Today was a day... Definitely exhausted.
I decided to take ny rifle for a walk to one of my favorite deer hunting spots. I saw 4 or 5 good 4 points in there this archery season. I made sure to get up early so I could arrive before light. Just about 5 miles before the turn off, some guy in a hacked up ram blew by me at 90 mph and I thought to myself, I sure hope hes not going where I want to. I see him blow by the turn off and hit his breaks, too late for him, I turned in right after. This is a huge are to hunt, so what are the odds we go to the same spot.... the dude follows me for 20 mins and parks right next to my truck... D-bag... but its public land and we all love to use it so I cant be too mad. I had all my gear ready, so I got a solid 5-10 minute jump on the other guy. Just so happens, the redbull and donuts kicked in and I had to take a shit right in the midlle of the cattle trail. Sure hope he didnt step in it!
I got to my glassing spot at 530 and had about a hour to wait before it was light enough to see anything. Played the wind perfect, so I felt pretty good about my opportunity. Light comes and goes. Not a deer in sight! I was shocked, I have never gone out there and not seen at least a few bucks at light. I decided to hike another mile or so and to the top of a hill where I could see a lot of different areas. Set up the spotter and waited for another 30 mins. No deer. I was starting to think it was a wasted adventure when all of a sudden, a bull stepped out at 950 yards. Ive only ever seen 1 elk in there, so I wasnt expecting it at all. He was in a hurry to book it across the opening and into the trees, Im guessing he winded a hunter to the south.
I had a good Idea of where he was going to go, so I dropped my pack, took off and rounded the mountain to the north and worked my way up to the top. I catch a shadow across the grass, SHIT! He was downwind and trotting off. He wasnt alone, another bull had joined him. I decided to cow call and the hoochie mamma worked like a charm. Both bulls stopped at 400 yards and looked back. That was all the time I needed. I took a kneeling shot and dropped him in his tracks. The 6.5 PRC did its job fantastically.
It took about a hour to process him and stow the bags under some shade trees. The weather was turning to hot in a hurry and I had over 2 miles to the truck. I loaded up all my gear and a rear quarter and headed off. Relatively uneventful minus the 3" rattlesnake striking by boot that I had no odea was there. Scared the shit out of me and I quickly realized that things can go bad fast. I stopped at the rltruck, chugeed a Gatorade and headed back out for the next load. I hauled a rear quarter, front quarter, backstrap, neck meat, and tenderloin on the next trip. This one had me laughing.... a damn 3 point muley ran up to me all confused and stopped at 30 yards. Had it not been 82 degrees out, I may have considered adding him to the hit list today. Third trip kicked my ass, as I hauled the last bag of meat and head out. Feet and back are whooped. I chugged another redbull and some m&m's and hit the road. Got the bull dropped off at the butcher and made it home.
Im definitely the master of raghorns. Another one down and meat in the freezer. Not what I was expecting to hike out today. Bed will be calling my name early. Put on a total of 16 miles today with around 7 miles fully loaded down.
