trophyhunter
Very Active Member
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Some have seen the post P&Y Blacktail 5X4 thanks to Scott helping post the Pic and some of the hunt story. That's the Good 
Having serious issues with computer and photo program so lucky to get out that one Pic via Scott.
That's still the Good
I wanted to tell the rest of the story of that weeks hunt and that's where it gets Bad & Ugly. I am not afraid to share the bad things that happend for me on this trip. Early in the week it was great hunting weather as you can see from the posted story. By Wednesday the temps started going back up to around 90F. That changed the deer habits making them active from first light to maybe an hour after shooting light. So to have any chance at spotting a shooter you had to be out there setup at first light. The ground,leaves and grass became noisy quickly making it very difficult to close ground on spotted game without getting busted. On Friday morning at first light we spotted a couple of real good bucks at 800yds. My son drove me around the ridge and dropped me off from above so I could get down to the bucks that were feeding on a hillside. The terrain was very steep and difficult to keep your footing. I was able to get within 51yds of the biggest Blacktail I have ever shot at with a bow or rifle. He was a huge 3X2 about 23 inches wide, 22 inches high and had at least 10 inch forks and 10 inch points. This is the buck I dream about and work hard for conditioning physically, shooting year round to give me the best chance at harvesting a great buck like this one. I had to wait for this buck to give me a broadside shot. The shot was downhill and the buck really never stood still much. I was in a steep ravine being hidden by the cover of large poison oak bushes. The terrain was so steep that when I set my footing to brace myself enough to draw my bow. My bracing foot was up above level with my other knee. Add the shale type rocks and it started leaning towards disaster. The buck finally turned enough to give me a shot. A shot I have made many times before. When i drew my bow while being a contortionist I set the 50yd pin just behind the front shoulder for a lung shot. I could feel the rocks starting to slip beneath my bracing foot and had to slightly readjust my foot while at full draw. The buck heard this and picked up his head. I knew it was now or never for the shot. Just as I was releasing the arrow my foot started slipping making my 50yd pin drop slightly. I hit that buck exactly inline where I was aiming but slightly low. We gave him time then started to track. We got good blood early on... but as we went down that canyon the good blood went to drops and then we lost the trail. It was dense poison oak, heavy pines and oak trees down in that canyon. I shot that buck before 6AM and we looked all day.We went back to camp grabbed some dinner and then headed back down that canyon with headlamps and our Primo's blood tracker light's we have used before hunting out of State game with good results. But we needed dark to try again as we had exhausted everything including ourselves in 90+ heat up and down circling that last blood sign trying to pick up his trail. We found that those "tracker lights" do not work well on dried blood. They give off some glow of the blood if the blood is fresh or still moist. With the heat of the day the blood dried and the lights were useless. I quit hunting even though we saw game and we spent the next three days going back down in that steep canyon trying to recover that great buck. It was my obligation as an ethical hunter to recover that animal... that is the way we hunt. Worst part is the cover in many areas was so thick we could have been walking right by him.
I tried everything I could to find that buck and I am sick over loosing that animal. I am going back to that canyon next week and hopefully I will find some sign the cyote's left of that great buck. That is hunting...there is the good part and I just posted the Bad&Ugly
))))------->
Having serious issues with computer and photo program so lucky to get out that one Pic via Scott.
That's still the Good
I wanted to tell the rest of the story of that weeks hunt and that's where it gets Bad & Ugly. I am not afraid to share the bad things that happend for me on this trip. Early in the week it was great hunting weather as you can see from the posted story. By Wednesday the temps started going back up to around 90F. That changed the deer habits making them active from first light to maybe an hour after shooting light. So to have any chance at spotting a shooter you had to be out there setup at first light. The ground,leaves and grass became noisy quickly making it very difficult to close ground on spotted game without getting busted. On Friday morning at first light we spotted a couple of real good bucks at 800yds. My son drove me around the ridge and dropped me off from above so I could get down to the bucks that were feeding on a hillside. The terrain was very steep and difficult to keep your footing. I was able to get within 51yds of the biggest Blacktail I have ever shot at with a bow or rifle. He was a huge 3X2 about 23 inches wide, 22 inches high and had at least 10 inch forks and 10 inch points. This is the buck I dream about and work hard for conditioning physically, shooting year round to give me the best chance at harvesting a great buck like this one. I had to wait for this buck to give me a broadside shot. The shot was downhill and the buck really never stood still much. I was in a steep ravine being hidden by the cover of large poison oak bushes. The terrain was so steep that when I set my footing to brace myself enough to draw my bow. My bracing foot was up above level with my other knee. Add the shale type rocks and it started leaning towards disaster. The buck finally turned enough to give me a shot. A shot I have made many times before. When i drew my bow while being a contortionist I set the 50yd pin just behind the front shoulder for a lung shot. I could feel the rocks starting to slip beneath my bracing foot and had to slightly readjust my foot while at full draw. The buck heard this and picked up his head. I knew it was now or never for the shot. Just as I was releasing the arrow my foot started slipping making my 50yd pin drop slightly. I hit that buck exactly inline where I was aiming but slightly low. We gave him time then started to track. We got good blood early on... but as we went down that canyon the good blood went to drops and then we lost the trail. It was dense poison oak, heavy pines and oak trees down in that canyon. I shot that buck before 6AM and we looked all day.We went back to camp grabbed some dinner and then headed back down that canyon with headlamps and our Primo's blood tracker light's we have used before hunting out of State game with good results. But we needed dark to try again as we had exhausted everything including ourselves in 90+ heat up and down circling that last blood sign trying to pick up his trail. We found that those "tracker lights" do not work well on dried blood. They give off some glow of the blood if the blood is fresh or still moist. With the heat of the day the blood dried and the lights were useless. I quit hunting even though we saw game and we spent the next three days going back down in that steep canyon trying to recover that great buck. It was my obligation as an ethical hunter to recover that animal... that is the way we hunt. Worst part is the cover in many areas was so thick we could have been walking right by him.
I tried everything I could to find that buck and I am sick over loosing that animal. I am going back to that canyon next week and hopefully I will find some sign the cyote's left of that great buck. That is hunting...there is the good part and I just posted the Bad&Ugly
))))------->
