2007 Deer Hunting©2007 Samuel Sims |
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Read this year's hunting very close. There were 2 awesome trips this year. I am so lucky to have gone hunting twice this year! Wow, where to start! The pictures at the top of the page for this year will sum up only part of what we went through this year to get our game! Are We There Yet?! Sunday, the day before opening day of the season we all agreed to get to our hunt area and set camp early. That plan lasted until about midnight the day we were supposed to leave. You might think all hunters in Wyoming walk out the back door and fill their big game tag within minutes. Actually, it is not like that in all parts of Wyoming. The trip begins with our usual last minute scramble for gear, supplies & of course the emergency equipment. The day was near perfect, weather was cooperating, highways were good and the conversation was great with Wes & I driving the nearly 3 hours from home to reach camp. Pushing about 5:00 PM, the night before opening day. About 5 miles into our hunt area boundary, we hit mud... 5 Miles in 7 Hours! ...Mud is nearly an understatement, we drove into it something fierce. Now I drive a '86 F250 with a 460 7.5L engine. The tires are about 4 years old and wearing thin on tread. Damion & Brian both drive some pretty hefty Dodge Rams, so the smart thing to do is follow them up hill since Wes & I were not towing anything. Mind you we are only traveling about 5 miles in to set up camp. For any of the "flat landers" (those of you who live below 1 mile high), please remember we are going up from an elevation already at about 6,600 ft. The first hill is always the best indicator, this hill was not looking good. The mud on the hill going up was about 13" deep. As usual we all stop at the crest of the hill, usually to water the mountain flowers and get our legs back under us from the trip up the hill. Now 20 minutes after we hit 7,000 ft the mud did not look to bad, maybe 3" or 4" deep, tires seemed to grab just fine. That was until the snow started falling. 5 miles turned into 50 so it seemed. What should have been a 3 hour drive from home turned into 7-9 hours in all. It took us nearly 3 hours to get Damion & Brian through the sagebrush (3' tall minimum) and back up a 1/4 mile to the road into camp. Damion was ready to set camp and hunt as we all were the next morning. After we were able to get Damion's rig and trailer up the hill of "ice & pudding" he dropped his trailer at camp and came back to get Brian's Rig & Trailer up the same hill. You may not be able to see it the best in the photos, but it was cold, muddy, snowing, raining & 3 truckloads of testosterone that got us into camp that evening. Guess that explains why we saw so few people camping as far in as we did. Day 1 ~ Let 'Er Rip Opening day, Monday morning, everyone is wiped out from the adventure of just getting to camp. The first to fill is Damion, shortly after sunrise, he & Adam began the hike into the hills. They kicked up a couple of nice bucks and the "hunt" was on. Get out your hiking boots cause you have to keep up with a nice mule deer to get a shot. Wes & I went around the back of the hills Damion & Adam were hiking over. Brian & Pete were working the six-wheeler out of the back of Brian's truck about the time I saw a nice Buck kick up about 650 yards in front of Wes & I. No sooner than I feel the butt of my rifle on my cheek and I hear a shot. It was the nice buck I just spotted. I decided to watch with my binoculars from this point on. Another Shot, and a very good one at that. I could tell the distance on the second shot, although shorter than the first was still a solid 400 yard shot. Wes had walked up ahead, so we watched from our vantage point until Damion & Adam popped up on the ridge-line to our left. I hollered at them asking if it was them shooting! Damion had scored, a nice buck too. Wes & I began working up the hill and spotted 3 bucks about 800+ yards off. Not even within shooting distance, you can tell how far the shot is when you look through your scope and see all 3 deer and the rest of the surrounding landscape in your scope! Just about the time we came full circle back to the truck, Pete spotted 3 bucks out about 600 yards. Wes & I ran up to try a couple of chance shots. No luck. We tracked them to about as close as 300 yards, Wes had to point them out since I kept loosing them in the brush and small hills. Tried a couple of clean shots, but by then we were looking at over 600 yard shots again. Afternoon of opening day, we saw so many doe a few of us were tempted to just take a doe for this year and call it good. About 5:00 we kicked up some nice fork's still with the doe, so we knew they were younger bucks, but Brian & Wes both took a shot or two. Brian, had now scored a beautiful fork after a great shot. So for opening day we weren't doing to bad. Remember my tires were not the best so Adam had lent me both sets of his chains. You bet, we chained up the front & back tires to get around. Climbing to heights over 8,000 feet and never getting my truck over 20 mph. The snow & frost melts so fast in direct sunlight at high altitudes it is not even funny. By late afternoon we still hadn't kicked up a buck since Damion & Brian's. Wes & Adam were looking to kick something up so they began hiking in 30 mph winds on the top of the ridge-line (over 8,000 ft mind you). I thought since the wind was so strong I would turn around and pick them up. No sooner than I turn my wheel to the right I hear a loud pop and step on the brakes ~ NO BRAKES. Thankfully, I was only going about 2 mph and put the truck in neutral to let it roll to a stop. I had busted the brake line on the passenger side. No brake fluid with me, I thought for a bit until Damion & Brian drove over. Then we did a bit of mountain mechanics, I grabbed a vise-grips and locked it onto the brake line to save what fluid I had left. When Wes & Adam came back we strapped the vise-grips up to the frame and use 'granny'-lo gear to crawl down hill. If you are unfamiliar with the "hills" in Wyoming, let me tell you a grade change for 7% to 25% or more is not unusual. Try these grades without brakes at least one time in your life! Cutting It Close! Wes & I both had told our wives we would be home Tuesday night. How fast things change, neither of us had filled our tags yet and we had a busted brake line to contend with. We decided to hunt while Damion & Brian made the all day trip to find a replacement brake line for me. Brian offered his truck while Damion & him ran into town. We made it to the main road and no further. Adam's chains would not fit Brian's tires, so Wes & I walk back to camp and get my truck (brake line and all). Adam & Wes began their hike around 9 AM. I didn't see them again until nearly 11:30 AM, so 2 1/2 hours and 2 miles down the road I finally get them on the radio. While I am waiting for Wes to come down the hill, I kick up a buck and doe. I had just pulled up to glass the trees and here comes a truck right up behind me. I turned to look at him and as I did I see the doe & buck bouncing out of the the trees. Wes & I had planned on heading home in the early evening, it was getting pretty close to calling it a day and heading back home. Adam asked us to pick him up further down the road so Wes & I drove down the road glassing the ridge-lines beneath Adam to see if he was kicking anything up. We came to the end of the fence and pulled the truck off the side of the trail. Wes & I hiked up to the top of a nice ridge about 200 yards beneath the top of the ridge Adam was standing on, when a small fork popped up about 80 yards ahead of us. This buck ran off into the aspens in the distance. Soon we spotted a group of doe running to the same aspens the buck had just run into. I looked to my right and saw 2 more bucks, both forks about 100 yards away. Wes looked at both and said the one in the back is the biggest. I decided to shoot. I knew I had hit the buck, we walked all of about 75 yards before he jumped out of the brush and we could get a clean shot at him. He dropped about 10 feet off the trail. I was happy I had filled my tag with time to put the new brake line on. Wes & I decided to leave the following morning, and a good thing too. I spent several hours getting the brake lines, fittings and all washers clean enough to assemble. As always the adventure had to come to an end, but 3 days of hunting and we had 3 bucks hanging, we were not doing to bad. Our rigs were put to the test and our endurance challenged, but it wouldn't be hunting if you couldn't use every tool and piece of gear you brought with you. Until Next Year... HUNTING 2007 |
Pictures: (Deer) |