BrianID
Very Active Member
- Messages
- 2,148
September 20th
My morning started out with elk feeding and bugling about 1/2 mile away. I once again started questioning my choice about buying a ?B tag? so I could hunt bulls later with my rifle. These elk continued to sing to me the rest of the day.
Before the sun started to rise above the crest of the mountain I watch a nice buck bed down. I wasn?t able to get a very good look at his antlers but he was large enough to get me interested. I was also watching three smaller bucks feed on an open hillside. None of these bucks were large enough to get me very interested but it was still enjoyable to watch them until they bedded down.
I decided to wait a couple hours before putting a stalk on the lone buck. I thought he might get up later in the morning and move because he had bedded down at first light. I also wanted to wait for the breeze to start blowing up hill. Sure enough he got out of his bed around 9:30am and feed for about a half an hour before bedding down again. A half hour latter I made my move and was 200 yards above the lone buck by 11 am. I couldn't spot any antler tips in the thick brush but was still confident he was still there. After trading my boots for a second pair of wool socks I was able to move within 50 yards of were I watched him disappear in a small thicket. I slowly moved in closer until I was less than 10 yards of where I thought he might be bedded. I knew he had to be there somewhere but still couldn't spot any gray hair or tip of an antler. Suddenly I heard a deer blow and saw him leap from his bed only 15 yards away. As I watched him bound away with his heavy antlers I was disappointed that I was so close without having a shot but also felt some accomplishment knowing that I had been within 30 yards of this wise old buck for the last half hour.
It was now almost 1pm and I started to head back to my truck. Instead of heading strait back I decided to take a detour and put a quick stalk on the three smaller bucks that I saw bed down earlier. I had no intention of shooting any of them but wanted to do a quick practice stalk. When I was about 70 yards from the bushy tree that I saw them bed under I was able to spot the top 4? of an antler from one of the bucks. I continued to slowly move closer until I was 30 yards from this deer. He was a decent sized three point and about 20? wide. I sat there for about 5 minutes and watched him chew his cud. Even though he had larger antlers than anything else that I had killed with my bow I still didn't want to put my tag on him.
Here?s a picture of the bushy tree that the three were bedded under.
I wanted to see if I could get them to stand up so I took a small rock and threw it over the top of where the three were bedded.
-to be continued-
My morning started out with elk feeding and bugling about 1/2 mile away. I once again started questioning my choice about buying a ?B tag? so I could hunt bulls later with my rifle. These elk continued to sing to me the rest of the day.
Before the sun started to rise above the crest of the mountain I watch a nice buck bed down. I wasn?t able to get a very good look at his antlers but he was large enough to get me interested. I was also watching three smaller bucks feed on an open hillside. None of these bucks were large enough to get me very interested but it was still enjoyable to watch them until they bedded down.
I decided to wait a couple hours before putting a stalk on the lone buck. I thought he might get up later in the morning and move because he had bedded down at first light. I also wanted to wait for the breeze to start blowing up hill. Sure enough he got out of his bed around 9:30am and feed for about a half an hour before bedding down again. A half hour latter I made my move and was 200 yards above the lone buck by 11 am. I couldn't spot any antler tips in the thick brush but was still confident he was still there. After trading my boots for a second pair of wool socks I was able to move within 50 yards of were I watched him disappear in a small thicket. I slowly moved in closer until I was less than 10 yards of where I thought he might be bedded. I knew he had to be there somewhere but still couldn't spot any gray hair or tip of an antler. Suddenly I heard a deer blow and saw him leap from his bed only 15 yards away. As I watched him bound away with his heavy antlers I was disappointed that I was so close without having a shot but also felt some accomplishment knowing that I had been within 30 yards of this wise old buck for the last half hour.
It was now almost 1pm and I started to head back to my truck. Instead of heading strait back I decided to take a detour and put a quick stalk on the three smaller bucks that I saw bed down earlier. I had no intention of shooting any of them but wanted to do a quick practice stalk. When I was about 70 yards from the bushy tree that I saw them bed under I was able to spot the top 4? of an antler from one of the bucks. I continued to slowly move closer until I was 30 yards from this deer. He was a decent sized three point and about 20? wide. I sat there for about 5 minutes and watched him chew his cud. Even though he had larger antlers than anything else that I had killed with my bow I still didn't want to put my tag on him.
Here?s a picture of the bushy tree that the three were bedded under.
I wanted to see if I could get them to stand up so I took a small rock and threw it over the top of where the three were bedded.
-to be continued-
