part 2
That was a pretty long night with lots of interrupted sleep. The good news was my new shelter did really well in some high winds- probably gusting at times to near 40 mph. The alarm went off at 5:00 AM- I set for an hour earlier as I now had to pack up the entire camp and move. I had one meager cup of coffee with my breakfast cookie, leaving me 16 oz of water for the hike/hunt over to the next spring.
Pretty morning.
The trail I was using went to crap after about a half mile, hadn't been cleared in years (decades???) and was strewn with blowdown- around, over and occasionally under I went. About a half hour into shooting light I saw some movement ahead. I slowly sat down with a handy blowdown as a back rest. One doe, two does, eventually three does and then a buck. A smaller buck though. I could make out part of another deer and was 99% certain it was another doe, but stayed seated just in case. Not a doe, body too big. With all the blowdown I only caught small glances of this deer, but eventually could see it was a mature buck, but had to wait to see if he was I wanted. Eventually he stepped into a small opening- yup he looked pretty good. I heard the bullet hit and he made a small jump which I thought was a heart shot. I thought he'd tip over and was shocked to see him start running full tilt, steep down hill, across the trail into square miles of blowdown.
The other deer went the opposite direction, so I got up to see if I could find where he crossed the trail. No snow on the ground which it made it really tough to sort anything out. I decided to go up where I hit and follow from that spot. Half an hour later I couldn't find the spot in the blowdown mess.
I did what I think most guys would do. I prayed. After a prayer I surveyed the country below, not sure if he dropped dead somewhere in the abyss or if I was dealing with a wounded deer. I saw small flat spot that held a bunch of dense new growth lodgepole- a good spot for a wounded buck to bed. I started downhill, slowly- very slowly. Walking a few steps and then glassing what was visible to me. After ten minutes of slowly moving downhill, I caught a glimpse that looked like it could be a deer. Is it a wounded deer bedded or a dead one, couldn't tell, so I went even slower yet. I finally got an angle that I could see it was an expired deer- prayer answered!
I can't tell you how overjoyed I was seeing that deer laying there.
The overjoyed feeling was eventually replaced with the reality of the task ahead. I had to break this deer down and I was close to 8 miles from the trailhead. So I got to work.
I took a celebratory drink of water, but not a very big one.
I fully deboned the deer and started doing some math in my head. 35 lb pack, around 70 lbs of boned out meat, a 8-10 lb head and a 6 lb rifle that has to go the pack as two trekking poles are going to be mandatory. That's too much weight for this terrain and 7-8 miles. I took roughly 20 lbs of meat, the head and attached the rifle- put it in the 65-70 lb range.
I put the rest of the meat in another bag and hung it in a tree to retrieve later.
It was now near noon and I had a long ways to go. I was also parched and drank the last of my water. It was hell getting out of that blowdown mess, but eventually hit the trail. The trail was giving up though and throw a bunch more blowdown my way. It eventually petered out and the next spring was in sight- hallelujah!
I dumped my pack and filled my Nalgene. I was carrying Aquatabs for treating water which normally works really well. One Nalgene at hand to drink from, another in reserve. Drain one, fill it with the other, get to water, fill the empty one, tab it and 45 minutes later you have treated water. I wasn't going to wait 45 minutes as I was really parched. Through a tab in it and shook it violently for a couple of minutes and drank. One more time for good measure
Ate my lunch and headed for the trailhead.
I'm happy on the inside
I had to don my headlamp about 1/2 mile from the trailhead, but it was all downhill. Got home, kissed the wife, put the meat on ice, ate a giant supper, set the alarm, took a handful of ibuprofen and promptly went to bed.
I slept like the dead, but when the alarm went off I knew I had a crushing day ahead 15 miles round trip with a lot of climbing and half of it with a ~ 70 lb pack.. I stripped my pack down to a bare bones affair, but had to pack enough stuff in case it turned into an bivy overnighter.
I hit the trailhead at first light. The good thing about lugging a 70 lb pack is that it makes a 20 lb pack feel light as a feather
I was making pretty decent time with the light pack and no need to be stealthy. So I soaked in the views and hit the gas pedal.
I made it to the kill site at 11:00 AM and was relieved to find no bear on it. I didn't pack my rifle, but I did pack my .44 just in case a cranky boar found it.
Just a note on that pic- an all Montana pic- FHF harness, Razco Gear holster and a Stone Glacier pack- nice to support the home state!
I was loaded up in 15 minutes or so.
[img]
https://i.imgur.com/nTqoXxc.jpg?1[/img]
The trip back was tough, but uneventful- thankfully! I neared the trailhead with still some light.
[img]
https://i.imgur.com/ZAetQ3y.jpg?1[/img]
Got home, kissed the wife, put the rest of the meat on ice, ate a giant supper, took a handful of ibuprofen and promptly went to bed
Thanks for reading