My Utah Deer (Video & Pictures)

IDHunter 10/27/10 6:28pm

I really enjoy coming here and reading the stories posted by everyone. I realized today that I should share more as well. If you want to check back, I will update this topic with a few videos, stories, and pictures. I hope you enjoy.

This first clip was from Labor Day weekend with Tom. Sorry if some of it is shaky. I wasn't always able to use a tripod.

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/8482344/22669739

6,123

IDHunter

10/27/10 6:32pm

The second day of our five day hunt had us at our glassing point minutes before light. As the darkness began to fade, Tom and I could make out a few deer feeding high on the mountain face. As we closely inspected each one through our spotting scopes we could clearly see two shooter bucks we had located the day before. Holding back the excitement that surges before a stalk, we held our ground, waited, and watched their every move.

One by one the bucks split up from each other and headed for their beds. One buck in particular named “Chance” slipped into a small patch of pines where he proceeded to kick a doe out of the deep hole of a bed. As he lay down he completely vanished from sight. He may not have been the biggest deer on the mountain, but we liked the opportunity he was giving us. Graciously Tom said to me “this is your stalk.”

We’ve learned over the years that most of the bucks will get up midday, feed for a minute, and bed back down. Often times this second bed may be in a different location than the first. The last thing we want is to have the buck move before we’re in position. Our strategy was to wait until 2:00 in the afternoon before making our move.

3:30 pm rolls around and I have now hiked around the mountain and slipped over the ridge and slowly made it to 45 yards from the bedded buck that I still can’t see. There’s a wide open clearing between me and him that is preventing me from getting any closer. The plan is to wait him out until he gets up to feed in the evening. Hours pass by.

Finally I catch movement in the small scraggly pines. He’s on his feet and slowly moving directly away from me. I start through the clearing after him and pick every step with extreme caution to avoid making a whisper of a noise. From my hunched over position I can see Chance’s rack bobbing up and down while he’s feeding at 35 yards. I’m doing everything I can to get a visual on his near shoulder, but the brush is too tall. 10 yards ahead of me is a lone bushy tree that I can use as cover. If he keeps this angle he will step out perfectly quartered away at 20 yards. An eternity passes by and I finally make it to the tree. In my head I’m already quartering him out. Instantly he turns around and walks straight back to his bed a lays back down. “Are you kidding me? Did that really just happen,” I thought to myself.

I pull a 180 myself and quietly move back out into the wide open clearing. This time I can see Chance in his hole. Every scenario is running through my head of what the next move should be. He is 28 yards directly below me. He’s sharply quartered away and watching everything but me. The wind is blowing across the side of my face, but for how long? It’s 7:30 pm and the thermals should start to pull down hill any minute. On top of that, I have zero cover. Will he look up hill? I can either wait for him to get up again or I can slip an arrow into a very tight spot. What would you do?

Minutes pass by and I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to stick him in his bed. I range him again for the 20th time while I’m nocking my best arrow. “Still 28 yards.” I clip my release to the string, remind myself to pick a spot, and slowly draw back the bow… Suddenly it happened. My arrow goes flying towards the buck. Like lightning his head spins around and makes eye contact with me and he flies out of his bed. A sick feeling comes over me as I retrieve my arrow…27 yards short of the buck. I carefully look at my bow and find the tiny little grain of rock that had just enough leverage to yank my string off my cam.

I have three more days to hunt with no bow. “I guess the next stalk is Tom’s.”

(If you're curious which buck it was, you can check the video above. The buck was the narrow one with three cheaters.)