This is my sixth year hunting and my wife's second year hunting.
We have always hunted together and take our youngest daughter with us also since she was barely outta diapers. She is a quiet hunter and tells us where to go :newbie:
First two years I had no luck (09-10):archer green:
In 2011 I shot a forky with .338 Win Mag and it dropped in its tracks.
Then in 2012 I got a 3x2 at 41 yards with my modified Hoyt.
Last year was my wife's first year actually hunting deer instead of just spotting for me. My wife and I didn't get anything or even see anything legal to shoot in D7.
This year we saw one legal buck during archery season and my wife was ready to draw back when a guy going by scared it off.
We were hunting on Saturday afternoon in D7 when it got crazy weather. Around 6 pm. Overcast. Started raining. Then lots of hail. Booming thunder and lightning flashing within a mile of us. Each of us had a poncho but we were getting soaked and pummeled. Told my wife that the deer should be moving when I saw two does standing right out in the open. Kept walking when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. Told my wife, "It's a monster! Sorry babe I gotta shoot it!" It was standing seventy yards away facing east broadside when I lined him up and hit him with my 338. Boom! He almost broke his back and stuck himself in his back with his rack he reared back so hard. Then he hit the ground and was gone.
My wife and I argued for about 3-5 minutes about if I should go right up the mountain or wait. She thought I might jump up on it and make it run, I was worried I wouldn't be able to track it with the rain and hail obliterating any tracks, blood, and hair. Finally I went up the mountain and looked on the top and around and to the east side where he was headed before I shot him. I looked for half an hour. No signs and it was getting dark fast.
While I was on top a quad went by my wife and the guy asked if my wife shot one. She said I was one top looking for a monster I had shot. He said good luck and he was going on to his camp west around the mountain. Then five minutes later two quads came by. Number 2 quad had a man and son on it. The 3rd was a grouchy old grandpa. The man acted like he wanted to go up the mountain and help me look for it but the grandpa was crying that he was wet and cold so the man said they were going to the camp west around the mountain.
I looked till it was completely dark but didn't want to risk suicide falling off the mountain or getting hit by lightening so decided to come back in the morning to look for it. Then we started to make our way around the bottom of the mountain on the east side but it didn't look familiar, so we turned back and went west. When we came around the west side of the mountain we happened to see some lights on the west side but thought nothing of it.
The next morning we came back with 8 people from our hunting camp and looked all over the mountain from 6-10. Two of my buddies said that a guy had told them some dude's son had shot a 4x4 thirty minutes after I shot one on the west side of the mountain. Come to find the guy who told them was the man and son from quad number 2. Then we told our buddies to take off and my wife and I looked for another two hours combing the whole mountain looking for my buck under every bush and tree. The man and son saw my wife and told her again that some guy's other son had shot a 4x4 thirty minutes after I had shot (but we never heard any shots and it's only one hundred or so yards around to the west side of the mountain, so we would have heard it for sure).
Then my wife seen the guy from quad number one driving back and forth around the mountain with some buddy in a truck. Then after like the forth pass he stopped and talked to us and asked my wife if we found it. We said we couldn't find it anywhere when the guy said, "My son shot a 4x4 thirty minutes after you guys, but it only had one gun shot.." We were like, "Ohh... must have been his twin brother." Then the guys drove away and we thought we'd go to their campground and see if we could see it hanging or bagged. When we got to the campgrounds we happened to see the grizzley gripey old guy and he came over all smiles and asked if we found it. We said no and if they had seen anything of got anything and the old guy said, "NO. Nobody around here has SEEN OR SHOT anything around here." We were thinking to ourselves... your son and grandson just said that a guy from your camp had shot a 4x4.... but we didn't say anything. Obviously they didn't get their stories straight. We left and went back east around the mountain near where I had shot the buck and seen a veteran hunter walking with his rifle. We just stopped and asked him how his hunting was going. He said, "No luck, but two guys around the mountain got a 4x4 last night. It was the craziest thing. The buck had come running down off the side of the mountain and just FELL at the bottom. The guys just grabbed it up and threw it in the back of their truck and drove off. They didn't gut it or nothing!"
That explained it all....
So either they took it when I was on top looking if it ran down in front of them when they were on their quads,
or maybe they went up to help look for it or just to look after I left and found it. They could of claimed it for their own thinking I wasn't coming back. Or they just grabbed it up and took it somewhere without putting a tag on it. I don't know. Either way we all thought it was pretty shitty that they kept circling the mountain and let my wife and I and all my buddies look for four hours and my wife and I with our seven year old daughter look for an extra two hours after that. :smiley_chain_gun_an:lynch mob:
The only thing that made that day better was that afternoon one of my buddies who helped me look for hours with his wife and two kids (who hasn't shot one for four years and helped me all the time) got a real nice 2x3 with extra big eye guards, too. That made the day all better and I was so happy for him I was punching and bear hugging him all up .:toast-yellow:
I told my wife that I think that God was getting me back and that I lost that buck because it was supposed to be hers but I shot it.
But I had to admit to her and my buddies with my forky and my 2x3 each mounted over the fireplace it just wouldn't have looked right if she had the 4x4 for her first buck. She still loves me and wouldn't have wanted those bragging rights anyway but she's still teasing me.
We have always hunted together and take our youngest daughter with us also since she was barely outta diapers. She is a quiet hunter and tells us where to go :newbie:
First two years I had no luck (09-10):archer green:
In 2011 I shot a forky with .338 Win Mag and it dropped in its tracks.
Then in 2012 I got a 3x2 at 41 yards with my modified Hoyt.
Last year was my wife's first year actually hunting deer instead of just spotting for me. My wife and I didn't get anything or even see anything legal to shoot in D7.
This year we saw one legal buck during archery season and my wife was ready to draw back when a guy going by scared it off.
We were hunting on Saturday afternoon in D7 when it got crazy weather. Around 6 pm. Overcast. Started raining. Then lots of hail. Booming thunder and lightning flashing within a mile of us. Each of us had a poncho but we were getting soaked and pummeled. Told my wife that the deer should be moving when I saw two does standing right out in the open. Kept walking when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. Told my wife, "It's a monster! Sorry babe I gotta shoot it!" It was standing seventy yards away facing east broadside when I lined him up and hit him with my 338. Boom! He almost broke his back and stuck himself in his back with his rack he reared back so hard. Then he hit the ground and was gone.
My wife and I argued for about 3-5 minutes about if I should go right up the mountain or wait. She thought I might jump up on it and make it run, I was worried I wouldn't be able to track it with the rain and hail obliterating any tracks, blood, and hair. Finally I went up the mountain and looked on the top and around and to the east side where he was headed before I shot him. I looked for half an hour. No signs and it was getting dark fast.
While I was on top a quad went by my wife and the guy asked if my wife shot one. She said I was one top looking for a monster I had shot. He said good luck and he was going on to his camp west around the mountain. Then five minutes later two quads came by. Number 2 quad had a man and son on it. The 3rd was a grouchy old grandpa. The man acted like he wanted to go up the mountain and help me look for it but the grandpa was crying that he was wet and cold so the man said they were going to the camp west around the mountain.
I looked till it was completely dark but didn't want to risk suicide falling off the mountain or getting hit by lightening so decided to come back in the morning to look for it. Then we started to make our way around the bottom of the mountain on the east side but it didn't look familiar, so we turned back and went west. When we came around the west side of the mountain we happened to see some lights on the west side but thought nothing of it.
The next morning we came back with 8 people from our hunting camp and looked all over the mountain from 6-10. Two of my buddies said that a guy had told them some dude's son had shot a 4x4 thirty minutes after I shot one on the west side of the mountain. Come to find the guy who told them was the man and son from quad number 2. Then we told our buddies to take off and my wife and I looked for another two hours combing the whole mountain looking for my buck under every bush and tree. The man and son saw my wife and told her again that some guy's other son had shot a 4x4 thirty minutes after I had shot (but we never heard any shots and it's only one hundred or so yards around to the west side of the mountain, so we would have heard it for sure).
Then my wife seen the guy from quad number one driving back and forth around the mountain with some buddy in a truck. Then after like the forth pass he stopped and talked to us and asked my wife if we found it. We said we couldn't find it anywhere when the guy said, "My son shot a 4x4 thirty minutes after you guys, but it only had one gun shot.." We were like, "Ohh... must have been his twin brother." Then the guys drove away and we thought we'd go to their campground and see if we could see it hanging or bagged. When we got to the campgrounds we happened to see the grizzley gripey old guy and he came over all smiles and asked if we found it. We said no and if they had seen anything of got anything and the old guy said, "NO. Nobody around here has SEEN OR SHOT anything around here." We were thinking to ourselves... your son and grandson just said that a guy from your camp had shot a 4x4.... but we didn't say anything. Obviously they didn't get their stories straight. We left and went back east around the mountain near where I had shot the buck and seen a veteran hunter walking with his rifle. We just stopped and asked him how his hunting was going. He said, "No luck, but two guys around the mountain got a 4x4 last night. It was the craziest thing. The buck had come running down off the side of the mountain and just FELL at the bottom. The guys just grabbed it up and threw it in the back of their truck and drove off. They didn't gut it or nothing!"
That explained it all....
So either they took it when I was on top looking if it ran down in front of them when they were on their quads,
or maybe they went up to help look for it or just to look after I left and found it. They could of claimed it for their own thinking I wasn't coming back. Or they just grabbed it up and took it somewhere without putting a tag on it. I don't know. Either way we all thought it was pretty shitty that they kept circling the mountain and let my wife and I and all my buddies look for four hours and my wife and I with our seven year old daughter look for an extra two hours after that. :smiley_chain_gun_an:lynch mob:
The only thing that made that day better was that afternoon one of my buddies who helped me look for hours with his wife and two kids (who hasn't shot one for four years and helped me all the time) got a real nice 2x3 with extra big eye guards, too. That made the day all better and I was so happy for him I was punching and bear hugging him all up .:toast-yellow:
I told my wife that I think that God was getting me back and that I lost that buck because it was supposed to be hers but I shot it.
But I had to admit to her and my buddies with my forky and my 2x3 each mounted over the fireplace it just wouldn't have looked right if she had the 4x4 for her first buck. She still loves me and wouldn't have wanted those bragging rights anyway but she's still teasing me.
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