Upon arriving at camp, I was greeted by Allen and his pimped out accommodations. Needless to say, I was happy that he offered the space as he had a wood burning stove and even some cappuccino! (no joke) I got unpacked and readily settled into what would be my home for the next ten days or so. Even if I tagged out early, my plans were to stay and help others in camp, as I always do.
Allen and I talked a bit on dreams and expectations of the hunt that lay ahead of us. Mostly “what if” scenarios and the like. Our friend Phil (cramerhunts) put it plainly for me…if it’s got “the look”…it’s going down. Good words to hunt by in my opinion. I wanted to take a buck that required no debating on my part. One that was a “no brainer” of sorts. Allen had scouted that same day and they saw two bucks that he wouldn’t hesitate dropping the hammer on. Way to get the blood pumping right before the day ends. …So we acquire two more roommates (Lynton and Bill) and settle in for that first restless night we are all so familiar with.
That first day brought a ton of glassing and hiking and glassing and glassing. It was great to be up there. Wondering what lay over the next ridgeline, under every cedar tree, behind every doe. The rut had shown signs of starting which was a blessing. I was finally going to catch the rut in full swing, so it seemed. We started seeing bucks in the beds of pickup trucks that day. Some were beauties; some were small bucks, all trophies in their hunters’ eyes. The hunt was on.
Day two brought the WIND! It was blowing HARD. Gusting to incredible speeds and it just didn’t look like it was going to let up. Needless to say, glassing was tough. I even managed to step away from my tripod long enough to have it tipped over…Leicas and all, chipping the ocular lens on my left side. OUCH! Good thing it didn’t hamper my view when looking through them. The hunting was tough that day. The good thing was, the black clouds were coming in, and with them...the snow. It dumped good on us that night.
Wind burnt, sun burnt, and cold on day two... watch... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDNJMzDy1j0
Day three started off as windy as the previous day. We now had a blanket of snow on the ground which did wonders for spotting deer. So we start our drive to another “super top secret spot” only to find another truck parked there. Hmmmmm, not so secret after all! We proceed to drive a little further down the now muddy road to a different glassing point. We wanted to find a ridge that allowed us to find deer out of the wind. We set up and get blasted with sleet…cold, wet, sleet. We were soaked, our clothes got saturated, our binos were drenched, my rifle was doused. As I glassed, I could see the angle at which the sleet was coming down, about a 45. It got colder, and the sleet turned to snow again. It started to fall…sideways…slapping our faces. By then we had had enough and we simultaneously looked at each other and headed for cover.
After what seemed like an eternity in cold wet clothes, the sun peeked at us through grey clouds. The wind couldn't decide whether to let off or stay for a little longer. We wanted to move around again, to get the blood flowing, mostly to warm up. So off we head again, down the way we came, towards the “super top secret spot!” We luck out, and no one is there. Now the fun begins…
