This would be the first time my hunting partner and I had been to this unit. We piled over topos and google earth and had a good feeling before hitting the road.
We pulled into our first glassing spot just before day break. We spotted a nice 26in 4x3 right off the bat and watched him bed down after feeding for an hour. We scoured the mountain side for his bachelor buddies, but he was a loner. I decided he was worth the stalk. 3 hrs had me 42 yards from his bed. He stood up and feed directly away from me for what seemed like an hour before he finally turned broadside. As the buck looked in my direction I didn't think he was big enough and did release an arrow.
With the first stalk under my belt and only being in the unit for a few hours we were pumped full of excitement. We hadn't even set up camp and we had seen and stalked to 40+ yards to a solid buck.
The rest of the day we familiarized ourselves with the roads and found glassing points for morning and evening hunts. Just before 5pm we spotted a very nice 4 pt 175ish and a 28+ forkie. The 4pt had crabby fronts but huge back forks with really long main beams, very cool looking buck. The bucks bedded down in a great spot for a stalk and I was off on my second stalk of the day.
I slowing made my way across the canyon and found myself inside 100 yards of the bucks. What I didn't realize was that I was stalking in, a Doe came out of no where and pinned me down for over an hour. In between that time the Forkie stood up out of his bed and re-bedded facing me. I was out of cover and had to hold my position until dark.
I backed out and we headed to camp. We had a great game plan for the morning as we thought both these bucks would be in the same canyon come morning.
First light had us scanning the canyons for our two bucks. Unfortunately the bucks were nowhere to be found. With no deer in the canyon we creeped over into the next canyon. Just as we sneak over the rise another doe bust us and blows down through the canyon. In that moment the whole hillside erupts with deer, lots of snorting and wheezing, the worst sound for a bow hunter. We felt like the morning was going to be a bust with every deer running out of there.
As we were figuring out what to do next we hear a deer coming up the canyon. We soon realize that its not just a deer but a great buck, and he was heading right to us. Things were happening so fast there was barley anytime to think. The buck began to veer off our direct path and we realized he wasn't going to get any closer. So with a quick range of 54 yards, I give him one of those Whitetail TV hunting shows 'grunt' and he does a perfect broadside look back. Before his head settles in on our location the arrow zips through his shoulder. He trots off as nothing has happened. I thought I might have missed but the blood flowing down his side confirmed a perfect hit. 30 seconds later buck was down and the hunt was over.
After some high fives and hugs we made our way to the buck. We took some pictures and proceeded to break the buck down. We were back to the truck by 1pm and on the road by 2. Even though it was a quick hunt it was a hunt I wont soon forget. I can't wait to see the draw results and hope to find myself back in the mountains in a few months.
Congrats
Good luck, Robb
What state was this hunt in?
