Last thursday evenings hunt
Snake River Marksman
9/25/07 7:28am
A Thursday Evening Hunt
It was a good spot to sit and watch the drainage below and the mountain above. Sitting on the rock that projected out three feet from the face of the hill with the large rock for a backrest made things a comfortable as sitting on a rock ever is. The spruce to the right gave some cover and the old dead snag to the left gave the spot some character. I’d be will to wager that the spruce was a descendant of the long dead snag right near it. The only problem with this whole setup was that it left me fully exposed to the 20 mph wind that would occasionally gust to 30 mph. Lucky for me it was a southerly breeze and it was warm. I truly hoped that my expectation of the wind laying down just before sundown would be realized. If not, I’d have hiked a mile and gained 1000 feet in elevation for no more than the value of exercise and the view. Neither is a bad reason to climb a mountain in the evening, but let’s face it, I was there to kill a deer.
I wasn’t exactly prepared for this evenings hunt. I’d forgotten to put my pack with all of my normal hunting gear back into the truck. I didn’t have my hunting knife, or my range finder, nor my Personal Survival Kit. I did have my Spyderco Delica in my pocket, I’m a pretty fair judge of distance, and I don’t shoot beyond 300yds anyway so not having the rangefinder was moot. The PSK left me feeling just a tad naked, but it was only a mile downhill to the truck, so as long as I didn’t get majorly hurt in some freak accident, not having it wouldn’t matter either.
After having spent more than two hours of glassing and seeing nothing more interesting than a hawk hunting, and the magpies going about their business, it was nearing the end of legal hunting light and I decided to hunt my way back to the truck.
I’d just worked my way through a postage stamp size patch of aspens with two moose beds in it when I actually saw the two moose. A cow and a calf not 100yds away. They figured out who I was and left real quick. I continued down the ridge stopping and glassing the drainage below when I spotted a white circle between two trees. I thought to myself “That’s a deers rump” and when I put the glasses on it, sure enough it was a muledeers rump. It looked like a small deer and when the doe stepped out of the bushes, it became obvious that the one that I had first spotted was a yearling. And so was the one following the doe. I switched from the binocular to the rifle scope and was just aligning the crosshairs on the shoulder of the doe when the first yearling took two steps up the hill and then began to stott off ears held erect. The other yearling followed immediately and then the doe. They were invisible in the brush in the blink of an eye. I switched back to the binocular to try and locate either them, any other deer, or what had spooked them, but after several minutes of looking I spotted nothing.
It was past legal light by now and full dark by the time I got back to the truck. I’ll have to admit to feeling a sense of relief when I reached the truck. The last quarter mile of the trail runs through the edge of the timber and there are quite a few bears in the area. The last thing I needed was an encounter with either a black or a grizzly bear. It’s a pretty humbling realization to know you are NOT the top of the food chain.
By the way, that wind did lay down to a nice gentle 5mph breeze.
It was a good spot to sit and watch the drainage below and the mountain above. Sitting on the rock that projected out three feet from the face of the hill with the large rock for a backrest made things a comfortable as sitting on a rock ever is. The spruce to the right gave some cover and the old dead snag to the left gave the spot some character. I’d be will to wager that the spruce was a descendant of the long dead snag right near it. The only problem with this whole setup was that it left me fully exposed to the 20 mph wind that would occasionally gust to 30 mph. Lucky for me it was a southerly breeze and it was warm. I truly hoped that my expectation of the wind laying down just before sundown would be realized. If not, I’d have hiked a mile and gained 1000 feet in elevation for no more than the value of exercise and the view. Neither is a bad reason to climb a mountain in the evening, but let’s face it, I was there to kill a deer.
I wasn’t exactly prepared for this evenings hunt. I’d forgotten to put my pack with all of my normal hunting gear back into the truck. I didn’t have my hunting knife, or my range finder, nor my Personal Survival Kit. I did have my Spyderco Delica in my pocket, I’m a pretty fair judge of distance, and I don’t shoot beyond 300yds anyway so not having the rangefinder was moot. The PSK left me feeling just a tad naked, but it was only a mile downhill to the truck, so as long as I didn’t get majorly hurt in some freak accident, not having it wouldn’t matter either.
After having spent more than two hours of glassing and seeing nothing more interesting than a hawk hunting, and the magpies going about their business, it was nearing the end of legal hunting light and I decided to hunt my way back to the truck.
I’d just worked my way through a postage stamp size patch of aspens with two moose beds in it when I actually saw the two moose. A cow and a calf not 100yds away. They figured out who I was and left real quick. I continued down the ridge stopping and glassing the drainage below when I spotted a white circle between two trees. I thought to myself “That’s a deers rump” and when I put the glasses on it, sure enough it was a muledeers rump. It looked like a small deer and when the doe stepped out of the bushes, it became obvious that the one that I had first spotted was a yearling. And so was the one following the doe. I switched from the binocular to the rifle scope and was just aligning the crosshairs on the shoulder of the doe when the first yearling took two steps up the hill and then began to stott off ears held erect. The other yearling followed immediately and then the doe. They were invisible in the brush in the blink of an eye. I switched back to the binocular to try and locate either them, any other deer, or what had spooked them, but after several minutes of looking I spotted nothing.
It was past legal light by now and full dark by the time I got back to the truck. I’ll have to admit to feeling a sense of relief when I reached the truck. The last quarter mile of the trail runs through the edge of the timber and there are quite a few bears in the area. The last thing I needed was an encounter with either a black or a grizzly bear. It’s a pretty humbling realization to know you are NOT the top of the food chain.
By the way, that wind did lay down to a nice gentle 5mph breeze.
1,644
Thanks for the descriprion. I have been there many times. Maybe not that exact spot. I enjoy being in the woods by myself to enjoy the quiet and beauty I need to recharge my spirit. Ten days and counting for me. Good luck.