by – Gage Brock
As I peeked around a little finger I couldn’t believe what I was looking at, a true 30 inch mule deer at 200 yards. He had no idea I was anywhere in the county as he was feeding with a doe on a main ridge finger. I quickly sat down and tried to get my camera out of my pack, by the time I got it out they had fed over the finger. I loaded my pack and hurried to a knoll that would let me see the whole drainage. When I got there I set up my spotting scope and started glassing, I stayed there till dark and never did see him again. As I was setting there I couldn’t believe how excited I was, I made myself a promise to spend more time in 2009 pursuing deer. That buck lit a fire, and I’ve been missing out by only hunting our late archery season.
That hunt was at the end of 2008, I spent most of my free time during the winter trying to learn all I could. I read everything I could get my hands on and talking to other bowhunters I knew that seem to always have great luck with deer. The one thing in common I kept hearing was, spend all the time you can scouting, use quality optics and get away from the crowds. After looking over a lot of country I finally started to find deer the last week of July. I found a bachelor herd that I spooked when I came around a corner, when I seen those bucks I knew I was getting close to a good area. I started to spend the rest of my time scouting in that area trying to keep tabs on those bucks. I was amazed how easy it was to spot deer that time of the year, they stood out with their summer coats. I also noticed that I would find more deer in the mornings rather than the evenings, I guess because it stayed cooler so they would be out feeding until it got too hot.
The scouting trips were a lot of fun, I made it out every weekend. I was starting to find some really good bucks and they were in the same general areas every time. My goal was to take a mature buck, but one buck in particular kept me awake nights. He was a non-typical that had about a 25-26 inch main frame with a lot of mass. He was hanging with another good 4 point and a couple of smaller bucks. The only problem was he was going onto private ground that I didn’t have permission to hunt. I spent the next few days at home figuring out who the land owner was. When I finally figured it out I asked permission he would not let me hunt on his property. I went on IDF&G web site and looked at their Interactive Map Center and seen exactly where the property boundaries were. Most of the bucks I was seeing were on public ground. The non-typical was on both and private and public, I hoped he came on the public side and everything would line up for an opportunity.
Opening morning found me on top of a ridge where I had been seeing the nice non-typical that was hanging out with 4 other bucks that I would of ran an arrow through if given the chance. At 8:30 that morning the bachelor group with the non-typical finally worked on to public ground and bedded in a small patch of timber. I waited for thermals to change and got my route planned. Finally about noon the thermals were blowing downhill. When I got about 150 yards from where I thought I would be in range the wind changed, I decided to back out and not risk blowing these deer out of their normal routine. I worked back up to the ridge and watched them come out that evening. The next four days I only seen the non-typical one more time and was with another 4 point that I had never seen before. He was on private land then. I had another opportunity on the third day on a nice 4 point that I was stalking on and I accidently bumped another deer that I didn’t see. I was not disappointed, I was having a blast. The only thing that I was disappointed in was myself, for not doing this years ago.
I had to go back to work for four days, while I was at work all I could think about was deer hunting. I got out of bed at 2:00 in the morning and finished loading my truck, I was going to try to get to my morning glassing spot by daylight. I thought I had my timing down pretty good but I was running about 20 minutes behind where I wanted to be when it started to get light. As I was walking around a little brush patch I spooked two nice bucks off a small water hole that I didn’t think the deer were using. I made it to the top and started on my usual routine, I didn’t see the non-typical but I did spot a great 4×4 that I decided to stalk but got busted when I got in a hurry and stepped on a rock that tumbled down next to the buck in his bed. I spent the next three days hunting and never released an arrow. I did start to notice that was seeing less deer. When I went back to work I talked to my boss and was able to get covered so I could get an extra two days off that next week.
This time I got up at 1:30 and loaded up and got to my vantage spot on time. I would spend all of my days on top of a main ridge that I could watch a main drainage and a bunch of rolling hills glassing, plotting and stalking. I woke up late on the 3rd day and as I was walking by the waterhole I found earlier and I spooked 4 bucks off of it this time and one of them was a real nice 4×5. When I got to the top I kept thinking about that waterhole. I decided I needed to go back down and see if there was anywhere I could ambush those deer coming to the hole. I looked around the hole and it looked like the deer were coming in from the top, the bad news was the closest spot for a shot was a small piece of brush about 30 yards below the waterhole. I decided to give it a try and I set up a little spot to watch the next morning, after all my stalking skills weren’t quite like I had pictured last winter, somehow I had grown two left feet.
The next morning I was sitting by the waterhole an hour before there was enough shooting light. I thought I would have a short wait before they came in, I was mistaken. Five hours later I was still waiting and decided I wasn’t going to give up, I was going to sit till dark or until I got a shot. At noon I was getting hungry and decided to eat my lunch, as I was starting to eat I looked up and I could see a 4×3 trotting to the water hole. I got my bow ready and waited for him to turn when he got to the edge of the water. I noticed 3 other bucks with him but the 3×4 was defiantly the best. I got pulled back without being seen by any of the deer and settled my 30 yard pin behind his shoulder and leveled off my bow. I don’t remember squeezing the trigger but I do remember watching that deer jump as my arrow disappeared where I had been aiming. The buck took off to my left as he ran past me and down into the timber.
I started to get the shakes and couldn’t stop, I managed to calm down a little and finish my lunch. As I was sitting there I couldn’t help but think about my journey to get to this point. This all started with a promise to myself, and in a few minutes I should be looking at the end result. I gave him about 10 minutes and started my tracking job, I went about twenty yards into the timber and there he was piled up in a small opening. I was ecstatic, I had pulled it off. This all started with a deer on a late hunt from the previous year. This just goes to show what a person can do when they set their mind to it.
