Mntman
New member
I arrived at the camp/"Hotel Danr55" around noon on Thursday the day before
the hunt.
Dan and Glen had quite a setup already going on. Canvas tent with stove, a
little trailer, and a monster stvoe/grill, so I knew the eats were going to
be good.
Dan showed me an area that they saw some bucks the day before and told me
they were acting like a resident herd.
That night Dan broke out some truly excellent Salsa and chips for dinner.
Could not have asked for anything more, it was great.
Friday morning, we woke up around 1am, 2:30am, 3:30am, and then again at
4:30am, when we decided it was better to get up and get at them.
Drove 1 mile to the area Dan showed me and set up my blind around 5:30 am.
Stayed there until 9:30 am and froze my butt off. It was in the high 20's
that morning.
Went down the 214 towards passawampts point and looked out over the Grand
canyon for an hour and saw does heading down into the canyon. No bucks yet
Went back to the area I had watched that morning around 11 am and saw 5 does
that were really skinny moving about.
I left them to wander and went back to camp for some BBQ sandwiches and chips
and salsa.
Dan and Glen and I discussed the days events and the turkeys and deer seen
and not seen.
We all left camp around 1 PM to continue the quest for the elusive buck.
I went back to the point where I was that morning and set up watch the draws
and points of other areas. Around 4 :05 PM I got sore from sitting so much
and decided to take a stalk around the end of the point I was on to see
anything else. I got to the point and saw nothing and then headed back to my
truck which was about 3/4 of a mile up the jeep trail. When walking past a
slash pile I noticed a white rump about 100+ yards away. I stopped dead and
then noticed it had antlers.
another 10 yard shot with a rifle. Not so, the buck lifted his head and I
counted 4 points on one side and thought this is it, I'm going to take him.
I set my crosshairs on his joint where the leg met the belly and raised it 1"
and squeezed off a shot. I saw him jump 3-4 feet straight up in the air and
land and start to walk off very slowly. I looked again after chambering
another round and noticed a mark on his vital area of tufted hair. He
disappeared into the Quakers about 20 yards off the jeep trail and I turned
on my 2-way to contact Dan. Glen was on first asking me if I had shot and I
told him yes but did not think I hit it, for it jumped over my shot and
walked off. "Little did I know"
When I got up to the area, there was no blood to be found
I followed the path it was on and found him slammed up against the aspen just
staring at me. I walked up to him and he was cold stone dead. I rolled him
over and noticed the 3" hole on his right side.
By then Glen and Dan arrived to help me gut him. With Dan tutelage, I
proceeded to field dress him and notice he had no heart. Dan told me they
jump up like that when heart shot. The heart was completely gone, not a
trace from the 100 yard shot.
We proceeded to take him back to camp and get pictures with Dan's hunt talk
hat.
I don't know how the deer got to wearing a hat, but maybe that is what gave
him away and made him so easy to see in the woods.
Now the whole story.
When I got to camp, I told Dan my rifle was sighted in and he looked at it
and it was not correct. I had it 2.5" over at 25 yards and he said it was
way over at 100.
We went out and re-sighted it in use 14 bullets. I only had 3 left with
which to hunt with and that made making a clean kill imperative. Thank God I
shoot animals with better accuracy than targets.
Deer is 17" inside, with 4x3 points and one eye guard. Dressed out
completely without head or legs at 100 pounds even. Had a thick layer of fat
on it and no ticks.
G&F looked for them also at check out and I lost my license so they gave me
hell about it. Turns out it was in my glove box the whole time, where I put
it after my hunt Friday night.
Thanks again to Dan and Glen for the scouting and help in the gutting. They
are two of the best people I have met and hunted with and anyone should feel
lucking to hunt with them.
Dan, next time I'll bring the snore-ease for you.
your great salsa.
Thanks again for a quick and great hunt.
