S
StoneSheepSteve
Guest
LAST EDITED ON Oct-13-07 AT 06:22PM (MST)[p]Being in the wine industry fall is a busy time to say the least.
I've had two days off in early Sept since I came home from my Stone's sheep hunt on Sept long weekend. Days @ work have been long and getting longer. Between getting as much firewood as possible and playing "hockey Mom" there's been basically no time for hunting other than a couple of half-hearted evening hunts............................................. .............
So..................... when we had a major power outage on Tues Oct 2 and the power wasn't supposed to come back on for at least 7 or 8 hours, I bailed out the door at work, came home, did an errand or two, split a half a pickup load of firewood(to free up some guilt), loaded up the TW and headed out!
I unloaded my motorbike and headed up to a spot I wanted to check out where I shot my second bear this spring. I passed a few vehicles on my way up which was a little surprizing and when I got to the turn off I found some active falling which I couldn't slip around. So turn around I do to check out another spot.....only to find a vehicle parked at the end of the road. I decided head back to my truck and head up a different road where I've had success in the past. As I'm heading back down I realize I forgot to fill up my bike when I drove home from work. No worries as my reserve should get me by and the other road I need to head up is a steady climb so I could coast back down if need be.
Up the road I go only to discover another 5 vehicles parked in different spots. Apparently, I wasn't the only one that took advantage of the power failure.
Finally, I arrive at the very end of the road and find it unoccupied. Things are looking up!
I headed up an old road that I knew dead ended and circled up on a nice fir-covered ridge and slowly still hunted along keeping the wind in my favor. Life was good I thought. I was actually out hunting!
Soon I spotted the hind quarters and ass of a big bodied muley about 90-100yds away but it's head was completely hidden behind a fir bow. Up with the binos but I could only see it's white muzzle and I think it's looking my way. "This is stupid" I thought and dropped the binos and raised my rifle as I figured I may not get much time if it's a nice buck. We stared at each other for a few minutes and the rifle started getting heavy(should have left the bipod at home that day). The deer turned and faced me but I still could not see it's head. Finally the deer turned around and I could see a nice rack. He did a quick double turn with his head. You know...... the kind they do just before they bail.
I rushed my shot and the buck took off. Did I hit him? Or was it a miss? No sign of blood but I could see his heavy tracks in the ground as he bounded and then trotted away. Not one drop of blood.
I continued to track him down and around the mountain but soon his trail petered out and I gave up hope of finding him. I turned around and hunted my way back to the road holding some "slight" hope that he may have doubled back on me.
All of a sudden I see a huge bodied buck but he sees me about the same time and quickly bounds off. He almost instantly dissappeared behind a stand of fir trees so I put my head down and ran parralel to the direction he was going. It was a good move as I had a clear line of sight on him and he had a ways to go to the next patch of bush. The TSX did it's job and down he went. A quick follow up shot put him down for good!!
I quickly got on my cell to inform my wife that I would be late and called another buddy to come give me a hand. Gotta love cell coverage! We may have been able to get the quad to the deer but we opted to pole him out in halves. Reminded me why I like my backpack so much!
My best muley so far.................................
SSS
I've had two days off in early Sept since I came home from my Stone's sheep hunt on Sept long weekend. Days @ work have been long and getting longer. Between getting as much firewood as possible and playing "hockey Mom" there's been basically no time for hunting other than a couple of half-hearted evening hunts............................................. .............
So..................... when we had a major power outage on Tues Oct 2 and the power wasn't supposed to come back on for at least 7 or 8 hours, I bailed out the door at work, came home, did an errand or two, split a half a pickup load of firewood(to free up some guilt), loaded up the TW and headed out!
I unloaded my motorbike and headed up to a spot I wanted to check out where I shot my second bear this spring. I passed a few vehicles on my way up which was a little surprizing and when I got to the turn off I found some active falling which I couldn't slip around. So turn around I do to check out another spot.....only to find a vehicle parked at the end of the road. I decided head back to my truck and head up a different road where I've had success in the past. As I'm heading back down I realize I forgot to fill up my bike when I drove home from work. No worries as my reserve should get me by and the other road I need to head up is a steady climb so I could coast back down if need be.
Up the road I go only to discover another 5 vehicles parked in different spots. Apparently, I wasn't the only one that took advantage of the power failure.
Finally, I arrive at the very end of the road and find it unoccupied. Things are looking up!
I headed up an old road that I knew dead ended and circled up on a nice fir-covered ridge and slowly still hunted along keeping the wind in my favor. Life was good I thought. I was actually out hunting!
Soon I spotted the hind quarters and ass of a big bodied muley about 90-100yds away but it's head was completely hidden behind a fir bow. Up with the binos but I could only see it's white muzzle and I think it's looking my way. "This is stupid" I thought and dropped the binos and raised my rifle as I figured I may not get much time if it's a nice buck. We stared at each other for a few minutes and the rifle started getting heavy(should have left the bipod at home that day). The deer turned and faced me but I still could not see it's head. Finally the deer turned around and I could see a nice rack. He did a quick double turn with his head. You know...... the kind they do just before they bail.
I rushed my shot and the buck took off. Did I hit him? Or was it a miss? No sign of blood but I could see his heavy tracks in the ground as he bounded and then trotted away. Not one drop of blood.
I continued to track him down and around the mountain but soon his trail petered out and I gave up hope of finding him. I turned around and hunted my way back to the road holding some "slight" hope that he may have doubled back on me.
All of a sudden I see a huge bodied buck but he sees me about the same time and quickly bounds off. He almost instantly dissappeared behind a stand of fir trees so I put my head down and ran parralel to the direction he was going. It was a good move as I had a clear line of sight on him and he had a ways to go to the next patch of bush. The TSX did it's job and down he went. A quick follow up shot put him down for good!!
I quickly got on my cell to inform my wife that I would be late and called another buddy to come give me a hand. Gotta love cell coverage! We may have been able to get the quad to the deer but we opted to pole him out in halves. Reminded me why I like my backpack so much!
My best muley so far.................................
SSS
