Just curious if anyone has returned from their hunt yet?
My brother Dan, his son Matt and I returned home last Saturday the 11th. We went into the mountain on Thursday September 2nd. Our hunt was good even though we didn't harvest the Buck of our dreams. We did have a chance to take 5 bucks within 150 yards. The deer were scarce where we hunted and it took a few days of hard glassing to find the bucks. The bucks weren't in the typical areas (we like the big alpine bowls) When it was all over we saw a total of 22 bucks over the 7 days we hunted. 1 Buck was exceptional we figured it would go over 190 gross but it feeding in the openings of a Lodgepole pine forest and his bedding area was in this same pines and rocks. I tried for 5 days to get onto him but his methods of feeding didn't allow for the traditional spot and stalk. We had to hunt him like hunting Whitetails over looking his suspected feeding area. (there was a flat meadow on top of the Lodgepole pine forest) As luck would have it on Wednesday evening at dark I was getting ready to jump into my sleeping bag (I stayed 2 nights in this meadow so I could be ready at sunup without making any noise) I just stood up and all of the sudden I heard a snort and heard crashing down the mountain. My guess is that these deer had come up beside me, I was tucked into a bunch of stunted pines and could only see real good out the front, right side and back, the deer came in from the left side. Could these have been that buck we will never know. By the way I had been watching a doe and two small bucks out in front of me all night they didn't even spook when the deer went crashing down the mt.
Well anyway that was our hunt. I'm not disappointed that I didn't get a deer. I wasn't going to shoot a little buck and had made up my mind that I would come home empty rather than shoot a litle one. On our hunt we got to see coyotes, mountain lion, elk (bulls & cows)and numerous other critters. We also caught numerous trout in the lake next to our camp. We endured a snowstorm last Saturday night and all in all had a great time.
One other thing that I will pass for you fellow backpackers. The two best meals we had were Mountain House's Sweet & Sour Pork and Mountain House's Classic Chicken Pot Pie. I would never admit to this but for some reason the pack seemed heavier this year than in past years. Could it be age??? No
Take Care Everyone,
300 Wtby
Dave
My brother Dan, his son Matt and I returned home last Saturday the 11th. We went into the mountain on Thursday September 2nd. Our hunt was good even though we didn't harvest the Buck of our dreams. We did have a chance to take 5 bucks within 150 yards. The deer were scarce where we hunted and it took a few days of hard glassing to find the bucks. The bucks weren't in the typical areas (we like the big alpine bowls) When it was all over we saw a total of 22 bucks over the 7 days we hunted. 1 Buck was exceptional we figured it would go over 190 gross but it feeding in the openings of a Lodgepole pine forest and his bedding area was in this same pines and rocks. I tried for 5 days to get onto him but his methods of feeding didn't allow for the traditional spot and stalk. We had to hunt him like hunting Whitetails over looking his suspected feeding area. (there was a flat meadow on top of the Lodgepole pine forest) As luck would have it on Wednesday evening at dark I was getting ready to jump into my sleeping bag (I stayed 2 nights in this meadow so I could be ready at sunup without making any noise) I just stood up and all of the sudden I heard a snort and heard crashing down the mountain. My guess is that these deer had come up beside me, I was tucked into a bunch of stunted pines and could only see real good out the front, right side and back, the deer came in from the left side. Could these have been that buck we will never know. By the way I had been watching a doe and two small bucks out in front of me all night they didn't even spook when the deer went crashing down the mt.
Well anyway that was our hunt. I'm not disappointed that I didn't get a deer. I wasn't going to shoot a little buck and had made up my mind that I would come home empty rather than shoot a litle one. On our hunt we got to see coyotes, mountain lion, elk (bulls & cows)and numerous other critters. We also caught numerous trout in the lake next to our camp. We endured a snowstorm last Saturday night and all in all had a great time.
One other thing that I will pass for you fellow backpackers. The two best meals we had were Mountain House's Sweet & Sour Pork and Mountain House's Classic Chicken Pot Pie. I would never admit to this but for some reason the pack seemed heavier this year than in past years. Could it be age??? No
Take Care Everyone,
300 Wtby
Dave
