Hunting stories for the off-season
AGCHAWK
3/27/07 10:29pm
Hey guys and gals, I thought that since it's the "off-season" that we could all share a few hunting stories. Since I'm lookin' for any hunting stories I am posting in the Rifle Forum vice the Mule Deer, Elk, or any of the species specific forums.
The story is kinda long. Hope you enjoy:
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With blurry, tired eyes I sat on the edge of my bed,
trying to make out the numbers on my alarm clock. 03:00!
But of course, I already knew darn good and well what time
it was. After all, I had been getting up at the same time
every morning during the last week while desperately trying
to fill my tag. It was my annual Idaho Whitetail hunt and
things weren't going well thus far.
I sat there for a good 15 minutes in the dark, glancing
back and forth between my sleeping wife and my damp
hunting boots, trying desperately to decide exactly which
option seemed the most appealing at that moment. to be honest,
at that point nothing seemed more appealing that climbing back
under the covers, snuggling up to my wife, and drifting
off to sleep.
Before I go further I need to fill you in on the inner
termoil that I was dealing with at that moment and what would
even cause me to THINK about skipping a day of hunting.
After spending 13 months in the Middle East in support
of Operation Iraqi Freedom, I managed to get a 30 day leave
approved stateside...and managed to get it during Washington
Mule Deer season and Idaho Whitetail season! And, I must have
one of the greatest wives in the world because she did not
complain ONCE about me wanting to spend a vast majority of
my leave in the field. I had one week of leave left and after
striking out on my Mule Deer hunt I was bound and determined
to fill my Idaho tag.
To make matters even more complicated, we bought our
first house together while I was home and there were a lot
of things that needed to be accomplished before I could move
our household goods and the kids into the house. I needed to
fill that tag, and quick! Not just for me, but for her. I was
feeling extremely guilty about not spending more time with her
and although she never voiced any concerns whatsoever, I knew
that she wanted to spend some time with me before I had to head
back to that damned sandbox overseas.
After sitting there for what seemed like forever I jumped
to my feet, grabbed my boots, and prepared to again "hit the
hills". Because I sat there for so long I hastely threw my
gear together, grabbed some jerky and power bars, and jumped
in my Blazer in hopes of ending the hunt TODAY!
During the hour and a half drive to my "honey hole" I
kept having that stinking feeling that we all have at one
time or another, "What am I forgetting?". Dismissing it as
a silly notion I continued on my treck, figuring that since
I have my rifle, ammo, license and tag that everything else
was just "dead wieght". I would learn later on that I couldn't
have been more wrong!
Well, the majority of the drive to the trailhead I planned
on hiking went fairly well with just a little snow and few slick
spots to deal with along the way. "Today is the day" I kept
thinking to myself, happy that I made the decision to get out
that morning. No sooner did I start thinking those "happy
thoughts" though than I turn through a sharp bend in the old access
road and come to a deadfall across the road! "&%$@!" I thought,
"...and I'm still a good mile from my trailhead!". Getting out
of my Blazer, I grabbed my axe and began attempting to clear the
deadfall from the road. After a good half hour of chopping away
at that tree I climbed back into my Blazer, nudged the front end
up to what was left of the tree, and pushed it to the side of the
road. I was on my way, and within a few minutes I was at my starting
point and ready to get going.
Because of the delays I was in a bit of a hurry to get back to
my favorite spot. Hastely, I filled my pack, grabbed my rifle, and
hit the trail. About a half mile down the trail I remembered, "My
license is still in my rig!". I turned around and half ran back to
my rig, trying like mad to get to my spot before sunrise. I did a quick
inventory of my pack and also realized that I hadn't grab my grunt call.
After throwing my license and call into my pack, I again hit the trail,
moving much faster than I would have liked to but nonetheless determined to get to my spot in time for sunrise.
Completely out of breath and more than a bit tired from the early
morning wake-up, clearing the deadfall, and the speedwalking drill to
my hunting spot, I finally sat down in my favorite concealed location
ready to start the day. The spot I was hunting was an old clear-cut
about a mile long and 300 yards wide, bisected by a small stream. It
was the pre-rut and I was excited to see just how active the Whitetail
would be.
Pulling out my grunt tube and rattling antlers, I began some light
calling in hopes of bringing a curious buck into the clearing. Because
it was only the pre-rut, I didn't expect a whole lot of action but have
been pretty successful in bringing in the curious bucks as they start to
"feel thier oats". However, after about 2 hours and no movement I was
beginning to get a bit frustrated and also began to question my
decision to hunt that morning. I continued on though, and after another
30 minutes or so I decided to break out the doe bleat to see if it
would have any effect.
I blew a couple bleats every 15 minutes or so before I started to
get a bit uncomfortable. "I need to use the head" I thought to
myself and tried to decide if I should blow my cover by "doing my
business". No sooner had I made my decision to "relieve myself" and
had turned to set my call down than two bucks came walking out of the
tree line about 100 yards to my right. I quickly grabbed my rifle, sized
up the two bucks, and realized that the second of the two Whitetail was
a shooter! However, because of the angle I couldn't get a good line of
sight on him and decided that I needed to break cover in order to get a
good shot off. Crawling slowly from my hiding spot, I moved in behind an
old deadfall and rested my rifle on it in order to stablize my shot.
Although both bucks had spotted my movement, I was completely decented and "cammoed out" and because of that they just stood there trying to figure out if I was indeed a threat. I now had a great rest, an open shooting lane, and a shooter buck with his chest in my crosshairs.
"Deep breath, let it out, squeeze the trigger...BAM!" Everything was
perfect, the weather, the situation, my position...everything! Yet, when
the shot rang out through the trees both bucks turned tail and dissappeared within a fraction of a second. Not a single sign that my buck was hit at all! Now I have shot my fair share of deer before and I can almost always tell when one is hit and usually am pretty good at telling just how BAD they are hit. However, this buck showed no signed of even being scathed by my shot! I just stood there, dumbfounded, for what seemed like forever before walking over to where the buck last stood in hopes of finding some sign that he was hit at all. After combing over every square inch of the area I found nothing! No hair, blood...nothing to indicate that I had hit my mark. Walking the trail that he took into the trees I continued to look for sign yet after an hour I had found absolutely nothing. Walking back to my original sitting spot I went over the entire chain of events in my head. "Why didn't I wait until they moved instead of me?", "Why didn't I try to call them in closer?", "Why am I such an idiot!?" I sat down on my normal perch for another half hour trying to decide if I would even tell anyone that I had seen anything. After all, my brother would never let me hear the end of it if I told him I missed a shot that
perfect.
Getting up, I grabbed my gear and started the long hike back to my rig.
After everything I went through that morning my heart just wasn't in it
any more. However, after walking a few hundred yards down the trail I
decided to check the trees again and the trail that the buck took into
oblivion. I hiked about a half mile through the trees when something
caught my attention to my left. Turning to see what it was I caught a
glimps of white in amoungst the underbrush. Sneaking closer for a better
look I quickly realized that it was a deer, a buck, and he was laying
over an old deadfall and not moving at all. "No way, no way, no way" I
kept saying to myself as I got closer. IT WAS MY BUCK!!! He had managed to make it almost a mile total before expiring. I was so excited, relieved, and happy that I hadn't given up that I just sat there staring at him for at least 15 minutes. What a wonderful feeling that was too...until I went to field dress him! Remember when I mentioned that I thought that "I had forgotten" something? Well, sure enough, it was my good field knife! I began to panic, frantically digging through my pack in hopes of finding at least one of my spare knives. However, my luck was about to change. My wife had thrown some laundry in the wash the night before and noticed that I had left my knife in my other hunting pants. Being the wonderful woman that she is, she placed it in my pack, knowing darn good and well that her man is a forgetful one and would need it the next morning. Man, I love that woman!
After field dressing the buck I realized that it was a near perfect chest shot and quite frankly, that buck had no business getting as far as he did. But, we all know too well that these animals we hunt are amazing creatures and surprise us at every turn.
After four hours of packing him back to my rig I drove to the nearest
town to let my wife know that my hunt was over. When she answered the phone I told her I loved her, thank her for lookin' out for me, and that we were "going out tonight". I then noticed that she sounded a bit "disturbed" and asked her what the problem was. She told me that after she hadn't heard from me all morning she called my brother to see if he had heard from me. My brother, being the "Joker" that he is, stated "Well, if he's not back yet he either got one or he was shot by another hunter and is bleeding to death out there!". Now, I love my brother and he is to this day my favorite hunting partner but sometimes he's impossible! I think my wife was more worried about me out there hunting that morning than she was the entire 13 months I was overseas!
Anyway, again this being the "off-season" I thought I'd share a hunting story. Let's hear some of yours! (Thanks Killerbee for giving me this idea. After reading your elk hunting story in the snow I decided to share a little).
The story is kinda long. Hope you enjoy:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With blurry, tired eyes I sat on the edge of my bed,
trying to make out the numbers on my alarm clock. 03:00!
But of course, I already knew darn good and well what time
it was. After all, I had been getting up at the same time
every morning during the last week while desperately trying
to fill my tag. It was my annual Idaho Whitetail hunt and
things weren't going well thus far.
I sat there for a good 15 minutes in the dark, glancing
back and forth between my sleeping wife and my damp
hunting boots, trying desperately to decide exactly which
option seemed the most appealing at that moment. to be honest,
at that point nothing seemed more appealing that climbing back
under the covers, snuggling up to my wife, and drifting
off to sleep.
Before I go further I need to fill you in on the inner
termoil that I was dealing with at that moment and what would
even cause me to THINK about skipping a day of hunting.
After spending 13 months in the Middle East in support
of Operation Iraqi Freedom, I managed to get a 30 day leave
approved stateside...and managed to get it during Washington
Mule Deer season and Idaho Whitetail season! And, I must have
one of the greatest wives in the world because she did not
complain ONCE about me wanting to spend a vast majority of
my leave in the field. I had one week of leave left and after
striking out on my Mule Deer hunt I was bound and determined
to fill my Idaho tag.
To make matters even more complicated, we bought our
first house together while I was home and there were a lot
of things that needed to be accomplished before I could move
our household goods and the kids into the house. I needed to
fill that tag, and quick! Not just for me, but for her. I was
feeling extremely guilty about not spending more time with her
and although she never voiced any concerns whatsoever, I knew
that she wanted to spend some time with me before I had to head
back to that damned sandbox overseas.
After sitting there for what seemed like forever I jumped
to my feet, grabbed my boots, and prepared to again "hit the
hills". Because I sat there for so long I hastely threw my
gear together, grabbed some jerky and power bars, and jumped
in my Blazer in hopes of ending the hunt TODAY!
During the hour and a half drive to my "honey hole" I
kept having that stinking feeling that we all have at one
time or another, "What am I forgetting?". Dismissing it as
a silly notion I continued on my treck, figuring that since
I have my rifle, ammo, license and tag that everything else
was just "dead wieght". I would learn later on that I couldn't
have been more wrong!
Well, the majority of the drive to the trailhead I planned
on hiking went fairly well with just a little snow and few slick
spots to deal with along the way. "Today is the day" I kept
thinking to myself, happy that I made the decision to get out
that morning. No sooner did I start thinking those "happy
thoughts" though than I turn through a sharp bend in the old access
road and come to a deadfall across the road! "&%$@!" I thought,
"...and I'm still a good mile from my trailhead!". Getting out
of my Blazer, I grabbed my axe and began attempting to clear the
deadfall from the road. After a good half hour of chopping away
at that tree I climbed back into my Blazer, nudged the front end
up to what was left of the tree, and pushed it to the side of the
road. I was on my way, and within a few minutes I was at my starting
point and ready to get going.
Because of the delays I was in a bit of a hurry to get back to
my favorite spot. Hastely, I filled my pack, grabbed my rifle, and
hit the trail. About a half mile down the trail I remembered, "My
license is still in my rig!". I turned around and half ran back to
my rig, trying like mad to get to my spot before sunrise. I did a quick
inventory of my pack and also realized that I hadn't grab my grunt call.
After throwing my license and call into my pack, I again hit the trail,
moving much faster than I would have liked to but nonetheless determined to get to my spot in time for sunrise.
Completely out of breath and more than a bit tired from the early
morning wake-up, clearing the deadfall, and the speedwalking drill to
my hunting spot, I finally sat down in my favorite concealed location
ready to start the day. The spot I was hunting was an old clear-cut
about a mile long and 300 yards wide, bisected by a small stream. It
was the pre-rut and I was excited to see just how active the Whitetail
would be.
Pulling out my grunt tube and rattling antlers, I began some light
calling in hopes of bringing a curious buck into the clearing. Because
it was only the pre-rut, I didn't expect a whole lot of action but have
been pretty successful in bringing in the curious bucks as they start to
"feel thier oats". However, after about 2 hours and no movement I was
beginning to get a bit frustrated and also began to question my
decision to hunt that morning. I continued on though, and after another
30 minutes or so I decided to break out the doe bleat to see if it
would have any effect.
I blew a couple bleats every 15 minutes or so before I started to
get a bit uncomfortable. "I need to use the head" I thought to
myself and tried to decide if I should blow my cover by "doing my
business". No sooner had I made my decision to "relieve myself" and
had turned to set my call down than two bucks came walking out of the
tree line about 100 yards to my right. I quickly grabbed my rifle, sized
up the two bucks, and realized that the second of the two Whitetail was
a shooter! However, because of the angle I couldn't get a good line of
sight on him and decided that I needed to break cover in order to get a
good shot off. Crawling slowly from my hiding spot, I moved in behind an
old deadfall and rested my rifle on it in order to stablize my shot.
Although both bucks had spotted my movement, I was completely decented and "cammoed out" and because of that they just stood there trying to figure out if I was indeed a threat. I now had a great rest, an open shooting lane, and a shooter buck with his chest in my crosshairs.
"Deep breath, let it out, squeeze the trigger...BAM!" Everything was
perfect, the weather, the situation, my position...everything! Yet, when
the shot rang out through the trees both bucks turned tail and dissappeared within a fraction of a second. Not a single sign that my buck was hit at all! Now I have shot my fair share of deer before and I can almost always tell when one is hit and usually am pretty good at telling just how BAD they are hit. However, this buck showed no signed of even being scathed by my shot! I just stood there, dumbfounded, for what seemed like forever before walking over to where the buck last stood in hopes of finding some sign that he was hit at all. After combing over every square inch of the area I found nothing! No hair, blood...nothing to indicate that I had hit my mark. Walking the trail that he took into the trees I continued to look for sign yet after an hour I had found absolutely nothing. Walking back to my original sitting spot I went over the entire chain of events in my head. "Why didn't I wait until they moved instead of me?", "Why didn't I try to call them in closer?", "Why am I such an idiot!?" I sat down on my normal perch for another half hour trying to decide if I would even tell anyone that I had seen anything. After all, my brother would never let me hear the end of it if I told him I missed a shot that
perfect.
Getting up, I grabbed my gear and started the long hike back to my rig.
After everything I went through that morning my heart just wasn't in it
any more. However, after walking a few hundred yards down the trail I
decided to check the trees again and the trail that the buck took into
oblivion. I hiked about a half mile through the trees when something
caught my attention to my left. Turning to see what it was I caught a
glimps of white in amoungst the underbrush. Sneaking closer for a better
look I quickly realized that it was a deer, a buck, and he was laying
over an old deadfall and not moving at all. "No way, no way, no way" I
kept saying to myself as I got closer. IT WAS MY BUCK!!! He had managed to make it almost a mile total before expiring. I was so excited, relieved, and happy that I hadn't given up that I just sat there staring at him for at least 15 minutes. What a wonderful feeling that was too...until I went to field dress him! Remember when I mentioned that I thought that "I had forgotten" something? Well, sure enough, it was my good field knife! I began to panic, frantically digging through my pack in hopes of finding at least one of my spare knives. However, my luck was about to change. My wife had thrown some laundry in the wash the night before and noticed that I had left my knife in my other hunting pants. Being the wonderful woman that she is, she placed it in my pack, knowing darn good and well that her man is a forgetful one and would need it the next morning. Man, I love that woman!
After field dressing the buck I realized that it was a near perfect chest shot and quite frankly, that buck had no business getting as far as he did. But, we all know too well that these animals we hunt are amazing creatures and surprise us at every turn.
After four hours of packing him back to my rig I drove to the nearest
town to let my wife know that my hunt was over. When she answered the phone I told her I loved her, thank her for lookin' out for me, and that we were "going out tonight". I then noticed that she sounded a bit "disturbed" and asked her what the problem was. She told me that after she hadn't heard from me all morning she called my brother to see if he had heard from me. My brother, being the "Joker" that he is, stated "Well, if he's not back yet he either got one or he was shot by another hunter and is bleeding to death out there!". Now, I love my brother and he is to this day my favorite hunting partner but sometimes he's impossible! I think my wife was more worried about me out there hunting that morning than she was the entire 13 months I was overseas!
Anyway, again this being the "off-season" I thought I'd share a hunting story. Let's hear some of yours! (Thanks Killerbee for giving me this idea. After reading your elk hunting story in the snow I decided to share a little).
3,952
Let's hear from ya.
Lets hear some more stories!!!