Well it didnt last as long as I would have liked , but it was a great time.
I had been scouting a pretty good track for a couple of months, never had laid eyes on the begger but had been monitoring his sign and had made few trips in his area to check for his routes and feeding areas.
I never got real agressive with my scouting as I did not want to take the chance of causing him to change locals on me, but had gotten a pretty good idea of his bedding and feeding area.
I did not get a chance to hunt on opening day due to other commitments, and Saturday started out really slow as well.
I have a good friend who is kind of a local mule deer hunting legend around these parts who has had a pretty rough year.
He had a bout with cancer and radiation and finally chemo , things were looking pretty good on that field when a few weeks ago he came down with double pneumonia.
He spent two weeks in the hospital and was feeling pretty low about life in general and deer hunting in particular.
I was staying at his place for my hunt as it was considerably closer to my unit,on friday eve he was trying to figure out how he could get out and hunt since he could only walk with a cane and was weaker than a sick kitten.
So I volunteered to take him saturday wich was the second day of my hunt. Not much we could do with him in his condition but I drove him around till about noon when he started to fade considerably and I took him back to the house .
He was feeling kinda bad that I had not gotten to even start my hunt yet as I only have a 10 day hunt in my unit.
I tried to tell him that I enjoyed BS'ing with him and seeing him up and around as much as I would shooting another mule deer, but I could tell he still felt bad for taking up my time.
I had decided to hunt a horse back this year and had adopted a mustang from the BLM a few months ago to make into a hunting horse for my desert hunts.
I train horses for additional income so he was coming along pretty well.
Well I jumped him in the trailer and headed out, an hour later I was unloading at the windmill where the buck I had been scouting had been watering. I was hoping that no one had beaten me to him yet ,but was pretty confident that he had already long ago turned nocturnal due to quail season opening in the area several weeks ago.
I figured that the road hunters would never see him and very few folks would be willing to really get up in the rough to go roust him out of his hidey hole.
I had previously determined a general location of his possible day time haunt and saddled up and started rimming out to higher country.
I glassed some cattle grazing right under the crest of the mountain range and determined that they were hunting greener grass up there for a reason ,so I just kept climbing their direction.
As luck would have it I jumped him out of his bed just below the crest of the mountain and he stopped for one last look back before topping over.
One shot in the shoulder at about 300 yards across a canyon and he slam dunked and skidded about 20 yards down the side of the ridge.
It took me better than an hour to get around the head of the canyon to where he was at and then I walked past him twice trying to find him in the fading light.
I finally did and then had to quarter him to load his big fat hide on my little mustang.
My mustang had never been packed on before and I about half expected to have my hands full to keep from loosing horse , deer and equipment on the backside of nowhere Az.
No worries mate! my little stud snorted a few times at the load and then came trailing along behind me like a lost pup looking for a friend.
I got back to the truck just before full dark and then spent about 30 minutes trying to get that dang horse loaded in the trailer again, oh well thats horses for ya.
Jim was still up when I returned all bloody and tossed and empty 06 shell in his lap, you should have seen his face light up when he realized that there was now a buck hanging in his barn again!
I think that signaled to him finally that deer season was once again playing, and he seemed to get some renewed enthusiasm for the game again.
So thats why I just now got back and reported, I spent the next couple of days out with him to see if we could get lucky on a road hunt.
We didnt, but that is no matter.
I talked to him on the phone tonight and he is feeling stronger and things seem to be looking up.
I f he hasent got one by this weekend I am going to go back and take him out again .
See if we cant hang another old desert mulie in that barn of his.
Take care and thanks for listening.
Craig.
I had been scouting a pretty good track for a couple of months, never had laid eyes on the begger but had been monitoring his sign and had made few trips in his area to check for his routes and feeding areas.
I never got real agressive with my scouting as I did not want to take the chance of causing him to change locals on me, but had gotten a pretty good idea of his bedding and feeding area.
I did not get a chance to hunt on opening day due to other commitments, and Saturday started out really slow as well.
I have a good friend who is kind of a local mule deer hunting legend around these parts who has had a pretty rough year.
He had a bout with cancer and radiation and finally chemo , things were looking pretty good on that field when a few weeks ago he came down with double pneumonia.
He spent two weeks in the hospital and was feeling pretty low about life in general and deer hunting in particular.
I was staying at his place for my hunt as it was considerably closer to my unit,on friday eve he was trying to figure out how he could get out and hunt since he could only walk with a cane and was weaker than a sick kitten.
So I volunteered to take him saturday wich was the second day of my hunt. Not much we could do with him in his condition but I drove him around till about noon when he started to fade considerably and I took him back to the house .
He was feeling kinda bad that I had not gotten to even start my hunt yet as I only have a 10 day hunt in my unit.
I tried to tell him that I enjoyed BS'ing with him and seeing him up and around as much as I would shooting another mule deer, but I could tell he still felt bad for taking up my time.
I had decided to hunt a horse back this year and had adopted a mustang from the BLM a few months ago to make into a hunting horse for my desert hunts.
I train horses for additional income so he was coming along pretty well.
Well I jumped him in the trailer and headed out, an hour later I was unloading at the windmill where the buck I had been scouting had been watering. I was hoping that no one had beaten me to him yet ,but was pretty confident that he had already long ago turned nocturnal due to quail season opening in the area several weeks ago.
I figured that the road hunters would never see him and very few folks would be willing to really get up in the rough to go roust him out of his hidey hole.
I had previously determined a general location of his possible day time haunt and saddled up and started rimming out to higher country.
I glassed some cattle grazing right under the crest of the mountain range and determined that they were hunting greener grass up there for a reason ,so I just kept climbing their direction.
As luck would have it I jumped him out of his bed just below the crest of the mountain and he stopped for one last look back before topping over.
One shot in the shoulder at about 300 yards across a canyon and he slam dunked and skidded about 20 yards down the side of the ridge.
It took me better than an hour to get around the head of the canyon to where he was at and then I walked past him twice trying to find him in the fading light.
I finally did and then had to quarter him to load his big fat hide on my little mustang.
My mustang had never been packed on before and I about half expected to have my hands full to keep from loosing horse , deer and equipment on the backside of nowhere Az.
No worries mate! my little stud snorted a few times at the load and then came trailing along behind me like a lost pup looking for a friend.
I got back to the truck just before full dark and then spent about 30 minutes trying to get that dang horse loaded in the trailer again, oh well thats horses for ya.
Jim was still up when I returned all bloody and tossed and empty 06 shell in his lap, you should have seen his face light up when he realized that there was now a buck hanging in his barn again!
I think that signaled to him finally that deer season was once again playing, and he seemed to get some renewed enthusiasm for the game again.
So thats why I just now got back and reported, I spent the next couple of days out with him to see if we could get lucky on a road hunt.
We didnt, but that is no matter.
I talked to him on the phone tonight and he is feeling stronger and things seem to be looking up.
I f he hasent got one by this weekend I am going to go back and take him out again .
See if we cant hang another old desert mulie in that barn of his.
Take care and thanks for listening.
Craig.