Day 1: We were both up and ready to go before our alarms. Hopped in the truck and made the 30 minute drive to our Plan A area. Parked, checked the map, and began the 1.5 mile hike in to our glassing spot. We got settled in with a couple minutes to spare before shooting light. As it started getting light enough to see, I quickly picked up some does working the private/public boundary to our west and not 5 minutes later, T-Beau says, “I got deer over here too”. I turn my attention to the deer he spotted and they are working up this face into the sunlight. Almost immediately, we recognize there is at least one buck in the group. I pull the spotter out to take a better look. There are actually two bucks in the group with 8 does and all it takes is one turn of his head to realize one of the bucks is a big one! I say to T-Beau, “Let’s go kill this deer!” He takes a quick glance through the spotter, simply says “Wow”, and we start packing up. We’ve been glassing for less than 15 minutes at this point.
We drop down into the bottom and try to keep terrain between us and them as we cut the distance. The deer are to the north of us and wind is out of the west so we are good there. We originally spotted these deer a little over a mile away. We get to about 1200 yards and the bigger buck is pushing the smaller buck around on top of the knob the deer had been feeding on. We wait for them to go over the top and continue hustling in their direction. As we keep getting closer, a coyote comes cruising through and appears to get right on the path the deer had been taking (this became an annoying theme for the trip…coyotes everywhere we went!). We start slowing down as we’re getting closer and aren’t exactly sure where the deer are at this point. A moment later, we spot a doe feeding up and out of the coulee she is in. We wait for her to move out of sight and continue moving.
We debated on continuing through the bottom of the coulee or getting up on top. Ultimately we decide to go high but realize this is a risky move cause there is no cover at all except for the slight undulations of the terrain. We’re moving slow and taking our time. We think the deer are in the coulee right in front of us but all of a sudden a doe pops out two coulees away. Following her is the big buck! We get a quick glimpse of him over 500 yards away but don’t get a shot opportunity as he is pushing this doe and they are on the move. We quickly drop down in the bottom and try to get closer. As we pop over the next face, we have does bedded to our right and one doe in front of us. We drop packs and start crawling forward with our rifles trying to stay below the line of sight of the deer around us. After probably 25 yards, I slowly raise up on my knees to take another peek and all I see are eight does running directly away from us…no bucks in sight. I don’t know if it was us (wind was still good and we felt like we had stayed out of sight), the coyote, or some combination of both, but they are out of there headed towards some even more broken country to our west. We get our packs back on, regroup, and decide to give chase.
A half mile later, we get to the much steeper coulee system where we think they had headed. Walking the top, we spot a coyote cruising through the bottom working away from us and can’t help but think it was the same one we had seen earlier. We drop down and start side-hilling through. As we come around the next corner, I spot movement…it’s the group of does and they are turning to work up and out of the bottom. I motion to T-Beau to move up but they are already out of sight by the time he gets to me. We move the couple hundred yards forward to where they headed up and out, and as I start to turn to follow their path, something catches my eye in the sunlight down in the bottom to our right. Pull out the binos for a quick check and it’s a buck bedded down in the bottom. He's out in the sun, wind at his back, staring directly at us.
I drop down, turn to T-Beau and whisper, “Buck bedded, down in the bottom.” He slowly moves up to me while I am ranging the buck. 171 yards. I ask if he wants to take him, and with no hesitation he says, “Yes!” (he's definitely a If-It's-Brown-It's-Down type of hunter). The wind is ripping pretty good and he’s trying to get steady on his trekking poles turned shooting sticks (thank you Wiser Precision Quick Stix). I give him mine as well to help stabilize.
He gets comfortable and I tell him let’s wait until the buck stands. 5-10 minutes later, the buck starts to get up. I go to range him one last time…171…and before I can put the rangefinder away and get my binos back out…
BANG!
