My 2011 Muzzy Hunt
Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 3:57 pm
I thought I'd share the events of my hunt last weekend... enjoy.
Tuesday - “Opener Eve”
We got to the cabin at about 6pm and decided to take a quick ride on the ATVs to get our “deer eyes” back. We rode until dark and saw a bunch of does & fawns and an unusual 2x2 that was very tall on one side and tiny on the other. We all had to be home Saturday afternoon so we had to hit the ground running. My brother Darren isn’t much of a hiker, so he decided to hang with Grandpa (and also keep an eye on him). They’d be road hunting most of the time. I had month’s worth of trail cam pics and had been scouting on Google Earth with a Topo overlay throughout the summer so I had a long list of side canyons and bowls that I wanted to hike into. My buddy Cody agreed to hunt with me. The plan of attack was set and we watched one of the Bourne movies until way too late.
Wednesday - Day 1
Cody & I headed out in the dark for the first bowl I wanted to explore. I’d been into it once before on the general elk hunt when I was in high school. We saw three very nice bucks at the time, but that was 15 years ago! It was next to impossible to walk quietly because of all the vegetation that was now dried and brittle. I got to my little rock outcropping and had deer spooking all over the place. They were stomping and snorting from the bottom. When they took off I could only get fleeting glimpses as they bounded through the thick stuff. Once all the deer finally settled down (or moved out) I heard chirping coming up from the bottom. I wasn’t sure what kind of creature was down there. After a couple minutes a spike elk walked across a clearing at 200 yards. It had been years since we’d seen elk in the area, so seeing one back in there was exciting & it hadn’t even occurred to me that it could be an elk. See, about 15 years ago the area held a really nice herd of elk but the DWR traded them to Kentucky for some turkeys to quiet the local ranchers and farmers... talk about the short end of the stick on that trade! IMO. Hopefully this means that we might have another little herd trying to re-establish itself in the area again. I eventually ended up at the very top of the bowl and saw several does & fawns and made my way down for lunchtime.
That afternoon I wanted to see somewhere brand new. I had seen what I thought was a small canyon on the south end of the property while scouting on Google Earth, so Cody & I decided to check it out. We dropped down into this canyon to find that it was enormous. There were three different saddles within the main bowl and multiple very heavily timbered side canyons. There was no way that we could hunt this thing effectively at first glance. So we just sat back and glassed for the evening. Obviously we weren’t in the right place because we didn’t see anything. I’d like to go back in there again, although it seems to be better suited to the rifle hunter because of its openness. But if I could find a high traffic area in one of those smaller side canyons I bet it could be very fun. It would also be a bear to get a deer out of there so I’d have to know there’s a buck in there worthy of that much work.
Day 2
Cody & decided to hike up to a saddle directly east of the cabin. We cleared a small clump of aspens and spotted a small 2 point broadside & skylined on the ridge at 112 yards. It was a very tempting shot, but ultimately I passed because we were still too close to the cabins. While on the saddle I could hear several bull moose grunting and snorting, this would be a common occurrence… moose were everywhere we turned. We saw 3 or 4 good mature bulls each day, I’d love to draw my moose tag and chase them with the smoke pole! I know right where to go!
By late morning we hadn’t seen anything except the 2 point right early, so we decided to head back to the cabin. We met up with Gramps & Darren and decided that we’d attack a saddle west of the cabin. Darren & Gramps would be dropped off on top and work their way down while Cody & I would hike up from the bottom. We sat on the saddle and watched does and fawns run all over the mountain… but no bucks. I had a doe run to within 50 feet of me and didn't know I was there. It's a shame she couldn't grow antlers for me!
We decided to abandon that saddle after several hours and try somewhere new again, so Cody & I headed to a larger canyon with a small stream north of the cabin to sit until dark. We watched two impressive bull moose fight over a couple cows near the spring where I had my cameras all summer (I posted pics in the Trail Camera section). The larger (huge) bull chased off the smaller (also huge) bull and then turned his attention to a small clump of aspens. He raked one of those poor little aspens (6 to 8" diameter) until there was nothing left of it and left it on the ground. Wow, those are some powerful animals. I had gotten pics of several good bucks up there, but with all the “moose activity” I concluded that the spring was not going to be a productive area that evening for deer. We saw 3 does. Just before dark we heard a muzzleloader blast that sounded very close. Since we hadn’t seen much we’d head down to see if that meant good news for Gramps or Darren. From up the canyon, I could see them walking around on the road so I knew something had happened. When we got down to the road we found that Grandpa had sealed the deal on a great little 3 point. Gramps is pretty quick with a knife (and hacksaw) but I managed to take a quick picture of the skull plate. But that’s only the beginning of the story. Trying to get some details from Gramps, he said that they had come back to hang up Darren's buck. Darren had taken a little spike still in full velvet earlier in the evening, and had they not returned to hang it at the cabin they would have never seen the 3 point. As I got more of the story of Darren’s buck, the more impressed I became. He had taken a 65 yard shot hit the buck in the neck. He and Gramps tracked him for several hundred yards and almost 2 hours. They lost the blood trail but pushed on looking for any little clue they could find. Darren was losing hope of finding his first buck ever, and that sick feeling began to settle into the pit of his stomach. Despite losing the blood trail, Darren decided to keep going and on a hunch walked for several yards down the middle of the road. There, going all the way across the road, was a blood trail. To make it even sweeter, just off the road and down in the grass he spotted his expired little buck. I’m very proud of him for sticking with it, it’s just a little guy but your first buck is always a trophy.
That's all I can post for now, I'll put Friday and Saturday up shortly.
Tuesday - “Opener Eve”
We got to the cabin at about 6pm and decided to take a quick ride on the ATVs to get our “deer eyes” back. We rode until dark and saw a bunch of does & fawns and an unusual 2x2 that was very tall on one side and tiny on the other. We all had to be home Saturday afternoon so we had to hit the ground running. My brother Darren isn’t much of a hiker, so he decided to hang with Grandpa (and also keep an eye on him). They’d be road hunting most of the time. I had month’s worth of trail cam pics and had been scouting on Google Earth with a Topo overlay throughout the summer so I had a long list of side canyons and bowls that I wanted to hike into. My buddy Cody agreed to hunt with me. The plan of attack was set and we watched one of the Bourne movies until way too late.
Wednesday - Day 1
Cody & I headed out in the dark for the first bowl I wanted to explore. I’d been into it once before on the general elk hunt when I was in high school. We saw three very nice bucks at the time, but that was 15 years ago! It was next to impossible to walk quietly because of all the vegetation that was now dried and brittle. I got to my little rock outcropping and had deer spooking all over the place. They were stomping and snorting from the bottom. When they took off I could only get fleeting glimpses as they bounded through the thick stuff. Once all the deer finally settled down (or moved out) I heard chirping coming up from the bottom. I wasn’t sure what kind of creature was down there. After a couple minutes a spike elk walked across a clearing at 200 yards. It had been years since we’d seen elk in the area, so seeing one back in there was exciting & it hadn’t even occurred to me that it could be an elk. See, about 15 years ago the area held a really nice herd of elk but the DWR traded them to Kentucky for some turkeys to quiet the local ranchers and farmers... talk about the short end of the stick on that trade! IMO. Hopefully this means that we might have another little herd trying to re-establish itself in the area again. I eventually ended up at the very top of the bowl and saw several does & fawns and made my way down for lunchtime.
That afternoon I wanted to see somewhere brand new. I had seen what I thought was a small canyon on the south end of the property while scouting on Google Earth, so Cody & I decided to check it out. We dropped down into this canyon to find that it was enormous. There were three different saddles within the main bowl and multiple very heavily timbered side canyons. There was no way that we could hunt this thing effectively at first glance. So we just sat back and glassed for the evening. Obviously we weren’t in the right place because we didn’t see anything. I’d like to go back in there again, although it seems to be better suited to the rifle hunter because of its openness. But if I could find a high traffic area in one of those smaller side canyons I bet it could be very fun. It would also be a bear to get a deer out of there so I’d have to know there’s a buck in there worthy of that much work.
Day 2
Cody & decided to hike up to a saddle directly east of the cabin. We cleared a small clump of aspens and spotted a small 2 point broadside & skylined on the ridge at 112 yards. It was a very tempting shot, but ultimately I passed because we were still too close to the cabins. While on the saddle I could hear several bull moose grunting and snorting, this would be a common occurrence… moose were everywhere we turned. We saw 3 or 4 good mature bulls each day, I’d love to draw my moose tag and chase them with the smoke pole! I know right where to go!
By late morning we hadn’t seen anything except the 2 point right early, so we decided to head back to the cabin. We met up with Gramps & Darren and decided that we’d attack a saddle west of the cabin. Darren & Gramps would be dropped off on top and work their way down while Cody & I would hike up from the bottom. We sat on the saddle and watched does and fawns run all over the mountain… but no bucks. I had a doe run to within 50 feet of me and didn't know I was there. It's a shame she couldn't grow antlers for me!
We decided to abandon that saddle after several hours and try somewhere new again, so Cody & I headed to a larger canyon with a small stream north of the cabin to sit until dark. We watched two impressive bull moose fight over a couple cows near the spring where I had my cameras all summer (I posted pics in the Trail Camera section). The larger (huge) bull chased off the smaller (also huge) bull and then turned his attention to a small clump of aspens. He raked one of those poor little aspens (6 to 8" diameter) until there was nothing left of it and left it on the ground. Wow, those are some powerful animals. I had gotten pics of several good bucks up there, but with all the “moose activity” I concluded that the spring was not going to be a productive area that evening for deer. We saw 3 does. Just before dark we heard a muzzleloader blast that sounded very close. Since we hadn’t seen much we’d head down to see if that meant good news for Gramps or Darren. From up the canyon, I could see them walking around on the road so I knew something had happened. When we got down to the road we found that Grandpa had sealed the deal on a great little 3 point. Gramps is pretty quick with a knife (and hacksaw) but I managed to take a quick picture of the skull plate. But that’s only the beginning of the story. Trying to get some details from Gramps, he said that they had come back to hang up Darren's buck. Darren had taken a little spike still in full velvet earlier in the evening, and had they not returned to hang it at the cabin they would have never seen the 3 point. As I got more of the story of Darren’s buck, the more impressed I became. He had taken a 65 yard shot hit the buck in the neck. He and Gramps tracked him for several hundred yards and almost 2 hours. They lost the blood trail but pushed on looking for any little clue they could find. Darren was losing hope of finding his first buck ever, and that sick feeling began to settle into the pit of his stomach. Despite losing the blood trail, Darren decided to keep going and on a hunch walked for several yards down the middle of the road. There, going all the way across the road, was a blood trail. To make it even sweeter, just off the road and down in the grass he spotted his expired little buck. I’m very proud of him for sticking with it, it’s just a little guy but your first buck is always a trophy.
That's all I can post for now, I'll put Friday and Saturday up shortly.