We had a great camp full of crazy stories that we'll be laughing about for years to come. From truck problems, to forgetting tags, to the hurricane force winds that almost took our tent down, to waking up with our stove pipe gone and a tent full of smoke from the high winds, to packing out a cow elk on a hillside that could basically be called a cliff, we had it all this year!

I found a nice low 170s class buck a few days before the end of the season, but could never make it happen. He came out with a half dozen does one evening but after showing himself at 400 yards, turned and walked back over to the rim of the cut he was using and bedded. I watched him thru the spotting scope until after legal shooting hours when he stood and walked immediately to his remaining does that were feeding at 286 yards. Oh so close, but about 10 minutes too late!!!

The following day the hurrican force winds blew in and had the deer all kinds of buggered up! We were watching a nice buck with about 10 does and smaller bucks the next morning when a dead fall nearly came crashing down on one of the does, sending the deer scattering like a covey of quail. Needless to say, the deer were not following their normal pattern that day because of the high winds, and I didn't see the big buck.

The next morning, we still were not seeing deer in their normal locations. All of the deer we saw were coming out of the dark timber still standing in the deeper draws.

We had seen this guy with another smaller fork horn almost every morning. They would feed on an east facing slope and feed up and over either of two saddles on the top of the ridge. We made a move for him one day with Snellstrom's son, but when we got to our desired ambush point about 2 hours after the stalk started, he had moved slightly to our left. Once I finally spotted the deer, he was moving away with a couple smaller bucks at roughly 100 yards and didn't offer a shot opportunity.

Therefore, we continued to watch the deer every morning throughout the remaining part of the season. The last day of the season finally arrived and the bucks were not in their usual feeding location because of the high winds the day and night before. On our way back to camp, Snellstrom's brother and I talked about how the deer were likely there now that the winds had finally died down a bit. Sure enough, I spotted the little fork horn first. Then, we picked up this deer, which we were calling the "tall 3".

We decided to make a move on both bucks as they had bedded on the side of the hill. I ranged the bedded buck at 297.5, 300 and 302 yards. Confident with the yardage, I aimed appropiately for the elevation, bullet drop and wind drift and sent a 140 grain Nosler Partition from the 7mm-08 on it's way. The buck never moved from his bed only dropping his head and never moving a hoof. The bullet took him thru the neck as the wind didn't drift the bullet as much as I had expected.

Any way, a nice young buck to fill a tag and the freezer on the last day of the season.

Nice way to end the season. Congrats.

Sounds like you had a great time. That is the important part.

quote:

Any way, a nice young buck to fill a tag and the freezer on the last day of the season.

nice buck!

Very nice!

nothing wrong with that freezer filler.
Now tell us about the truck problems,
forgotten tags and the rest of the fun you had.

WTG as they say.

Still beat a day in the city, Huh?

Is that the same 3 pointer we saw just about every day?

Glad I wasn't in my cot the night of the giant winds and was back in Missouri.....I bet Rick didn't even wake up....

I had a blast with you guys last week and want to thank you all for having me.

Nice deer, I don't remember that buck looking that big in the back of the truck. I'm glad I didn't stay up there with you guys as well that last night on the mountain, sure was a mess to clean up camp though.

Yep, that is the "Tall 3" we kept watching everyday.

He wasn't on his usual hillside at first light after the wind storm, but he was there with his little buddy a couple hours after daylight. Rick ended up getting his little buddy after some fantastic shooting.

Rick didn't even wake up when the stove pipe came off and was filling the tent up with smoke. I woke up and had to holler at him to get up. He even had a tent pole laying across his pillow, which he promptly found with his head once I woke him up. You should have seen the look on his face when he was trying to figure out what was in the middle of the tent, which was your cot laying upside down in the middle of the floor.

Trust me, it looked like a F3 tornado came thru camp on Sunday morning!

Later,

Gray - Glad you guys had a good time, and sorry I missed ya. How did Dave and his son do???

I had to comment on that damn shirt......you did take it home and wash it didnt you.

How's that chickenfagitis treating you a couple weeks later?

Aaron, Snell had the ole tag soup. He never found the right one and still had plenty in the freezer. His son ended up with a small buck the last day he could hunt. Nothing spectacular from our camp this year!

Chicke fajitas much better than the beef brisket the last night in camp. Oh man!!!

I'm still washing stuff. Had to go the laundry mat and wash my sleeping bag today. It was horrible!!!