wallhanger
Active Member
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It's been a while since I've posted, but wanted to share my youngest son's deer and story.
We had a pretty slow start to our hunt. It was warm? near 70 all week, and the deer weren't moving much at all. On the last evening, while sitting in a shady spot, trying to get out of the sun, we wised up a little bit, and decided to hunt the Northwest side of the mountain, and focus on the thicker, shaded draws.
At about 3:30, we spotted the only buck we'd seen during the season high on a slope about 1200 yards away. As soon as we saw him turn his head, we knew we'd make a play on him. We planned our stalk through what we thought were two washes between us and the knob we figured we needed to be on. As it often does, it turned out to be four washes? all deeper and steeper than they looked.
About 30 minutes later, we came out on the knob, and started easing to the North. We were peeking at the little opening in the junipers where he was feeding at each tree we came to. Finally, we looked around one more Juniper, and there he was, right where we thought he'd be. Cade put the monopod down and got on him and asked if I was ready. I kind of laughed, thinking, "I don't need to be ready, are YOU ready?" I think he watches a lot of hunting shows where the shooter asks the cameraman if he's ready for him to shoot.
Anyway, I watched through my binos, and Cade touched off the shot. When he did, it scared the holy heck out of me, and I jumped, losing the buck in the sight picture. As I resettled on the opening, I saw a flash of white, which I think was the underside of a front leg. As I was glassing for movement, another buck came trotting out of the cedars and up the hill. I could see that it was a pretty good 4X4, but I knew it wasn't the buck we'd shot at, so I told Cade not to shoot. After a fairly steep 200-yard hike to the opening, we found his buck piled head first in a cedar tree. It was his third buck in four years, and his best to date.
It seems like I always work a little harder on his hunts, but I'm glad to do it, because it's some of the best time I get to spend with him and his siblings each year. Thanks for reading the story, and I hope you enjoy the pictures.
We had a pretty slow start to our hunt. It was warm? near 70 all week, and the deer weren't moving much at all. On the last evening, while sitting in a shady spot, trying to get out of the sun, we wised up a little bit, and decided to hunt the Northwest side of the mountain, and focus on the thicker, shaded draws.
At about 3:30, we spotted the only buck we'd seen during the season high on a slope about 1200 yards away. As soon as we saw him turn his head, we knew we'd make a play on him. We planned our stalk through what we thought were two washes between us and the knob we figured we needed to be on. As it often does, it turned out to be four washes? all deeper and steeper than they looked.
About 30 minutes later, we came out on the knob, and started easing to the North. We were peeking at the little opening in the junipers where he was feeding at each tree we came to. Finally, we looked around one more Juniper, and there he was, right where we thought he'd be. Cade put the monopod down and got on him and asked if I was ready. I kind of laughed, thinking, "I don't need to be ready, are YOU ready?" I think he watches a lot of hunting shows where the shooter asks the cameraman if he's ready for him to shoot.
Anyway, I watched through my binos, and Cade touched off the shot. When he did, it scared the holy heck out of me, and I jumped, losing the buck in the sight picture. As I resettled on the opening, I saw a flash of white, which I think was the underside of a front leg. As I was glassing for movement, another buck came trotting out of the cedars and up the hill. I could see that it was a pretty good 4X4, but I knew it wasn't the buck we'd shot at, so I told Cade not to shoot. After a fairly steep 200-yard hike to the opening, we found his buck piled head first in a cedar tree. It was his third buck in four years, and his best to date.
It seems like I always work a little harder on his hunts, but I'm glad to do it, because it's some of the best time I get to spend with him and his siblings each year. Thanks for reading the story, and I hope you enjoy the pictures.
