D3-D5 elevation thoughts for closing weekend

[joeyskimoey]

I've been hunting D5 hard. I've hunted the D5/D6 border from 8,000 all the way up to 9,500 feet and seen a lot of deer. Even helped pack out a 5x5 for an old timer I met on the trail. Looking at a really good ratio of does to bucks as well. Got in on some big guys and just couldn't close with the bow. I hit D3 this past weekend and hiked in from X zone to the D3/X border and barely saw any fresh tracks. Most everything was dusted over and turds were petrified. Compared to my hunt the week before up at higher elevation in D5 where I saw about 40+ over the course of the weekend, I was seeing nothing. It was cold and windy. The line in the Sierras seems to be pretty clean where they are breaking off and heading down the hill or heading over into X. I've been hunting that line looking for a beast that's waiting for the snow to push him out, but its meat buck time and I gotta fill the freezer. I'm panicking.

We had that weird storm early in the season that might have got some of the deer moving lower, but there's definitely some monsters still up in high elevation. That storm might not have phased them. I'm just thinking. From what I have seen, every deer that crossed me in the woods was heading the same direction, west, and heading down the hills.

Anyone still trucking through D3 up high or thinking you might work towards the foothills? Trying to plan which of my spots I hit to close out the season and unfortunately switch over to rifle.

 

[slowpoke]

I hunted between 5,000 and 7,000 feet in D4 last weekend and was amazed by the lack of sign we saw. There was certainly more sign lower in the oaks than up high

 

[Whiskey_Tango]

Ugh, D3 has been a ghost town for me up high. Some fresh sign down lower. Might do a day trip way down low if I can.