liecabucks
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Another season has flown by and I’ll admit, it was a pretty rough transition from previous years. Scouting started early June, bouncing around with a bear tag and checking the deer numbers as they filtered back to summer ranges. I for one was skeptical of the projected winter losses and wanted to know for myself what kind of work I would be in for locating something quality this year.
Early on, numbers seemed to be low but after about July 1st, it was apparent the numbers of mature bucks that had made it back were in very short supply and antler growth seemed to be at least 2 weeks behind an average summer.
I wasn’t able to give an honest opinion about deer mortality until about the end of july. At that point I decided the dear herd in my area were 60% gone. I noted multiple new fawns most scouting trips and more yearling and 2 year old bucks than I had anticipated seeing. One very notable observation was the almost non existents of older, mature bucks. I believe I counted 4 notable in the 25 days scouting and 16 days I spent actually hunting. My buck number this year sat around 100. Normal years I’d commonly locate 200++.
I located a handful of nice bucks scouting and during the hunt but nothing I was itching to kill. I had a great time like always with my son and the occasional trip with my hunting partners.
I did locate one of my shooter list bucks(only 2
Made it) after 12 days in the mountains. I spotted him while hiking into a new vantage point at 3:00 in the afternoon. I thought it was just a silly doe doing silly doe things in the wide open but I setup the spotter anyway. It didn’t take long before I realized I had located a ghost that nobody had seen for 2 years beside a couple trail cam images. At 1.5 miles away and heavy timber, I did what I could to find an avenue into his kitchen before the sun slid over the mountain peaks behind me. 3 hours later, I had made it close enough for a shot if he would feed through the only sliver of clearing available to me. Caught off guard by the lay of the land and the last minute push, I was flustered when he stepped into the opening. I had lazered a quick range just before and knew he would be approximately 330 yards if he showed. What I didn’t pay enough attention to was my ballistics and simply holding high on his shoulder, In retrospect wasn’t going to pay the bills.
The shot felt good but I didn’t feel good after the shot. I should have taken the time to dope and be clean like I normally do. I backed out and came back two more days hunting/looking for a dead buck. I even came back a week after the hunt for a third look. It’s been a long time since I let one walk like that.
All In all, our party filled one for five tags and let a handful of 160-175 bucks walk. Seems pretty grim but spending time when given the opportunity in Gods country is never a waste.
I’m actually pretty optimistic we will have a fair winter and the deer can start to rebuild. I feel like the stress of fighting for life last winter took its toll on antler growth to the extreme.
Bottom line, Mother Nature decides many things that we as sportsmen and land stewards cannot fix or remedy…..
Successful or not, as always, thanks for the opportunity Wyoming.
I’ll post a few pics when I can.
Early on, numbers seemed to be low but after about July 1st, it was apparent the numbers of mature bucks that had made it back were in very short supply and antler growth seemed to be at least 2 weeks behind an average summer.
I wasn’t able to give an honest opinion about deer mortality until about the end of july. At that point I decided the dear herd in my area were 60% gone. I noted multiple new fawns most scouting trips and more yearling and 2 year old bucks than I had anticipated seeing. One very notable observation was the almost non existents of older, mature bucks. I believe I counted 4 notable in the 25 days scouting and 16 days I spent actually hunting. My buck number this year sat around 100. Normal years I’d commonly locate 200++.
I located a handful of nice bucks scouting and during the hunt but nothing I was itching to kill. I had a great time like always with my son and the occasional trip with my hunting partners.
I did locate one of my shooter list bucks(only 2
Made it) after 12 days in the mountains. I spotted him while hiking into a new vantage point at 3:00 in the afternoon. I thought it was just a silly doe doing silly doe things in the wide open but I setup the spotter anyway. It didn’t take long before I realized I had located a ghost that nobody had seen for 2 years beside a couple trail cam images. At 1.5 miles away and heavy timber, I did what I could to find an avenue into his kitchen before the sun slid over the mountain peaks behind me. 3 hours later, I had made it close enough for a shot if he would feed through the only sliver of clearing available to me. Caught off guard by the lay of the land and the last minute push, I was flustered when he stepped into the opening. I had lazered a quick range just before and knew he would be approximately 330 yards if he showed. What I didn’t pay enough attention to was my ballistics and simply holding high on his shoulder, In retrospect wasn’t going to pay the bills.
The shot felt good but I didn’t feel good after the shot. I should have taken the time to dope and be clean like I normally do. I backed out and came back two more days hunting/looking for a dead buck. I even came back a week after the hunt for a third look. It’s been a long time since I let one walk like that.
All In all, our party filled one for five tags and let a handful of 160-175 bucks walk. Seems pretty grim but spending time when given the opportunity in Gods country is never a waste.
I’m actually pretty optimistic we will have a fair winter and the deer can start to rebuild. I feel like the stress of fighting for life last winter took its toll on antler growth to the extreme.
Bottom line, Mother Nature decides many things that we as sportsmen and land stewards cannot fix or remedy…..
Successful or not, as always, thanks for the opportunity Wyoming.
I’ll post a few pics when I can.
