Courtney's story

[cohofishing]

My Bivy Buck

 

 

It all started with a loaded backpack. "What's up?" I asked my dad. "You drew a late November tag and we're going to bivy in to a area where I have been wanting to try for years." he said, smiling. "Do you think you can carry this up the stairs?" I carried it up the stairs a couple days, here and there; but, I know now that I should have done it more. LOL.

 

It is now the day after Thanksgiving and I am finding out why my dad wanted me to carry the pack up the stairs. We were just leaving the truck and the camp was five miles away. We followed a trail that we had carried nine liters of water a month ago. That water was now buried where we were headed; a camping spot that I had named Frog Camp because of the frogs that were in the spring near the camp. We has also seen some snakes, but I think I like the frogs better. We also could have named it pack rat camp because when we got there to set up camp we went to get the supplies we had buried, we found that every bit of food had been eaten (at least they were nice enough to leave the trash) and the rats had also managed to opened one of the bottles of water. There was still plenty.

 

Three and a half hours later, we were at camp. We stopped here and there to glass and rest and only saw two does. We set up the tent and unloaded the packs. After a quick lunch of cherry pop tarts and jerky(yummm), we headed up the hill for the evening hunt. The wind was blowing and we only saw three does and a spike. My dad asked if I wanted to shoot the spike but I passed ( I mean after the first year, you cant go smaller. Can you? ). I wanted to try to get a bigger buck than last year.

 

We hunted till dark and put the headlamps on. We soon saw the reflection of the tent in the glow of the light. I tried my best to hike in the dark without falling but happened to fall on my butt at least once. I was hungry and was ready for dinner. Dad got out his Jetboil stove and we were soon eating our Mountain House meals. Mine was beef strogonoff and it was good (probally because I was so hungry). After scarfing the whole thing down, I felt like I was going to POP.

 

We were in the tent by 700. I was tired and only played my ipod for a while. I snuggled into my sleeping bag and covered my head. It was already getting cold and windy. We were up at 500 and after runny oatmeal (I like it that way) and hot chocolate with the little marshmallows, we put the headlamps on and headed towards the hilltop to glass.

 

Talk about being cold, I was shaking like a leaf. The wind was blowing and clouds were covering the morning sun. I sat, trying to stay warm, and looked through my bino's. We were not seeing any deer and my dad kept facing a different direction trying to glass up anything. He had just said "that something was not right; that there must be a lion in this valley", when we saw three dogs; one black and two brown dogs, two of them had collars on. They were big and they seemed to be chasing something. Just then I saw a doe and two fawns headed right towards us and I said "Dad, look I think there are deer coming or wait, maybe bunnies!" They ran right by and I don't think they ever saw us. The dogs went the other way up the mountain.

 

We kept moving and glassing. The wind was blowing hard and dad was looking for a canyon that maybe the deer were hiding in away from the wind. We finally saw our first buck at 1130. He was a small three point and was standing below us a 200 yards. We decided to pass on him (I kinda did but I hadnt really made up my mind yet) and he walked away behind something. After watching him keep looking around at something, we decided that there was probably another deer bedded down near by. He disappeared and after waiting awhile, we started down to where we last saw him. We ended up getting fifty yards from three bucks, one that my dad kept calling a "toad". Sadly, I never really saw this "toad" well, not his antlers anyway. They were bedded below us and while we were trying to get a rest, the wind shifted and they just walked away. They never stopped and I tried to get a shot off of the shooting sticks but the wind was blowing too hard.

 

We gave them sometime and then climbed to the hilltop. The hilltop was huge and we were pretty high up. The other side was really far down (kinda scary). Dad thought that they would bed back down and maybe we would get lucky. We glassed this valley looking straight off of a clift. We never saw those bucks again. I was pretty down for awhile but I thought, oh well, we will find another one soon.

 

We made another move and soon was looking over another valley. Dad said it reminded him of last years hunt. He quickly spotted a deer and watched it bed back down. He thought he saw another deer bedded down in the shade so he pulled out his spotting scope, quickly looked through it and said "It's a good buck, let's go". I was pretty excited even though I never got see the buck.

 

We crossed the valley and soon were 250 yards from the deer. I had to hide behind a rock so they wouldn't smell or hear us. We set up the 243 on it's bipod and waited for the wind to die down. I got the gun to where I could see the deer through the scope. I asked my dad where to aim when they"re lying down. My dad told me were to hold. I told him I was holding as steady as I could and I thought I was ready. He said "ok then shoot when you're ready". The buck got out of his bed and ran towards us. He died by the wash. He was another non-typical; a three by four with eye guards. We took pictures and boned him out. Dad said "he thought he was not as big as my first one but he is a really good buck". I was pretty proud.

We packed him back to camp and got there at 515. We didn't stop once cause dad wouldn't be able to get back up with his backpack on. It was windy and trying to rain. We decided to pack up camp and head back to the truck. We ate another Mountain House and loaded the packs. I was carrying in my 2800: a sleeping bag, my pad, my clothes, the spotting scope, the tripod, some water and the trash. It was heavy but not as heavy as my dad's 4500. He had everything else plus the deer meat. At 615, we put on our packs and headlamps and started back to the truck. Once again, we didnt stop once and I didn't think I could do it but I did!! The way I got through it was by singing any song I could think of. Mainly Christmas carols and Taylor Swift. I'm sure my voice wasn't very good but I wasnt really trying either. Haha. When I was singing I didnt feel the pain and it went by much faster. Even dad sang some of the songs. That was even funnier. We got there at 945 and I was tired and so were my feet. We slept in the truck and listened to the rain which to me was peaceful until it started to hail. That morning we drove home after getting some breakfast sandwiches at wendy's (yum). One of the good things about hunting is the yummy food that tastes so much better after working hard all day for it.

[Mrs125coues]

Congratulations Courtney....great story and pictures, thanks for sharing. You go Girl!!

 

 

[redline410]

Outstanding kiddo- what a great read and fantastic pics! congratulations.......

[bowhuntaz1]

 

Hey you look like someone I know----->

ha ha just kidding.

That is an awsome deer

Its nice to be in the mountains with your family. You did a good job. Dont worry, your not the only one who sings when their out walking

Good job again on the deer.

[WFGinNM]

That is excellent Courtney. Thank you for sharing your hunt with us, what a cool adventure.

 

--Bill

 

 

[scoutm]

Congrats Courtney! That's a great buck and an even better story. You should be very proud of the hard work and effort you put in to get that buck! Way to go!!

[joeybari]

great job

[COUESAZ]

Wow great write up to go with such a great Buck. I will be having my 12 year old daughter and 9 year old son read this when thy get in from school today. You have done what very few full grown men are willing to do for a nice buck. That would put you right up to the top of the tuff girl list. way to go.

[kcw]

Way to go.....nice buck!

[coueshunter]

Great Job Courtney. What a fantastic story and great hunt..............congratulations...........Allen...........

[cramerhunts]

Congratulations on a great buck! You did an awesome job on writing it up for us as well. Thank you for taking the time, I really enjoyed reading your story.

[Chef]

I really really really loved this post!

 

It is so refreshing to see a hunt from a young person's point of view.

That and the fact that you did a fantastic job of putting it in print!

 

I like the way you placed your hat under the bucks chin...you are so thoughtful!

 

Much congratulations again and thanks for sharing with us.

Great buck!

[jackshoe]

Great buck and great post-I really enjoyed reading your story. I know your dad is very proud of you and is honored by the obvious love and respect you have for him. Congratulations to you both!

[Mr. Jonathan]

This was an absolutely fantastic post. Thank you for writing and sharing!

[Packer]

Congratulations on a great buck and an awesome hunt. I am looking forward to taking my girls out hunting once they are a little older and this story just motivates me to do it sooner than later.

 

Thanks for the post!

 

Aaron