Sorry for the long read... I decided to give D16 a try this year. This was my first deer hunt ever (I had previously hunted doe antelope) and also my first solo hunt. After scouting over the spring and summer (and never seeing a deer) and spending A LOT of time studying OnX maps and google earth, I picked a location and just went for it. I spent Friday scouting the area to see if there were any fresh signs of life, to pick a spot to post up Saturday morning, and to leave an OnX breadcrumb trail so I could find my way there in the dark. I didn't see any deer on Friday, but saw some good evidence of recent deer in the area. I had no idea what to expect in terms of the number of hunters that would be there Saturday morning so I started my hike in around 4:30 AM. There were already other hunters on the trail. Fortunately for me, when I veered off the main trail onto a side trail, most others kept going straight. After hiking the rest of the way in to my spot and climbing up to my preselected perch in the rocks on a ridge, it was interesting to watch the ridge lines around me as the other hunters worked there way towards their lookout locations. I was pleasantly surprised that the nearest head lights I saw were on ridge lines that were about 1200 yards away from me. Not nearly as crowded as I had feared. I figured opening weekend would be a good opportunity for me to learn from others how to hunt the area, so my hopes were not very high for my own success but I knew it would be a valuable learning experience that I could apply when I came back later in the season mid-week.
After several hours of daylight and not seeing any action, I was beginning to question my strategy of just sitting rather than stalking but I was confident enough in the location I had selected that I decided to stick with it. Then, at 9:30 AM, a deer came down the closer of two draws that merged directly in front of me. Unfortunately, he saw me at the same time I saw him, and I was sitting up in my glassing position and couldn't get down on my gun without likely spooking him. The stare down contest was on. He was perfectly broadside for an easy shot if I could only get down on my gun. I slowly inched my binoculars up to my eyes to confirm he was a buck and was at least a forky. Since he was staring straight at me, I couldn't tell even with binoculars whether he had forks. After a couple of minutes, something distracted him he glanced away for just long enough for me to confirm he was legal. He was a little smaller than I was hoping for (but I really had no idea what I should be expecting since this was the first deer I had ever seen in person in D16), but I figured this was likely going to be my only chance. I very slowly lowered my binoculars as we continued our staring contest. By this time, I figured he was just going to run once he stopped staring at me and I would never get a shot off. But I decided I would just enjoy watching him since I was certain that the motion of getting down on my gun would cause him to run. He started huffing at me, letting out 3 loud blows. He startled the birds, but I never moved an inch. This was cool ... I had never seen anything like this. He was stamping his hoof like a bull and even turned head on to me and made a short charge of only a few feet. He didn't like me and I think he wanted me to move and was doing everything he could to figure out what I was up to. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he suddenly lost interest in me and quickly turned directly away from me and took a few steps. I immediately slid down on my rifle, and the noise caused him to turn back nearly broadside to see what I was doing. That's all it took and this little fellow was down. Double lung shot (unfortunately disintegrated the heart too so didn't get to harvest that wonderful piece of meat). He only made it about 20 yards and was down for the count. I had never gutted a big game animal entirely on my own and had never skinned and quartered an animal on the ground, but there is first time for everything so I just dove in. It sure helped that I had a good teacher during my antelope hunts. It all went about as smoothly as I could have hoped for. Two trips to my Bronco and back and the venison was in the ice chest and I was headed home. As an added benefit, I met a great group of guys that have been hunting that area for the past 15+ years. There were very friendly and they shared a lot about hunting the area. I could not have asked for a better first-time CA deer hunting experience. I spent a good portion of today butchering the meat down the rest of the way. I got a lot of meat out of this little guy and my freezer is now completely full of venison and antelope. Sorry for the poor image, but it was hard enough getting this photo since I was alone.
After several hours of daylight and not seeing any action, I was beginning to question my strategy of just sitting rather than stalking but I was confident enough in the location I had selected that I decided to stick with it. Then, at 9:30 AM, a deer came down the closer of two draws that merged directly in front of me. Unfortunately, he saw me at the same time I saw him, and I was sitting up in my glassing position and couldn't get down on my gun without likely spooking him. The stare down contest was on. He was perfectly broadside for an easy shot if I could only get down on my gun. I slowly inched my binoculars up to my eyes to confirm he was a buck and was at least a forky. Since he was staring straight at me, I couldn't tell even with binoculars whether he had forks. After a couple of minutes, something distracted him he glanced away for just long enough for me to confirm he was legal. He was a little smaller than I was hoping for (but I really had no idea what I should be expecting since this was the first deer I had ever seen in person in D16), but I figured this was likely going to be my only chance. I very slowly lowered my binoculars as we continued our staring contest. By this time, I figured he was just going to run once he stopped staring at me and I would never get a shot off. But I decided I would just enjoy watching him since I was certain that the motion of getting down on my gun would cause him to run. He started huffing at me, letting out 3 loud blows. He startled the birds, but I never moved an inch. This was cool ... I had never seen anything like this. He was stamping his hoof like a bull and even turned head on to me and made a short charge of only a few feet. He didn't like me and I think he wanted me to move and was doing everything he could to figure out what I was up to. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he suddenly lost interest in me and quickly turned directly away from me and took a few steps. I immediately slid down on my rifle, and the noise caused him to turn back nearly broadside to see what I was doing. That's all it took and this little fellow was down. Double lung shot (unfortunately disintegrated the heart too so didn't get to harvest that wonderful piece of meat). He only made it about 20 yards and was down for the count. I had never gutted a big game animal entirely on my own and had never skinned and quartered an animal on the ground, but there is first time for everything so I just dove in. It sure helped that I had a good teacher during my antelope hunts. It all went about as smoothly as I could have hoped for. Two trips to my Bronco and back and the venison was in the ice chest and I was headed home. As an added benefit, I met a great group of guys that have been hunting that area for the past 15+ years. There were very friendly and they shared a lot about hunting the area. I could not have asked for a better first-time CA deer hunting experience. I spent a good portion of today butchering the meat down the rest of the way. I got a lot of meat out of this little guy and my freezer is now completely full of venison and antelope. Sorry for the poor image, but it was hard enough getting this photo since I was alone.
