Spotnstalk80
Active Member
- Messages
- 108
This year was and has been the toughest season in many years up in the C-Zone our party has seen in quite a few years. Our scouting of the area told us there were deer in the area but for some strange reason they just weren't very active. We had a couple of trail cams set up in the areas we usually see many deer and the cams showed us lots of promise with multiple large bucks. Our physical scouting told us another story. The deer were not moving like they normally do. Then the opener came and suddenly there were literally NO deer to be found. Be it the storm 3 days before the opener or the odd moon cycle the deer had disappeared. I spent the first 3 days of the season searching high and low, all the spots that have historically held deer simply had no deer. I left that first Monday and returned to work wondering where the deer had gone and hoping maybe the herd just needed time from the pressure to show up. All week the reports were bleak. A couple guys got lucky but overall the deer were just not showing up. Many started to move to other areas and some of the less determined turned to fishing and wishing the deer would magically appear. Finally on Wednesday we had some folks go low, way down out of the area we normally are and they didn't turn up bucks but they did find a few more deer. Friday I returned and gave the higher elevation a shot. Nothing. Saturday morning again nothing. So we loaded up and went low. On arrival we spread out through an area that didn't get alot of pressure but had a chance to hold deer and within an hour our group started seeing deer. Still nothing for us but we pressed on. Clear cut after clearcut we glassed and glassed and still couldn't turn up a deer. Then about 6 o'clock I told my partner we must be cursed but I do have a strange feeling one of us is going to see something. Well, 15 minutes later another clear cut and our luck began to change. First a doe and fawn, then another doe, and another fawn. We are on the right track now I said. Being satisfied with what we had seen we got back in the truck and pressed towards the next clear cut. I took a few backwards glances at the second doe hoping somehow some way she would sprout some horns. Instead what sprouted was another deer. This deer came seemingly out of the ground and was immediately running down the hill. Not only that it was a BUCK! Buck! I quickly threw the truck in park and sprung from my seat. It was a blur but as i got him in my scope I could see he was spreading the distance very quickly and only offering me a shot at his butt. I held off thinking at some point hes going to stop or offer a better shot. He never stopped but at 150 yards he hit a skid trail and turned broadside paralleling the road we had been driving. This was my chance. I settled the scope and squeezed. Immediately I realized that my first shot had found its mark but was far back and had slowed his run but was not the shot I thought it was. Again I settled the scope on him and squeezed another round off. Immediately the .270 found its mark and put him down for good. The search for the invisible deer for me was over. While the lower elevation worked out for me it wasn't the mother-lode of deer but it was just enough to put smiles back around the campfire and spark the dying fire for the remaining hunters that maybe, just maybe the last weekend can still hold some promise and maybe they too can fill their tags. Another C zone in the books, now it's on to D zone for the next three weeks then its off to Wyoming to chase elk for a week. Happy hunting to everyone and may you all enjoy your seasons and may your freezers be full.
as he lay
Success!!
as he lay
Success!!