Easter season in the life of a youth minister often comes with the cost of much time spent in preparation for services and events surround The Lord's Day. Now I have several weeks before my next major event and hope to finally get this story finished.
Sleep that night came surprisingly easy for a night that normally doesn't allow for much. The pad was more comfortable than normal and the sleeping bag warm enough to help sleep come when a 5 mile hike and 3000 feet of elevation have been climbed.
The alarm went off as was planned but there was noise above our tent from a group of hunters who had camped about a 1000 feet below us and decided the trek up the side of the hill was worth it in the dark. We quickly continued finished getting ready and hurried out of the door hoping that the deer we had found the night before hadn't been spotted by the other hunters.
In an attempt to keep our shapes from being spotted on the horizon we stayed behind a group of trees and quickly got our spotting scopes set up. We found several deer quickly but disappointment quickly set in when we didn't find the buck from the night before. It only got worse as we heard shots come from the direction the other hunters had gone and it was easily conceivable that the buck we had found had found their crosshairs.
After several minutes sitting in the cold and hoping our buck wasn't the one they had killed the grey ghost I had found the night before stepped out from the trees. He met the standards I had set earlier in the summer and a stalk wasn't even necessary because he was under 300 yards and standing broadside.
My desire now is to make up some story and say that I hit him with the first shot but I didn't, it was a miss. At which point he took off and left me scratching my head on what I did wrong. We decided our best bet was to head down and make sure it was a clean miss and slowly head the same direction that he went.
There was no blood as we had expected and pursuit was tough on the frozen ground after the rain the day before. Tracks were tough to discern but soon we spotted him and his partner working their way up the next drainage about 250 yards away. I also wish I could say this shot was clean as well, but with his quartering angle I hit him a further back than I would have preferred. He headed down the hill and settled beneath a large pine, but far enough away that I couldn't finish him.
We worked our way closer and I finished the job that should have been done with the first shot. To date he is my best mule deer and I hope to continue to improve and get better with every season. This hunt will be tough to top, but in the three days we stayed in mountains after my kill 3 deer that were much larger were located. There is hope for next season.......
Sleep that night came surprisingly easy for a night that normally doesn't allow for much. The pad was more comfortable than normal and the sleeping bag warm enough to help sleep come when a 5 mile hike and 3000 feet of elevation have been climbed.
The alarm went off as was planned but there was noise above our tent from a group of hunters who had camped about a 1000 feet below us and decided the trek up the side of the hill was worth it in the dark. We quickly continued finished getting ready and hurried out of the door hoping that the deer we had found the night before hadn't been spotted by the other hunters.
In an attempt to keep our shapes from being spotted on the horizon we stayed behind a group of trees and quickly got our spotting scopes set up. We found several deer quickly but disappointment quickly set in when we didn't find the buck from the night before. It only got worse as we heard shots come from the direction the other hunters had gone and it was easily conceivable that the buck we had found had found their crosshairs.
After several minutes sitting in the cold and hoping our buck wasn't the one they had killed the grey ghost I had found the night before stepped out from the trees. He met the standards I had set earlier in the summer and a stalk wasn't even necessary because he was under 300 yards and standing broadside.
My desire now is to make up some story and say that I hit him with the first shot but I didn't, it was a miss. At which point he took off and left me scratching my head on what I did wrong. We decided our best bet was to head down and make sure it was a clean miss and slowly head the same direction that he went.
There was no blood as we had expected and pursuit was tough on the frozen ground after the rain the day before. Tracks were tough to discern but soon we spotted him and his partner working their way up the next drainage about 250 yards away. I also wish I could say this shot was clean as well, but with his quartering angle I hit him a further back than I would have preferred. He headed down the hill and settled beneath a large pine, but far enough away that I couldn't finish him.
We worked our way closer and I finished the job that should have been done with the first shot. To date he is my best mule deer and I hope to continue to improve and get better with every season. This hunt will be tough to top, but in the three days we stayed in mountains after my kill 3 deer that were much larger were located. There is hope for next season.......
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