DWhitch
New member
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2019
- Messages
- 10
I know the title says someone else benefits, but I didn't get screwed either. I'll get to that part.
I have been enthralled with hunting ever since I was a young boy, however living in Texas where there is very little public land and growing up with very modest means, sometimes very little means, I was never able to get out there and get a taste for it. So instead I have spent countless hours of my life watching hunting shows on TV and YouTube. Everything from shows documenting the hunt, to how to gut, skin and quarter it, etc. in hopes that I would be ready to take action when the day came. Well, my wife and I moved to Arizona almost two years ago, shortly after getting married, and with all the Public Land that AZ has, hunting has been at the top of the to-do list.
January is Archery season in AZ, so my buddy and I have been making full use of our available time, out there hoofing it, trying to glass something. This past week we glassed a fork chasing a doe over the top of the ridge we were at the base of, so we decided to go around the base of the mountain and see if we could pick it up on the other side. So we make it to the other side of the mountain and as we are setting up to start glassing that side, we see a solo hunter about 60 yards in front of us giving us a signal to stop. He then puts his hands on his head to tell us there is a buck. So we wait as he disappears into the tall bush of mesquites and cactus. We stand there for maybe two minutes then we hear the sound of the arrow flying through the air then thud into the buck. Once the buck reacts and bounces out into the open, we see it is the one we were chasing! The hunter re-appears from the bush pumping his fist in celebration of what turns out to be his first buck. He makes his way over to us for a celebratory high five and he immediately says "Can you guys help me pack it out?". I don't know if my response came from my excitement for the guy since I too was chasing my first buck and I could see the excitement in his eyes making me imagine my first one which is yet to come, or out of the idea of reaping what I sow, hoping the hunting "gods" would show favor upon me for my kind deed. I said "Absolutely!" without hesitation. My buddy gave me a side-eye look like "wth did you just do?".
Turns out the guy wasn't a perfect shot and had hit the animal in the neck. It was bleeding badly and had bedded down about 90 yds up the mountain in a shaded spot that we were sure he would keep for his final fleeting moments. The oncoming beagle with its hiking master had other plans for us though. That dog caught the deer's scent and went wild, chasing the Buck over the top of the ridge back to the side we saw him for the first time. Once the dog chased it away, he came trotting back to his owner as if he was proud of the extra 1500 feet of elevation he had just put between us and the deer. The solo we were now committed to helping, was visibly nervous by the thought of not being able to find the animal he had only wounded, so we found the blood trail and followed it to the top of the ridge and waited there for about 20 minutes, trying to give the buck time to calm down and hopefully re-bed. After our time of waiting peeked over the ridge and glassed up the buck bedded down 130 yds away. We helped the solo stalk over to 42 yds from the buck. He said he felt comfortable taking the shot so my buddy said, "you're at 42, take it when you're ready." Well the solo draws back and at that time the buck stands up and starts walking, he lets the arrow fly anyway and HITS THE DEER IN THE BUTT! So now the deer has a broken-off arrow in the neck, one in the butt, and is booking it to the next ridge. I give my buddy the look, and we settle in for what seems to be a long day.
We finally get to within 10 yds of the buck, who has spent his last amount of energy, and the solo puts one through the heart. The animal is dead and no longer suffering. We take pictures for the guy, and in his defense, he is visibly angry with himself for not having a clean harvest. After the photo-op, he asks what he is supposed to do next. After a short discussion asking him wth do you mean what's next and asking him what his plan was after he killed a deer out here by himself, we walked him through gutting his own deer. I ended up teaching him how to skin the deer, quarter it out and remove the backstrap and tenderloin. I honestly did not mind doing any of this for him since I had been dreaming about being out there doing exactly that for years! I was pleasantly surprised at how well my knife made the cuts and went to the right places on the animal as if I had done it many times before, even though all of my experience was digital. The solo was so thankful for our help, and he seriously was a good guy to run into out there. We helped him hoof it back to his truck and he gave us a ride back to ours since we parked on opposite sides of the mountain.
He was so appreciative of our help (mainly because I think he might have been up a creek without a paddle had we not bumped into him) that he asked if we wanted to take some meat with us to pay us for our trouble. We said sure, and he offered to give us 2 quarters and a backstrap! I almost said no that's too generous, but my buddy quickly stepped in a sealed that deal with a handshake. The more I thought about it, if I was in his shoes I would've given up a big chunk of my harvest to someone if they had done for me what we did for him. I dreamed about being out there chasing these animals for over two decades before I was able to start my hunting journey this year. I invited my buddy over that night for reverse-seared backstrap on the smoker and smoked shoulder roast.(Pics below) This was a memorable first encounter with a beautiful animal and a fellow hunter. Here's to hoping the next animal my knife comes in contact with is taken by me. Cheers!
he top of the ridge back to
I have been enthralled with hunting ever since I was a young boy, however living in Texas where there is very little public land and growing up with very modest means, sometimes very little means, I was never able to get out there and get a taste for it. So instead I have spent countless hours of my life watching hunting shows on TV and YouTube. Everything from shows documenting the hunt, to how to gut, skin and quarter it, etc. in hopes that I would be ready to take action when the day came. Well, my wife and I moved to Arizona almost two years ago, shortly after getting married, and with all the Public Land that AZ has, hunting has been at the top of the to-do list.
January is Archery season in AZ, so my buddy and I have been making full use of our available time, out there hoofing it, trying to glass something. This past week we glassed a fork chasing a doe over the top of the ridge we were at the base of, so we decided to go around the base of the mountain and see if we could pick it up on the other side. So we make it to the other side of the mountain and as we are setting up to start glassing that side, we see a solo hunter about 60 yards in front of us giving us a signal to stop. He then puts his hands on his head to tell us there is a buck. So we wait as he disappears into the tall bush of mesquites and cactus. We stand there for maybe two minutes then we hear the sound of the arrow flying through the air then thud into the buck. Once the buck reacts and bounces out into the open, we see it is the one we were chasing! The hunter re-appears from the bush pumping his fist in celebration of what turns out to be his first buck. He makes his way over to us for a celebratory high five and he immediately says "Can you guys help me pack it out?". I don't know if my response came from my excitement for the guy since I too was chasing my first buck and I could see the excitement in his eyes making me imagine my first one which is yet to come, or out of the idea of reaping what I sow, hoping the hunting "gods" would show favor upon me for my kind deed. I said "Absolutely!" without hesitation. My buddy gave me a side-eye look like "wth did you just do?".
Turns out the guy wasn't a perfect shot and had hit the animal in the neck. It was bleeding badly and had bedded down about 90 yds up the mountain in a shaded spot that we were sure he would keep for his final fleeting moments. The oncoming beagle with its hiking master had other plans for us though. That dog caught the deer's scent and went wild, chasing the Buck over the top of the ridge back to the side we saw him for the first time. Once the dog chased it away, he came trotting back to his owner as if he was proud of the extra 1500 feet of elevation he had just put between us and the deer. The solo we were now committed to helping, was visibly nervous by the thought of not being able to find the animal he had only wounded, so we found the blood trail and followed it to the top of the ridge and waited there for about 20 minutes, trying to give the buck time to calm down and hopefully re-bed. After our time of waiting peeked over the ridge and glassed up the buck bedded down 130 yds away. We helped the solo stalk over to 42 yds from the buck. He said he felt comfortable taking the shot so my buddy said, "you're at 42, take it when you're ready." Well the solo draws back and at that time the buck stands up and starts walking, he lets the arrow fly anyway and HITS THE DEER IN THE BUTT! So now the deer has a broken-off arrow in the neck, one in the butt, and is booking it to the next ridge. I give my buddy the look, and we settle in for what seems to be a long day.
We finally get to within 10 yds of the buck, who has spent his last amount of energy, and the solo puts one through the heart. The animal is dead and no longer suffering. We take pictures for the guy, and in his defense, he is visibly angry with himself for not having a clean harvest. After the photo-op, he asks what he is supposed to do next. After a short discussion asking him wth do you mean what's next and asking him what his plan was after he killed a deer out here by himself, we walked him through gutting his own deer. I ended up teaching him how to skin the deer, quarter it out and remove the backstrap and tenderloin. I honestly did not mind doing any of this for him since I had been dreaming about being out there doing exactly that for years! I was pleasantly surprised at how well my knife made the cuts and went to the right places on the animal as if I had done it many times before, even though all of my experience was digital. The solo was so thankful for our help, and he seriously was a good guy to run into out there. We helped him hoof it back to his truck and he gave us a ride back to ours since we parked on opposite sides of the mountain.
He was so appreciative of our help (mainly because I think he might have been up a creek without a paddle had we not bumped into him) that he asked if we wanted to take some meat with us to pay us for our trouble. We said sure, and he offered to give us 2 quarters and a backstrap! I almost said no that's too generous, but my buddy quickly stepped in a sealed that deal with a handshake. The more I thought about it, if I was in his shoes I would've given up a big chunk of my harvest to someone if they had done for me what we did for him. I dreamed about being out there chasing these animals for over two decades before I was able to start my hunting journey this year. I invited my buddy over that night for reverse-seared backstrap on the smoker and smoked shoulder roast.(Pics below) This was a memorable first encounter with a beautiful animal and a fellow hunter. Here's to hoping the next animal my knife comes in contact with is taken by me. Cheers!
he top of the ridge back to
Last edited:
