This past Saturday afternoon found me in a steep ravine holding a beautiful blacktail buck in the coastal mountains of Southern Oregon. It started off when Jim Godfrey, a good huntin buddy and I decided on exploring some new country.....virgin area, for us anyway.
We drove through tall, steep mountains covered with oak, conifer, and large natural meadows lin search for a wildfire that burned 6,000 acres six years ago. This was a lead I got from the local Biologist who assured me deer were taking advantage of the plentiful forage that grows after fires. We found the burn with just enough time to pull the binocs out for a moment and glass. We saw one deer that dissappeared before it could be identified. The large charred fir trees and the chest-ihigh manzanita made for some extremely difficult glassing.
We set-up camp, grilled some fresh oysters from the beach, and hit the sack. Come morning, we found a beautiful ridge from which we could see numerous burnt slopes..perfect deer habitat. After a half an hour of glassing without seeing a deer, we began wondering....Are the deer still higher in elevation? Lower? IS there a cougar working the area? We hopped in the truck and began exploring and glassing different areas.
At one spot, I hear Jim 'I got a deer, I got a deer!!' You would've thought it was a monster buck by the excitement in his voice. I, as well, was excited and frantically hucked clothes, food bags, and anything else that was laying on my spotting scope. 'It's a buck!' I screamed quitely. It was a long ways away. We needed to find a road that would lead us closer to the buck.
A few hours and a couple of cream cheese cinamon rolls later, we found the road we needed. I slowly began creeping downward, towards where we had last seen the buck. Jim stayed by the truck making sure the remaining oysters didn't escape from the cooler. I laid my back against a burnt stump that was twice the diameter of a truck tire. I glassed for an entire hour picking out every twig on the ground trying to find the elusive buck that I knew was bedded nearby. I couldn't find him. I stood up and walked another 80-100 yards to get another angle to glass. Once again, I couldn't find him. I turned to look into one last tree patch to my right, when a mere hundred yards away I spied a grey patch under a beautiful maple tree dressed in flaming yellow leaves. I dropped to my knees and brought my binoculars up. It was a deer! It's eyes were glued on me. I raised my rifle and it sensed my hastiness and decided he better leave the country. As he stood up, the 7 rem mag spoke.
What a great hunt in beautiful country. I quartered-out the deer and packed him backup the steep mountain slope....the glory march. We got to the truck and with plenty of daylight to kill, I looked and Jim as content as I could be and said 'Why don't we throw our last oysters on the grill and celebrate?' Jim smiled and confessed of his actions. While I was out harvesting venison, he was sitting on his camp chair slurpin' oysters! At least he saved me a few... Did I mention we saw the biggest blacktail we have ever seen on our way home? Something to look forward to next year..
No comments:
Post a Comment