A date with Em

 

Emily had both a deer and elk tag this year. She usually is more limited on time and much more responsible than I am. She remembers other stuff needs to be done that aren't hunting-related, like taking care of kids, meals, and other trivial stuff. I am just hyper-focused on hunting this time of year, so we seem to balance each other out well.

I had found a lowland buck that was 26" wide and heavy that I thought would be a perfect buck for Emily to kill. He was like a whitetail, patternable. He liked the same section of arroyo to bed up every time I had seen him this summer. I thought the hunt was going to last a few minutes, I was over-confident.  The wind was blowing and it was cold that first morning we got to hunt. My first mistake was I drove to close to the arroyo. To appease Emily from the blistering cold wind, I thought I'd give her front-door service to this buck...besides, the wind was blowing enough, I thought I'd get away with it. The next mistake is we walked towards the arroyo loud and proud. By the time we were in sneak-mode, I heard Emily, "There's three deer!", I ripped my head out of the binos to see him, along with his two comrades, stotting out of the arroyo so quickly that Emily never even unshouldered the rifle.

I could feel the blood begin to boil as I grew angry...I just didn't know what to be angry at but myself. You frickin idiot stick, you knew better than to think you could sneak one by a mature buck. I may have looked like a pre-schooler who didn't get their way, as I turned and stormed back to the pickup stomping my feet and cussing under my breath. Emily followed politely and quiet. I hate failing at the mule deer thing when I take shortcuts.

I told Emily how we should've made the stalk or it to be successful, and now to punish myself..and unfortunately Emily, I was now going to get in the pick-up and drive into the bigger country the buck had run into. From there, we were going to have to make a 4-5 mile walk-around. It really wasn't punishment since Emily and I do enjoy a good hike. The hike ended up being a lot of fun, and I really thought we'd find her buck. Instead, we found some does, and Emily found some picture opportunities of cool rocks, tracks, and scenery. We headed home after the hike, tired and content with our day. 

The next outing was in the evening. We would hunt along the edge of some private in the badlands. We quickly found another solid buck worth chasing! We stayed on him until the light faded without a chance at the buck as he hovered just on the private side where we couldn't hunt. I told Emily we'd try again and try and catch the buck before it hits the private as I was sure it bedded on BLM.

Long story short, the next evening was beautiful as we got back into position, but this time we found the group of deer deep within the public land. I knew the large buck was there but as we crawled into position with fading light, from 300+ yards I could only catch glimpses of two of the 5 bucks we knew were there. I think we had 10 minutes of shooting light and finally caught what looked like a deep fork of an antler up in a pile of boulders and brush. A slight twitch of its head confirmed what I was looking at, I found the big buck carefully concealed as he's done hundreds of times before. 

It took a while before Emily found him in the NX8 4-32 scope, but when she did I told her I was going to get him to stand-up, and when he stands, let him have it. The light was quickly fading and had us on edge a little more than usual. I howled like a coyote with an open reed call that I always have in my bino harness, then I heard the safety clock to FIRE. I quickly got back in the binos just in time for the rifle to unleash a 140 eldm into his shoulder seconds after standing up. He stayed standing and Emily managed to miss just over his back. "Take a deep breath, and put it right on his shoulder" I whispered trying to keep her calm. She can melt if the first shot isn't perfect. Her third shot was even better than her first and the buck went down in a hurry.

Emily has killed some good bucks through the years, I would say this may be one of her most unique and exceptionally beautiful buck. I know I repeat myself, but she is absolutely the best partner to have by my side and share these adventures with. Great job Emily on the shot, your ability to get it done, and keeping such a great attitude. Now she is focused on elk...

Not sure Why my right eye is 6x bigger than my left, but this was our only selfie so I'm including it

Beast and the Beauty