2006 Archery Deer Hunt

[Ron G.]

Well, my weekend started a few days early for me. My wife, kids, and I headed up to my parents where we were going to stay for the extended weekend. We headed up Tuesday night and arrived pretty late. I wanted to get in some preseason scouting on Wed and Thurs before the archery deer opener on Friday. Wed morning went for a drive to where some of the locals had been seeing a 4 pt mule deer. On my way there I saw two groups of deer right off the highway, 3 in each group. The second group had two bucks, a forked horn and a spike. Later in the day I took the family for a drive and went and checked on a couple of my trail cams. Nothing too exciting was seen on the cameras.

 

Thursday I went for a quick drive to check out a couple of tanks and after seeing multiple deer tracks around one decided to hang a camera for a day to see if I could determine if there were any bucks hitting the tank. On my way back I saw this little guy. (He's right at 50 yds from the road, about 200 yds from a subdivision.

 

 

I took the wife on a quad ride later to drop off a camera for a day on the tank I was previously at. I had my dad pick it up Friday evening due to several factors: location of a road nearby, holiday weekend coming up, and the number of shell casings littering the ground. I didn't want my camera to be used for target practice. (One day wasn't enough as there weren't any pictures on it...) That afternoon was spent with family and then I went to set up my ground blind at the location I'd chosen to hunt. I picked a spot where I have recently been seeing a couple of white tail bucks hanging out.

 

 

Here are some pics of my ground blind. It required some additional brushing after these pics were taken.

 

 

 

 

 

Friday morning found me in my blind at zero dark thirty. With the elk bugling around me, I was excited that the season had finally started. My long period of sitting had begun. Not being the most patient person in the world, I was curious how long I'd last sitting in the blind. I brought plenty of water and food and was hoping to make a day of it.

 

The first thing seen was a 4 pt bull that came up for a look. He didn't stick around long. Not sure if it was the sight of the blind or what. Some cows and a calf came in later.

 

Around 11am I broke off from my reading and glanced out the window and saw some movement outside. I looked closer and saw that it was a deer. Closer observation revealed two does coming in.

 

 

 

Seeing those does really got my blood pumping. One walked within 10 yds of the blind, out of curiosity it seemed. One was an older doe, and the other looked like a yearling.

 

About 1:30 that same afternoon I took a break from writing some notes in my journal and looked out to see movement outside again. More deer, and these deer had antlers! Excitedly, I grabbed my bow and tried to calm my racing heart. The bucks were following the same path as the does, but then started veering further away. I looked over at the salt, and there were 3 elk just arriving at it. There were 2 cows and a calf. The bucks just fed on through and stayed safely out of range at about 60 yds. However, I was elated. I'd seen the bucks and knew they were still around. I knew then there was a slight chance I'd be able to arrow one of them in the coming days. I watched the bucks move out of site, hoping they'd return later on. They never did come back that day. I never did pick up my camera to get any pictures when the bucks came in. I wish I had, but I was worried about any additional movement or noise. I spent the rest of the afternoon, reading, taking notes, and watching the elk come in to water and hit the salt.

 

Here's a shot I would love to have if I had a cow tag. (right at 30 yds)

 

This little one made itself comfy...

 

 

While watching one cow at the salt I heard a splash behind me. I turned and peeked out the rear window and saw a 6 pt splashing around in the water. In my rush to get my camera on him in the water, I think he heard or saw something because he jumped out of the water and looked in my direction. He then proceeded to walk over to a nearby pine tree and take out some aggression on it for 45 seconds or so. I did manage to get some video of him raking his antlers on the tree.

 

The rest of the evening I watched elk come in and enjoyed the show. I ended up sitting 13 hours in my blind that day. Very excited by the prospect of seeing deer, I left looking forward to the next day.

 

Saturday I arrived early, and prepared for my vigil. I was trying to mentally prepare myself that there was a good possibility that I wouldn't see any deer today. That ended up being the case. Instead, I heard multiple quads and other vehicles on nearby roads. While a good 600 yds from the nearest road, the sound carried well. What could I expect; it was Labor Day weekend after all. Time went by slowly the rest of the day. Around 3pm, I almost talked myself into going back to where my wife had spotted the same flock of turkeys cross the road about a quarter mile apart, within an hour on two consecutive days. There was a gimpy one that brought up the rear that made the flock identifiable. I decided against it, making the deer hunt my first priority.

 

At about 5pm I decided enough is enough. My butt hurt and I hadn't seen anything, but had been hearing quads driving surrounding roads all day long. After 12 hours in the blind, I packed up my stuff and went for a walk to stretch my legs. I came across this guy twice, the second time with him crossing the closed road in front of me at 35 yds.

 

 

This pic was taken of him further away, but the other pictures I have of him close up are pretty blurry. Amazing how those guys can get your heart pumping.

 

On Sunday I had a good feeling. I arrived at the blind with elk bugles echoing all around. I figured after a day like yesterday and me not giving up, something good had to happen. Well, nothing did. Except for about 3 hours of rain and the 2 does returning. I kept up a constant watch, just knowing the bucks would have to be coming in at any time. While not waterproof, I stayed plenty dry inside the blind. During some of the harder downpours water dripped through some of the seams, but not an issue. It was light to moderate rain for the 3 hours. Once again, I heard a lot of quads driving around.

 

Here's what kept me entertained during the long hours in the blind...

 

 

Well, the last morning. I figured I'd put so much time in already, I couldn't give up now, even if I could really only hunt until noon or so. The little bit of a chill in the air must have really fired up the elk. They were bugling all around me, sounding more fired up than they had the previous days. With bugles echoing through the trees, I snuck down to my blind. At about 7am I had to pee, so I went to the area I was using away from the blind to relieve myself. On my way there, I spotted a 4 pt bull coming down the trail towards me. He veered slightly off from me, and I ranged him at 38 yds as he moved through the trees off to the side of me. He moved off and I made my way back to the blind. About 9am, I hadn’t seen anything else. I felt the urge to pee returning, so I scanned the area outside for any sign of anything. Nothing, so I decided while the coast was clear I would exit the blind and go relieve myself.

 

I was about 10 steps from the blind when I looked up and saw a white flag outlined by a velvet rack heading away from me. Ahhh! I about dropped to my knees when I realized I’d been busted and my days of sitting waiting for the buck(s) was all for naught. I watched him slow to a walk and disappear in the trees. The wind was almost blowing directly towards him, so I figured he either winded me or more than likely saw me. Trying to salvage something out of it I moved perpendicular to the wind and figured I'd try to get around on him, and if possible, beat him to the road that he would likely cross to dump into a deep canyon, his most likely escape route. After a bit, and what seemed like an eternity, I made it to the road. I sat waiting for a couple of minutes, but feared I was too late in getting there. While debating what to do, try to go find him or go back to the blind, and determine how many bucks there had been (1 or 2???), I slowly started walking up the road. I caught movement off to my side. I stopped and looked hoping it would be the deer, but instead was a respectable 6 pt bull meandering towards the road. I crouched down wishing I had my camera with me and had not left it in the blind. He stopped at the edge of the road and glanced over at me for a few seconds. I ranged him at 35 yds before he turned and walked quartering away across the road. I sat and watched him disappear into the trees. While continuing my slow walk up the road I noticed the perfectly formed turkey tracks in the dust on the road. Those tracks were so fresh you could see all the detail on the pads of the feet. I figured they were left either this morning or last night at the latest. Most likely I was sitting in the blind several hundred yards away as the turkey walked down the road. I moved up towards where the elk tracks crossed the road and saw fresh deer tracks crossing the road also. The gait looked like a walk, but I figured it was the deer I'd spooked. I figured my best plan would be to go spend the last few hours I had to hunt for the weekend in the blind and hope the buck or bucks returned. No use pressuring him and making him go nocturnal or blow him out of the area. I slinked back to the blind, frustrated with myself, yet excited to have seen a buck and that bull.

 

I spent the remaining couple of hours watching and waiting, listening to the elk bugle just out of sight, hoping a buck would return. Shortly before it was time to call it a weekend, I peeked out the back and saw 4 elk slowly approaching. There were 2 cows, a calf, and a 6 pt bull that had his nose up the last cow's rear end, low bugles coming from deep inside him. The first cow was only 10 yds away, looking right at me, trying to determine if anything was wrong. They came down the same trail as the deer would have come down, and the wind was just offline from them by a few degrees. The rear cow and calf walked over to the water tank and directly into my scent cone. I saw them take a whiff, and turn to leave, taking the other cow and the moaning bull with them. I then figured that chances are, even if I hadn't been out of the blind the buck probably would have winded me before he got to the blind, so I probably wouldn't have gotten a shot anyways. However, I'll never know because I had to pee. Soon after that I packed everything up, and headed back to have lunch and pack up the family in preparation for the drive home. What an exciting weekend. I impressed myself with my resolve to sit and wait for those bucks. That is usually not my style. I like to move around a lot and cover a lot of ground. It was a very relaxing hunt, and as always, I learned a lot.

 

I hope to be back up there in a couple of weeks, this time with an empty gallon water jug that will accompany me in the blind!

 

Overall, I had a great weekend!

 

Here’s a pic of me and my son from the weekend.

 

Ron

[cramerhunts]

Great job on the story and pictures Ron, thanks for taking us with you.

[TLH]

Ron,

 

Awesome story and even better pictures!! Thanks for sharing!

[More D]

Very good write up Ron!!

 

Great pics too! Better luck next time althogh you had a good hunt anyway. I don't know how you did it to sit still for so long, I also have a hard time sitting still. Great job!

 

 

 

 

[azryan]

Ron great job on the story and pics...sounds like a you had a great weekend...lots of excitement...I hope you arrow one when u go out again

[scout4u]

this pics and the story is what its all about nice job......and may the arrow fly true on your next trip out

[hunt4horns]

Super job Ron and thanks for sharing .

[shortpants]

Sounds like the hunt was a success! Great story/pics, thanks for sharing.

[Traveler]

Great Story!

 

 

Next time you will have to bring a pee bottle! I recommend a well marked gatorade bottle.

 

Have a great season.

 

Dan