Deer Hunt 2012

I had my first deer hunt experience this year. Russ drew his tag to the Bookcliffs-an area down by Vernal/Roosevelt area(but big enough it extends clear over to grand junction), that he's been hunting and camping in for years. We had already started dating when he got his tag and I remember how excited he was as he had been waiting for over 2 years to get this tag. The process continued as I was with him through all the truck drama, hunting prep etc.. We went on 2 scouting trips-one back in July and the other the week before the hunt to go find a camp and leave the trailer. It was a whole new experience. Just the scouting trips alone were a process-waking up at 5:00AM to go look for deer for hours. Then return to camp for a short rest period before back on the wheeler for another 4+ hours of scouting. Thank goodness I like hanging out with that crazy man a lot because it wouldn't have been fun without him.

did I mention the scouting trips included target practice?? : )

 



The morning before the hunt opened we(as in me and 8 guys) met at Russ's house, loaded the 4-wheelers and made the trek out to the Bookcliffs. 5-6 hours later we had camp set up and were out to start scouting out the area we'd go find the big buck the next day. And thus began the adventure...

Saturday we helped a stranger try to track his deer he'd shot but the blood trail ended and we never found his deer. That night Russ shot one and we had the same experience-searched that night while it was dark and returned the next morning to find the blood trail ending with no deer. In theory both these deer could have bedded down in the time that was in between kill shot time to tracking time but got back up which clotted off their blood trail allowing them to get away. Russ felt horrible about knowing he'd had a good shot and that the deer was probably bleeding internally and would die. So the boys hiked around and down to the bottom of the canyon for a few more hours before we gave up on finding him.
Sunday afternoon Luke and his family headed home leaving just the 4 of us out there in the ol' Bookcliffs. Monday morning while out scouting another hunter on a 4-wheeler came up to us asking if we were stalking a deer-Russ responding no lead them to asking " do you want to?"
We then followed him over to a campsite and drove down to the side of the mountain where his buddy was watching something through his binoculars. That was the first time we spotted Russ's deer as they were showing us the nice 4 point ant 3 point bucks up on the mountain. After deciding they were shooter bucks we thanked the elk hunters and went to 4-wheel up to the ridge they'd been on there but as we got close the bucks were no where to be seen. We carried on and continue to hunt.

Tuesday afternoon we said goodbye to Tyson and Mark(Russ's dad) as they headed back home to go back to work. Leaving just Russ and myself on the hunt. I got a much needed hair wash that day as I make shifted a shower off the back of Russ's truck. That was just what I needed to rejuvenate me!

Right as we were ready to get back out there and hunt that afternoon the weather picked up and we got some of the rain that had been lingering threatening to drop. Thank goodness my boy is prepared because with his rain suit I stayed nice and dry!

Russ had seen plenty of bucks while we'd been out there and could have taken shots at some but had decided on every one of  them that he could do better. That same thing happened Tuesday night as right before dark he debated shooting a buck that happened to be right off the side of the road.
Wednesday morning we woke up at the crack of dawn like normal and took off in the truck. Russ saw a shooter buck up on a ridge-one that we hadn't seen yet on the trip, but it was in a tricky spot and he was unable to get up to him good enough to stalk out a shot (keep in mind this is bow hunting not rifle hunting so you have to get A LOT closer). We continued down the road and as we pulled into that familiar camp spot from Monday I glanced over with my expert spotting skills and spotted that same 4 point and 3 point bucks. Russ immediately took off on foot and walked over to the 4-wheeler ridge and began to stalk out his deer. I stayed at the campsite and watched from afar. He came back a little later all sorts of excited that he had shot it!! but nervous about what had happened Saturday we went back to camp to eat breakfast and give him a few hours to bleed, bed down, and die. We brought the truck back, left it on the 4-wheeler trail up on the ridge. We had already seen 2 bears out there that trip so I was packing the pistol while tracking a bleeding animal just in case we needed to fight : )

And thus the insane adventure began-we started hiking tracking the blood trail and I felt like a detective as we tried to follow tracks and predict movements to get to the next blood spot. That deer sure took us on a trip and a half! We finally started getting in to the trees where we thought at anytime we'd find him bedded down dead. Wrong! we found tons of blood in the trees but at one real bloody mess spot we realized that he may have clotted off after all this time because we couldn't find anymore blood. Needless to say that the leaves had started to fall at this time of year so all the red leaves and flower/plant pedals on the ground weren't helping. I stayed put on the last blood while Russ continued out to do another lap to make sure we hadn't missed anything-and as I sat there I started to think about Russ's best friend Rob. Rob died in January and while I never met him I know the kind of person he is just by the stories. They were best friends and each other's hunting buddies. I felt bad that Rob couldn't be there and knew that if Rob was there he'd be much better help than I was! I remember being so tired and looking up at the storm clouds rolling in thinking "Rob if we don't find him soon we aren't gonna find him! So help us out instead of teasing us by leading the deer on a wild goose chase!"
Pretty soon I hear Russ come almost running back towards me saying "I found more blood!" The next blood was a good few yards away so I was grateful that we found it because once we did the blood got more consistent again. We noticed that the blood was getting more fresh so thinking that we'd jumped him somewhere we hung back a little bit but when the storm clouds started to get closer we continued on. Not long after we turned a corner when I saw him move up ahead. I motioned to Russ and he moved forward to get another shot-taking the only one he'd give him even if it wasn't a good one. The buck disappeared and so I stayed put so we'd know where he'd shot him from and Russ trekked over to find his arrow. Next thing I know this darn buck is running right at me! he stops about 10 yards away in what I swear was the most intense staring contest I'd ever been in, looking into an injured deers eyes! as soon as he made any movement I jumped out of the way, just in case, but thankfully he went downhill. Russ had seen him and took off to follow him, and once my legs stopped shaking I did the same.

To shorten the story the story ends with one dead buck. I watched from afar as Russ was afraid he'd jump up at me again, but we were both so excited when he stopped moving and we could finally celebrate!! The excitement dwindled a little when we realized he had landed about 20 yards from the bottom of a canyon-a canyon that had no road at the bottom meaning we were gonna have to pack him out : ( But the best part was as soon as Russ called me down saying he was dead the rain came! Call me crazy but you could feel that we weren't alone on that mountain and I could feel the presence of someone that's really special to Russ, especially as that rain fell! Rob had helped us out after all : )
Photoshoot began followed by an intense gutting and cutting process. The hike out was gruesome as we hiked straight up packing pounds of meat on our backs and in our arms. but we made it in one trip! The worst part was that we hadn't taken the 4-wheeler so once we made it out of the canyon we still had to walk the ridge on the trail way back to the truck. Needless to say we were very tired, and very sore, but very proud as we drove back to camp with antlers sticking out of the back of the truck!!

The next morning after a much needed rest we packed up camp and drove home, once again proudly displaying the horns in the bed of the truck : ) Thanks for the adventures Russ!!!