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[VAspeedgoat]

I like the martins chips picture. They're our favorite. Are they available out there or are they smuggled by family?

Great pictures, I love following your families hunts.

 

[Gerald Martin]

After waiting a while in the cold we decided to close the distance. All this activity was taking place at the outer range of Timothy's confident shot ability. We bumped a couple of the does on our cross canyon jaunt. They filed over the ridge and we sat for an hour where we thought we should be able to see the does. Nada. We were both getting cold and Timothy's trigger finger was frustrated and itchy. A hike in the direction of the does departure was in order. Timothy determined the next nice buck was getting a bullet.

As we crested the ridge we saw several does about 600 yards away. One small forky tended the herd. Then, just below across the ridge from us in the junipers the small three point in the previous picture came into sight. Timothy got set in case a bigger buck was following. When the wide 4x3 crossed the opening at 150 yards, I grunted to make him stop. At the shot the buck mule kicked and took off at dead run across the broken terrain. I was expecting him to fall at any time and he appeared to be losing steam as he disappeared from view about 400 yards away.
When he went out of sight, several does burst out of the head of the ravine, spooked by what I assumed was the buck dying below them. Then a few seconds later a big wide buck followed the does up the ravine, nose to the ground in full rut. He was a good buck, but we were confident that Timothy's deer was lying dead close by the herd. We gave it half an hour in case the shot wasn't perfect and made our way over to find his buck.

 

[Gerald Martin]

I like the martins chips picture. They're our favorite. Are they available out there or are they smuggled by family?

Great pictures, I love following your families hunts.

Martin's chips a rare and elusive delicacy were nabbed at a store local to the hunt.... I don't see them often out here.

 

[Gerald Martin]

We made it to the draw where the buck disappeared, half heartedly looking for his tracks and blood. We had a good line of sight on where he went out of view and figured he we could pick up tracks or blood where we saw him last. I had warned Timothy to be ready in case the buck was bedded. I didn't like the 400 yard run and thought he might be liver hit.

Suddenly a nice buck was up and walking through the juniper about 70 yards away. Timothy caught my attention and I thought I could see blood and a patch of disturbed hair on his back. I told him to shoot just as the buck went out of sight. We had to move to the other side of a tree to be ready when he re-appeared. A doe came out first and the buck was hot on her heels. Not exactly the way a mortally wounded buck should act! Then he turned his head and I saw a previously unseen tine on his left side. (up to this point from watching the video we thought Timothy had shot a clean 4x4.) I told him to hold off, what I thought was blood must have just been a patch of reddish hair. Timothy's deer must be dead just up ahead or across the next little draw. We watched this buck for ten minutes as he played ring around the juniper tree with a doe. Eventually they went acoss the ridge and we continued the search.


To make a long story shorter, there was no dead buck, the buck he had shot at was in front of us the whole time. Timothy's shot had been high passing just through the skin and backstrap. I had indeed seen blood and you can confirm it in the included picture. However, in the heat of the moment and with the small video screen and binoculars we couldn't be sure. As far as we know he's still out there passing on his genes.

 

[Gerald Martin]

As darkness fell we reviewed the footage yet again and came to the conclusion I just explained. It was a somber walk off the mountain. We broke down camp and made the 3 hour drive home with plans to return on the last weekend of the season.

 

[Gerald Martin]

With the advantage being able to review our footage we made the plan to go back to where we had seen the first big buck and spend a day looking for him. We found a big set of sheds, but the deer had vacated the area. Where we had seen 30-50 deer a week ago, we hiked 6 plus miles with only five does and four little bucks to show for our efforts. Saturday was our last day to hunt and we were all in, hoping to find the buck Timothy had hit the week before or another one of the big bucks we had seen. Cup noodles with grilled venison, instant coffee with a view, and sheds from a dream buck.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Saturday morning our plans to get an early start were dampened by 10 inches of snow. Even though it took a little longer to get started and would be harder walking, we anticipated more deer movement today and they would certainly be easier to see. Concerned about the lack of deer in the spot we had hunted yesterday we were a bit uncertain hiking into the area we had seen all the bucks the previous week. Once we committed and made the climb our gamble was rewarded with seeing several does. A bit further up the ridge in the spot we had seen the buck Timothy had hit and six does, the six does fed unconcerned. Surely one of those bucks had to be some where. Alas, only a forked horn was playing the suitor. Another doe on the other side of the canyon and finally, a better buck.

Turns out it was a 3x4 we had seen and passed multiple times a week ago. We watched a couple other bucks filter over the top into the draw and decided to get closer. We made it to where the one doe seemed to be attracting the most attention and walked up to within 70 yards of the bedded 3x4. From the front, he looked pretty good and we were pretty sure he would make a good last day buck. After watching him doze and chew his cud for 15 minutes our initial exitement over his size wore off. It was 2 pm, we had three more hours to hunt on a cooling, sunny, afternoon with snow on the ground and the rut rolling strong. We might get lucky and find a monster. Timothy might have to eat his tag. I told him it was his tag and the only one who could make the call was him.

Timothy made the call to hold off and hold out for one of the bigger bucks. We walked around the herd and headed over the top. I'd like to report that one of the two other bucks we saw that evening was huge and he filled his tag. It was not to be. In the last hour of daylight we hunted our way back to the truck, the 3x4 still acting the boss with his ladies. I asked Timothy if he was sure he didn't want to shoot that buck and he said no. He had passed him before and didn't need to kill him just to fill the tag. We made it to the truck just before dark, seeing a few more does on the way down. Our hunt was over.

When I asked Timothy if he had any regrets, he replied that his only regret was not making a better shot on the buck he grazed.

Lucky buck. Timothy passed on him four different times in four different sightings. Maybe next year???

 

[Gerald Martin]

After being on our feet all day in 8-10 inches of snow and not taking much time to eat we absoluty demolished a couple of chicken fried steaks when we made it in to town.


All in all, I had a great hunting season. I didn't shoot a turkey, didn't shoot a bear, didn't fill either of my elk tags, didn't shoot a deer. But who knows, with a lion tag and a wolf tag and plenty of ducks to chase, I might get to add a little more meat to our freezer myself before I have to buy new tags.

 

[huronmtns]

Some serious quality time as a family. Thanks for posting your season experience Gerald.

 

[Elkoholic]

Great family time right there!
As always there's solid Martin family adventures taking place, I really missed spending some time this fall with the family, we'll change that next fall and we'll fill some of those archery tags!

 

[fishing4sanity]

The time spent hunting with your son and the whole family is truly a trophy of a lifetime!

 

[Mudranger1]

Man some great adventures there! Congrats on the successes and I'm sure you stew will be just fine with those kind of memories

 

[kansasdad]

The world needs more of what the Martin clan has...... of that I am certain!

Congratulations to all

 

[rmyoung1]

Great stuff Gerald! Thanks for posting! Family time hunting is quality time!

 

[Deleted member 20812]

Great write up Gerald. Simply outstanding.

 

[bowhuntmontana]

Admirable family hunting time. Congrats to you and the family. Great example for us with kids up and coming.

 

[Elkdog]

Great times! Thanks for sharing!

 

[rtraverdavis]

What a cool family and terrific write-up. Thank you for sharing all that. I know I would be proud as hell of my son for making a call like Timothy did and sticking to it.

 

[JEL]

Thank you for sharing. Great pictures and story. I especially liked your son not shooting a last day deer just to fill a tag. Pretty mature decision. I also only filled one tag (archery antelope) this fall but when you raise a family of hunters the freezer is always well stocked.

 

[Melman]

thanks for sharing