Man I feel so blessed. Never before have I killed two bucks in a the same check in hunt, much less two nice deer. I think the second is my best deer.
The first day: I scouted a ridge last year and found a TON of rubs. The ridge is awesome. A lot of young pine thickets, and maze of blowdowns, with plenty of chestnut oak acorns and browse from the open canopy. I made a note to return this year, and it paid off. The first morning of the hunt I didn’t want to walk in blind so I watched food plot until 9 then loaded up my climber and headed up hill. Not long after reaching the peak and heading towards a saddle I caught movement through a pine thickets. 2 does were feeding in the blowdowns. I watched them for about an hour then backed out. Came back in the afternoon and climbed a tree where the does were feeding. About an hour before dark a doe cruised by about 50 yards behind me, and nothing else. I knew I was in the money spot. Where there are does, there will be bucks.
The second morning was cool and wet. It rained the entire night before. I climbed the same tree and went a few hours with no action, just enjoying the mountain air. Around 9am a fog bank rolled in and enveloped the ridge, it was eerie and beautiful, and no more than 5 minutes later I saw tines silently appear through the fog just over the roll of the saddle. Quietly flipped my safety, and as soon as he cleared the hill I shot for the shoulder. He busted through a pine thicket and I heard crashing gong down hill. Got down, and started looking where I shot, nothing. Texted my brother to come help me look and continued searching. I slowly found broken branches and mud clods where he dashed down the hill, still no blood. I continued picking through his sparse trail getting more and more concerned that I somehow missed a 50 yard shot, or got deflected by a branch. I eventually made it about 100 yards down the slope and I finally saw him piled up on a tree. A beautiful buck with two drops of blood where he finally got wobbly and fell into the tree. I luckily only had a quarter mile drag to the truck. 18in wide 6 point. He weighed 118 field dressed. DNR aged him at 3.5 years old.
The next day of the hunt we did some hard scouting on multiple ridges and mountains. My brother found a spot with lots of food and fresh bear scat so he desires to sit there this last morning. I didn’t find anything promising so I decided to dedicate my last morning to more scouting.
The last day Ipicked a ridge that looked interesting, running between two creek basins with a lot of shallow saddles and started climbing for a peak just before first light. Found more of the young pine thickets at the peak, and just like the other ridge, there were rubs everywhere. I looked at my map and was trying to decide to head up to the next peak and then back down a finger ridge for a shorter total walk, or head down the eastern length of the ridgeline, and face a long walk back down the road. Something told me to take the long way and man did it pay off. There was a large gentle saddle just off the peak and I continually watched it as I slowly eased down from the top. About halfway down I saw movement, then I saw tines, a lot of tines. He was about 200 yards away, and maybe 1-200 feet below me in elevation. I sat down, flipped to 4 power, wrapped my sling around my elbow and braced up on my knee. He continued moving at a steady walk, breaking for split seconds between trees, then disappearing behind them. I pulled out my grunt tube and gave a soft grunt, he continued walking, then a louder grunt, nothing, then I blew it so hard it sounded like an exotic bird, he still ignored it. I decided I would have to take a shot at a moving deer, and fast, cause I was running out of time as he began decending the downhill roll of the saddle. I followed along as he moved and as soon as he cleared some trees I pulled and immediately racked another round. He hopped and trotted about 30 yards and stopped behind a large clump of trees and stood there. I looked and his head appeared behind it, he took a somewhat wobbly step, exposing his neck and the front of his shoulder and I immediately shot again. He dropped. I knew he was a nice buck, but I didn’t realize how awesome he was until I walked up to him. He would be a nice deer anywhere, but man you just don’t see many deer like this out of the mountains. Took me two hours to get him off the mountain. You would think a downhill drag would be easy, but they want to roll and tumble down the steep stuff, and I happened to go down a drainage with a straight birds nest of blowdowns, so it was a real chore side hilling around trees, and weaving over and under tree trunks. My brother got there an hour in and helped get him the last 2/3 of the way down.
He was a nice tall 9 point. DNR aged him at 5.5 years old. Weighed 138 field dressed. They had trail camera pictures of him from earlier in November and was probably the nicest deer they were aware of on the 20000 acre property.
Unfortunately my brother never connected with a buck or bear. He did get into some does on the last morning and I wish he would have found that spot sooner so he could get some more sits in, but we now have several good starting points for next year so hopefully I will be helping him drag next time.
Man I feel so blessed to be able to take two mountain deer home. I think we walked at least 15 miles each over the past 4 days, and who knows how many ft in elevation. I couldn’t have done it without all the good info on here and the bear forum of GON, and a few good podcasts featuring mountain hunters. Just thought I would share my hard work and good fortune. I’ve never worked so hard for two deer in my life and can’t wait to go back north.
The first day: I scouted a ridge last year and found a TON of rubs. The ridge is awesome. A lot of young pine thickets, and maze of blowdowns, with plenty of chestnut oak acorns and browse from the open canopy. I made a note to return this year, and it paid off. The first morning of the hunt I didn’t want to walk in blind so I watched food plot until 9 then loaded up my climber and headed up hill. Not long after reaching the peak and heading towards a saddle I caught movement through a pine thickets. 2 does were feeding in the blowdowns. I watched them for about an hour then backed out. Came back in the afternoon and climbed a tree where the does were feeding. About an hour before dark a doe cruised by about 50 yards behind me, and nothing else. I knew I was in the money spot. Where there are does, there will be bucks.
The second morning was cool and wet. It rained the entire night before. I climbed the same tree and went a few hours with no action, just enjoying the mountain air. Around 9am a fog bank rolled in and enveloped the ridge, it was eerie and beautiful, and no more than 5 minutes later I saw tines silently appear through the fog just over the roll of the saddle. Quietly flipped my safety, and as soon as he cleared the hill I shot for the shoulder. He busted through a pine thicket and I heard crashing gong down hill. Got down, and started looking where I shot, nothing. Texted my brother to come help me look and continued searching. I slowly found broken branches and mud clods where he dashed down the hill, still no blood. I continued picking through his sparse trail getting more and more concerned that I somehow missed a 50 yard shot, or got deflected by a branch. I eventually made it about 100 yards down the slope and I finally saw him piled up on a tree. A beautiful buck with two drops of blood where he finally got wobbly and fell into the tree. I luckily only had a quarter mile drag to the truck. 18in wide 6 point. He weighed 118 field dressed. DNR aged him at 3.5 years old.
The next day of the hunt we did some hard scouting on multiple ridges and mountains. My brother found a spot with lots of food and fresh bear scat so he desires to sit there this last morning. I didn’t find anything promising so I decided to dedicate my last morning to more scouting.
The last day Ipicked a ridge that looked interesting, running between two creek basins with a lot of shallow saddles and started climbing for a peak just before first light. Found more of the young pine thickets at the peak, and just like the other ridge, there were rubs everywhere. I looked at my map and was trying to decide to head up to the next peak and then back down a finger ridge for a shorter total walk, or head down the eastern length of the ridgeline, and face a long walk back down the road. Something told me to take the long way and man did it pay off. There was a large gentle saddle just off the peak and I continually watched it as I slowly eased down from the top. About halfway down I saw movement, then I saw tines, a lot of tines. He was about 200 yards away, and maybe 1-200 feet below me in elevation. I sat down, flipped to 4 power, wrapped my sling around my elbow and braced up on my knee. He continued moving at a steady walk, breaking for split seconds between trees, then disappearing behind them. I pulled out my grunt tube and gave a soft grunt, he continued walking, then a louder grunt, nothing, then I blew it so hard it sounded like an exotic bird, he still ignored it. I decided I would have to take a shot at a moving deer, and fast, cause I was running out of time as he began decending the downhill roll of the saddle. I followed along as he moved and as soon as he cleared some trees I pulled and immediately racked another round. He hopped and trotted about 30 yards and stopped behind a large clump of trees and stood there. I looked and his head appeared behind it, he took a somewhat wobbly step, exposing his neck and the front of his shoulder and I immediately shot again. He dropped. I knew he was a nice buck, but I didn’t realize how awesome he was until I walked up to him. He would be a nice deer anywhere, but man you just don’t see many deer like this out of the mountains. Took me two hours to get him off the mountain. You would think a downhill drag would be easy, but they want to roll and tumble down the steep stuff, and I happened to go down a drainage with a straight birds nest of blowdowns, so it was a real chore side hilling around trees, and weaving over and under tree trunks. My brother got there an hour in and helped get him the last 2/3 of the way down.
He was a nice tall 9 point. DNR aged him at 5.5 years old. Weighed 138 field dressed. They had trail camera pictures of him from earlier in November and was probably the nicest deer they were aware of on the 20000 acre property.
Unfortunately my brother never connected with a buck or bear. He did get into some does on the last morning and I wish he would have found that spot sooner so he could get some more sits in, but we now have several good starting points for next year so hopefully I will be helping him drag next time.
Man I feel so blessed to be able to take two mountain deer home. I think we walked at least 15 miles each over the past 4 days, and who knows how many ft in elevation. I couldn’t have done it without all the good info on here and the bear forum of GON, and a few good podcasts featuring mountain hunters. Just thought I would share my hard work and good fortune. I’ve never worked so hard for two deer in my life and can’t wait to go back north.
