PKernohan
11-02-2016, 01:28 AM
This year is the first season where I have actually hunted. I was introduced to hunting 6 or 7 years ago by a friend, and we went out a number of times. However I never actually got a license to do it myself, I was happy just to tag along as an extra set of eyes, and for some added muscle for when the real work actually began. Well my friend ended up in a divorce and moved away back east, and I took a few years hiatus from the hunting world.
Well this summer I picked up a compound bow and it has flipped some sort of primal switch inside me. I am now 100% obsessed with hunting, and focused on doing everything I can to bring home my own wild game.
I only had 3 days to hunt during bow season. The first day was wasted because, the area I had picked to go set up base camp in had cattle grazing all over it. We drove all day trying to find a piece of crown land without a cow on it, to no avail.
We moved the next day and started seeing deer right away on our way into spot #2. That day all we saw were does, except at last light I spotted a nice 4x4 muley at the top of a cut. I tried to put a stalk on him but he pulled a houdini and vanished.
The last and final day brought my best opportunity, I spotted a doe and a spike out in a cut as we were driving along first thing in the morning. I stopped and watch them steadily make their way towards us, I figured they wanted to cross the road and make their way into the timber on the other side. So we bailed out and quietly moved down the road and got set up in the ditch on the downwind side of where I figured they would come out. I get crouched, nock an arrow and clip on my release, I then realize my wife is crouched right behind my drawing arm. I turn to tell her she has to move or I'll elbow her in the face, and I see her eyes go wide and she points. I turn around and there they are, both standing 10 yards away on the road, broadside. I come to full draw, as my wife is now just laying on her back, and go to settle my pin, but in the panic of the moment because we weren't quite set up, I can't tell which is the spike and which is the doe. They didn't stick around long enough for me to figure it out and were off into the timber in a heartbeat. That was it for our bow season opener, as we had a vacation planned for our anniversary (planned this before I became a hunter, and have explained that we wont be going away again during bow season) I went back twice during October on some solo overnight hunts, but didn't even spot a doe.
Lately I've been searching closer to home, in the chilliwack valley for the elusive blacktail buck. I've found a spot that has tons of sign. There's crap everywhere, fresh and old, tracks and game trails every which way. Needless to say I've narrowed my focus and have been solely hunting this hot spot. I've been going up in the afternoon for an evening hunt every 3 or 4 days, and have also been up there twice in the AM before sunrise. Im trying to learn how to hunt this spot, figuring out wind direction, which areas give me the best vantage points, which trails give me the quietest access etc etc.
I was feeling frustrated after about 6 trips into this spot and still not seeing a deer. I'd find crap so fresh it was still warm, but could not for the life of me spot an animal.
Well Monday morning I was back into my spot before first light. As I walked in, the wind was all over the place and the fog was rolling in, I started to think it was going to be another uneventful morning. I sat in my first spot for a hour or so, it was now plenty light and the wind had switched again so I decided to move. I was on my way to the next spot, really trying to move slowly, and listening intently for any movement in the forest around me.
I'm mid step walking along the top of this hip (thanks proguide) and I hear movement coming from the hillside (cliff) below me. I immediately crouch and nock an arrow, I wait, listening intently. After what feels like 10 mins, I slowly take of my backpack and creep toward the edge of this hip. I peek over and I am staring a doe in the face at like 5 yards, she bounces 20 yards along the side hill and is now standing in a group of 3 or 4 other does. As they stand there and check me out I'm scanning for headgear of any kind with my binoculars. They then all head up the hill and I realize that there was 1 or 2 other deer behind the initial group that I didn't see, but they were all out of sight before I could tell if one was a buck.
I waited a while and tried to still hunt into the area I though they may have bedded down, but it was so crazy thick I could barely make it through, let alone quietly enough to still hunt so I backed out of there and decided I'll give it a few days before I go back in.
I spotted a few fresh rubs on Monday that I hadn't seen previously, I wonder what the odds were that there was a buck hanging out with that group of does I bumped into. Also, I don't know how sensitive blacktail are, do I need to worry about pressuring these deer too much, or going in too often and getting my scent everywhere?
I feel like I'm tightening the noose, it's just a matter of time.
Well this summer I picked up a compound bow and it has flipped some sort of primal switch inside me. I am now 100% obsessed with hunting, and focused on doing everything I can to bring home my own wild game.
I only had 3 days to hunt during bow season. The first day was wasted because, the area I had picked to go set up base camp in had cattle grazing all over it. We drove all day trying to find a piece of crown land without a cow on it, to no avail.
We moved the next day and started seeing deer right away on our way into spot #2. That day all we saw were does, except at last light I spotted a nice 4x4 muley at the top of a cut. I tried to put a stalk on him but he pulled a houdini and vanished.
The last and final day brought my best opportunity, I spotted a doe and a spike out in a cut as we were driving along first thing in the morning. I stopped and watch them steadily make their way towards us, I figured they wanted to cross the road and make their way into the timber on the other side. So we bailed out and quietly moved down the road and got set up in the ditch on the downwind side of where I figured they would come out. I get crouched, nock an arrow and clip on my release, I then realize my wife is crouched right behind my drawing arm. I turn to tell her she has to move or I'll elbow her in the face, and I see her eyes go wide and she points. I turn around and there they are, both standing 10 yards away on the road, broadside. I come to full draw, as my wife is now just laying on her back, and go to settle my pin, but in the panic of the moment because we weren't quite set up, I can't tell which is the spike and which is the doe. They didn't stick around long enough for me to figure it out and were off into the timber in a heartbeat. That was it for our bow season opener, as we had a vacation planned for our anniversary (planned this before I became a hunter, and have explained that we wont be going away again during bow season) I went back twice during October on some solo overnight hunts, but didn't even spot a doe.
Lately I've been searching closer to home, in the chilliwack valley for the elusive blacktail buck. I've found a spot that has tons of sign. There's crap everywhere, fresh and old, tracks and game trails every which way. Needless to say I've narrowed my focus and have been solely hunting this hot spot. I've been going up in the afternoon for an evening hunt every 3 or 4 days, and have also been up there twice in the AM before sunrise. Im trying to learn how to hunt this spot, figuring out wind direction, which areas give me the best vantage points, which trails give me the quietest access etc etc.
I was feeling frustrated after about 6 trips into this spot and still not seeing a deer. I'd find crap so fresh it was still warm, but could not for the life of me spot an animal.
Well Monday morning I was back into my spot before first light. As I walked in, the wind was all over the place and the fog was rolling in, I started to think it was going to be another uneventful morning. I sat in my first spot for a hour or so, it was now plenty light and the wind had switched again so I decided to move. I was on my way to the next spot, really trying to move slowly, and listening intently for any movement in the forest around me.
I'm mid step walking along the top of this hip (thanks proguide) and I hear movement coming from the hillside (cliff) below me. I immediately crouch and nock an arrow, I wait, listening intently. After what feels like 10 mins, I slowly take of my backpack and creep toward the edge of this hip. I peek over and I am staring a doe in the face at like 5 yards, she bounces 20 yards along the side hill and is now standing in a group of 3 or 4 other does. As they stand there and check me out I'm scanning for headgear of any kind with my binoculars. They then all head up the hill and I realize that there was 1 or 2 other deer behind the initial group that I didn't see, but they were all out of sight before I could tell if one was a buck.
I waited a while and tried to still hunt into the area I though they may have bedded down, but it was so crazy thick I could barely make it through, let alone quietly enough to still hunt so I backed out of there and decided I'll give it a few days before I go back in.
I spotted a few fresh rubs on Monday that I hadn't seen previously, I wonder what the odds were that there was a buck hanging out with that group of does I bumped into. Also, I don't know how sensitive blacktail are, do I need to worry about pressuring these deer too much, or going in too often and getting my scent everywhere?
I feel like I'm tightening the noose, it's just a matter of time.