Hooker

 

I’ll admit, the first day I laid eyes on Hooker, I videoed him but didn’t spend too much time looking at him. The evening before, I had found two bucks with better frames and more of what I thought I was after. It was mid-August on a scouting trip and the high country was producing a number of good deer.

I met Brady at camp later that morning and he mentioned He saw Hooker and his awesome character, I responded that he wasn’t in my top three hitlist I had created, but agreed he was going to be a wow buck, and in the top 5. Other bucks like the Jed buck, buck-ridge buck, and in-line we’re going to be our priority.

It’s always good to have a hunting partner who sees things just a little differently. Brady made sure and showed me the video of Hooker again that night in the tent, obviously he saw something I wasn’t seeing. 

Hooker

I can’t continue with the story without talking about the buck-ridge buck. I had glassed him up in the heat waves from several miles away on the same scouting trip. Through the scope I knew his frame was huge and from what I could tell, his forks were also solid, but without clarity it left a lot for the imagination. He could’ve been a 180 inch deer or he could’ve been a 200 inch deer. One thing was certain, he consumed my thoughts, and my plan was to get closer to him and get a better idea of what he really looked like and hopefully hunt him.

Buck-Ridge Buck

Fast forward to archery season. Our investment in goat saddles and panniers paid off and Brady’s goats were a welcoming change to our deer camp, and our backs. Brady was off hunting elsewhere and my evening plan was to find buck-ridge buck from a distance and then hike my way down towards him in the morning in search of a rifle season coyote camp where I could hunt him from.

That’s when I saw Hooker for the second time, only 200 yards from where I first saw him. He was bedded along some krummholz right along the ridge top halfway between buck-ridge buck's hang-out and where I was sitting, and the evening sun lit his velvet as bright as fire. That is the moment I realized Hooker not only put on some inches but he was a tank.

I was excited to tell Brady about refinding the unique buck. I decided I would stick to my initial plan of dropping down the ridge the following morning but not without trying to locate Hooker in the morning. I’d hate to jump him from his bed while closing in on buck-ridge buck. 

(Side note: I tore my shoulder labrum this summer. Looks like surgery after hunting season but that leaves me borrowing a crossbow this fall)

The weather was warm as I got comfortable in my morning glassing spot. Buck-ridge buck made an appearance in his normal openings; however, I never saw Hooker go back up to his bed from the day before. I told Brady the coast was clear and I’m going to drop down a couple miles and try and get a better look at my mystery buck. 

Crossbows are awkward. They’re heavy, you can’t hand hold it nor sling it while hiking, nor am I going to walk around with it cocked. I strapped it on the back of my pack. I was nearing the bedding area hooker was in the evening before and I thought, maybe I should stop, take the crossbow out, cock it, and go in loaded just in case… but then I’d have to decock it, which is a pain, so I decided to leave it dead weight on my backpack.

 I got 30 yards from the bedding area and a little three point jumps up from its bed. I panicked because I never saw any deer go into that area that morning so I was certain hooker was there with him. And sure enough 32 yards away, Hooker stands up wondering why the young buck had gotten nervous. The three point was looking my way wondering what it had heard, but hooker wasn’t too concerned, they walked out to 42 yards and I felt helpless. They moseyed on over the edge of the peak and I moved in fast forward to load a bolt in the crossbow. I cursed my injured shoulder as I carefully moved forward.

 I picked up movement and saw the 3-point 30 yards away burning a hole right through me. Hooker was just out of sight. In an explosion, they both torpedoed straightaway and down the ridge. The last glimpse I saw of Hooker he was tailing behind the younger buck. The body size difference was the same as a doe and her fawn. Hooker looked impressive with his extras sticking out well beyond his main frame on both sides!

I perched up the rest of the day from Hookers bed and watched buck ridge and oh, what a disappointment it was. The shadows stretched across buck ridge buck’s main feeding areas when he strolled out of the timber. I almost didn’t want to believe it was him!  He had shed his velvet and although I think he still had a 30” spread, he was willowy, and had a short back end. I learned to not trust your optics in heatwaves from 4 miles. 

I had banked all my effort and ideas on this buck being the one I would hunt…but now I don’t think I’d kill him if he gave me the chance!. I deemed him the disappointment buck. Don't get me wrong, every buck is awesome, but I thought this buck was above awesome.

Disappointment buck

I never saw Hooker the rest of archery season. Brady and I decided inline, Hooker, and a few other solid bucks were enough to get us to come back to the same area for rifle. 

The first two days of rifle season, we were socked in with fog, snow, rain, with an occasional break, but we weren’t able to find any of our bucks we were after, although Brady was suspicious he saw Inline potentially, down the same buck ridge where disappointment buck lived.  In the afternoon of the second day, we packed up camp, weighed all our gear into panniers on the goats and dropped 1,500’ and a couple miles to our new camp spot. From here, we had a better view of Hookers hang-out and where Brady had possibly seen inline. 

The weather turned sunny, windy, and warm. We really weren’t seeing big numbers of deer from our new rendezvous but we were after two specifically at this point, Hooker and Inline. Amazingly, with the angles and amount of intense glassing from both Brady and I, from first to last light, day 3 and 4 we never got our eyes on either buck although we felt like they were in the area we were watching.

Sometimes, the big buck hunter in me disappoints the more excited, fundamental hunter in me. I watched a beautiful 170+ type 4-point for a couple hours, which was probably the biggest deer I had seen in 4 days. I was torn, after putting in this much effort; do I give up on the ghost bucks we are after and take the bird in the hand? 

Then the big buck hunter that sits on my left shoulder jerks my ear and says, “you put a lot of effort in this summer to harvest a buck that would get you really excited, stick with it!”

Well, on day 5, I was tired of sitting from the top bleachers being careful to not be noticed. It was time to get in their home ground and make something happen. Brady elected to glass that day from a lookout point.

It was my first time walking buck ridge beyond hookers “nest”. It was surreal as I’ve watched bucks on this ridge for two years but never dared get in there without a specific ambush plan on a buck. This day with a strong uphill wind, I would slink the ridge top glassing into the steep slopes and basins that spill off the ridge top.

Look close, The goats were in heaven

I was enjoying the change and angle of the scenery, and learning each little drainage and it’s potential. By noon I had made it as far  as we had been able to glass for the past two days. Now I was entering virgin ground, landscape that we haven’t been able to see due to the curvature of buck ridge. At 2:15, I carefully dropped into the shadows of a pine overlooking a drier basin but still full of feed interspersed with krummholz and ribbons of large fir trees. I peeked around the tree with my binos, quickly scanning the best looking areas. Without seeing anything, I butt-scooted down 6’ to the shade of another small fir which opened the entire basin to me.  

I’m guilty of using glass more than the naked eye, even at close-distances. I worked the glasses up the slope when a buck’s front half completely engulfed my view. The buck was obviously old…and close! And obviously had me pegged as his ears were laid back and he lowered his head slightly.  I could see a wide frame and a frontal view of the right antler. A 6” hook and a giant forked kicker shot out another 7” from his main frame. His chest appeared black and blocky. Hooker!

I knew I was pegged and Betty, my trusty 6.5 Prc was perched alongside my pack, 6’ above me. I hastily scooted up, grabbed the rifle, slid a cartridge into the chamber, lifted the scope caps, and leaned the bipod into my knee in a sitting position. The exact moment I had found the empty bed where Hooker was laying, I heard his hoof against rock. He had made it to a ribbon of trees and was headed out. I settled the crosshairs in the last opening where he could appear, and when he did, I relaxed my finger off the trigger. This buck deserved more than a fleeting butt shot off my knee. 

I ranged his bed at 133 yards. It took 5 days to find this buck and when I beat the odds and found him, he had found me at the same time. He beat me fair and square. Rather than cry over spilled milk, I grabbed my rifle and punished myself by climbing 1,500 lower and another 1.5 miles trying to learn where he headed for escapement. 

If he crossed the divide ridge and headed to the thick pines on the north slope, the gig was up. He won. If he continued down the ridge or dropped elevation at the same angle he had left me, again, the hunt was over. I didn’t have the glassing vantage points to uncover him. 

My only chance was if he j-hooked below me and ended up further up the ridge from where I first found him, that would be my only chance. With a parched throat, I finally made it back to the shadows of the pines and my backpack where I initially found him. 

I remained positive but I was completely disgusted with myself that I screwed up such a good opportunity. I dreaded telling Brady I found Hooker but now he’s gone for good. 

I forced myself to eat and drink before continuing on. I figured I would hike up a quarter mile to “inline strip”, it’s a steep meadow between timber strips where Brady had thought he’d seen inline on day two. If Hooker j-hooked, he’d likely end up in this area.

As the evening shadows grew, I slowly inched my way down the steep open slope below. I worried about the wind shifting but it was a strong enough wind in my face it seemed like it was going to hold. Right below me was inline strip. The hill is so steep I couldn’t see anything from 30 yards directly below to 150 yards below, but I could see the slope below that. My position wasn’t the perfect setup, but it was the best I could do with the terrain I had.

I hadn’t been there very long, when a little three-point came out into the strip at 220 yards. If I glassed back up the canyon, I could see Brady still in his all-day perch…later on that.

The sun disappeared behind the western peaks and it was quickly becoming one of my favorite and worst times of the day. My favorite because I seem to kill more animals in the evening than any other period of the day, but the worse as with every minute that passes daylight gives way to silver light, which turns into darkness and the hunt is over for the day.

The little three-point kept looking to its side towards the timber strip that separates inline strip and the basin where I had jumped Hooker. So I kept my attention there. Suddenly a dark, big-bodied buck stepped from the timber strip into inline meadow. From the broadside profile, he looked like a massive 3-point buck, but when he turned his head slightly and I could see the recognizable trash, I knew it was Hooker!

Here I was, in a position where my bipod was useless with the steep angle. Hooker was about to walk behind a pine tree that separated us, and if he continued on the same line, he’d be 230 yards and with an open window to shoot…if I could only get steady. I fought the buck fever and I shook uncontrollably. I threw my backpack on a rock, my ultra lite shooting bag on top of the pack, I then setup my tripod off the right side of my body. I was able ot wrap my right arm around the tripod and lean into it slightly, leaving none of my muscles tensed up. 

Hooker did step out on a quartering away position, and I slowly squeezed the trigger. Being knocked out of my sight picture, I waited for audible impact. The sound of “thump” was music to my ears. He ran out of sight from me and I grabbed my gear hurrying down the slope with thefading light. I found him 80 yards from where I had shot him, piled in the thick timber. The bullet enters below backstrap and into the opposing shoulder.  Hooker is a looker, he has a 9” hook off of his left back fork. He has a 7” forked cheater and a 6” hook off his right side. He had a heavy 3-point frame with lots of bumps, holes, and other character throughout. At 35.5” wide I’d say he’s definitely got some Wow. 

I hung the meat at the butchering site and packed the skull back to camp, knowing Brady wouldnt have let me in the tipi otherwise. I was proud of my accomplishment, and Brady being a true friend was genuinely ecstatic as well. Then I heard the rest of the story from Brady’s angle. Minutes before I had seen Hooker in the evening, ol’ In-line had leisurely walked through in-line strip a mere 100 yards below me, out of my view. Brady recounted how he almost had an aneurism trying to get my attention waving his hat. 

I packed the meat back to camp the next morning. And for the next two mornings helped Brady try and locate in-line and kill him. I spotted in-line my last morning at the first hint of dawn. He was still in the same area just very wary and not shy to sit tight in a hole during daylight hours. I needed to get meat out so I left Brady and the goats, and made two heavy trips back to the vehicle. 18 miles total.  Brady hunted another 3 days and never caught up with in-line but he harvested a beautiful 4-point buck. Another trips for the books.

Starring:

Drop and Heavy

Mini in-line

The Jed Buck

In-Line

Never named this guy, I just snuck up on him to 22 yards with my phone