Hunts that haunt you

[Allen]

Fall of 2005 I was hunting the southern part of the Badlands for a WT buck. This was the year of the Deep Creek fire and we (the ex and I) were hunting the public land near where some of the private stuff burned. I knew there were whiteys in the area, but in this one draw I had only ever seen mule deer before, and with the ex being some 6-7 months pregnant, I wanted her to have a good chance at filling her doe tag. We were sitting on a small point along a stream, almost back to back so we had a good chance of not having deer sneak up on us. The muley does I had been seeing there about an hour before dark just weren't showing up and quite honestly I was getting disappointed as all hell because I really wanted her to fill her tag. About 20 minutes before the end of legal shooting, she whispers "three deer just came down into the draw". Figuring they were for sure mule deer, I told her to shoot when she was ready because I couldn't see them. That's when she said "I think they're whitetails, and one of them might be a buck". I slid over next to her and was glassing down into the shadows where she said she last saw them before I finally spotted a couple deer. I was like, "oh yeah, he's a dandy...but he's also a muley" because I could clearly see a nice set of forked G2s. After a few minutes of watching the big guy disappear in the shadows, I started to doubt my ID of him as a muley, not sure if it was wishful thinking or ???. Anyway, as we neared the end of legal shooting, the ex tells me I should just walk over to make sure, they were about 150 yds away and I could easily close the distance to about 60 yds. So I did. As I snuck up over the rim of the small draw, I didn't see the deer as they had moved. As I scanned the fast darkening brush, a deer bolted up the far side of the creek and it was clearly a small WT buck. Holy shit I thought to myself, if that's a WT, then the other two are also likely to be WT. I start quickly looking for that really big SOB and next thing I know is a second deer busts out of the bottom right about when I think there's nothing left down there. At about 50 yds, he's running up the hill away from me and I immediately know it's NOT the big one, but it is an OK whitetail. Very quickly I drew the conclusion that the big guy must have snuck off to my right as I approached the draw, and also knowing that if you hunt WT in this area, you shouldn't be choosy. So I pulled up the 7mm and in a very quick fashion took a shot as he neared the top of the terrace. OH MY GOD, I was off balance and in an awkward position as the rifle bucked and belched flame. Despite my hat flying off my head and my short-term blindness from the 3 ft of fire that came out of the barrel, I saw as the big boy bolted out from under me as he made his escape to my right.

Within 5 minutes we had a steady rain (part of why it was so dark) and I couldn't find hide nor hair of the deer I shot at. The next morning I came back out and found him dead less than 100 yds away, but I never did see that big SOB again. As a side note, the medium sized fella I shot gross scored just under 150 if I remember correctly. In my mind's eye they had the same style rack, typical 5x5 frame but with split G2s, but having watched that bigger guy for so long I am sure he would have been 4-5 inches wider and at least as much taller.

Upon closer inspection, while the little fella looked all WT as he ran away, the one I shot must have had some muley in him. He had not only the split G2s, but he also had the darker forehead and slightly longer ears to go with one of the smallest WT tails I have ever seen, kinda goofy to say the least. I suspect the bigger fella was also a cross and maybe something with the influx of muley dna is why there were even three bachelor "WT" bucks together during the rut in the first place with no does around.

I will always remember seeing that big guy run away as I suffered through the muzzle flash of my 7mm.

 

[wjschmaltz]

December stand hunting on what would have been my first bow kill probably 2008ish. A very nice 5x5 stepped out to 20 yards and I didn’t take into account the giant coat I was wearing. Bow string clipped my coat on the release and that was the end of that hunt.

My first moose hunt we spotted a 46 inch bull on the first legal hunting day. It wasn’t really what I was looking for so I told my hunting partner it was his if he wanted it. We spent day 2 packing that bull to camp. On the morning of day 3, I woke up and started calling from camp at first lite in the fog. Our hunting technique was calling from camp and then glassing the huge basin we were in from a zodiac that we just floated around the lake. The zodiac had drifted about 500 yards from shore when we could see a 55-60 inch bull coming in hot towards camp. I should have started up the motor and headed towards the shore but we thought we would try to go stealthy and paddle to him.

I had him in the cross hairs at 200 yards as he crossed the lake but didn’t shoot because he was in water up to his belly (probably 3-4 feet deep) and about 50 yards from shore. As he moved towards the shore, he positioned himself behind a mound. We got to shore and tried to work towards him but he pushed back into the willows and alders. We spotted him at probably 200 yards and I took the only shot I had. Standing through the willows. No idea if I hit him. As always, it was raining and I found out my hunting partner is color blind; two factors that are not ideal for tracking blood. That one almost made me puke for several months. Lost a day on the front of the hunt and two days on the back of the hunt because Obama was visiting the village we were based out of. Left that hunt empty handed and sick to my stomach. Thanks Obama.

Another was my first mountain goat hunt. We had 5 days in the chugach that you could see about 50 yards max with nonstop rain. Had to get a rescue because the lake/river blew out for the first time in 15 years but that’s another story. Mountain goat hunting is pretty worthless when you can’t put glass on them from long distances. So we were screwing around and not paying much attention while enjoying some mtn house and just like that we look up and 3 billies were about 40 yards away. I rushed a shot on the closest goat and smoked him broadside with a 375 Ruger. He was able to trot off about 30 yards and over a 1,500 foot cliff probably to the ocean below. Who knows, we couldn't see. Scaled the side of the cliff best we could. Couldn't spot anything from above because of the fog and same from below. Obviously not recovered. Punched my tag and limped off the mountain to the river shit show below. I had a hard time with this one for several months as well.

Redeemed my moose the following year with a 64 incher in the arctic as well as a grizzly on that trip. I was planning on sheep hunting that year but the opportunity to hunt moose arose and I jumped on it. It was an epic trip and I would not have taken that opportunity if I had shot the bull the year earlier. Redeemed my goat on a trip to Kodiak in February 2018. Again, epic trip that I would not have taken if I had shot the goat a couple years earlier.

So, I try not to get bummed out if I screw up a hunt or I am “unsuccessful” on a hunt. Everything happens for a reason. It just means you get another shot to take an epic trip! The stress I have taken off myself allows me to have much more fun while in the field now.