December Hunt

[bchoitz]

Every year I ask my wife Kathy if she wants to put in for a deer hunt with me, and for many years she didn?t feel up to it after an auto accident in 1996 left her with some shoulder pain, but the last couple of years she says she is able and ready to go.

It is always a challenge to find the time for a hunt in our house. Kathy?s job keeps her busy until the middle of November, so for her to go hunting we are mostly limited to the December tag. This year we drew tags for the December rifle hunt in unit 35B.

Now with the Christmas holiday and my daughter coming back from college on the 17th, my wife felt that the only window for her to go was from the 26th through the 29th when my oldest daughter had to leave again for school. I got these days off from work, and then managed to get the 15th & 16th off as well. This allowed me to go on opening weekend and focus on getting my own deer. I wanted to fill my tag before we returned to fill hers. She has been hunting with me and her father maybe 8 times in the past, and has yet to tag an animal. I really wanted this year to be different, so I intended to get my tag filled to allow me to focus completely on her when we went the week after Christmas.

 

I went out to an area I had scouted on the weekend after Thanksgiving. The water source was surrounded by fresh sign, and I saw a few deer even though it was late in the day when I got there and I had my 12 year old with me. When I got there on Thursday I found 1 set of tracks at the same waterhole. I headed up to the hills above the hole, and managed to glass up 6 deer, all does and fawns.

I?m camping alone, so after I eat there is not much to do, it?s overcast and a few scattered sprinkles have fallen. I go to bed early.

On Friday I get up before the alarm goes off. It?s 4:00 AM, but I?m ready to go! I make coffee and oatmeal, (my standard hunting breakfast.) and after I eat I drive out and then start my hike. I reach the spot I have decided on for the morning a little before 6:00. I have plenty of time to wait.

I start glassing before I can see anything, and just at dusk I see several deer flagging and moving fairly quickly up the bottom of the canyon. I watch them but I can only spot does with fawns. I think there are seven of them, and I?m not sure what spooked them, but they have slowed and are beginning to feed again.

I glass up several more deer as the morning wears on, all does, most still have fawns, I see maybe 15 deer this morning. I get up to take care of mother nature, and stretch my legs, and lo and behold I find 2 hunters on a hill 250 yards behind me. I don?t have a clue where they have come from, certainly not the same road I came in on. At least I know what probably spooked those does that morning.

I glass for another 40 minutes or so, but see nothing new, and the sun is in a bad position. I pack up and check, the other hunters have gone. I move up and over a saddle for some more glassing. It?s about noon now. I find a dozen more deer from here, most in one group bedded under a clump of mesquite. I can see only does. They get up several times and once they even spook from under the trees. Still I only see does and fawns, but I watch as there is not much else going on, the other larger group of does is bedded up the hill from them. I was amazed how long those does stood and watched whatever spooked them. I found three that were watching the same spot, stomping and advancing or standing rock still, but they examined that spot for better than an hour. I can?t image being stuck under that scrutiny for that long! I never determined what if anything spooked them, but most of them eventually returned.

I finally worked my way back to the slope I watched on Thursday for the evening. Only a doe and fawn to be seen, though they walked within 40 yards of me as I watched.

Saturday was a near duplicate of Friday, same canyon in the morning from a different vantage point, and watched into the flats as morning turned to afternoon. Again, all the deer I saw were without antlers.

I called home Saturday evening and verified my daughter got home OK. I decided that in the morning I would go out to a different location that I wanted to take Kathy to when she came down. I have always seen an abundance of deer there, and usually I see something with antlers as well.

Sunday AM, and like always I?m up by 4:00 AM. It?s almost ? hour drive to where I want to hunt this morning, but it should only take 30-40 minutes to walk in. That is the reason I wanted this spot for Kathy?s hunt. I don?t take my tripod this trip, and the ranges I?ll be looking at and watching are only a couple hundred yards or so. I get there plenty early, and choose a spot near a saddle where the deer tend to cross from the open ocotillo covered slopes into the mixed oak on the other side. It?s not very far from where I parked, but is a natural way to access this area. I lie and wait for sun-up. It?s almost light, and I hear a truck coming in on the road I parked on. I drive a jeep with a soft top, and I hear this truck stop. I get up and move to a spot where I can see the Jeep, and yes the truck is a bright orange Suburban and it?s parked next to mine. I watch to be sure, but I really know already. 5 minutes later I am sure. They are here to hunt, and they are coming right to where I am. I knew this could happen, so I go to the backup plan and hike around the top to a ravine where the deer tend to climb up the mountain.

As I get there I spook a doe and her fawn from the ridge I am on. I sit and wait, glassing the area. I find two deer bedded on a bench below and across from me. I hear a noise, and follow it to a Javalina coming up the ravine. I watch and see two more javalina. Soon I see a doe an her fawn moving up the ravine, and they hear the javalina and leave fairly quickly. I then spot a doe coming over a flat spot on the opposite ridge. She moves down the side and starts eating. She is alone, and her back shows signs of being harassed by the bucks. About 10 minutes later another deer comes over the same spot. It stays up near the top and starts eating. I think it is a doe, but after further srcrutiny with the bino?s (no tripod..) I realize it is a small spike. I think of Ernesto and Casey?s deer and I think this one would rank right up there with them. I admire them for being able to discern that it was a buck before they shot. Now that is good glassing! Finally, I have at least seen a buck.

I continue to watch the spot where the doe and spike came over, and hope that they are not the last. Finally! I see another deer behind a tree, and with the blue sky as a background I can see forked antlers! OK, now I?m excited! Finally a buck! I wait and watch. The doe has moved close to the bottom of the ravine, and bears watching. If she gets to close she could spook. Also, there are javalina down there as well.

She is getting nervous. I check on the spike (this takes a while to be sure it really is the spike and not another doe.. Then I look back to the buck I am waiting for. He has come over the top and part way down, that quickly. I watch for the next 5 minutes. He is not as big as he looked when he was behind the tree, but I decide I will try to shoot him if the opportunity arises. The doe is nervous and moving back up the slope now. I don?t think any more deer will come over. I find the buck in my scope and wait for a decent opportunity. He is starting to turn and move down the slope. OK, now or never?

Boom! I lower the gun and watch him. He is not hit, but the small canyon has prevented them from figuring out where I am. He is starting to head back to the top. I try again, though this shot was not a great presentation. Boom! I missed, and knew it even before I found him again, but wait! He is back on the slope, and a bit closer to me, and now he is perfectly broad side!

 

I don?t miss the third time. He is hit, falls immediately, does a somersault down the hill, and is still!

A clean one shot kill! It only took me three tries... or two warning shots.

 

Crap! I didn't bring my tripod!. Sorry, but this is the best picture I took from my makeshift tripod on the hillside.

 

I forgot to smile, but I?m really smiling on the inside!

I gut and hang the deer, and start for the first trip to the Jeep. I plan to leave the pack and stuff there and come back to carry out the deer. I meet the two hunters that parked next to me on the way in. It?s a guy from Patagonia and his son. They offer to help me retrieve the deer, and I gladly accept. They help me get him on my shoulders and carry my pack down for me.

 

Sorry, I didn?t intend to write a book here.

 

Here is the picture of me with my first Coues and my first whitetail.

 

Bret

[bchoitz]

Oh, you probably want to know how the second half of the hunt went? When I finally got to go hunting with my wife after so many years?

 

She got the Flu on the 23rd, and that turned into a sinus infection by the 27th, and she is only now starting to feel better.

 

I did consider carrying her up the hill, returning for the gun and tripod and bino's and then propping her up long enough to shoot, but she thought it would be better to stay home and get well.

 

Life throws you some curves. At least there is always next year.

 

Bret

[WHT_MTNMAN]

Congrats on the nice first Coues buck, too bad your wife didn't make it with you, but at least she's feeling better.

[peloncillo]

Congratulations on your first buck. Good job. I had to change my hunting plan on the early hunt in 29 when 5 guys hunted right past me. I figered 6 hunters on one small canyon didn't add up. Its always good to have a back-up plan.

[CouesWhitetail]

Great story, I really enjoyed reading it. Sorry your wife didn't get her hunt, but at least you guys have some venison to eat together.

 

Congratulations on your buck!

 

Amanda

[Guest Ernesto C]

He haaawww!! way to go man! oh that's the way aha-aha I like it Congratulations and I'm glad you had a great time and a great hunt.........is not the size of the buck,but the time and memories that will last in your hart for ever. God bless.

 

Ernesto C

[cramerhunts]

Congratulations on your buck and great story! Thanks for sharing your story, you did a great job on letting us live it like we were there.

[CRB]

Congratulations on your buck and great story! Thanks for sharing your story, you did a great job on letting us live it like we were there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats great that even when you seen the other hunters come in to youre area you kept a positive attitude . congrats on youre first whitetail

[DEERSLAM]

Bret,

Congrats on a fine buck and thank you for sharing your story with us. To bad about your wifes hunt.

In your pic it looks like you are trying to givem the vulcan mind scan

[AZP&Y]

Congrats on a really nice buck- and way to stay with it after the 2 warning shots

 

I like stories with adversity which is overcome by perserverance!

 

Glad some other hunters helped you out and offered assistance! That is the time when you need it the most (and it's most appreciated).

 

AzPope and Young

[coues4x4]

Sure sounds like you had alot of action,congrats on your first coues. Too bad your wife missed the hunt,hope she is feeling better.

[COOSEFAN]

The "vulcan mind scan", I'll never forget that one DEERSLAM!! I can't stop laughing! Hey Bret, You did a wonderful job and should be extremely proud of that deer and even the picture as well, They're both great!!!! Great job and thanks for the story. JIM

[az4life]

That would be the Vulcan Mind Meld.....

LOL You guys crack me up!

 

Nice buck, and thanks for the story!

[hunter25]

Nice buck hopefully now you have the (coues) FEVER!!!!!!!

[bchoitz]

Nice buck hopefully now you have the (coues) FEVER!!!!!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Ahh! The "Coues Fever". I got that about 5 years ago when the guy I had been hunting with had other plans for the fall hunt, and I had junior hunts to go on with my son. We decided to put in for the Sept Rifle Elk and the deer season with the least probability of getting drawn. We picked the December hunt in 35B.. only 50 tags.

Well, we got the preference point for elk, and my son got his Jr. tag for deer, and by strange coincidence we got the December rifle tag in 35B. He didn't want to go, so I went alone for a couple weekends. Being a Colorado boy who had never hunted for whitetails before, I didn't know what to expect, but figured I'd go about it the same as with Mulies. So I hiked up the mountain and started looking around for deer. Well, they were there, and in the rut that year, but that morning they were on the NEXT hill over. Down and up I went, taking about an hour to get there (big hills). Well I did find the deer, but about the same time as I found the bucks fighting and chasing a couple does I also found a bunch more does. I knew they were deer because the only other time I'd seen so many white flags was at the french army training base.

 

I did not tag a deer that year, but was intriuged by what I'd seen, and with all the Javalina I saw (even a group that had piglets that were within arms reach before I spooked them..) I started using that area for a javalina tag so I could watch those deer some more. I've been hooked ever since.

 

 

The vulcan mind meld? Well, I want to think like the deer

Sadly all I got was ...Hide...Sex...hide....sex....sex....hide...eat....hide...sex...sleep.

 

WEll, I already knew that!

 

Actually I was trying to balance the camera on three rocks, set the time delay (must be set for each shot...), then place the camera, push the button, hope the rocks don't fall, run down the hill, around the bush, up the hill, grab the deer, pose for the shot look natural...

 

Oh yeah, and SMILE!

 

Thanks for the feedback... It helps the fun to continue.

 

Good luck to those who are out with their stick and string getting an early start on this years tag.

 

Bret