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LIVING THE DREAM AND
CHASING HORNS!
By: Ron Wilson
November 6, 2009.... My month long
planned hunting vacation in Wyoming has come and gone way to fast. We
left a couple days early so we could scout around for a big buck to
shoot on the October 1st deer season opener.
On the trip a light came on the dashboard
saying we needed to add coolant. We found out that the auto mechanic had
failed to tighten the new hose clamp down properly so we lost a bunch.
Luckily I had a gallon in the truck so we were soon off and running
again. Damn mechanics. We arrived at our property a couple hours before
daylight so a quick nap was in order after a 12 hour drive.
We awoke at daylight and as the sun broke
over the mountain tops my son Donald spotted not 1, but 5 shooter bucks
running in a herd of 8 on the property. One was a big boy and we were
pumped for the next days opener.
A short drive of 10 miles from the ranch
to the Hideout Motel where we would be staying and we were soon settled
in. We quickly found out that the Flying J restaurant had shut down for
lack of business and we were thankful that we had brought a few hundred
dollars worth of food up with us. We were informed that a new grocery
store was up and running so we checked it out and bought our
conservation hunting stamp. Something new this year is that it is an
actual stamp.
Back to the motel room for a peanut
butter and jam sandwich for lunch, I think my son could live on this
stuff.
That evening we scouted the property
again and saw several bucks feeding in the pasture.
Opening day and we arrived before
daylight and waited for daybreak and saw several bucks but not the big
boy we were after. We scoped the mountains for elk and saw them
everywhere.
Back to the motel for lunch and then back
to the property to wait for the big boy to show himself once again when
he came out to feed. Several smaller bucks and a couple does but the big
boy didn’t show himself again.
Day three of the hunt with more of the
same but that evening the big boy came down and Donald had him in his
sights at 370 yards, just right for his shooting ability. He rested the
rifle on the back of the truck bed as the big buck stood facing him and
watched. He then rested the rifle on the hood of the truck to take a
shot. When I saw this I turned my head sideways inside the cab and shut
my eyes as I knew if he shot that the muzzle break blast might possibly
shatter the windshield! He never pulled the trigger. He then crawled in
the sage brush a few yards and laid on the ground with his tripod
extended for a solid rest and he still didn’t take the shot as the big
buck just stood and watched him. I said shoot that sucker but he never
did and then a few seconds later the doe bounced down the hill through
the sagebrush and the big buck bounced after her. Well you blew that one
I said you should of drilled him in the chest. Donald said he just
didn’t feel right about the shot and wanted a good broadside shot to
take him down with. I guess the memory of him crippling a 32 inch buck
last year that was facing him was still on his mind.
Well that was the last time we saw this
buck, I guess he went up the hill and stayed in the heavy timber where
he was safe and went nocturnal on us.
On day four of the hunt we were sitting
in the truck on the property that evening and watched as 150 head or so
of elk in a herd come down to feed in the pasture. It was an awesome
sight. Donald was pumped as there were 2 real good 6 pointers in the
herd. I never snapped a photo as I didn’t want to disturb their walk out
into the alfalfa field to eat.
The elk went over a knoll as the sun was
setting. We could see junior feeding out in the pivot below, a nice 4x4
buck we named who would just step behind a patch of large sage brush on
the property he liked to stay in as we would drive by. It didn’t look
like the big boy would show himself again this evening.
We had watched a small forked horn buck
slip out of some sage brush down below, go feed and then work his way
around back into the same area we had watched him come out of to bed
down again. I joked with my son, did you see what that little buck did.
When he came back in to bed down, he went way down the fence and then
slipped back into that brushy area to lay down. Well there is a big buck
in there that said to him "look if you have to go get a bite to eat, I
want you to go down the fence and then slip back in here when you get
done eating so that you don’t show the guys in the white truck where I
am at."
We saw the little forky stand up out of
his bed down the hill but didn’t give it a thought as Donald started the
truck up and moved a couple feet and said there’s a shooter buck. I
looked about a hundred yards down the hill and there looking at us was
one of the four 4x4 bucks standing there looking at us.
Donald got his gun out of the back seat
of the truck as I put the binoculars on him. Yep that's a nice cull buck
with crab claws in the front and about that time “boom” the buck who was
facing us was now standing with his ass to us and looking over his
shoulder. I couldn’t believe how quickly the deer had turned around.
Donald now had a great California shot on him and he took it as the roar
of his shot echoed out again. This time the deer jumped about a foot
sideways and stayed in the same position. I couldn’t believe my son had
missed him twice, I guess the adrenalin from seeing all the elk had him
all pumped up but just as quickly Donald’s gun barked again and this
time I knew the bullet had found its mark as the deer ran about 25 yards
and fell over sideways.
As we did the usual take the musk glands
off, remove the balls, wait a minute they are gone! That must have been
why I had seen the deer kind of hunch up and freeze on the second shot!
The 3rd shot had hit him close to the poop shoot and some how traveled
all the way through the body and went as dead center through the heart
as you can get. It was not the big boy but a nice one who’s genes we
wanted off the property.
It was up to me to get the big boy now.
He never showed on the property the next day so we went to the high
country and the snow to see if we could find one. About 10 a.m. Donald
spotted one thru the spotting scope about a mile away. The horns stood
outside the body a good 3 inches from the side and the horns were taller
than its back as he fed.
There he is Donald said, not me I said I
am to old for that kind of trek so we went back to the Hideout Motel and
told owners Angie and Seth about the huge buck.
Seth and a buddy hunted him for 3 days
without success. Seth said he seen him a couple times and tracked him
but never got close enough for a shot. The buck was an old one and his
toes were rounded off from climbing the rocks Seth said.
On day six we knocked out the 4 wheel
drive transfer case so we stuck to the property with no luck. Day seven
and 4 bucks were feeding up the hill and the big boy wasn’t with them.
With only 3 days left of deer hunting and a trip to the mechanics in
Kemmerer coming up I decided to take one and blasted away. 300 yards and
a gut shot, darn. With my gun empty I told my son to finish him off
quickly which he did. While I love my hunting and eat what I kill I
don’t like seeing anything suffer.
Our new transfer case arrived from Salt
Lake City , $2,000 and we were on our way back to Cokeville. Next
morning it sounded like the rear end was coming apart. Seems the
mechanic had finger tightened the nut on the main bolt holding
everything together. Donald climbed under the truck and found the nut
laying there and I got a wrench and Donald soon had us on the road
again. Another trip to the GMC place in Kemmerer to have them check to
see if there was any damage. Damn mechanics. I don’t mind paying for a
job but I expect them to take their time and make sure its done right.
The next day a Storm hit and the snow was
falling. Tags filled, truck fixed and this year the deer season ran four
days longer. Guess we should of called and checked. Not wanting to stay
in the motel room we headed uphill past the ski road to a road that ran
toward Lake Alice. The snow was falling and it was just beautiful. We
past a chained up type quad father son hunting team who were so bundled
up in helmets and stuff they couldn’t see much at all. They said they
had missed a few bucks that morning. We traveled on ahead and spotted a
4x3 standing on the snow uphill. They came along and Donald pointed out
the buck to them just as it laid down. The boy went down the road and
went up a rock ledge toward the bedded buck. After about a ½ hour the
buck stood up as the boy approached and the boy dropped it with one
shot. Two large bucks bedded nearby jumped and headed uphill. They
stopped on a knoll and the father at 300 yards shot and hit one of the
larger bucks in the hind quarters.
Donald said if you don’t mind I will go
up and track it. I watched as Donald got on the blood trail and took off
with his son getting several shots at it. The son soon came back over
the hill about the time the dad arrived up to the spot where the deer
his son shot lay and they took a long time to bring it back down the
hill.
When they arrived I asked them why one of
them didn’t follow my son who was tracking the wounded deer and they
said they lost sight of him. I don’t think they even looked for him and
I couldn’t help but wonder how many others they had wounded and never
went and looked to even see if they had hit the animals they shot at.
About that time my son showed up in a
truck with a monster buck in the bed. A very happy young lady and her
husband climbed out. Donald had tracked the buck a few miles around the
mountain until it bedded down in a ravine near a road where he sat and
waited for someone with a gun to come by to put the animal out of its
misery.
After the young lady had finished off the
buck her husband told her honey its not usually this easy. They then
asked Donald how he was going to get back to the truck and Donald
pointed at their truck and said right there to which the guy replied for
a buck like that I would take you all the way back to California.
We unloaded the deer and watched as her
husband started cleaning it. He cut off the balls and handed them to his
wife and told her to do an Indian chat turning in circles and then throw
them over her left shoulder so that her luck at hunting would continue
and insisted that it was a tradition. Donald and I chuckled as she did
what her husband told her to do. I don’t know if this will be effective
in the future or not but you can bet that his trophy that now hangs over
the fireplace will soon be replaced with her trophy.
On October 14th we checked the elk and
made plans for the following day. E-day arrived. That’s right Elk day
after 14 days of watching them we had a game plan set up and we executed
it. We were in place to ambush them in the hills 2 hours before
daylight. The elk were a little early as they were pushed by H.J. as he
came in uphill from the pasture below. H.J. shot a freak 5 by 4 with one
horn growing along its skull and another curled around like it was going
to go into its skull.
Donald’s gun soon roared over the
hillside as its bullet hit its mark, a nice 6x7 bull elk. I had cows and
spike’s and one 5x2 that I could of shot but didn’t.
Game Warden Neil Hymus who was watching
us asked me why I didn’t shoot the nice 5x5 that was walking around the
truck. He said if I had left the tail gate down the elk probably would
of loaded his self up for me.
Opening morning was spent loading elk and
skinning Donald's bull so we could take it to the butchers the next day.
Things were quite for awhile and then on the 5th day of elk season we
set up for them again. That 5x5 showed up and was shot somewhere in the
front shoulder. After following the blood trail for miles over to
Monument Canyon. I handed my gun to Donald and said I had it. He
continued trailing past Monument to a tree filled canyon where the elk
had fallen in the loose dirt and the blood trail had ended. He said he
saw him once going down hill but never had a good shot.. He finally lost
him near a couple old mine buildings.
We got back to the motel room and I got a
call that my 94 year old mom was in the hospital. I told my sister I
would be home the following evening.
We checked the area where the wounded elk
was last seen that evening with scopes with no luck.
That evening we packed and got ready to
head for home the next day. By the time we got to Reno mom was home and
it was not a heart attack but that she was low in potassium.
I learned a lot this time by watching the
animals more closely. The spiked elk run all the cows and deer off their
feeding grounds when they arrive. It sure is funny to watch them chase
them half heartedly. I saw the aftermath of two large bulls fighting
where one actual got gored to death.
We watched Eagles dive bomb elk feeding
on the hillsides, never did figure what this was all about unless it was
to try to spoke them into running over a cliff.
The different birds and animals we
observed were badgers, red fox, skunks, deer, elk, ducks, geese,
partridge and a great variety of other different types of birds.
Now if you think you are going to apply
for a deer or elk tag and go to Wyoming to shoot a big buck or elk and
be successful, think again. You better have a real good guide, there are
lots that are not any good or know someone who can help you in the area
you apply to hunt in.
Over the years I have watched lots of
California hunters come up to the area and go home with nothing or small
forky’s and 3 points because they never knew where to go hunt or how.
While your quads may be great, your bigger bucks know what they sound
like and if someone don’t kick them out of the bushes or trees for you,
you will be lucky to even see one. |
