California B1 trip, finally got one

N

Niels

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Well, as they say all good things must come to an end, it was great to be back home in blacktail country, I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent in the woods in search of a big blacktail buck, however that big buck never showed himself, nor did much of anything else, the hunting was downright poor, in the mornings we had a hell of a time just trying to spot a doe, let alone a buck, the evenings brought out a few deer, but mostly only does and a few small forks, I also spent quite a bit of time in the afternoons still hunting the timber trying to jump a bedded buck in the dried out rocky creeks, I jumped up a few deer, I know all of them were does except for one that I think was a buck, but I couldn't tell for sure, I only got a quick glimpse of it, but it was big and blue, just too many branches in the way to see antlers, I went after it,but to no avail. Finally, on my last evening hunt last Wednesday it turned cool and the deer started to move a little, at 5:45 I spotted a doe up the hill about 400 yards away, then just a few minutes after that two does came out of the draw ahead of me so I decided to head up the draw about halfway to where I could glass the surrounding area better from, so I crossed the draw and came up the other side out into a small prairie, I just stood there and glassed for about 20 minutes and while I was glassing I heard something coming from the draw across the other side of the small prairie, so I stopped glassing and looked in the direction I heard the sound come from and heard it again, just seconds after I heard the sound again, out steps this deer walking on a deer trail up this steep embankment, right away from about 85 yards away, I see antlers and a big dark body so I shouldered my gun, looked through my scope, saw that he had at least a third point on his left antler, so then I settled the crosshairs on his shoulder and squeezed, at the shot, he went down and rolled ass over tea kettle down the slope about 25 yards and back into the draw he came out of. I stayed right where I shot from and listened for him to get back up again, but didn't hear a thing when he stopped rolling to the bottom, so I started heading his way, when I got to him, his antlers were stuck in the ground and his chin was pointing at the sky, so I pulled them out of the ground and he ended up being a small 4x3 so I was pleasantly surprised because I thought he was only a 3x2, he was all body, he dressed out at 134, he just didn't have alot of horn. I will post pics as soon as I finish the roll and get them developed.
 
LAST EDITED ON Sep-30-03 AT 00:57AM (MST)[p]Cool storie, like to see him! I love B-1. I hunt the Soldier Ridge ,Mare Basin, THE YOLLY BOLLAS! Their are some monster around! Running the draws some times works well! Where did you hunt? alot of bear this year too! Will hunt B-1 again after NV, X-1.(Leaving Thursday to X-1 1ST then NV,hunting 27 days! ya works pissed!) Its great to have a long deer season like B-1,then when over Ducks,Ducks,Ducks!HOPING FOR COOLER ,Wet weather!
GOD BLESS!
 
Thanks, I hunted an area not far off highway 299 that goes from Arcata to Redding, I have hunted the Yolla Bollies before and have seen some monsters, years back I was stalking a monster 4x4 only to have two yahoos come barreling down the ridge one over from the buck and spooked him back into the timber, they didn't even know the buck was there, I was watching them through my binocs, Oh well that's what you get hunting public land sometimes, too many hunters that have no idea what they're doing and mess it up for somebody else, drives me nuts!
I backpacked in back in 98 also for a 4 day hunt with some buddies and passed up 4 bucks on opening morning trying to get a bigger one, but never saw another buck the rest of the trip, oh well, it was a chance we were willing to take. We were satisfied knowing that we could of easily taken any one of those 4 bucks. Running draws has always been a very productive way for me to hunt in the early season when they are holding tight to cover, I killed a bigger buck last year doing the same thing.
Let me know how your NV hunt goes, 27 days huh? must be nice?
I will post pics as soon as I get them back, but he's nothing special. Take care.
 
Niels

Way to go on your buck. Looking forward to seeing the pics.

Happy trails

Ridge Runner
 
I got the pictures back, I just don't know how to post them, so I emailed a picture to Brian, hopefully he will attach it to this thread soon.
 
Here are the pictures that Niels sent to me to post for him on his latest hunt. Kevin can fill in the details. Congrats to you on the hunt kevin.
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Congrats!
I think these guys that hunt big muleys don't understand the difficulty in taking a good 4x4 blacktail!
Congrats on your 4x3!
I hunt the Trinity Alps and A zone near Lake Berryessa in Napa County.
I truly want to find a spot in the Yolla Bolly's though.
I have heard that it is big country and best hunted with horses.
I know a guy that has a ranch there and my God you should see the bucks he takes there!
 
Thanks alot Brian for posting these, and thanks Harry, yes the Yolla Bollies is the place to go if you can get away from the crowds, if you pack far enough in, you can get on animals that have probably never seen a human before, and that being the case have the opportunity to grow old and grow a very impressive set of headgear. The story about this buck is at the top of the page.
 

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