Here's a story I wrote up a few years ago, about a remarkable day of deer tracking: I had a stretch of time available to hunt, from about 9:00am to 1:30, but had to be back for a work phone call at 2:00. I decided to try a new spot that I’ve been meaning to check out for a while. There was about 4 inches of snow on the ground when I arrived and I didn’t have to go very far into the woods to start finding tracks; first a doe, then a bear, then bingo; a nice buck. He was coming out of a chunk of private land, down low and heading up into a large state-owned mountain range. The track was made this morning, so I figured he’d been out chasing does all night and was heading up to bed. Perfect!
I followed his tracks up hill for about ½ a mile, when he was joined by another, even bigger buck. The two headed more or less straight up the hill, their tracks never more than 30 yards apart. After another ½ mile or so, they took a 90 degree turn, crossed a brook and started heading straight up a steep ridge. They split apart in a fir thicket that was crisscrossed with other deer tracks and I followed one of them as he kept working up the steep hillside. Soon after, I noticed another buck track, that was older (made during the night, I believe), heading down, with drops of blood in the snow nearby. The cause became apparent when I climbed another 50 feet or so up the hill and found a whole section of hillside absolutely torn up from two bucks fighting. Tracks and thrown dirt were all over the place. Many small trees were broken in half, their upper ends laying on the ground. Some were uprooted. Blood was spattered on the snow and on some of the trees (including some really nasty looking globs!). It was clear that this was not some half-hearted sparring session. They were trying to kill each other (or at least one of them was!)
I continued following my buck up the hill and he began to angle off as he climbed the very steep, rocky hillside. He’d parallel the ridge top for a bit, then climb straight up, then repeat. His tracks were looking very, very fresh. I was just below the top of the ridge and I knew that he was bedded nearby. His tracks were currently paralleling the top, along a fairly open lane, below some ledges. It was very still and I figured he would be on the top of the ridge. Since they almost always watch their backtrack, I figured now was the time to get up on the ridge and work my way down, looking carefully for him and hopefully surprising him from an unforeseen direction. I climbed 20 or 30 feet up to the top and started walking slowly down the top of the ledges, looking all over for the deer. I went maybe 20 yards when I noticed movement below and ahead of me, down at the bottom of the ledges. It took me a minute to realize that I was seeing the head of a mature buck, moving slowly, screened by brush. He was about 30 yards away and didn’t seem agitated, but all I could see was his head and his upper neck and there were too many little branches to thread a bullet through. He had thick, brown antlers with tall tines and a round shape, almost like a crown. If he moved the direction he was facing, he’d come into an opening, if he turned, he’d disappear. I tried moving a bit to see if I could find a window in the brush, but no luck. After 30 seconds or so, he turned and disappeared. I quickly snuck down the ledge further to a spot just above where he’d been, but when I peeked over, he was gone. I waited a few minutes, but all I heard was the sound of something snapping down in the woods below. I retraced my steps, back to the point where I’d made the decision to top out on the ridge. Instead, I now followed his tracks from the point I’d left them and discovered his bed, not 20 yards from where I’d stopped following him. If I’d kept going maybe ten more feet, I’d have jumped him in an open lane, at very close range (this is where some choice language may or may not have been uttered). I followed him to where I’d seen him (he must have heard something as I climbed the ridge and wandered off a bit). His tracks led down hill. I followed them maybe 30 yards down and came to the just abandoned bed of ANOTHER huge buck. They’d been bedded down a snowball’s throw from each other the whole time. I could smell the scent of rutting buck, strongly, as I followed them down another 40 or 50 yards and came to…. ANOTHER buck bed, this one with bloody stains all around it. I’d found where the fight’s loser was bedding and he’d been scared off his bed by the others. Three bucks, all bedded within a very small area, during the rut, at least two of them big, mature bucks!
The injured deer headed back uphill, but the other two were headed straight down towards the brook. As it was about 12:30 now, I chose to follow the original buck. He kept descending, sometimes walking, sometimes running until he split from the other buck and headed downstream, along the brook. This was the direction I had to go anyway, towards my car, so I followed. If I’d had more time, I would have sat down for a while and given him a chance to relax, but I didn’t have the time, so I kept on him, hoping for a long shot in the open woods he was now descending towards. He crossed the brook and kept heading down hill, almost like he was aiming to end up at my car and I kept right on him. He continued to alternate running and walking. Finally, at about 1:00, he slowed down and headed up a gentle ridge. Soon after, he made a scrape, then rubbed a small tree. He was starting to relax a bit and think about other stuff… I had maybe 15 more minutes before I really had to give up and the woods were pretty open, so I basically started jogging along the track, hoping to catch a glimpse of him on the other side of the rise, when I reached the top. I didn’t. He started running again and finally, I had to give up. Over the course of that chase off the ridge, out trail must have crossed 3 or 4 other sets of buck tracks. When I left his trail and started heading out of the woods, I’ll bet I crossed 3 or 4 more, all made in the last 24 hours or so. Undoubtedly, some of them were repeats, but there were at least 3 or 4 good sized bucks running around on that mountainside. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Needless to say, I know where I’ll be hunting for the rest of the season…
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