It was now 10am and we quickly walked right past camp, in search for the landmarks we had in mind. It was just three trees, but our perspective had now changed 90 degrees. We easily found the high tree and then dropped our packs. From there, we only had our binos and Katie’s gun plus a couple pre measured powder charges, bullets and caps.
Everything was slow motion from here, it took as an hour and a half to descend about 100 yards down the hill. However, things got confusing. It seems simple looking at the pictures that the buck was bedded under the third tree, but now there were little trees scattered about and the oak and snow berries were waist to chest high and the sage was often hip high.
Looking back I think the tree behind the tree that the buck bedded u see is what made it difficult to determine where he was.
We sat there in the heat, completely confused as to which tree the buck had to be under. So, Katie got set up in a small opening and I began throwing rocks. First tree…. Nothing.
Next tree…. Nothing. The tree I though the deer should be under…….nothing. Again with the rocks, and the. Some more trees down the hill, and back to the tree I was initially leaning toward. Nothing, nothing, nothing.
We were 20 yards from the target tree and couldn’t see anything. We glassed and glassed and now wondered if the deer got up during the 20-30 minutes we spent hiking the ridge above near camp.
We had been so quiet and now we’re talking loudly and animatedly. We were hot and in direct sunlight. I told Katie, just go over to that tree and prove he’s not there. She walked over with her gun slung and just then I threw a larger rock, and I heard the hollow Plunk! It’s just like when you hit your dog in the ribs with a ball. I yelled at Katie to get ready, and you up he stood and, hesitated for one second, and we got a great view of a nice 4 point velvet buck, just 5 yards from Katie. Then he bounded off down the hill, I yelled at Katie to run to the left to an opening and shoot him. She did and then sat down .
Another buck got up further down the draw. This one was hard antler, both bucks went up the ridge on the other side and stopped separately. I heard a Boom!. The velvet buck was untouched. I said reload and looked for the hard antler buck. It was 89 yards from Katie and still standing broadside. Katie was reloading quickly.
She got the gun back up, both bucks broadside and watching us, I saw Katie get the gun back up, but was unsure which buck she was aiming at. Then Pop! The .54 cal Lyman Deerstalker raised her ugly head with a misfire. Only the cap went off the main charge did not and the bucks had had enough. Up they went up Thompson Ridge back to where we sat this morning. I watched them in and out of view for half a mile.
I went down to Katie, and she was dejected. She said the tears were from the dust and sun, but I knew better. We spent two hours getting so close then gave up so quickly. We still couldn’t understand how a large antlered buck could hide at such close range.
I walked over to the tree the buck was under and and there was a trail cut into the hillside where the buck could sleep in the shade and the two big snowberry bushes were uphill of the trail, so we would have had to be on the trail looking back under the tree in order to see him. It was impossible from above.
