In 2006, my wifes(ex) uncle and cousin got drawn for 35b. They asked if I would like to join them, and I agreed. These guys are good people, just not real experienced. I went down early and established a camp in Harshaw canyon, and they came down the afternoon before the opener.
Opening morning found us driving around loking for a place to start. I told them to pull over as the area looked good. We started hiking up the grassy hills and soon spooked a couple of does. Its hard to be quiet when you have 9 people trailing behind you. 2 hunters and 7 non-hunters which included some youngsters.
After awhile I had everyone sit down so we could do some glassing. I spotted a small herd which had two young bucks in the group. I knew this was going to be tough as my uncle in-law was shooting an open sight 30-30, and he has bad eyesight to boot. O.K how do I get this guy within 75 yards of a buck? SO I formulated a plan. The deer had moved into thick brush on a steep hillside. I positioned the group at the base inside the tree line, and told them that I was going to circle around the backside of the steep hill and come over the top, and push those deer right to them. Sounded good, but they looked at me like I was crazy! They thought me hiking around the backside and over the top was too much work. It really wasn't, but what the heck. So I got around the backside and told them on radio to be ready. I came over the top and worked my down into the thick stuff. All heck broke loose as those deer exploded out of their beds, and headed down the hill right towards the waiting hunters. Those deer crashed right throught the brush 75 yards in front of them and they could not pick out a deer to shoot, even though I did my part. Oh well. Thats hunting.
The second day was uneventful, and they went back to camp. I told them that I was going up the road to glass one of the big canyons on the west side of the unit.I went up and settled in with the tripod and bino's, and late afternoon glassed up 2 feeding bucks at the head of a steep canyon. The bigger of the two would score in the 80's. Good enough bucks for these guy's. So I radioed back to camp and told Tony to come up and have a look. When he got there he got excited about seeing the bucks. I told him it was to late in the day to go after them, but I told him we could get one of these bucks in the morning, if just the two of us could go after them. Trying to bring a whole troop of people into that canyon would blow those deer right out.
So the next morning we went in at first light. The bucks were up and feeding, and the only way to get a shot would be to drop down into the steep canyon and come around from the downhill side. After a hour of hiking, I finally got him in position. However, the bigger buck did not offer a shot, as he was feeding behind some thick brush. If the sun came up over the steep ridge, Tony would not be able to get a shot as the sun would be directly in our eyes. I told him he could shoot the smaller buck, as it was 330 yards. He settled in for the shot and "Boom", the deer was hit and started rolling down the steep hill, It was a good hit. We climbed the steep hill to his deer, and he was a happy man. We took pictures and got to work on getting that deer out.
Here is a scanned pic of Tony and his deer. I am the guy on the left.
