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Formerly “teen”bowhunter’s 2019 season
- Thread starter teenbowhunter
- Start date
He disappeared downhill around the trees and the huge buck busted out to the left confused. As he trotted off I saw that he was well past his ears, heavy horned, and extremely tall. It hit me that I hadn’t even considered waiting for a shot at the big one. I don’t know if I’ve ever been more proud of myself for sticking to the game plan of filling any tag I could.
I practically ran the mile back to the glassing knob to grab my game bags and the big pack. I got there and Terry was nowhere to be seen. I halfway figured he’d seen me shoot the deer and headed out so he could get home without helping. Then I saw all of his stuff sitting there other than his bow and realized he was on a stalk. I got all my stuff ready then sat down and glassed to see if I could find him. 15 minutes later he came crunching back up the trail.
He’d flung a shot at 70 yards at a big buck and completely missed. His longest pin was 60. I was sad for him but glad we weren’t going to be tracking two deer. He got his stuff together and we headed out to track.
We got to the spot where the deer was standing and my whole arrow was laying four feet behind him. It was covered in meat and fat with the last three inches of arrow with fletching broken off. I stepped back to the bed and ranged where I’d shot from, 24 yards. I maintained hope that maybe it was just fat from the brisket after passing through the whole chest cavity.
We walked many loops and found no drops of blood and no deer. The smaller deer in the shadows had seemed like 30 yards, but was not. The bush had forced me to aim higher than I would prefer. The deer ducked and spun like I’ve never seen a mule deer do. All that combined to a shot through no man’s land, and the deer is hopefully still alive.
Ive only ever lost one deer. This was the most encouraging, depressing, beautiful, self disgusted three days of my life. It’s encouraging that I’m a functional hunter on public land, but it is devastating that I missed two opportunities and caused these animals pain. It hurts to think that I may have killed both of them, and likely will never know. I looked hard for both, but had nothing to go off of. I think if I’d hit the elk with the swhacker, and the deer with a kudu, I may have retrieved both animals. The swhacker would have resulted in much faster blood loss, and the kudu would have allowed me to tuck it closer to the leaves.
Heading to New Mexico tomorrow night.
I practically ran the mile back to the glassing knob to grab my game bags and the big pack. I got there and Terry was nowhere to be seen. I halfway figured he’d seen me shoot the deer and headed out so he could get home without helping. Then I saw all of his stuff sitting there other than his bow and realized he was on a stalk. I got all my stuff ready then sat down and glassed to see if I could find him. 15 minutes later he came crunching back up the trail.
He’d flung a shot at 70 yards at a big buck and completely missed. His longest pin was 60. I was sad for him but glad we weren’t going to be tracking two deer. He got his stuff together and we headed out to track.
We got to the spot where the deer was standing and my whole arrow was laying four feet behind him. It was covered in meat and fat with the last three inches of arrow with fletching broken off. I stepped back to the bed and ranged where I’d shot from, 24 yards. I maintained hope that maybe it was just fat from the brisket after passing through the whole chest cavity.
We walked many loops and found no drops of blood and no deer. The smaller deer in the shadows had seemed like 30 yards, but was not. The bush had forced me to aim higher than I would prefer. The deer ducked and spun like I’ve never seen a mule deer do. All that combined to a shot through no man’s land, and the deer is hopefully still alive.
Ive only ever lost one deer. This was the most encouraging, depressing, beautiful, self disgusted three days of my life. It’s encouraging that I’m a functional hunter on public land, but it is devastating that I missed two opportunities and caused these animals pain. It hurts to think that I may have killed both of them, and likely will never know. I looked hard for both, but had nothing to go off of. I think if I’d hit the elk with the swhacker, and the deer with a kudu, I may have retrieved both animals. The swhacker would have resulted in much faster blood loss, and the kudu would have allowed me to tuck it closer to the leaves.
Heading to New Mexico tomorrow night.
Dang, keep rolling with the punches! At least your getting some good hunts in and learning something. Good luck in NM!
Gut wrenching read. But that’s hunting and it is part of the learning curve.
Big_Holla
Senior Member
Wow. Everything is a learning curve for you on that trip for sure. Good luck in NM!
Yes that is rough
As long as you are a bow hunter it can happen especially spot and stalk where things happen fast
Good luck in New Mexico [emoji1166]
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
As long as you are a bow hunter it can happen especially spot and stalk where things happen fast
Good luck in New Mexico [emoji1166]
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Thanks guys!
Yeah I’ve definitely thought through the mistakes a lot. Hopefully not mistakes I will repeat.
Yeah I’ve definitely thought through the mistakes a lot. Hopefully not mistakes I will repeat.
One more hour left to finish up 24 hours of driving. Got two 10 minute naps last night. Gonna get in, shoot my bow, print out tags, eat, sleep 4 hours then head up to the Mesa! Feeling like crap but I’ll forget all about that when I see some big ol buck deerz...
Beautiful drive.
Beautiful drive.
Day 1 morning:
Hiked into the west side of our favorite basin, wind out of the north. On the east side we located eight elk, two small bulls right at first light. Just beneath them was a group of deer, nothing obviously big enough to be worth stalking across the basin.
As they moved south to their favorite bedding hill, I realized one was pretty nice. We decided to hike around to the southern edge to get a different view and see where they bedded.
Right as we pulled up out binos we saw an absolute stud had appeared beneath the group. Only about 18 inches wide but a massive and super tall 4x4. He was feeding in one spot for five minutes and we had the wind in our face and there was good cover right up to 50 yards from him so we decided to give it a shot.
We got to 150 yards, tucked beneath a 20 foot cliff and stashed our packs. We moved slowly up and around to 100, just about within view to see if he was still there. I felt a stiff breeze at the back of my neck so we had to call off the stalk. The wind did a full 180 and continue to blow the completely wrong direction.
We watched the hillside for a while longer and watched four more nice bucks come over the top into the same bedding area.
Afternoon:
We came back yesterday evening to set up about 100 yards above them on the hill and glass down.
The bedding is down on the left side of this pic.
About thirty minutes in a big 3x3 stood up at 120 yards. I glassed him for a minute or two and the huge buck from the morning stood up next to him.
Over the next 30 minutes two more bucks appeared and those ones disappeared. They were down in thick scrub oak and locust and there’s no way to stalk them in there. Eventually all the bucks faded back into the trees. Typically they move out to the right but we never saw them so we assumed they’d circled around the cliff to the left. We decided to circle back around the top of the hill and peak over the cliff on the left.
My Dad peeked over the cliff and froze. 8 bucks and four does were right beneath us at and saw him immediately. He backed away and had me edge up with an arrow nocked. I looked over but they were too far away for a shot. I backed up and ran to a fold in the cliff and circled around below. I edged through 3-7 foot tall clumps of scrub oak towards their location. As I got about 50 yards out the whole herd stampeded away. I had the wind right and was definitely out of sight beneath a fold so I’m not entirely sure what happened.
I climbed back up to the top and my dad was watching them way out below in the wide open. There were 5 large bucks, with this being the smallest.
My dad wanted to watch them for a bit then head back but there was 30 minutes of light left and I knew I could get back down there in time.
I ran back on the same path and started crawling through the scrub oak. As I got to 120 yards from them, cattle decided I was scary and stampeded off. The deer all sat scanning in my direction for a few minutes before returning to grazing. Those minutes were enough for darkness to gather and my cheap old rangefinder couldn’t see them. I realized even if I got in range I wasn’t going to be able to range them so I backed out. Looks like I’ll be needing a new range finder. It only works once every five to ten clicks.
Hiked into the west side of our favorite basin, wind out of the north. On the east side we located eight elk, two small bulls right at first light. Just beneath them was a group of deer, nothing obviously big enough to be worth stalking across the basin.
As they moved south to their favorite bedding hill, I realized one was pretty nice. We decided to hike around to the southern edge to get a different view and see where they bedded.
Right as we pulled up out binos we saw an absolute stud had appeared beneath the group. Only about 18 inches wide but a massive and super tall 4x4. He was feeding in one spot for five minutes and we had the wind in our face and there was good cover right up to 50 yards from him so we decided to give it a shot.
We got to 150 yards, tucked beneath a 20 foot cliff and stashed our packs. We moved slowly up and around to 100, just about within view to see if he was still there. I felt a stiff breeze at the back of my neck so we had to call off the stalk. The wind did a full 180 and continue to blow the completely wrong direction.
We watched the hillside for a while longer and watched four more nice bucks come over the top into the same bedding area.
Afternoon:
We came back yesterday evening to set up about 100 yards above them on the hill and glass down.
The bedding is down on the left side of this pic.
About thirty minutes in a big 3x3 stood up at 120 yards. I glassed him for a minute or two and the huge buck from the morning stood up next to him.
Over the next 30 minutes two more bucks appeared and those ones disappeared. They were down in thick scrub oak and locust and there’s no way to stalk them in there. Eventually all the bucks faded back into the trees. Typically they move out to the right but we never saw them so we assumed they’d circled around the cliff to the left. We decided to circle back around the top of the hill and peak over the cliff on the left.
My Dad peeked over the cliff and froze. 8 bucks and four does were right beneath us at and saw him immediately. He backed away and had me edge up with an arrow nocked. I looked over but they were too far away for a shot. I backed up and ran to a fold in the cliff and circled around below. I edged through 3-7 foot tall clumps of scrub oak towards their location. As I got about 50 yards out the whole herd stampeded away. I had the wind right and was definitely out of sight beneath a fold so I’m not entirely sure what happened.
I climbed back up to the top and my dad was watching them way out below in the wide open. There were 5 large bucks, with this being the smallest.
My dad wanted to watch them for a bit then head back but there was 30 minutes of light left and I knew I could get back down there in time.
I ran back on the same path and started crawling through the scrub oak. As I got to 120 yards from them, cattle decided I was scary and stampeded off. The deer all sat scanning in my direction for a few minutes before returning to grazing. Those minutes were enough for darkness to gather and my cheap old rangefinder couldn’t see them. I realized even if I got in range I wasn’t going to be able to range them so I backed out. Looks like I’ll be needing a new range finder. It only works once every five to ten clicks.
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Morning 2:
Wind was poor for the primary basin we hunt so we headed towards the north edge of the Mesa where two small, narrow valleys converge into some beautiful meadows.
We had to walk across wide open grass to get up and above it. Just as we reached the bushes and trees above the valley I stopped to take off my jacket and start being sneaky. I looked up and a huge buck was 50 yards away watching me try to be sneaky. He bounded off.
We snuck along the edge to where we could see into the larger valley and glassed for a little while but couldn’t see anything. We decided to hook around to somewhere we could see into the small meadow in the bottom. I took us the long way around to keep us within arms reach of bushes so we wouldn’t get caught in the open. Just as we were about to the next glassing point I grabbed my dad to stop him. I could see two deer just starting to work there way up the opposite hillside. We slowly edged forward to check for more deer below and keep them at a 200 yard distance as they went up. It was a forkhorn and one obvious shooter.
I convinced my dad to do the stalk and he took off to try and cross the bottom meadow undetected. As he lost sight of the deer they were cruising to the left towards a bedding area so he angled left to try and cut them off. I watched as they stopped up high at the red dots. He followed the green path and was just about to come into their view when I cow called to him. He turned and looked back with his binos and I gestured to him that they were up and to the right.
Instead of easing around the bushes he decided to hook way back around on the yellow path. I cow called when he got directly beneath them and stuck my hand straight up so he knew right where they were. Just as he got to the end of the green path he saw antlers over the bushes. I watched him range the deer, 65 yards, but he couldn’t see the body. He decided to try and crawl into the open to the next patch of bushes to get a closer shot. He thought he was out of view but realized he was not when the big buck raised its head up. He froze and drew his bow but the buck was front on staring at him at 60 yards. The buck kept walking closer to try and figure out what he was. My dad drew back again but the buck immediately took off running at that motion.
My dad worked his way back down towards me and I cow called to make sure he knew where to go. He waved me off and started in the direction the deer had gone.
The buck popped out of the bushes and started trotting directly towards my dad but out of his view. I about screamed through my elk diaphragm to get my dad to stop. The big buck popped out at 35 yards and he drew back. Once again, the buck took off running with the little fork in tow. That was the end of that morning.
Wind was poor for the primary basin we hunt so we headed towards the north edge of the Mesa where two small, narrow valleys converge into some beautiful meadows.
We had to walk across wide open grass to get up and above it. Just as we reached the bushes and trees above the valley I stopped to take off my jacket and start being sneaky. I looked up and a huge buck was 50 yards away watching me try to be sneaky. He bounded off.
We snuck along the edge to where we could see into the larger valley and glassed for a little while but couldn’t see anything. We decided to hook around to somewhere we could see into the small meadow in the bottom. I took us the long way around to keep us within arms reach of bushes so we wouldn’t get caught in the open. Just as we were about to the next glassing point I grabbed my dad to stop him. I could see two deer just starting to work there way up the opposite hillside. We slowly edged forward to check for more deer below and keep them at a 200 yard distance as they went up. It was a forkhorn and one obvious shooter.
I convinced my dad to do the stalk and he took off to try and cross the bottom meadow undetected. As he lost sight of the deer they were cruising to the left towards a bedding area so he angled left to try and cut them off. I watched as they stopped up high at the red dots. He followed the green path and was just about to come into their view when I cow called to him. He turned and looked back with his binos and I gestured to him that they were up and to the right.
Instead of easing around the bushes he decided to hook way back around on the yellow path. I cow called when he got directly beneath them and stuck my hand straight up so he knew right where they were. Just as he got to the end of the green path he saw antlers over the bushes. I watched him range the deer, 65 yards, but he couldn’t see the body. He decided to try and crawl into the open to the next patch of bushes to get a closer shot. He thought he was out of view but realized he was not when the big buck raised its head up. He froze and drew his bow but the buck was front on staring at him at 60 yards. The buck kept walking closer to try and figure out what he was. My dad drew back again but the buck immediately took off running at that motion.
My dad worked his way back down towards me and I cow called to make sure he knew where to go. He waved me off and started in the direction the deer had gone.
The buck popped out of the bushes and started trotting directly towards my dad but out of his view. I about screamed through my elk diaphragm to get my dad to stop. The big buck popped out at 35 yards and he drew back. Once again, the buck took off running with the little fork in tow. That was the end of that morning.
Dang, some exciting hunts thus far! Digging this thread! Good luck on the next hunt!
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Afternoon 2:
Went to a different area of the ranch that holds some big deer but is very hit or miss. It’s a small strip of trees that stretches across the widest, flattest part of the mesa.
I set up on the high edge and my dad set up closer to the bottom. Both setups had opportunities for deer to come by close or to do spot and stalk.
Two does came out at 200 yards with a small buck behind them and over two hours worked their way to 40 yards by last light. Just as it got too dark to see a bigger buck followed their path.
Morning 3:
My dad and I started high up on our glassing knob in the main valley. Just as it started getting light, I saw a nice buck feeding on the opposite hillside.
Where the deer were heading is in green. With the wind blowing left to right, my dad came in below the deer in a funnel they take through the cliff. I hooked up high and around to cover the path to a primary bedding area. We both got up there and saw absolutely nothing. I hiked around and down to the funnel he was at to look up into the bushes while he hiked back around to peek into the bedding.
I immediately saw a small buck and two does heading to the place I’d just been and ran back around. I never saw them again.
I went back to the funnel through the cliff and waited for my dad. I knew the deer occasionally bedded in the small patch of bushes towards the top of hill. He told me to just run up there and give it a try.
I took my boots off and slowly worked my way up to the bushes. As I got to there edge, I ranged and they were only 40 yards across. I realized the only way I was going to get a shot was to toss a rock or something to make the deer stand up, if they were in there. However, I did not have a rock.
There is no angle where you can actually see into these bushes so I took a step into them on a narrow path. On my second step a huge buck shot out of his bed 10 yards to my left, sprinted to the fence, jumped it and vanished without ever looking back.
I looked through the whole patch and found two major beds worn down into dirt bowls, obviously used very frequently. Since I hunt this area every year, I try very hard to memorize every little detail of what the deer do because it tends to become valuable eventually.
Went to a different area of the ranch that holds some big deer but is very hit or miss. It’s a small strip of trees that stretches across the widest, flattest part of the mesa.
I set up on the high edge and my dad set up closer to the bottom. Both setups had opportunities for deer to come by close or to do spot and stalk.
Two does came out at 200 yards with a small buck behind them and over two hours worked their way to 40 yards by last light. Just as it got too dark to see a bigger buck followed their path.
Morning 3:
My dad and I started high up on our glassing knob in the main valley. Just as it started getting light, I saw a nice buck feeding on the opposite hillside.
Where the deer were heading is in green. With the wind blowing left to right, my dad came in below the deer in a funnel they take through the cliff. I hooked up high and around to cover the path to a primary bedding area. We both got up there and saw absolutely nothing. I hiked around and down to the funnel he was at to look up into the bushes while he hiked back around to peek into the bedding.
I immediately saw a small buck and two does heading to the place I’d just been and ran back around. I never saw them again.
I went back to the funnel through the cliff and waited for my dad. I knew the deer occasionally bedded in the small patch of bushes towards the top of hill. He told me to just run up there and give it a try.
I took my boots off and slowly worked my way up to the bushes. As I got to there edge, I ranged and they were only 40 yards across. I realized the only way I was going to get a shot was to toss a rock or something to make the deer stand up, if they were in there. However, I did not have a rock.
There is no angle where you can actually see into these bushes so I took a step into them on a narrow path. On my second step a huge buck shot out of his bed 10 yards to my left, sprinted to the fence, jumped it and vanished without ever looking back.
I looked through the whole patch and found two major beds worn down into dirt bowls, obviously used very frequently. Since I hunt this area every year, I try very hard to memorize every little detail of what the deer do because it tends to become valuable eventually.
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Thanks for the update
You are living the dream
Good luck
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
You are living the dream
Good luck
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro