R
Ridge_Runner
Guest
Well been a while since I have posted as been busy with family and hunting but here is a picture of the buck my son and I took on the opening weekend of the California A ZONE. Not the biggest buck but a nice one for public land in the area we hunt. It was my sons first time on a kill and a very special buck for the both of us as we were the only ones out of our family group that were able to make the opening weekend hunt. We got to the area that we hunt a few days before the opener to have a look around and scout out where we wanted to be for the day. With the pressure that is put on the area during the opening I wanted to hunt a drainage that I knew would be an escape route for the area. We set up camp and got to scouting as I have a rock about 500yds from camp with a good view of the area. Going to the rock we jumped out two bucks so I decided to let the area rest the next two days as that was good enough for me as I know the area well. Now all that was left was to hope nobody else came into our area. Well luck was on our side and we had the opening weekend with no other hunters on that side of our hill. Saturday morning we spotted 4 does and watched one buck get shot off in the distance by a bunch of road hunters that really painted themselves as real slob hunters. I watched them drive down the road, spot the buck feeding in a clear cut, one guy gets out of the truck, takes two shots at the deer the second shot I am sure hit the buck as it hunched up as usual with a gut shot then runs about 100yds from where they shot it and layed down under a dead snag. Well all three guys pile out of the truck and snoop around for all of 15 minutes then hop in the truck and drive off. Well my son and I decided to see if we could locate the deer as we marked it pretty good from our rock so ended our hunt a bit early to drive down to where the buck was. Well once we got down to the road we couldn't get access to the road they were on as it was private property and had a locked gate across the road. Anyways never did run across the truck or the guys and just hope the deer made it as I hate to think about waste like that. Sunday morning found us back at our rock and the area all to ourselves again and at 09:20 I heard busting brush coming from my right side at about 100 yds Ispotted the buck coming right at our rock and carrying the mail. There are only two ways he can go to hit the drainage so I hold my rifle right at the Y in the trail and wait till he comes into sight again and he goes to the right and into a little clearing. As he is airborne clearing a fallen log I touch off and down he goes. Dropped like a sack of potatoes with a downhill forward quartering shot that breaks his back at 60 yds. Not much use for my new Lieca 900 rangefinder this year! Well that deer fel all the way to the bottom of the drainage and a 500yd trip to camp turned into a 4 hr straight up trip that I wouldn't of changed for the world. The grin on my sons face for that 4 hrs as he packed my pack and rifle and me packing that deer on my back was the best ever. Why is it though they have to ask all the questions when it is 90 degrees and all uphill with a deer on your back?? Hope all the rest are having as much fun as I did.
Happy Trails
Ridge Runner
Happy Trails
Ridge Runner
