Dennis Eugene
10-20-2007, 04:50 PM
Took a paid day off Friday as I've learned that when the weather is good you need to strike, at least in this part of the country you do. Had my pack all loaded up and ready to go by Thursday morning and left right after a quick meal Thursday night. Drove to the base of a Mt. that I have never hunted before. I have looked it over many times and my Son Mike and I marked a trail into it 2 weeks back. We only went far enough to make sure we could get up it and not be stymied by cliffs or ravines. I got up and just above the timber and onto the beginning of the alpine just before sunset, got camp set up, relaxed and watched the sunset before climbing into my tent around 10 that evenin'.
Woke just before the alarm went off at 3:15, rolled over and boiled a cup of coffee to drink before getting up out of the tent. Got started hunting just as it was light enough to see. Passed on a nice 3x3 with eye guards I caught feeding with a doe. Would have been an easy shot at about 125 yards as he never knew I was around. But as my first day out and only 15 or 29 minutes into my hunt I just couldn't end my day that early, so moved on. I wanted to hunt this Mt. more as I had never been up this neck of the wood before and wanted to learn the terrain.
The ground is very broke up with many places being steep and cliffy forcing many detours. Late in the morning I spotted 3 bucks feeding about 800 yards away, across a deep draw, and watched them through the spotting scope before deciding to stalk them. I had to horse shoe around the draw both for concealment from the bucks and due to the fact that the draw was probably 1500 feet deep. I cut the distance to the bucks down to 180 yards where I ran out of cover. I was slightly above them, hid in a small cleft in the rocks and scrub trees. I had been out of sight of the 3 bucks while closing the distance for 30 minutes or more and as I set up my ambush I saw that 2 more bucks had joined them and they were all browsing together. At under 200 yards that's a lot of eyes looking around and movement can be spotted very easily by those bucks, but I managed to set up my spotting scope, pick the buck I wanted and even laser range them to be sure about the distance. I was packing my new to me last year Tikka T3 Lite in 270 Winchester. It was loaded with Nosler B T 150 grain bullets over 50 grains of H4350. These heaver bullets seem to buck the wind better and I run into stiff breezes hunting high in the alpine.
I took the little buck behind the left front shoulder clipping the top of his heart and he dropped hard. He tumbled down hill about 150 feet or so and came to rest on a snow bank at the bottom of a shallow depression. I worked my way down to him over some very steep ground and was a little disappointed to see he had broken a horn in his fall but he was never a trophy sized buck and would still eat good. He was a young 4x4 with eye guards (10 point Texas count) I took a few pics and then started to work him up to get him in my back pack and back to camp. It was nice having the snow right there to cool the meat plus I was able to fill my water jug and wash up as the snow melt made for a fine running stream.
Once the buck was in my pack and on my back I started back for camp. The first couple - three hundred yards was very tough going, very steep and dangerous ground on which I spent a lot of time pulling myself up with both hands and feet. A fall in this country can be a very bad thing and as I often hunt alone I stay very aware of this fact. Once up on top of the knob the going got a lot easier and not near as scary but it still took my just over 3 hours of hard travel to make it back to camp.
I had a hot meal, a cup of some of the very best coffee I ever drank and bedded down early. Slept the sleep of the freeman I am. Rose to a beautiful morning, struck camp and headed home early. It was a great time. I enjoyed being off by myself, never saw another soul. Did see some beautiful new to me country, many fine animals. The Mt. was much bigger than either I or my son thought it would be and weather permitting we will go back in there together next weekend. Here's a pic of the small 4x4. Sorry not a very good pic, none of them turned out very well which kind of broke my heart as I like keeping good photos of my kills. Hope you enjoyed the story of my hunt at least a small amount. I enjoyed it immensely.
Dennis Eugene
Woke just before the alarm went off at 3:15, rolled over and boiled a cup of coffee to drink before getting up out of the tent. Got started hunting just as it was light enough to see. Passed on a nice 3x3 with eye guards I caught feeding with a doe. Would have been an easy shot at about 125 yards as he never knew I was around. But as my first day out and only 15 or 29 minutes into my hunt I just couldn't end my day that early, so moved on. I wanted to hunt this Mt. more as I had never been up this neck of the wood before and wanted to learn the terrain.
The ground is very broke up with many places being steep and cliffy forcing many detours. Late in the morning I spotted 3 bucks feeding about 800 yards away, across a deep draw, and watched them through the spotting scope before deciding to stalk them. I had to horse shoe around the draw both for concealment from the bucks and due to the fact that the draw was probably 1500 feet deep. I cut the distance to the bucks down to 180 yards where I ran out of cover. I was slightly above them, hid in a small cleft in the rocks and scrub trees. I had been out of sight of the 3 bucks while closing the distance for 30 minutes or more and as I set up my ambush I saw that 2 more bucks had joined them and they were all browsing together. At under 200 yards that's a lot of eyes looking around and movement can be spotted very easily by those bucks, but I managed to set up my spotting scope, pick the buck I wanted and even laser range them to be sure about the distance. I was packing my new to me last year Tikka T3 Lite in 270 Winchester. It was loaded with Nosler B T 150 grain bullets over 50 grains of H4350. These heaver bullets seem to buck the wind better and I run into stiff breezes hunting high in the alpine.
I took the little buck behind the left front shoulder clipping the top of his heart and he dropped hard. He tumbled down hill about 150 feet or so and came to rest on a snow bank at the bottom of a shallow depression. I worked my way down to him over some very steep ground and was a little disappointed to see he had broken a horn in his fall but he was never a trophy sized buck and would still eat good. He was a young 4x4 with eye guards (10 point Texas count) I took a few pics and then started to work him up to get him in my back pack and back to camp. It was nice having the snow right there to cool the meat plus I was able to fill my water jug and wash up as the snow melt made for a fine running stream.
Once the buck was in my pack and on my back I started back for camp. The first couple - three hundred yards was very tough going, very steep and dangerous ground on which I spent a lot of time pulling myself up with both hands and feet. A fall in this country can be a very bad thing and as I often hunt alone I stay very aware of this fact. Once up on top of the knob the going got a lot easier and not near as scary but it still took my just over 3 hours of hard travel to make it back to camp.
I had a hot meal, a cup of some of the very best coffee I ever drank and bedded down early. Slept the sleep of the freeman I am. Rose to a beautiful morning, struck camp and headed home early. It was a great time. I enjoyed being off by myself, never saw another soul. Did see some beautiful new to me country, many fine animals. The Mt. was much bigger than either I or my son thought it would be and weather permitting we will go back in there together next weekend. Here's a pic of the small 4x4. Sorry not a very good pic, none of them turned out very well which kind of broke my heart as I like keeping good photos of my kills. Hope you enjoyed the story of my hunt at least a small amount. I enjoyed it immensely.
Dennis Eugene