A week from now...

[Coach]

I'm getting caught up on all the great things going on here on CWT. All of a sudden, it hits me. One week from right now, I will be deep into coues country right along some smuggling routes with a bivy and a smoke pole, and my good friend, Greg. The area we'll be hunting is strictly walk-in, several miles from the nearest road.

 

Life has gotten so hectic with a house remodeling job I've been doing myself, work, coaching some 9 year olds at football...I haven't even shot my muzzle loader in over a year, I'm worried about what water will be available, I'm totally unprepared for what might just be the hunt of a lifetime.

 

It's hard to believe that next Saturday night will be my second night in a bivy eating Mountain House, hoping to find a water source we can filter while looking for coues deer.

 

One thing I know, it is going to be an amazing experience. I'll do my best to take lots of pictures and chronicle what just might be one of the hardest hunts I've ever embarked on.

[270wsm]

Sounds like you better kick it high gear n start preparing for your hunt. Lol. Good luck n have a great hunt

[natureboyfloyd]

Seems that when you find the water, you'll be on the deer.

My two cents is to pack in the following categories: food, water, shelter, and tools.

Water includes filter, iodine, rope for lowering a canteen into a hard to reach crevise.

Shelter is bivy, shirt, socks, etc...

For me, tools include spare bow string (mice ate part way into one, when I left it out last year around a Dec. fire as I slept. My compound buddie noticed into a stalk, and watched as I slipped off one and replaced it with another, already with nocking point.Simple tool-the bow). Spare flints and frizzen for you?

 

You get the idea.

 

Relax. We all see game when unpressured. At least I move more slowly, sensing more.

 

Definitely post pics and a story. Sounds like a solid great time.

[PSEps]

Good luck! My dad and I will be heading down to 27 this friday.

 

Derek

[cramerhunts]

Go get 'em Coach! I'm sure you'll be ready when the time comes. Have a safe and enjoyable trip. I'm already looking forward to the pics and story.

[bonecollector]

Good Luck to you Coach. Looking forward to pics and story. Be safe and have fun.

[Coach]

Thanks guys. My mind is starting to ease a bit. I've got my food, clothing, shelter and my basic hunting considerations covered. Shot the muzzy a couple days ago - put maybe 30 rounds downrange, and with some small scope adjustments had the last 5 hit inside 4 inches at 200 yards (sorry natureboyfloyd - not a flint gun on this hunt), with the last 3 in the 9 and 10 ring.

 

Weight and water are my big concerns now. I'm trying to figure where I can shave some extra pounds for more water, as I don't have a lot of faith in the local water sources. I have a good water purifier, but the ponds and seeps in there last time were downright nasty. Of course, it's snowing now where I am so I'm double-checking my layering clothes to make sure I'm not shivering all night, and nights now are long. Dark by 6 pm, not getting up for another 11 hours, not much moonlight this time around. Last time it was a full moon so bright it was like daytime all night, which, along with the coati's raiding my camp, kept me up all night.

 

I'm debating whether or not to carry my 15's or just rely on my 10's - most likely will take all the glass and water I can carry, and just deal with it. The hike isn't terribly strenous, and the last time I did it I was carrying an extra 30 pounds of beer fat.

 

Anyway, with just one more day to prepare, I feel pretty good. It won't be the most luxurious hunt by any means, but I'm looking forward to seeing the sun rise over the desert and spend some days hunting hard in some of the last wild country left with a good friend.

 

Whether there is a deer to bring home or not, I'll have photos and a story to share.

 

Extra thanks to Natureboyfloyd. Gotta keep the essentials in mind on hunts far away from running to the store when things run out. The iodine tablets would have gotten missed if not for your post.

[hunter4life]

Good luck. I think I know your friend Greg from the sounds of where you are going to be hunting.

[Coach]

Based on the picture in your avatar, I would say you are probably right.

[elkster9]

Take the 15's over the 10's if u have to choose. Good Luck on your hunt.

[Coach]

Made it home, with some BONE!!! It was a great hunt. It's after midnight (Halloween) and I haven't had time to put together pictures yet, but they are coming. I've been up about 20 hours now with miles of hiking, hours of glassing and hours of driving home, just today.

 

 

The hunt turned out pretty much the way I expected, all the "reliable" water sources were bone dry, my pack was too heavy both ways, and there were way fewer deer than are normally in there, but with some hard hunting and team work, it did come together. I'll post the full story as soon as I get a chance. Thanks again for all the support. I'm really happy with the deer I was able to take and the experience as a whole, but it was hard work for sure.

[cramerhunts]

Made it home, with some BONE!!! It was a great hunt. It's after midnight (Halloween) and I haven't had time to put together pictures yet, but they are coming. I've been up about 20 hours now with miles of hiking, hours of glassing and hours of driving home, just today.

 

 

The hunt turned out pretty much the way I expected, all the "reliable" water sources were bone dry, my pack was too heavy both ways, and there were way fewer deer than are normally in there, but with some hard hunting and team work, it did come together. I'll post the full story as soon as I get a chance. Thanks again for all the support. I'm really happy with the deer I was able to take and the experience as a whole, but it was hard work for sure.

 

Good for you! Congratulations on what sounds like a hard earned buck. Looking forward to the pictures and story.

[Coach]

Ok - story time. We packed into our area the day before the season opened. It was a pretty tough hike in because I was carrying quite a bit of extra water, not knowing what the water source would be like. Greg was ribbing me the whole time in for being paranoid. As we got near where we planned to camp, the primary water source we were counting on was bone dry. Greg turns to me and says, "You're looking like a genius right about now". :DLOL .

 

After setting up camp, we had time to do a little glassing and picked up a few does, but no bucks.

 

Opening morning we started glassing our way down a ridge line into some fingers close to camp. It wasn't long before we found a couple of small bucks, so we moved on up the ridge. At the next glassing spot I found 4 bucks across a pretty big canyon. At least 2 of them looked pretty good, but from that distance we couldn't make out too many details. We watched them move over the top of the ridge they were on then went after them. It took quite a while to get over to the drainage they had dropped into, but as soon as we peeked up over the top, one busted out. Greg went after him, and surprisingly, the buck stopped inside 150 yards, but Greg elected to pass him, even though he estimated him right around 100 inches, maybe a little more. Keep in mind Greg has killed a lot of deer that size and some much bigger, so he was holding out for a really big one - at least this early in the hunt. His logic is that you can't kill a 120" buck if you shoot a 100" buck first. Hard to argue with that. Meanwhile, the other 3 bucks along with some does got up and ran the opposite direction. I took a running shot at one but missed. My logic, being you can't kill anything if you don't take the shots you get - lol.

 

The rest of that day was spent checking out country, picking up sheds and looking for more deer, but didn't produce anything too exiting.

 

The next morning, I was planning to head to the drainage we had seen the bucks earlier, and Greg volunteered to climb a really steep, cliffy hillside that had a great vantage point of the area. As soon as he began glassing he found 2 bucks very close to the drainage we had found them before. He called me on the radio, and told me which ridgeline to follow and where to look for them. As I got to the point of the ridge I could see the deer straight across and used a small tree for cover as I moved into position. It looked like a LONG way across that canyon, but my rangefinder confirmed the deer were just 210 yards away. I gave both deer a quick look and one had a smaller body but definately better horns. At that point I didn't do much "sizing up" - just wanted to know which one was bigger. Using my pack as a rest I laid down and got ready for the shot. For the first time in a long time I got a decent case of "buck fever". I wasn't shaking uncontrollably, but I had to stop, take a few deep breaths, re-range one last time and get situated behind the gun again, to make sure I was steady. Luckily, I had plenty of time. The deer were totally relaxed and weren't going anywhere.

 

I put the 200 yard mil-dot right behind the buck's shoulder and squeezed - Boom...Whack! I knew I had hit from the sound, and through the blue smoke I saw the buck hunch up. He walked down the hill about 30 yards to a bigger tree, obviously hit, but still on his feet. I reloaded and watched to see if he would bed down. The second buck was still hanging around, so I didn't want to shoot again if I didn't have to, in hopes that Greg could come shoot him. I called Greg on the radio, gave him the update and we decided that since my deer was still standing I should shoot once more and not risk a tough tracking job. The second shot was pretty much right on the mark and the buck dropped in his tracks.

 

The other buck continued to hang around for about 20 minutes, but it took a lot longer than that for Greg to get down off the cliff-side he was on and over to me. As I walked up on my buck I wasn't really sure what to expect - but I was definately NOT disappointed. He was a great looking, heavy 4x4.

 

Lots of high-fives and picture taking, then we boned him out and hauled him back to camp.

 

That evening we saw a few deer close to camp, but didn't push very hard.

 

The following morning, Greg said he wanted to hunt the morning then pack out. I headed up to the same glassing point he had been the day before and he walked into the area we had been finding the deer from a different angle hoping the same strategy would pay off once more. This morning, however, the deer all bedded very early, most of them before light. There was very little activity anywhere. Eventually, Greg worked his way around to the drainage we had gotten into deer on opening morning. He he had been glassing that drainage from across the canyon all morning without seeing any deer. As he approached, deer started popping out of their beds and running in all directions. One nice buck stood in his bed looked back at Greg. From my position, I could just see Greg preparing to shoot off his walking stick then a puff of smoke. He radiod me and told me he thought he had a buck down so I started his direction. He later radiod me to let me know there was no sign of a hit. He was really mad, but mostly confused - this guy is an excellent shot and has taken multiple deer in CO with his ML at over 275 yards with open sights. He could not figure out how in the world he could miss at 100 yards. Once we got back to the truck (after a long, heavy hike out) he took a test shot and found that somehow his gun was hitting at least 6 inches left at 40 yards...Not a happy camper for sure.

 

Pretty long-winded story, but I hope you enjoyed it. Here are some pictures (finally )

 

Home...

 

Our water source...Uh Oh.

 

New water source - not much left...

 

Here's the picture with the buck down across the canyon. The dead buck is at the bottom and his buddy is hanging out above the tree..

 

 

My buck - we taped him at 103 3/8.

 

 

 

Some sheds we found...

 

This one may very well be from my deer from a previous year - almost identical except for the extra on the eyeguard and it doesn't have the 4th, but overall very similar.

 

 

Take Care,

Jason

[hunter4life]

Congratulations, that is a really nice buck! I figured you all would get into some deer where you were going.

[cramerhunts]

Awesome job, congratulations on a great buck. Super mass and just a very beautiful buck! The story and pictures were well worth the wait.