Quest for the bigger one....
ridgetop
5/20/12 2:53pm
So I've decided to post on the 2012 HAC on the other MM site this year, which I'll be posting the same info. here too, that's if I can keep up with it all. After going back and rereading my 2010 hunt stories. I realized I need to do a better job this year with my accounts and journal keeping. I'll try and provide more video footage too. I'm hoping to beat my personal best at either archery ,muzzleloader or rifle deer and bull elk.
I have not taken an archery deer yet but won't shoot anything under 160". I've shot enough bucks under 160" in my life and I just like to hunt with the guns to much anyway.
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My best muzzy buck: 162" and 25" wide
http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/ackc10_album/TruckBucks.jpg " alt="" />
My best rifle buck(the one on the left): 176" and 29" wide
http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/ackc10_album/2008elk2.jpg " alt="" />
My best elk: scored 265" 6x6
I have not taken an archery deer yet but won't shoot anything under 160". I've shot enough bucks under 160" in my life and I just like to hunt with the guns to much anyway.
My best muzzy buck: 162" and 25" wide
My best rifle buck(the one on the left): 176" and 29" wide
My best elk: scored 265" 6x6
57,843
Good luck in 012, looking forward to the stories and pics.
I finally got out for about an hour before dark in the unit I'll be hunting this year. Sorry for the crappy quality of the video but it was almost dark. It actually was so dark that I had a hard time telling they were deer on the hillside. I bought a new little HD camera with some money I earned from a second job this winter. So I was basically just trying to see how well it would do in near dark conditions. The widest buck looks like it will be at least 26"+ wide.
Link:
Moose
So I'll do the best I can but I'll have to leave out a lot of my scouting details for now but will try to show off a few pics. from my outings.
June 23rd
Finally, I got a Saturday off of work. I've worked 6 out of the last 7 and the one day I did have off, I injured my foot and had to stay off it for a couple days.
I took two trail cams up to a new area which I heard held some good bucks last year. While hiking in, I spotted 4 bucks together. Here's a picture of the best one. He should be a good looking buck when he finishes growing.
I jumped another 10 or so smaller bucks about a mile further in. As I got close to where I wanted to set up one of the cameras and was walking along a set of cliffs with about a 20 foot drop off. I stopped to look down into a small pocket of brush down below me about 50-60 yards. I could see a deer bedded under the waist high brush. It was in the shade and I couldn't see any antlers. After just looking at it for about 30 seconds, without even putting some glass on it(why I don't know). It bolted out of there in a flash. It was a great buck, at least 24" wide with 5-6" tine length on each of it's 4 point frame. I really wished I would have had my camera ready. I really feel good about the locations I put my cameras. I'll be checking on them in a few weeks.
Corby and I went on an overnight backback trip into some new country. Our plan was to glass a huge cayon that looks like big buck haven until dark and then again in the morning. We got a later start than I was hoping for and we only were able to glass for less than an hour before dark. We only spotted one small buck.
We started hiking up the steep hill right as it was just getting light enough to see without a flashlight. We continued up about a 1/2 mile. I told Corby that before we started glassing the huge canyon, I wanted to look on the backside of the hill we were on. So I headed off that way and Corby went to start glassing the big canyon. Just as I got around to look up into a small bowled out canyon on the backside, I spotted 4 bucks feeding about 500-600 yards away. I got out my spotting scope and then could see that one of the bucks was really wide and was a 7x5 and about 28" wide. He has a small droptine off his main beam and cheater off his G-3 on the same side. His tine length is not too good but the width and extra points have me interested.
Here some video of him:
After glassing the huge canyon for a couple hours, we only could turn up (1) 24-25" 150 class buck. We did see a lot of does with fawns, which was a good sign.
After we got back to the truck and started for home. We only had traveled a few miles down the road when I looked over and saw a really nice 5x5 standing on the side hill about 150-200 yards away. That was the last thing I was expecting to see at 11:00 am on a Saturday morning. He ran up into some trees where there was three other smaller bucks. One of the other smaller bucks had an inline point coming up between its G-2 and main beam, which was cool looking. He just needs another year or two to be a great looking buck. It appeared nobody had come up that road yet that morning. I grabbed my camera out of my pack and got some good video of him. He's another one I'm going to keep my eye on. I have a feeling he will be long gone in about a month when this area and road gets more pressure.
Video of this buck:
As we got close to where my trail cameras were, we saw a couple more small bucks feeding below us. As I was getting my camera out to take a picture of a small 4 point, John starts yelling "BIG BUCK, BIG BUCK" and pointing down canyon. I saw the buck as he was just going over into a small draw and thinking he would come up the direct oppisite side, that's where I was aiming my camera. Instead he came out right at the head of the draw about 100 yards further up the draw. I was able to get a very quick shot off with the camera right as he disappeared into the next canyon about 300 yards away.
Yes, I agree with John it was a "BIG BUCK".
Could that have been the big buck I jumped out of its bed by where I set up one of my cameras on June 23rd and what kind of pictures were going to be on my camera?
to be continued....
Once I got to my trail cam and saw I had about 300 pictures taken, I really got excited to look at the pictures. I'm sure this is the same buck I jumped before out of it's bed and the same buck John and myself had just seen.
This is going to be a geat looking buck.
Here he is 4 days later, starting to grow out his extras a little more
This new area we have found is starting to look good. I just might pull the trigger this year.
In the afternoon, I decided to go to the other end of the unit and set up a camera where I had seen some nice bucks before.
After setting up the camera by a spring and almost back to the truck. I spotted these bucks bedded a couple hundred yards away. It was almost dark and they stayed bedded even after I left the area and glassed them from farther away.
I can't believe how many nice bucks I've able to see so far this year. Who needs the Vernon or Book Cliffs with this type of general season success. Well, we'll see how much things change after the masses show up in about a month from now.
looks like a couple dandy bucks- are you archery hunting them? or do you have the dedicated tag where you get to hunt them all 3 seasons?
pretty sweet, I'm looking forward to watching it play out!
I only had a couple hours to look around this morning before I met up with the sheep tag holder, so I went out at first light and just hiked up above a road where I always thought a certain area could hold a good buck or two. Although I really wasn't in country the sheep had been seen in before, I was hoping to turn one up. I had heard they were moving further South on the mountain, so maybe there was a chance. Well no sheep but I did turn up another nice buck.
Here's the video.
Later in the morning I met up with the sheep tag holder and his son and I showed them around a little. Then I decided to check on my trail cam on another mountain in the afternoon. So we parted ways and off I went to check on the cam.
When I got to the camera, there was over 3,000 pictures taken in the week it was there. HOLY CRAP. (???) Come to find out, the strap that held the camera to a tree was blowing in front of the sensor. #-o
I did get one good picture of the tall buck that I got a picture of bedded.
Anyway, July 29th,
there was a big wildfire burning to close for my liking near one of my trail cams. So I went out and pulled it before something happened to it. I did get a few more bucks coming in but nothing huge. This area may become a "plan b" area if "plan a" doesn't pan out.
Today my cousin John and I took some supplies up to where we will have a base camp for the archery hunt in two week. I took another trail camera up with me to set up in a different canyon. My pack was loaded to about 45 lbs. Which was a little too much and I really felt burned out the next day. The last time John was up to this spot two weeks earlier, he checked on the condition of my trail camera but did not open it up. He found a dead half eaten fawn about 10 feet away from my camera. So we were wanting to see what had been there. This is what was on my camera.
Also, from the day the cat showed up on my camera and killed the fawn, I never recieved another big buck picture for the two weeks afterwards until I checked the camera. The bigger bucks completly left the area. Luckly, we did find them about a 1/2 mile to a mile away.
While hiking in, we saw several small bucks and the best one being a 155-160" buck with a button cheater on his left side.After we dropped off our stuff at our camp location, we headed for another canyon to set up another camera. In one spot, we had just walked past a group of trees and I turned around to see a nice buck "back dooring" us and it was just going over the ridge. I grabbed my camera and ran back up towards the trees and was hoping to catch a better look at the buck. Then I see another buck still in the trees about 50-60 yards away. By time I could get my camera started and focused, the buck was then on the move. Here's the video of the buck I've named "forky" because his main beam forks on his left side. He has two cheater on his right side. This buck will be on our hit list. John thinks the other buck that went over the ridge was "lookout", the 7x6 buck I had on my trail cam from early July.
Cool stuff Ridge, hope you guys get a crack at those nice bucks you've found. Forky looks cool.
I was planning on doing an overnight packpack trip with a friend into the area I had seen the droptine buck in early July. I was hoping to see how he turned out after growing a few more weeks. My friend cancelled at the last minute but I was already packed , so off I went alone. The road was washed out along the way and it was a little scary getting though it but finally after six years of never using my winch. I put it to work and it towed me right up out off that steep wash bank.
I spent the long rainy, windy night right at the base of the mountain, it rained on and off most the night. I started hiking about 45 minutes before light and was about a mile up the steep ridge at first light. I ended up seeing about 25 bucks in the one canyon but no sign of the droptine buck. I did manage to glass up a couple nice typical bucks in the 25-27" wide range and somewhere in the 160-170" class. I think I'm going to try and help my cousin get his wife in on one of these bucks during the rifle hunt. That is, If she's up to the hike.
Here's the video of the best two bucks I saw today.
Corby and myself headed up to camp at about 6:00 pm and by the time we arrived at camp it was just about dark but we could see about 6 or 7 small bucks feeding within a hundred yards of our campsite, which was pretty cool to see. Tom and Paul came in about 2:00 am because of family stuff going on.
Aug. 18th
Our alarms went off at about 5:30 am and we quickly made plans. Paul and I went one way and Corby and Tom went another. My hopes was that Paul could sneak around a group of trees that I usually see deer feeding in quite often and maybe he could get a shot but if the deer tried to sneak out over the top, I would be ready for an ambush. Only a couple of does came out of the trees. Some deer came from the other direction and before they could see me, I dropped to the ground and curled up in a ball to look more like the large rocks around me. I covered my face with my hands and peeked through my fingers. about six does and a 20" wide 2x3 came by about 60 yards and had no idea I was there. After the dropped into the trees, I hiked over to a deep canyon to look for deer feeding on a bench they like to use. Just as the bench came into view about 60-80 yards away, I spotted antlers moving. I dropped to the ground and got out my camera. I knew they were out of my range but if they did spook, I hoped they would head towards Paul in the next canyon. Here's a few pictures of the feeding bucks.
After about ten minutes of watching the bucks, the wind shifted and a group of about 10 bucks were running in all directions.
Five of the bucks went down the bottom and up the other side of the canyon. In which one of them I've named "lookout". At that point is when I decided that it would be "lookout" or bust for me this year. After about 30 minutes the bucks worked their way to a small group of trees across the canyon and bedded. After watching them for about 3 hours, in which the got up and would feed for a few minutes then bed back down. Finally lookout bedded about 20 yards from the ridgetop. It was time to make my move. I pack up my gear and headed for the backside of the ridge the bucks were on. But then all of a sudden something spooked the deer and they were gone in a flash. We never could find them again. After that, I went and checked my trail cam and it had a real nice picture of "lookout" on it. Now it's the quest for lookout.
After checking this camera, I went to check my other one about a mile away . When I got to it, there was not many pictures at all, only a few does and a small four point. I then headed down a deep nasty canyon looking for a spring or seep that the deer were getting their water but no luck finding one. At that point it was almost dark and I started heading towards camp several miles away.
What a long but exciting day, just a little too hot for hunting IMHO. It must have been in the 80s.
This morning I went out and glassed a familar canyon but saw very little in way of bucks. I then went for a hike down into a deep canyon looking for new trails, hopefully water or a nice buck. I only found a few good well used trails. A few hours later I met up with Tom, which was watching a patch of brush the guys had seen a really nice buck go into earlier. Corby was on his way over there to try and locate the buck. While I was messing around trying to find/ make some shade(because it was so freaking hot) Tom says, there's the buck. I only had enough time to look up and see a nice buck come up out of the patch of brush, stop for a few seconds and was off and running again. That was one nice buck that I would like to get a closer look at. After that, we went back to camp and packed up for the long hike back out.
End of opening weekend.
My oldest daughter joined me for an overnight backpack trip into an area where three of my friend were already hunting. As we topped out onto a ridgeline about a mile or so from our camp spot. I recieved a text from my friend Paul, saying he just arrowed a P&Y buck. What I didn't know was only a few hundred yards away, my other friend Tom was waiting to ambush a possible 160" class buck. He also recieved the text from Paul and Tom said out loud "yes". Right then he looked up and there was the 160" buck only 30 yards away staring right at him. Busted!
to be continued.......
Back to the hunt.
Toms buck took off after he had stood up, so Tom went to help Paul get his buck out. My daughter and I went to our camp to drop off our gear and then went in the direction of Paul to help. By the time we got over there(which was about a mile from camp). Paul, Tom and Corby were already heading back. Here's Paul packing out his 160" class buck.
Aug. 25th
I got up right at first light but my daughter wanted to keep sleeping awhile longer. So I hiked just a short distance from camp and looked into a very deep, rough canyon we have named "the hole". I spotted the cactus buck I've seen around for the last couple years. He's not very tall but has huge bases, with 10 or 12 points on each side. Instead of waiting for it to bed, I felt I needed to get back and check on my daughter and see if she was ready to go back and look at the buck with me. After she was ready to go, for some reason I felt like we should quickly look into a canyon to the south before going to the north to look at the cactus buck again. Within seconds of looking into the canyon to the south, I spotted a very big buck bedded in the pines. After looking through my spotting scope, I discovered it was the buck we named "forky". I called Tom, Paul and Corby to come check him out and decide if Tom or Corby wanted to make a stalk on him. After watching the buck get back up and feed awhile and then bedded again. Tom made about a three hour stalk on it and shot it at about 35 yards after it got back up and was feeding again. We scored Toms buck in the low 190s. Boy I misjudged that buck from a distance, It was huge up close.
I decided to take some more water up to our remote campsite and meet up with my cousin and his wife which had been up there since Friday. I saw about a dozen small bucks while hiking in but was really shocked to get a report from John that they had only seen two small bucks in the three days they were up there. Where did all the nice bucks we saw two weeks earlier go? That's how it goes sometimes.
John and I took some water and supplies up to our camp for the upcoming muzzleloader hunt. We jumped one real nice 4 point while hiking in. We never saw any other good bucks but I'm hoping we can get a better look at this one. Here's some video of it.
After working a full day and getting home, packing the rest of my gear. I was off for the mountain where I would meet up with Tom. John had already gone up to camp earlier in the afternoon. He had called me around 2:00pm a little freaked out because a lion had been in our camp just hours before. It had dug a hole just a few feet from our tents and you could see its tracks in the mud from the morning storm. By time Tom and I got to camp, it was a little after 10:00 pm. The full moon made it easy hiking in the dark. John hadn't seen anything good that afternoon but I was still really looking forward to seeing the lookout buck after he had rubbed off his velvet. This was really going to be a great hunt.
This morning found me at the same lookout point where I had last seen the "lookout" buck a month earlier. I saw about 6 or 7 smaller bucks feeding below me but not the big guy. Tom tried to push the timber for me but nothing but a few does appeared. John, Tom and I tried to push another canyon but nothing again, nothing but a few more does. In the afternoon, we tried glassing a few more canyons and with about an hour left of light. Tom spotted a nice buck about a mile away. So Tom and John went after it. Tom tried to push the buck towards John but it ended up going a little too high on the hill and John never could see it from his angle. So at that point, darkness was coming fast and John met me back at camp and Tom headed for home.
John and I hit all the usual glassing spots today but nothing but a couple small bucks.
In the afternoon, I decided to hike down into the bottom of a canyon where I had a trail cam set up and take it back to camp. I had checked on it during opening weekend of the archery hunt, nothing but a couple small bucks and a lot of does. What I found this time, I just could not believe. On the same morning that Tom had shot his great buck "forky". I had trail cam pictures of both "forky" and "lookout"from this camera. The pictures started at 1:00 am and the last one was at 4:30am. They had fed in that meadow most of the night but for some reason "forky" moved a little more than a mile away, where I found him bedded a couple canyons away at 8:00am,but "lookout" was not with him. So many questions. Why did the two bucks split up? Why did forky end up in a canyon that we've never seen him in before a mile away from where he was feeding just hours before? Was it the lion that chased them off?
The weather has been very hot and dry the last few days but the bucks are just not were they have been in the past. I'm not sure if it's the lion that has displaced them somewhere else or what? Maybe too much pressure from us hunters? I don't know.
John and I decided to check out the canyon that I just took the trail cam out of and see if we could locate "lookout". We did spot several smaller to medium sized four points already bedded in the trees at first light. We then went to check another area for a couple hours. After spotting more small bucks. We decided to push the trees where we saw the 4 points bedded, in hopes there was a bigger buck that we had missed. When the bucks came out into the open, John had about an 80 yard shot on the best buck in the group but decided to pass.
Here's a picture of it.
After that, we decided to head back to camp and pack up our stuff. It was time for a change in scenery. It was time to head for town, get a good meal, shower and sleep in a soft bed and regroup for the next day, on a different mountain.
continued...
After we did some laundry and showered, we headed back out to a new area. We ended up getting there about an hour before dark, so we went for a qiuck drive to figure out where we would hiking from in the morning darkness. We didn't see too much for deer but still were looking forward to a fresh start to a new day in a new area John had never been in before. We decided to sleep at the truck and get up early and hike up the mountain before light.
We got up about 1 1/2 hours before light and put our sleeping gear away. Then hoped on the atvs for a short ride before the long steep hike up the mountain. Just after it got light enough to see and we were only half way up the mountain by then. We spotted some bucks bedded across a big canyon about 1/2 mile away. We could see that one of the bucks was a good one but I really couldn't tell how good because of the angle it was laying. John wanted to go after it, so off he went. I watch from my current location with my spotting scope. John was only able to get within 265 yards of the bedded buck before he ran out of cover. So he waited for it to get up and feed towards him. After about an hour, the buck finally got up but started feeding downhill away from John. It finally went over the ridge with 3 other smaller bucks. Here's some pictures of the buck I took off of video through my spotting scope. After seeing the buck get up and go over the ridge, I knew I had seen this buck before and it was a keeper. I hurried over to where I last saw the bucks go over the ridge but John or myself could not locate them again. In the process, I lost my rangefinder somewhere up on the mountain. Bummer.
Here's video of this same buck in July but it was over 3 miles away at that time.
John nicknamed him "potbelly" because he was the fattest buck John had ever seen.
I need to step back a month and talk a little about my friend Toms (johnnyutah5) Idaho moose hunt. After work that afternoon, I met up with Tom and Corby, to ride up to Idaho with them and help spot and hopefully pack one out. We arrived at our other friend Pauls (Idhunter) house that night and made plans for the next day before hitting the sack. Tom will be sharing his hunt in an upcoming magizine, so I'll just share some of my thoughts about the hunt from my view point. As you can see, I have had quite the active year and there's still several days in the field to go.
We headed out about an hour before light and hiked in about a mile before we arrived to a spot we could glass from. Within minutes we were able to see a pretty good bull about a mile away. Here's some video of it. Sorry for the poor quality but it was still pretty dark, it gets a little better at the 1 minute mark. Also, change the quality to 480 for a better picture. I thought it looked like a good one but Tom assured me that he had seen a much better one while scouting.
Here's the video:
About an hour later, we spotted three more bulls and a cow and calf. One of the bulls looked real good with really big, wide palms.
We only saw them for a few minutes before they disappeared into the thick willows. It was freezing cold that morning, so after a few hours, we decided to go check out another area where Paul had some trail cams set up. Hoping to see some good bulls on his cameras. Here's some video of the country Tom was hunting while we were out checking on the cameras.
After finding nothing but whitetail deer on Pauls cameras. We decided to head back to where we had seen the bulls earlier in the morning. It was amazing how hot it got by mid-afternoon. We were all in t shirts. On our way back to the spot we were at that morning, we spotted 3 bulls from the road that were about 1/2 mile away and moving away from us. After gaining accesss from a land owner to cross their property, which saved us hours in time from going clear around from the other side that was public land.
One of the bulls was a keeper and the hunt was on.
Here's a picture of the bulls. to be continued.....
As Tom and Paul worked their way through the thick willows, Corby and I hiked to a high spot about a mile away, to keep an eye on the bulls from above. After a lot of cat and mouse with these bulls. One of the smaller bulls came within 10 yards of Tom and Paul and feed on a small tree. About 1/2 hour before dark ( around 8:30 pm) Tom finally got the shot he was hoping for on the biggest bull and the bull only ran less than 100 yards before going down. It was about 10:00 pm when Corby and I arrived at the spot were the bull was and after 3 trips back and forth to the truck, it was about 6:30 am when we all finally got our trucks loaded with everything and we were headed back to Pauls house. Once we got back to Pauls house and slept for about 3 hours. We went and checked the bull in with the Idaho F&G. Then packed a lot of ice around the moose quarters and headed for home. It was about 7:00 pm when I finally got back home. WOW, what an amazing 48 hours. In 6 days, Tom was able to kill both, a 190" P&Y buck and a mid 150" B&C bull Moose with his bow.
Opening day of the general season elk hunt and I find myself at work for the whole day. My wife gave me a hard time about just not working and going hunting instead. But I figured we needed the overtime and it would be less crowded on the 2nd weekend. In the past 20 years, I think last year was the first time anyone in our group has killed an elk on opening day. So I thought the odds were good that I wouldn't miss out on too much action. Boy was I wrong. That night, I get a call from my Mother-in-law. Stating that my wifes three cousins all killed 6 point bulls that morning. One of them was a 330-350" class bull. #-o
Sounded like they had an incredable day of hunting, with elk all over the area but now where would the elk be a week later?
I planned on getting off work a little early on Thurs. Oct. 11th and drive the 6 hours to my honeyhole that night. So I would be ready to hunt at first light Friday morning. Boy it was going to be a long week, thinking of what might have been and what was to come.
Here are some bulls that I scouted and got some video of in early July.
Oct. 12th
I picked John up in Salt Lake at 5:00 am and it was raining lightly. By the time we drove into camp about 11:00am, it was snowing hard, with about an inch on the ground. My father in-law Terry came out of his trailer to meet us. He said we should have been there earlier because it was a beautiful morning and the snow had only started about a 1/2 hour before we got there. Go figure!
For the next 5 hours we just sat in camp waiting for the snow to let up but it never did. So I finally decided to just go for a walk and see if I could hear or see anything. I hiked about 2 miles with no luck. About an hour before dark John and I headed for a high point on the mountain to a better view. Once we got to a point were we could see real well and the snow had let up for about a 1/2 hour. We couldn't see anything but did hear a bugle somewhere down canyon. Then another wave a snow hit and it was a complete "whiteout". With less than an hour of light left and less than 50 yards of visability. We headed back to camp. On our was back down, maybe a 1/2 mile above camp, we ran into some deer tracks. Very big deer tracks. We followed them for less than 100 yards in the fresh snow. When suddenly I came around a tree and there was a huge non-typical buck standing in the brush looking back at us. I frantically took off my pack, trying to get my video camera out but the buck was gone as quick as it appeared. John got a better look than I did but it appeared to be a very heavy and tall buck. About 28" wide, with 6 or 7 points on each side. Some of the inlines and cheaters were 5-8" long. I was bummed to say the least that I hadn't got my camera out when I first started following the big track. Lesson learned.
Here's a picture of the country we were hunting.
In the morning John and I were glassing from a high spot but we didn't see anything moving at all. About mid-morning, we heard some shots higher up on the mountain. So we moved to a different area where we were hoping some elk might get pushed to us. We arrived at our new spot at about 11:00 am and we waited and waited and waited. There was some other hunters across the canyon from us. At about 4:00pm, I could see one of the hunters was pointing there gun up canyon but towards our side of the ridge. As hard as I tried, I couldn't see anything with my binos. This went on for about an hour, I finally picked up my gun and hiked over the hill to get a better and different view. Once over there, within seconds, I spotted a cow and spike about 250 yards across a draw. I hurried back to John, so I could have him video for me and maybe when we got back over there, more elk might show themselves. Once we got back over there, I could not relocate the elk. After about a 1/2 hour of looking, I saw the hunter across the canyon pointing their gun uphill on their side of the canyon. After a few seconds, I could see a raghorn 4 point bull running hard down through the oakbrush, heading for the bottom. It would be coming up that small draw the cow and spike was just in. When the bull came running across a small meadow, I whispered to John to use his cow call to stop the bull. I waited but no call came. So I said over and over again, John, blow your call, blow your call. I finally looked back at him and he was pulling down his snow pants digging into his pockets of his levis, to find his cow call. He finally found it and instantly blew on it. The bull stopped on a dime, looking up at us at about 150 yards away. I swung my rifle around and when my crosshairs were on his shoulder, I pulled the trigger. OH NO! I hadn't taken my safety off. By the time I did get it off. The bull was off and running again and then he just disappeared into the thick oakbrush jungle for safety. I can't believe I just blew a chance at two different general season bulls. We did see some more elk far off in the distance and are hoping we could can get on them in the morning.
Today I had to make a very hard decision. I have not hunted a single Sunday in the past 20 years but I knew my family could really use the extra meat this year. The freezer was starting to get low on game. This may sound a little funny but I said a little prayer and asked god if it was ment for me to take an elk this day, please let it be next to the road, where I could easily load it into the truck.
So right at first light, John dropped me off at the edge of a big sagebrush flat with an old two track road heading up into a small canyon. John headed down the road to check out another spot. Just as I saw John disappear out of sight. I heard a bull bugle at the other end of the flat. I could see some elk moving up into the thick bush and timber. I got up into the small canyon hoping the elk would maybe cross the road but they're too smart for that one. John came back about an hour later and I asked him to hike up around the top of where I thought the elk would be and maybe they would come back down through the flat they were feeding on earlier that morning. John went on his way and about an hour later, I saw movement at the top of a ridge and I could see some cows coming my way. Then a really big 6x6 and a smaller 5x5 bull appeared. They all started crashing down through the thick oakbrush. It was amazing how loud it was when you have 15 or so elk all crashing through very thick oakbrush. I could see the branches moving wildly but it was too thick to see the elk. I could see that the elk would end up at the other end of the flat when they came out in the open. That would be about 400 yards. I hurried and jogged about 200 or so yards closer. Right when I stopped to see where the elk would be, the first few cows came exploding out of the oak onto the sage flat at a dead run. I quickly sat down, checked my safety and watched as more elk flew out of the oakbrush jungle. Suddenly, I saw the big 6x6 out in the flat running with the cows. It must have come out right at the time I was sitting down getting ready to shoot. Just as I pulled up my rifle and got the big bull in my cross hairs, he suddenly stopped and turned broadside looking back up the hill from where he had just come. I put the crosshairs right on his front should and squeezed the trigger. The bull dropped right in his tracks. I could not believe I just shot the biggest bull of my life and I then noticed that he was laying right in the middle of the old two track road. I stood up and shoulder my rifle and started walking towards it. It was kicking a little but I thought it was just his nerves going into action. Suddenly, he rolled over and onto his feet in one smooth motion and was off and running towards the thick oakbrush. I quickly took a running offhand shot that missed. Then he stopped broadside at about 250 yards and I quickly shot again standing offhand. I saw a puff of hair fly but the big bull was off and running again. He disappeared into the jungle of oak from which he had just come from. Within less than three seconds, I went from the most incredable high to absolute horror.
to be continued....
Im sure we all want to hear how this turns out
Oct. 14th continued...
A few minutes later, John called me on the radio and asked if it was me that was shooting. I told him, “Yes,” and to get down to me ASAP to help me look for the bull. About five minutes later Terry showed up to see if I needed help. He was just about ready to head back home when he heard the shots. I quickly told him the story and where I had last seen the bull. I had a hunch that the bull might be still close by, hiding up in a patch of 10’ tall gambol oak.
After John showed up, he and Terry started to track the bull, while I set up where I could see the hill above the tall oaks. After what seemed like 45 minutes, but could have only been 10, I called John to get a report. They were finding a little bit of blood, but not much. The only thing that had me a little nervous that they could be missing something is the fact that both John and Terry are colorblind.
I figured that if I hadn’t seen the bull by this time, it was either dead or had gone over the top of the hill while I was waiting for John to arrive. I started to hike back over to where I had seen the bull last, when one of the local cowboys came up the road. As the cowboy got close to my location, he suddenly slammed on the brakes, jumped out of his truck and started walking right towards me. I waited for him to get a few feet from me before I turned around to talk to him because I was still watching the hill above the oaks. When he saw my face, he looked really confused and said, “You’re not Terry!” I guess when he had seen my father-in-law’s truck parked on the side of the road he assumed I was he. I quickly told him my story and that Terry was up in the trees tracking the elk.
During the time I was talking to the cowboy, my back was to the hill. Suddenly the cowboy pointed toward the hill and said, “There’s a nice bull.” When I turned around again I could see a bull just passing through a small opening in the brush as it entered the thick stuff. All I could see of the bull was its head and antlers moving through the brush at about 200 yards away.
The cowboy got excited and started yelling at me, “Shoot it in the head! Shoot it in the head!” He must be a much better shot than I am because I wasn’t about to try and take a head shot at a running elk at that distance. The bull quickly moved out of site heading toward the ridgeline. I called to John and told him I was heading around the hill to look at the hillside the bull was heading toward. The cowboy went on his way. When I got over the other side of the hill, I moved out into another big sage flat. From this point I could see most of the oak, pines, and aspens, and hopefully any movement.
As John was coming through the trees toward me, the cowboy came tearing back down the road. When he got close to John, he quickly stepped out and started yelling something to John, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. John quickly came up to me and said the cowboy had seen my bull about a mile up the road heading down into a canyon. He said the bull was limping. John and I hurried back to my truck and up the road, while Terry kept tracking the bull.
John dropped me off and I headed into the bottom of the canyon the cowboy told us about. John headed for a high point to glass the area. It’s funny how when you searching hard you start to convince yourself that every log might be a downed elk; every strange sound might be the bull’s last breath. After circling around the canyon for an hour or so and not finding any fresh tracks and with John not seeing anything from his position, we decided to head back and start tracking again where Terry had found the last spot of blood. Terry needed to get back to town and wished us luck. We ended up tracking the bull for a couple hundred yards further, but found no more blood. It appeared the bull was trotting because of the stride of its tracks. If my bull was the same bull the cowboy saw a mile away only 15 minutes later, I hoped it maybe wasn’t hurt too badly.
We looked much longer, but by late after conceded defeat and headed for home. My wife, kids and her parents all went back up the following weekend and rode their horses looking for my bull. They found no sign of him, though they did discover a small five-point bull dead from an older wound.
To this day, it still makes me sick to think of that bull getting up and running off.
NOTE: I was shooting a 154 grain Hornady sst Bullet. After my experience, I advise against anyone else using this bullet for elk. It appears the bullet completely failed on impact. The bull clearly didn’t have a broken leg.
Here’s a video clip of a bull I saw in early July, just a little more than a mile from where I shot my bull. I’m pretty sure this is the bull I shot or maybe his twin brother.
Well, I only had a few days to feel sorry for myself, though I continued to hope that the bull I hit would recover. I was still a little nervous about shooting the SSTs at a deer, even though they should do just fine and work well in my 7 mm mag.
The group decided to split up on this day. John, his wife Sheena, and I were going to try and find the “potbelly” buck again or maybe the nice typical I had named “Bif” (Big in Front). Also, there was the chance of finding that wide droptine buck I saw in early July.
Paul came down from Idaho for the day to help spot for me. Tom, his son Ethan, and Corby were going to give the “lookout buck” another chance and see if they could dig him up. When John, Sheena, Paul and I arrived at the place we wanted to start up the mountain, there were already plenty of other hunters ahead of us. Luckily, nobody was going up the ridges we were planning to traverse.
The plan was that Paul would go up one ridge to the North of where John, Sheena, and I would be. Halfway up the mountain, John and Sheena would watch the canyon to the South while I hiked higher.
That was our plan. LOL. We ended up hiking one ridge further to the South than we were supposed to. We were already a mile up the mountain when I realized our mistake. It was getting light and I could see deer about 600 yards to the South of our location. They looked big-bodied, but it was still too dark to distinguish antlers. I dropped out of sight into a small draw and waited for John and his wife to catch up. They were only a few hundred yards behind me. After they caught up, I told them about the deer. We moved closer, only to discover the deer had already moved into the next canyon. John and Sheena decided to head that way. I continued up higher in case they startled any deer my direction.
Paul called me a while later and said he was watching a small group of bucks and one of them looked really wide, though possible only a three point. I headed in that direction, to get a better look. Continued.....
As I was working my way over to Paul’s location, I heard a shot in the direction of John and Sheena. Then I heard another and another and another. A couple minutes later, one more shot rang out. I quickly got into position to watch a small saddle about 300 yards away. This seemed like a good escape route if John happened to push deer in my direction. (I couldn’t call John from this point because of a lack of signal.) After about 20 or 30 minutes without seeing anything moving, I moved onto the ridgeline that Paul was on.
Once I met up with Paul, he showed me the group of bucks he had been watching. The wide buck was on the move, but I was able to get my spotting scope on it long enough to tell it was the drop tine buck I had seen in July. Unfortunately, he had broken off the drop tine about 1/2“ from the main beam, but he was still a solid 30” buck. He had a 3 x 4 frame, with a 2’ cheater on the 4 point side. I could tell that Paul thought I was crazy for passing on him, but that’s what I decided to do.
Paul and I continued on up the canyon. I figured there was a pretty good chance of seeing “Potbelly” or “Bif”, since the drop tine buck was still within a half mile of its July location. We located a great lookout point to glass the head of the big canyon. The drop tine buck and the others it was with all filed into the bottom of the canyon. There were hunters all around us; we must have seen around 15 other hunters within that one square mile, but somehow nobody had seen or was going after that particular group of bucks. While I was glassing, John called to let me know that Sheena had shot a nice 4 point, but they’d both missed a bigger buck that was tall and approximately 26’ wide. He was sure it was a buck we had seen with “Potbelly”. John was going to take Sheena and her buck back to town and try to return before dark.
After spending a couple hours glassing and only seeing does, it was time to get a little aggressive. With Paul watching from a high point, I hunted through the thick timber below. As I reached the bottom of the canyon, the wind shifted and now was blowing up canyon toward the bedded bucks. At that point, I realized I needed to either back out and hike around the head of the canyon (another couple miles and 1,000 feet change in elevation), or leave and try another day. I didn’t feel energetic enough to head for the top, so I went down canyon and met up with Paul. We ended up watching a huge canyon until dark but only saw a few small bucks.
Earlier in the afternoon (while I was meeting up with Paul), I received a text from Tom that said his son, Ethan, shot a nice 3 x 2. That meant four out of the seven of us had tagged out so far with three point or better bucks. Here’s a link to Ethan’s hunt:
Well with opening day behind us and not much activity happening during the last few days. The weather had turned cold and snowy. John, Corby and I were planning on going back where John and I hunted on opening day. The weather forcast was to clear up by morning and things were looking promising for a good hunt and a chance at one of the big bucks we had seen this year in this area.
Then the phone call came from John. He said he was going to be sick because of a cell phone picture a guy from his work showed him. Somebody I knew had shot potbelly. He sent me the picture and after looking at it, I was also sure it was the potbelly buck. That night I went to the guys house that shot the big buck and saw it in person. It was indeed "potbelly". The hunter told me that he has shot several 180"+ bucks and this one was the biggest bodied buck he had ever shot. He didn't care to score it but was sure it was a mid to upper 180" buck and was 29" wide. Bummer for us but I was happy that a hard working and generous guy got such a great buck. With a little wind taken out of our sails, we were still going to hit it hard in the morning.
Here's the cell phone picture I got of the "potbelly" buck.
And here's a post I had on this buck back in July, asking if anyone thought he would make it to 180". Well, looks like he did.
I had high hopes for this day. There was close to 6” of snow on the ground in the low foothills and more than a foot in the higher elevations. Our plan was to have John hike up the mountain and, while he checked out the many draws and small canyons, Corby and I would spot from below. We were happy to either guide John onto something or make a move on something ourselves. Within the first few minutes of glassing, we spotted a deer walking a few hundred yards out in front of John. Seven of them were bucks (five two points and two spikes). Within the next hour, we spotted a few small four points higher up on the mountain.
The low clouds moved in and after waiting for more than an hour for them to lift, Corby and I decided to go back to our ATVs and drive around looking for deer in the lower country where we could see to glass more country. After a couple hours of glassing, we spotted five or six more small bucks. About 11:00 AM, the low clouds that had the high country hidden finally started to lift. That was our cue to head for the high country.
We headed up the bottom of a big canyon. After traveling a couple miles, we passed another ATV parked to the side and we followed footprints on the road another ½ mile. Now we were pushing over a foot of snow, but the Polaris 500 really did well. We found a good spot to stop and glass the open country around us. Deer were everywhere. Within a few minutes, we had seen over 50; at least 12 were bucks. The biggest buck we saw was a 22-23” wide, 120-130” 4 point. We could see the other hunters up ahead of us moving toward a small group of bucks that were higher in the canyon. After a few minutes, the hunters above us started shooting across the canyon. They must have been shooting 600 or 700 yards. After 7-8 shots, they finally crossed the canyon and around an hour later, they put down a buck they had wounded. It looked like it was about 22” wide and about a 120-130 class buck.
Meanwhile, we also heard a couple shots to the north, in the direction John had gone earlier. I had no signal to call him to see how he was doing. After spotting a few more small four points, Corby and I headed back down the canyon to try and call John for an update. When I finally got a signal, I had a message from him saying that he had a buck down. It took us about 2 hours to reach John’s location. He had shot a nice 24” wide 3x4 that had a two inch cheater on one side. I had seen this buck with the “BIF” buck back in July, but there was no sign of BIF this day. I wonder if he had been taken earlier in the season. This area received a lot of pressure this year. As this was John’s last possible day to hunt this season, he was happy to end with such a nice buck. It was snowing heavily when we were hiking out.
My daughter had a school performance in the evening, so I had to head home before dark but I'll be hitting it hard again in the morning.
I dedicate this day to the “lookout buck”.
Today I went solo as John needed to pack for a pheasant hunt in Kansas. Tom, Paul, and Corby had to work. I decided to give the “lookout buck” one more try before I completely concluded that he was most likely no longer alive. I picked one of the meanest, nastiest, roughest canyons in the area, thinking it was a great spot for an old muley to escape in.
I knew it would take several hours to get up into the canyon, but I still didn’t give myself enough time. It was already growing light and I was only half way to my selected spot. As I climbed higher and found myself struggling to stay afoot among the snow-covered ledges in this unforgiving country, I finally found a good spot to eat lunch and try to pick out a bedded buck hidden among the ledges. After a couple hours, I spotted only one doe. I had only seen a doe while hiking as well. I finally conceded the fact that I wasn’t going to find “lookout” this season, unless I happened across his remains someday.
The weather really warmed up by early afternoon and the snow-covered hillsides were becoming very muddy. I found myself sinking up to my ankles in mud as I slopped along. I must have slipped and fallen a dozen times. I was exhausted when I finally arrived back at the truck and I had solid, caked mud up past my knees.
To find the really big bucks, sometimes you have days when not much is seen. This just happened to be one of those discouraging, exhausting days. But that’s okay. Tomorrow will be a very special day--my son, who turns eight tomorrow, will be joining me for his very first deer hunt.
Here's what the country looked like. Very unforgiving!
Today was a very special day—my son, David, joined me on his first backcountry deer hunt. Tom joined us today, to help spot for us and (hopefully) pack out a nice buck. I told Tom the night before that I was going to shoot the first four point I saw because I wanted David to see what it was like to harvest a deer.
Our plan was to have Tom go to the top of a ridge and watch the head of a big canyon, while David and I hiked up from the bottom of the same canyon. Tom started out before us in the darkness, while David and I waited until it got light. As we hiked up the steep sidehill, we would stop and glass every 100 yards or so. The ground had refrozen overnight and it was difficult to not slide on the hard, slick ground. After we traveled about a ½ mile, without seeing a single deer, and realizing how muddy it was going to get later on in the day, I told David we were going to quickly head back to the ATV and travel further up the canyon to hopefully locate Tom.
An hour later, we found Tom’s ATV and followed his tracks in the snow to the top of a ridge. It was around 9:30 by this time. I was really hoping he had found something worth going after. When we reached him, he said he’d seen a couple of nice bucks. One was a nice three point with a cheater. It was a bit like the one John got. The other was a nice four point, hanging out with a small three point on another ridge.
We quickly located the cheater buck, but it was nearly a mile away and moving away from us with some does. So I decided to pass on it. It took us about another hour, but we finally found the four point. He was bedded down across a canyon with the small three point.
We worked our way up to the head of the canyon to within 400 yards of where we last spotted the bedded bucks. We waited for about twenty minutes; no sign of the deer. I was starting to wonder if they had seen us and left the area. Then, out of nowhere, the four point appeared. He was feeding right across from us.
Tom attempted to man my video camera while still watching the buck through his spotting scope. The buck then fed back into the trees and we could barely see it through all the branches. I told Tom, if I got a clean shot, that I would go for it, so he needed to be ready with the camera. After a few minutes, the deer came out into the open and started walking downhill. I got ready. It came to a stop, quartering towards us and I squeezed the trigger. The buck jumped straight into the air and ran into the trees fifty yards further downhill.
To be continued.....
I almost forgot to mention that while I was setting up for the shot, David started to roll basketball-sized rocks down the hill. Tom asked me if David liked raisins--hoping that a treat would entice David to be a little quieter while I was trying to take the shot.
It took me and Tom about fifteen minutes to re-locate the buck. We could clearly see that it was feeding. At that point, I was sure my shot had missed its mark. About ten minutes later and about ten more times of me telling my son to stop rolling rocks, I struck a deal with him. I told him once I killed the buck he could roll all the rocks he wanted, even a really big one. Finally the buck came out into the open about 330 yards away. I put the cross hairs just a few inches below the top of his back and fired. I heard the unmistaken sound of a solid hit and Tom said aloud, “I think he’s hit.” Unfortunately, the buck ran back into the trees and out of sight.
A few minutes later, he came walking back into the open. It was walking very slowly and a little hunched up. I think I was so worried about hitting it right in the shoulder like I had the elk a few weeks earlier that I had hit a little too far back, missing its vitals. Right as I was squeezing the trigger on my third shot, now about 300 yards, the buck dropped on to his front knees, then rocked backward attempting to bed down. The bullet struck the buck in the base of the neck, killing it instantly. Right then David asked if I got the deer. I said yes, that it was dead. He cheered and shouted, “Can I roll rocks now?” Classic David moment.
After we got our gear packed up, Tom went to look at a dead buck he could see across the bigger canyon we were watching earlier. It took me and David about an hour to get to our buck. When Tom met back up with us, he said he had found three dead deer within a few hundred yards of each other. We supposed they were killed by a lion that has been hanging out in the area. I told Tom that, while he was gone, I had quite the scene with David. While we were hiking along a small, ribbon cliff, David was about 20 feet behind me. I heard him make a strange noise and, as I turned around, I was horrified to see him fall off a 4’ ledge and roll down the hill about 20 more feet. He lay there motionless for a minute, then started screaming very loudly. I thought he must have broken something, which he had. He had been carrying some seashells and they crushed in his hand during the fall. Physically, we was just fine, but he was really upset about his shells. LOL.
After we reached our downed buck, I called my wife and told her we were going to be late for David’s birthday party. She asked how he was doing. I told her about him being excited that I killed a buck because then he could roll rocks. We got a good laugh out of that one. By the time we took pictures and boned out the buck, it was getting late into the afternoon. By this time, the frozen ground had completely thawed. I think we all fell several times on the trip down the mountain.
When I tucked David into bed, he wrapped his arms around me and said “This was the best birthday ever!” I think he was correct.
We named this buck "The Birthday Buck"
Are you guys in need of an encore?
What transpired on that last day, will forever be etched in my mind. :-k
Now lets hear about the last day adventure
I thought we were done, but heck yea I'm up for MORE. Congrats on a fine buck and cool story. You have my vote for thread of the year.
This next little part of my story/report will be a little bit different, but I think it will be fun to see how Corby’s hunt “for the bigger one” went down.
I will share my text messages and some of the phone calls I had with both Tom and Corby on Oct. 27th & 28th.
Text Messages:
Oct. 27th
Corby: 5:55 PM. Congrats Koby. Wish I could have been there to help.
Me: 5:59 PM. Thanks. If you go out tomorrow, be prepared for a muddy mess.
Corby: 6:02 PM. I would like to call and get some ideas. Are you around tonight?
Me: 6:05 PM. Yes. It’s David’s birthday, so just call whenever. I might need to call you back.
Later that night we talked on the phone and went over a few ideas where the bigger bucks might be holding up this late in the season.
Oct. 28th
Tom: 9:58 AM. We have just found a 200+ buck. He’s been hit in the butt and has a slight limp. Watched it go into some thick pines.
Me: 10:28 AM. Hope you can get on it. Let me know if you need help?
Tom: 10:30 AM. OK
Corby: 12:34 PM. Are you next to a computer?
Me: 12:34 PM. Yes.
Corby: 12:36 PM. Can you find out what the drop is for my 150g core locks at 500 yards?
Me: 12:40 PM. Ok. Working on it.
Me: 12:46 PM. At a 200 yard zero, you’re looking at 62” low at 500. 29” low at 400 yards.
Corby: 12:47 PM. That’s what I thought. Thanks. Too far.
Me: 12:48 PM. Can you get closer or Tom push it to you?
Corby: 12:52 PM. Wish you were here! We’re not sure. Trying to come up with a plan.
Me: 12:52 PM. I hope it works out.
Corby: 12:55 PM. Thanks. Wish you had your tag still. I would have loved to help you into a buck like this.
Me: 12:57 PM. Timing is everything. I guess.
Me: 1:11 PM. So, where are you and where is the buck?
Corby: 1:15 PM. I hiked up the ridge where Paul walked on the opener near the top. He is in the canyon to the north.
Me: 1:18 PM. Are you in the south side of that canyon with the buck in the thick stuff on the north?
Corby: 1:18 PM. Yes.
Me: 1:20 PM. Can you call me?
At this time, I was looking at the canyon Corby (and the buck) was in on Google Earth. It was like I was there with them. Gotta love modern day technology.
To Be Continued.....
Oct.28th
When I spoke with Corby on the phone, he told me about how big the buck looked. It had multiple cheaters on each side, with one big cheater that even forked. It looked to be about 35” wide. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Corby wasn’t sure what to do. He and Tom were trying to come up with a plan. While I was looking at the canyon on GoogleEarth, Corby explained what group of trees the buck was bedded in. It looked like there was a small rockslide about 100 yards North of the buck. If Corby could get to that spot, it looked like a good place to wait for the buck to come feeding out in the open that evening. It was going to be up to Corby to find a way to get there without spooking the buck. I wished him luck and then it was time to just sit and wait for another report. I think I wore out some of the flooring in my house, pacing.
At 5:38 PM,
Tom sent me a text that simply said: “Corby just shot the buck.”
I quickly called Tom on the phone and we discussed where I could pick them up at the bottom of the canyon to transport them the three miles back to where their truck was parked. By the time I got them back to their truck, it was about 10:00 PM. I quickly scored the buck while at the truck and we couldn’t believe all the inches that were adding up.
Corby’s buck was a 10 x 9 and gross scored 226”. Without a dought, Corby ended up getting the bigger one.
What a way to end the season! 10sign:
Also, Toms story about his 193" buck is in there too.
I really liked this one.
Congrats.
Very well done, thanks for sharing. What a buck. Gonna have a hard time finding one much bigger, but Im sure you will have fun trying
I hope you enjoyed the story.
We will be hunting and scouting a completly different area this year. (If we can draw our tags)
I've already come up with a Title for my new chapter within "Ridgetops hunting journal".
It will be titled "The One".
Congrats again on a great year.
ColoradoV, I sent you a PM.