deerhuntr4885
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You might have seen my earlier post when I put the photos of my deer and my hunting buddy's buck from ID. I am just getting around to telling the story.
We started in Unit 43 in October. We rode in 7 miles on the first day and saw only one small three point with a couple does. I took the following photo before heading back the horses. I thought this are looked good and wanted to return to it.
When we returned to the horses at the end of the day I noticed that one horse had thrown a shoe. Her hoof was pretty chipped up and I could not get a shoe back on. The ride out made it even worse. It took me four days to get a hold of a ferrier to fix it for me. In those four days we hunted from the roads and saw a lot of hunters but not many deer. One good buck across a canyon at last light that was pushing 30 inches but no chance. Next day two other hunters were working up to where we saw him. We heard some shooting ahead of us but never saw them or the deer.
We returned to camp at about 10 PM after getting the shoe fixed. We decided to leave camp at 0330 to hit the trail back to the high country. We got in to where we wanted to be right at daylight. I slid off my horse and raised the binos to the canyon we were headed to. In the middle of my field of view was two nice bucks, a 25 inch 4X4 and a 23 inch 3X3, and several does.
The date was October 25th and the bucks were chasing does all over the hill side. We started a stalk but quickly got pinned down by five does. By the time the does moved off the 4 point was over the hill with one doe. We continued the stalk to 280 yards. Chad decided that he would take the 3 point since we only had one more day. Here is his buck. I hope the pic comes out bigger this time. He shot the buck right in the middle of the hill in the above photo. I thought that was pretty ironic.
While taking care of his buck I spotted three deer running down the mountain across the canyon from us. The distance was well over 1000 yards and I could see horns on the last one with the naked eye. I ran down the ridge line towards a burn area I saw them running into. I spotted them in the trees. I found 3 does and two bucks. One was about 25 inches and the other was a true monster! When he swiveled his head around and I saw how wide he was I lost my mind! He was a true 30 inch buck (my first ever in the wild). I ranged him at 580 yards. He was standing broadside in an opening in some trees. I had a good rest but I knew I should not take the shot. I know what a lot of you will think and I agree. I should not take that shot! I kept telling myself that but there was absolutely no other alternative. They were moving up the hill away from me and would drop into another drainage soon. So I did what I told myself I should not do. I shot twice before he hauled ass out of there. No signs of a hit.
All in all we saw over forty deer on that day and 4 good bucks. I brought a small pup tent with me as we decided to stay the night for the last day of hunting. I set the tent up for the first time and realized that it was a one man tent! As we layed there in that tent that night too close for comfort. Chad told me,"We will never speak of this again." I could only lay there and laugh.
We woke at about 1230 AM to snow pounding the tent. We were not really prepared for a lot of snow and it showed no signs of letting up the next morning. Chad tore down camp while I hiked back up the hill. I saw 21 does and one small forkey before heading back to camp and riding out to our main camp.
Of course the sun came out and the snow stopped on the ride out. I was pretty tired from a week of hunting. I still had a tag left and a back up plan for November.... I will post that story later. Hope this came out alright.
Mike Henne
We started in Unit 43 in October. We rode in 7 miles on the first day and saw only one small three point with a couple does. I took the following photo before heading back the horses. I thought this are looked good and wanted to return to it.
When we returned to the horses at the end of the day I noticed that one horse had thrown a shoe. Her hoof was pretty chipped up and I could not get a shoe back on. The ride out made it even worse. It took me four days to get a hold of a ferrier to fix it for me. In those four days we hunted from the roads and saw a lot of hunters but not many deer. One good buck across a canyon at last light that was pushing 30 inches but no chance. Next day two other hunters were working up to where we saw him. We heard some shooting ahead of us but never saw them or the deer.
We returned to camp at about 10 PM after getting the shoe fixed. We decided to leave camp at 0330 to hit the trail back to the high country. We got in to where we wanted to be right at daylight. I slid off my horse and raised the binos to the canyon we were headed to. In the middle of my field of view was two nice bucks, a 25 inch 4X4 and a 23 inch 3X3, and several does.
The date was October 25th and the bucks were chasing does all over the hill side. We started a stalk but quickly got pinned down by five does. By the time the does moved off the 4 point was over the hill with one doe. We continued the stalk to 280 yards. Chad decided that he would take the 3 point since we only had one more day. Here is his buck. I hope the pic comes out bigger this time. He shot the buck right in the middle of the hill in the above photo. I thought that was pretty ironic.
While taking care of his buck I spotted three deer running down the mountain across the canyon from us. The distance was well over 1000 yards and I could see horns on the last one with the naked eye. I ran down the ridge line towards a burn area I saw them running into. I spotted them in the trees. I found 3 does and two bucks. One was about 25 inches and the other was a true monster! When he swiveled his head around and I saw how wide he was I lost my mind! He was a true 30 inch buck (my first ever in the wild). I ranged him at 580 yards. He was standing broadside in an opening in some trees. I had a good rest but I knew I should not take the shot. I know what a lot of you will think and I agree. I should not take that shot! I kept telling myself that but there was absolutely no other alternative. They were moving up the hill away from me and would drop into another drainage soon. So I did what I told myself I should not do. I shot twice before he hauled ass out of there. No signs of a hit.
All in all we saw over forty deer on that day and 4 good bucks. I brought a small pup tent with me as we decided to stay the night for the last day of hunting. I set the tent up for the first time and realized that it was a one man tent! As we layed there in that tent that night too close for comfort. Chad told me,"We will never speak of this again." I could only lay there and laugh.
We woke at about 1230 AM to snow pounding the tent. We were not really prepared for a lot of snow and it showed no signs of letting up the next morning. Chad tore down camp while I hiked back up the hill. I saw 21 does and one small forkey before heading back to camp and riding out to our main camp.
Of course the sun came out and the snow stopped on the ride out. I was pretty tired from a week of hunting. I still had a tag left and a back up plan for November.... I will post that story later. Hope this came out alright.
Mike Henne
