decent bucks. We had one group of 14 bucks with two that were over 170” (in other words, ones that I was willing to try for). Tony also spotted another that he thought would go 180”, but I was glassing the other side at the time.
Tyler finally showed up the afternoon before the opener. Apparently my directions sucked and he went cross country for most of the hike. Due to the rain, he was a wet rat so we felt it was a good idea for him to stay near the main camp. Tony and I were not as sharp and headed to the area where we had seen the good bucks from a distance. The weather and terrain were not to our advantage. We crossed two large rocky slope to get to our destination. Here is the second one. We came across from what is on the left side of the pic.
Here is another view of the area from the next day. We camped in the lower trees. It was very cold (water bottles froze solid) and we were wet and sweaty when we set up the camp. Because of the conditions, we were in the tent at 4 in the afternoon and spent the next 14 hours trying to sleep and stay warm.
At six the next morning, I spent about 3 minutes trying to force my legs through my frozen pant legs and then glassed from the edge of the tree while Tony hit the other side. Right away I found three bucks headed our direction. No shooters, but as with the other mornings, I guessed that the bigger boys would join the group as they moved towards our position. I ranged them at 455 yards, so I got Tony and had him come over to the vantage point. Just as we got settled in, “BOOM, BOOM…” from about 75 yards above us. One of the medium deer was tumbling down the hill and deer were hauling ass in every direction, actually in one direction, down hill and away from us.
We chatted with the father son team after they retrieved their deer (two 150 class bucks). They said they had seen our tent the night before and I am guessing that is why they pulled the early triggers. They had also seen bigger bucks in the basin the day before, but apparently wanted to shoot these. They also mentioned the 30” bucks and drop tined deer they had killed during the last couple of years, but I had to wonder why they were now pulling the string on these dinks opening morning. Oh well, that is hunting and they were very nice guys anyway.
After that escapade the hunting was very poor, so we headed down the mountain and tried the area I had hunted the year before.
