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Post by caveman on Oct 26, 2022 16:35:20 GMT -6
... continued...
“See anything?”
“Nothing this evening.” I replied.
“Me neither. I get cold and have to come in early. My son is still out there. Must be working his way back. You weren’t far away, were you?”
“Ha. Just on the other side of them trees there. 100 yards or so I’d guess. Seen two near here this morning. Buck chasing a doe. I missed the buck.”
The conversation turns to the forecasted overnight snow and 40-degree highs tomorrow when we had near 60 degrees for the evening hunt.
“You going back there tomorrow with the snow predicted? Going to be a lot colder tomorrow. Don’t know if I’ll even be able to go out.” “Ain’t no way I am getting in a stand tomorrow. Like two inches of snow predicted, and only going to be 40 for a high. That snow is going to stick around on the forest floor all day. That’s perfect. I’m going to start walking at first shooting, find a fresh track, and hunt it down.”
“You done that before?! I don’t know anyone that has ever shot a deer around here not from a stand. A lot of hunters out there.”
“The people I hunt with question why I even own a deer stand and ever even get in one. Yeah, I’ve had some luck walking and hunting before.”
“Well, good luck to you!”
“You too! If you get too cold out there, I’m telling you do some walking around. You might just get one.”
He looks at me like I’m nuts and returns to his truck to wait for his son.
Ate hardy that evening. Got all my stuff around camp in order. Often my camp is untidy overnight, not this night. I knew the next day was going to be something special.
10:30 pm it is snowing and some ass hat sheriff trooper comes checking on my tent.
... to be continued....
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Post by caveman on Oct 27, 2022 17:55:15 GMT -6
...continued... 10:30 pm it is snowing and some ass hat sheriff trooper comes checking on my tent. “You ok in there?!!!” He yells, also adding my first name. I think the Conservation Officer that I get along with well sent him to check on me (for night poaching, or ?). Or possibly someone else with a son as a LEO in the area being smart. “I need to see you and talk to you to make sure you’re ok.” As I’m waking up from being mostly asleep, I’m not sure what to think. Look out to the flashlight and this waste of a human-being making his way to me. I open my tent door to talk to him and get my tent flashlighted. Glad I had everything neat in preparation for the next day. Still, the goober persisted and we talked for a bit. After a bit I ask, “You had enough talk? You see that I’m o.k?” A pause with no answer. Zipped the tent door in his face and damn it felt good . “You have a good night.” He mumbles as he walks away to his truck.
(In all seriousness, I do think this was the CO’s way of checking me for poaching without harming our relationship. Good on him and also the officer that did check me.)
Morning comes and no alarm clock is needed. We’s got a pot of coffee, a couple of pancakes, and a candy bar down before leaving the tent at legal shooting. Perfect snow. Inch and half, maybe two. Wasn’t windy so it’s an even snow cover without bare spots. Game on!
The plan is to walk the river bottom edge towards the spot I’d seen the buck and doe the previous day. If I see a good track in the snow then follow it. The edge is a ledge that is quite a bit higher than the river bottoms and a brown deer should be easily seen on the white background that morning.
The walk to the river is down a short stretch of road first. On that road was parked the CO himself. Gave him a wave and was returned the favor. No time to talk this morning.
Doesn’t take long and a deer is spotted. Long ways away ahead. Binocular range away. It’s on the ledge too. Working its way away from me. Get to where I first saw it and can only find its tracks. They work their way along the edge and eventually go to the cattails and river bottoms. I stick to the ledge in hopes to snipe the deer from above. There it is! Standing behind some brush. 50 yards away. Sweet! Then a stiff breeze to the back of the neck and that deer bolted across the river and for the next county. That’s hunting. On to the next opportunity.
If you are a public land hunter you know that if you find an old, old permanent stand that that location is probably a good one. Those old hunters went through a lot of work to make those stands and didn’t just put them up willy-nilly like today’s portable stands.
Just ahead I see one of them old, old broken down rotten stands...
...to be continued...
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Post by caveman on Oct 28, 2022 20:52:38 GMT -6
...continued...
Just ahead I see one of them old, old broken down rotten stands on a point of land going into the river bottoms! Surveying the area, it’s easy to see why the spot is good. It’s a nicely sloped point surrounded by brushy river bottoms where most of the other river bottoms is cattails and most of the other edge is cliff-like. Shit, this looks really good. Then I see it! Another old, old permanent stand! Two visible from the same spot! “Oh fuck.” I think. “I’m about to get run over with deer South Park style.” I pull my sluggun from resting on my shoulder and bring it to the ready position with my finger on the safety. “Two old, old permanents! Holy fuck!”
Two steps. I take two steps forward to clear the point a bit and to get around a large oak tree and here is a buck walking straight at me. Should have only taken one step. He is moving through the red brush and right towards the point I am standing on. At one point his head goes down and I bring my gun to my shoulder. He continues to walk towards me. Then the gig is up. He spots me. No more waiting for a broadside shot. I’ve got a slug I figure. Boom! Aiming for the center of his chest front on. He runs to my left, and I am unable to get another shot off at him.
Drop to a knee and take stock of what just happened. “Two old, old permanent stands! I should have been more ready!”
After a few minutes, I walk to where he was and look for blood. Yep, got some blood. Not great blood. Follow it for only a little bit and decide its best to leave him be, and back out of the area. Once out of the thicket I realize there is a gravel trail not too far away in the direction he may have headed if he isn’t dead. Decide to walk that to see if there were any hunters in the area. No other hunters, but found my deer’s track with blood. Damn it. That deer should have been dead hundreds of yards back. And it’s headed toward the road. Looks like it may be dragging a leg.
Give him some time, then follow the track across the road and find the buck’s first laydown. It appears I’ve hit the deer’s rear leg, very high. He must have been standing at a slight angle and not completely straight at me and I pulled the shot. Exit to the side of the asshole. The tracks after don’t completely show a dragging leg, but do show a leg being mostly dragged. And a slow drip of blood. “I’ve got a forest full of hunters on this side of the road,” I think. “If I don’t stay after him, he’s going to go in front of someone else and I’ll lose him. Or he’ll lay down and clot this leg wound up and live for days. Got to stay after him!!” The chase is on!
40 degrees. Fresh snow that isn’t deep. Dressed light for a day of walking. A unique track. Blood trail that is mostly consistent, sometimes 30 feet between drops. That’s about perfect conditions.
That first day I chased him for about seven hours is my guess....
...to be continued...
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Post by caveman on Oct 30, 2022 18:27:57 GMT -6
...continued...
That first day I chased him for about seven hours is my guess. Only one other hunter that I know of saw my buck ahead of me, shooting at and missing him with a prayer shot. The buck knew where to go to avoid hunter’s stands. The buck zigged and zagged and always j-hooked before laying down. This wasn’t a slow walk in the woods. This was close to jogging at times through brush. The tracking was easy. It was a chase.
About an hour before sunset, I paused with the reality that I was covered in sweat, it was going to be dark soon, I only had light clothes on, I was in the middle of a large patch of woods, I had no flashlight, and if I were to break a leg I’d be in some serious trouble. There is an emergency snowmobile shelter not too far away and I considered if that would become necessary. Phone reception is spotty in the area. This buck might kill me before it dies. At about sunset the buck's track led to a road we had crossed previously and I decide it is time to give up on the track for that day. It's a couple three miles from camp. I have no flashlight as I left camp at first light with all intention to return to it at some point during the day. I’ve got to walk this gravel road through the State Forest during deer season at dusk with no flashlight. Fuck me. There are some scary things in life. This is one of them. It’s also below freezing now and I soon realize that if I stop walking and get a ride I will chill and become at risk for hypothermia. This walk was straight cruel, perhaps well deserved. It now crosses my mind before taking any shot at a deer. Make it to camp and get a fire going ASAP and out of my sweat-soaked clothes the very next thing. I am totally spent. No idea how many calories burnt that day. Only one bottle of water after leaving camp in the morning. I'm in bad shape. Out of the dark a friend that is hunting in the area approaches my camp and calls for me, “you told me you were walking today. Well, what happened?”
...to be continued...
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Post by caveman on Nov 1, 2022 18:25:51 GMT -6
...continued...
Out of the dark a friend that is hunting in the area approaches my camp and calls for me, “you told me you were walking today. Well, what happened?” He asks with a smile and anticipation knowing my past success. I look up to see his face change from that smile to one of shock. “What the fuck happened?” he gasps. He later would tell me that my face was covered in small cuts, my hair was soaked in sweat, and when I looked him in the eyes it was as if I was staring right through him.
I re-told my day the best I could. We feasted on potatoes and onions. He knows the area well so I was able to tell him all the specific spots I had gone through. All the other deer I had seen that day and many that I had passed gimme shots on. He was amazed. He had to be to work the next day, so I was on my own, at least for the morning.
Day two.
The body was sore. The adrenaline made it so it didn’t matter. I was getting that buck that day or finding his gut pile.
Drove to where I left the track at the road the previous evening. Decided to be much slower that day and do less chasing and more stalking. Several hundred yards later I find where he had bedded for the night. There were five laydowns close to each other in a small swamp. And an exit trail from when I unknowingly jumped him that morning.
Slowly tracked him for a few more hours. Walking along a swamp edge I hear a shot ahead of me. “Good, someone else finally finished him off,” I thought. Get to near where the shot was fired and the hunter approaches me. “Did you finish him for me?” I ask him. “Been tracking that buck for two days. Hit him on the river bottoms miles away yesterday morning.”
“Dude, I just missed a doe.....
...to be continued....
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Post by caveman on Nov 2, 2022 18:44:27 GMT -6
...continued (last part)...
“Dude, I just missed a doe in the other direction. You’ve been tracking how far?”
Sigh. The buck had snuck between this hunter and another hunter with him not 200 yards apart. Not long after the buck doubles back over his tracks from the previous day and I think I’ve lost him. Things were looking grim. Stuck to it and found his route again. About that time I get a call from a friend, and a couple of them were going to post up or walk the area while I continued my tracking.
Walking through the thickest of the thick, the prickly ash thick-thick, after two days I feel like I am holding the wrong weapon in my hands. I feel in my soul that I should be holding an ancient caveman spear. But the gun is what I have, it will have to do. Suddenly he jumps up not 30 feet in front of me and darts to my right. Instinct takes over and I swung my gun like I was duck hunting and put a round through his front shoulders dropping him on the spot. No sights used, just felt it. Yes! Finally. I get up to him and put hands on the rack. He is dead. Over those two days I had only seen him twice, each time hitting him with a slug.
This should be the end of the story. It isn’t.
Give the friends a call to report the news. They are confused as they heard a shot, but not in the direction I said I was. They agree to make their way to where I tell them to go.
“Ok. I know right where I am. I’ve been here before,” I think. Just need to go down this little hill and there will be a trail, take that trail out to the road and find the truck and deer sled and meet those guys back at the buck. Piece of cake. Easy. Being on public I don’t consider pulling the buck to the walking trail at this time. Instead, tuck him behind a little hump so he is hard to spot. Then I walk down the hill and there is a walking trail as was expected. Walk the trail a bit and it just doesn’t seem right. Walk a bit more and see a lake. “There shouldn’t be a lake there. Hmm. Fuck, I don’t know where I am!” While that’s not cool the next thought was much worse, “I don’t really know where my buck is!” ah double-fucks.
So, I attempt to backtrack to find the buck and am overly confident in doing it. In the process take a short-cut that leads unknowingly past the buck and to my tracks before I had shot the buck. Now I’m walking around in this prickly ash thicket thinking I know right where I am and keep following my tracks in circles while never following the correct one back to my buck. My mind is twisted at this time. I don’t know where I am. I don’t know where my buck is. I’m pulling hair out of my head. Give the friends a call and ask them to just meet me on the main road. I take the walking trail to the main road completely dejected. All that and now no deer. Get to the main road to get my bearings straightened and to get my mind calmed down. It’s all I could do. I was messed in the head; this had been a rollercoaster.
At the road was a group of three that were about to start hunting for the evening. I’m sure I looked horrid, they asked “Everything OK?”
“Could you do me a favor? If you find a buck with two holes in it, could you drag it out to the road for me?” And they got a brief rundown of what had happened the previous two days. One of them remarked, “that’s the greatest deer hunting story I’ve ever heard!” When my friends arrived they didn’t believe the story. I had tracked that deer for two days alive, but now couldn’t find it dead after I had already put hands on it. With snow. They agreed to help me find it with I believe the thought I was bullshitting them about losing it. It only takes 10 minutes of walking to get to where that buck was. We searched for near an hour in that prickly ash. Finally, I figured we were assuming the wrong foot path off the main trail and searched for another closer to the road that ended up leading right to the buck. Couldn’t see the buck from the main walking trail even though it was only 40 feet away.
We dragged that buck out of there with a huge sigh of relief. And I a little deer story to tell.
The end.
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Post by biglakebass on Nov 2, 2022 20:09:15 GMT -6
Soooo, where was this?
Does it matter? No. Just interested as you do some travels.
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Post by honker on Nov 2, 2022 21:00:00 GMT -6
You needed to stretch that last post out into a couple more. That was just too much to process at the end after the nice slow buildup. Hahaha. Epic story. That might have drove some weaker men to hang it up. Thanks for giving me something to look forward to the past few days.
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Post by caveman on Nov 3, 2022 5:26:25 GMT -6
You needed to stretch that last post out into a couple more. That was just too much to process at the end after the nice slow buildup. Hahaha. Epic story. That might have drove some weaker men to hang it up. Thanks for giving me something to look forward to the past few days. Thanks. I was thinking it was dragging on too long and made the last post extra long to finish it up to put us through less pain.
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Post by caveman on Nov 3, 2022 5:37:48 GMT -6
Soooo, where was this? Does it matter? No. Just interested as you do some travels. "Or possibly someone else with a son as a LEO in the area being smart." So you are saying this wasn't you huh?
dude, I hunt public land. Public land hunters suck and I don't try to say too much anymore about locations.
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