Another Evening... No Bucks
derekp1999
10/27/11 3:00pm
Took a friend that has a Dedicated Hunter tag up for the afternoon. We decided to hike into a big canyon that I briefly looked over on my muzzleloader hunt & since he would be packing a rifle I thought we should try it. We had deer going all over the mountain just couldn't put antlers on any of them.
I decided to drop down into the bottom and he'd stay higher with a good view of the opposite hillside. I took a very well worn game trail down a small side canyon to get to the bottom and got treed by a respectable, but not huge, bull moose chasing a cow & her calf. They came up from behind me and scared me to death. I was completely unarmed, so I hugged the tree until they got out of sight (about 10 minutes).
Once I got down into the bottom of the canyon, I found it to be very easy and quiet walking & started kicking myself for not giving it a try in late September. Since I could be so quiet and the wind in my face deer weren't bolting until I got to within 40 or 50 yards. My buddy counted 40 deer that I pushed out of the canyon (I saw maybe 18-20 of them), and didn't see antlers on any. I found a lion killed cow elk at the bottom that was probably about a year old. All of a sudden I'm seeing elk sign in an area where we haven't seen elk in 15 years, it's exctiting. I also found a small seep at the bottom of the canyon and the game trails were well worn and sign was thick for deer, elk, and moose.
I placed two cameras down there, one over a "wallow" (just a wider pool in the small trickle of water) and another over a nice trail. I just need to decide how long to let them "simmer." Do I try and get them out before it gets snowed in? Do I go in on snowmobile and get them out in Jan or Feb? Or just leave them until spring? They are 10-12 feet up each tree (apparently I'm pretty good at climbing trees), and it's a south facing slope so the snow shouldn't be an issue. I'm not too concerned about them and feel they are pretty safe, I just get anxious to see what's on there.
Anyway, we saw a bunch of deer for only being out about 3 hours, along with two bull moose, and about 4 miles of boot leather. Even though I'm not hunting and didn't harvest myself, man this is still fun!
I decided to drop down into the bottom and he'd stay higher with a good view of the opposite hillside. I took a very well worn game trail down a small side canyon to get to the bottom and got treed by a respectable, but not huge, bull moose chasing a cow & her calf. They came up from behind me and scared me to death. I was completely unarmed, so I hugged the tree until they got out of sight (about 10 minutes).
Once I got down into the bottom of the canyon, I found it to be very easy and quiet walking & started kicking myself for not giving it a try in late September. Since I could be so quiet and the wind in my face deer weren't bolting until I got to within 40 or 50 yards. My buddy counted 40 deer that I pushed out of the canyon (I saw maybe 18-20 of them), and didn't see antlers on any. I found a lion killed cow elk at the bottom that was probably about a year old. All of a sudden I'm seeing elk sign in an area where we haven't seen elk in 15 years, it's exctiting. I also found a small seep at the bottom of the canyon and the game trails were well worn and sign was thick for deer, elk, and moose.
I placed two cameras down there, one over a "wallow" (just a wider pool in the small trickle of water) and another over a nice trail. I just need to decide how long to let them "simmer." Do I try and get them out before it gets snowed in? Do I go in on snowmobile and get them out in Jan or Feb? Or just leave them until spring? They are 10-12 feet up each tree (apparently I'm pretty good at climbing trees), and it's a south facing slope so the snow shouldn't be an issue. I'm not too concerned about them and feel they are pretty safe, I just get anxious to see what's on there.
Anyway, we saw a bunch of deer for only being out about 3 hours, along with two bull moose, and about 4 miles of boot leather. Even though I'm not hunting and didn't harvest myself, man this is still fun!
1,188
waspocrew
10/27/11 4:51pm
That sounds like a pretty awesome area... I'm interested to hear about what you find on your cameras! I think just being in the outdoors is great if I have a tag or not. I've been out a couple times trying to help a friend fill his deer tag this week and it's been fun to get the adrenaline rushing again!
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