My second child, a daughter, was born in mid-August this year, so I knew my hunting season was going to be pretty much a total loss. I bought a D16 tag though and figured I’d see if I could get a couple days in the field here and there. My daughter has turned out to be very chill and I negotiated one day a week of hunting for the local season. I had basically no expectations and told myself I’d shoot just about anything legal, which is not something I typically care to do.
On week one I hunted Halloween. I hunted an area that burned in the last couple of years. It was pretty much devoid of deer but I think it holds some promise for the future. Given my limited time, I had planned to hunt dark to dark on all of my days but since it was Halloween and I hadn’t found anything I headed home in the afternoon and went trick or treating with my son and a big group of our friends and kids.
On week two I hunted November 4. I hunted all morning and most of the day without seeing any deer. In the afternoon I moved spots and at about 430 I found a group of four deer with a very small buck. I couldn’t make him legal with my 15’s (lol) so I ran down to my truck and got my spotter. I could still see them from the truck so I sat down and got them in the spotter at around 550 yards. He had a little nubbin on his left antler that probably would have made him legal but I spent too much time trying to visualize it. I should have closed the distance and rechecked. With only ten minutes of light left I decided to let it be. I wasn’t very excited about shooting him anyway and with the fading light didn’t feel good about.
My next hunt day was November 12, I decided to move across the county. Drew @TRICER offered to hunt with me which was much appreciated. Between work, my young kids, his business obligations and all of his youth hunts we hardly ever get to hunt together so that was a lot of fun. We saw something like 12-15 deer. Mostly does, likely a buck or two but they were solidly on private so we didn’t spend any time evaluating them. We hunted till dark, had a great time, and put in a solid effort in a place I have a lot of history with and have hauled some bucks out of.
My week 4 hunt day was technically the 21st, however, my wife decided to go up north to see her parents and she took our daughter with her. I had our son but he goes to daycare 5 days a week, which meant that I would get a couple of bonus days, but I would lose the best morning hours due to daycare drop off. On the 17th I took my son to school then went straight to the airport to drop my wife and daughter off and then headed straight into the field. I didn’t get into the field until 11, and I had to leave by 3 to pick my son up from daycare at 5. 11-3 is probably the worst 4 hours you could pick to hunt for a day but I was enjoying just having the extra time to hunt. That day was uneventful. For the 18th I would have to do morning drop off but I arranged for my dad to pick up my son and do his whole evening routine. This would allow me to hunt until dark. I had my truck packed the night before and I got up early and got my son up a little early and got him to daycare by a little after 8. I blasted out to my spot and got on the glassing knob by 10. I was hunting an area I had been hunting but I chose to hunt from a glassing knob that I hadn’t tried yet but had been wanting to. The weather on the 18th was great, cloudy, highs in the 50’s with some light rain forecasted for the evening. There was nothing moving through the late morning and early afternoon. It was almost cold though and I felt the weather might help me. I knew I was down to my last days and I was really motivated to make something happen. Sometime after 2 some passing light showers started, nothing to serious. I hadn’t seen a deer and I was thinking of moving over to the spot I had seen the spork buck a few weeks prior. But I really liked my view and I felt strongly that there were deer in there so I decided to stick it out until dark. Just after 3 a shower ended and I glassed the opposing canyon wall and up near the top bedded under a sumac was a deer, and it was immediately obvious that it was a buck. All I could see was his white face. I quickly switched to my 15’s and confirmed there was antler above his ears as he moved his head while he looked around. I couldn’t tell exactly how good he was at that distance (around 3/4 mile) but I could tell he was a good buck. At this late stage in the game I really was not going to be picky. I quickly messaged my dad to let him know I was going to give it a try and that I might be late, and I texted Drew to let him know as well. Then I dropped off my glassing knob and started moving fast. As soon as I left my knob it started raining. My only option for a stalk was basically to walk right at him. He was cross-canyon and the only way for me to close the distance was to lose elevation. It began raining pretty hard, which ended up being to my benefit. It gave me some auditory cover to move and actually a pretty decent visual screen as well. I knew exactly where the buck was and I could see his white muzzle. When I got to 400 yards I glassed him freehand and watched him stand up. He was just milling around near his bed feeding, and probably waiting for dark before coming off the hill. At one point I saw him shake his coat and water exploded off of him in a big plume. I really slowed down and kept my eyes on him and took real slow steps as I dropped down into the canyon. When I got to 360 I stopped and got my tripod and glass out and took another look at him and confirmed he was a really nice 3x3 with good mass. I have been in dad mode and not shooting at all so I really wanted to get to at least 300 for my shot. So I slowly kept moving toward him and down hill until I got to a sumac and I glassed him freehand and saw that he was staring right at me. I ranged him and just my luck, he was exactly 300. It was still raining pretty good so I just very slowly rolled out of my pack and layed it down and extended my bipod to full height as I was now a few hundred feet below the buck. I slowly sat down and was able to lie back against the hill and lean my right shoulder into my pack and shoulder my rifle with the bipod supporting the front end. I was essentially lying down on the slope with my pack allowing me to adjust the angle of my torso perfectly. I settled in behind the scope and found that I was very steady. The only movement in the scope was the tick-tock of the crosshair back and forth with every heartbeat. The buck was still staring at me but I think the rain had provided enough cover that he really didn’t know what I was. During my stalk he had been perfectly broadside but he was now quartering to me and had his body slightly twisted to me and this position really compressed my view of his vitals. I really needed him to take a step to open up my view of his ribs. I waited, and waited, and waited and he just stood there watching. I ran through my options and decided I really didn’t want to take the shot in his current position. The rain had slowed some but continued and the light was fading. I started to feel like I wasn’t going to get my chance. I kept having to back out the magnification on the scope to give me more light. Finally he relaxed and took a step forward and now I could plainly see his front shoulder and ribs. I took a breath and squeezed the trigger.
[Find the buck]
My view of the buck instantly vanished in a massive vapor plume as the hot, wet air exited the barrel and met the cold air in the canyon. I had not expected anywhere near the rain that had occurred and hadn’t taped my barrel. I had been using a rifle cover but it had come off earlier in the stalk. It was as if I had just touched off a black powder rifle. I backed out the zoom on the scope and then quickly switched to binoculars and panned around, but could see nothing. I had maybe 8 or 10 minutes of usable light left and I chose to use that to at least get to where he was standing when I shot him. I dropped down the short remaining distance to the canyon bottom and then hustled up the other side, slipping a few times on the steep, wet grass and mud. I was able to find the exact spot he was standing, confirmed by his bed a few yards away. But, there was no blood, no roll path, no anything to suggest a deer had been hit. I took my pack off and marked it where the deer had been standing and started walking the obvious game trails first and then looking in less likely areas and all the while convincing myself that I had just missed and that I should get home to my son and relieve my dad from childcare duty. I had kept Drew informed of what had been going on and he called me to tell me he was coming out to help. I tried to argue with him a little that it was no use but he insisted and was convinced that I had killed the deer. And so I relented and kept doing loops and walking trails, never seeing a drop of blood or any sign of a hit. Drew showed up and we decided to look further to the north where there was a shallow gulley. Sure enough, about 75 yards from where I shot the deer, he was piled up half buried in the sage. The brush was so tall I couldn’t see him from 3 yards. You had to step into this little opening to see the deer, it was so steep he was suspended in a buckwheat bush above the slope below him. I completely lost it I was so happy. I very nearly walked off the mountain a couple of times completely convinced I had missed the deer, which in retrospect was silly. I had a rock-solid shooting platform and I know my rifle performs well at that distance. A good hunting partner will be there to talk some sense into you when you are cold, wet, hungry, dehydrated and not thinking straight.
There were a few things that threw me off in this specific situation. While it was raining, I don't think the amount of rain was enough to wash a blood trail away. The shot was perfect, I clipped the back of his right shoulder and the bullet exited just behind his ribs on the left side. Because I was shooting so severely up hill, the exit hole was quite high. That, combined with the path of the bullet opening up the abdominal cavity allowed all of the blood to pool in the abdominal cavity. Even where he was piled up there was almost no blood. Another thing is that nearly every animal I have shot with the 140 grain TTSX has just fallen over dead, like where it stood. So with that in mind along with no evidence of a wounded animal, I was really thrown off. Of course all of this started with not being able to see what happened after the shot… so tape your barrel if there is any chance of rain at all.
[As he lay]
[Disbelief]
[Angles]
[Do it right]
Drew helped me take the deer apart and we had some good laughs and then he helped with the packout and we parted ways. I got home around 1045 and thanked my dad profusely, got out of my soaking wet gear, took care of my rifle, threw a frozen pizza in the oven, got a hot shower and cracked a cold beer. Between out-of-state hunts, hunting other socal D zones, and a growing family, it has been a while since I shot a D16 buck. I'm pretty thrilled to have gotten this one on such limited time! I hope you all have a had a good season so far and I wish you luck in whatever you have planned for the remainder of the year.
[Get some friends that’ll help you find a buck on a cold rainy night]
[Merry Christmas SCH]
On week one I hunted Halloween. I hunted an area that burned in the last couple of years. It was pretty much devoid of deer but I think it holds some promise for the future. Given my limited time, I had planned to hunt dark to dark on all of my days but since it was Halloween and I hadn’t found anything I headed home in the afternoon and went trick or treating with my son and a big group of our friends and kids.
On week two I hunted November 4. I hunted all morning and most of the day without seeing any deer. In the afternoon I moved spots and at about 430 I found a group of four deer with a very small buck. I couldn’t make him legal with my 15’s (lol) so I ran down to my truck and got my spotter. I could still see them from the truck so I sat down and got them in the spotter at around 550 yards. He had a little nubbin on his left antler that probably would have made him legal but I spent too much time trying to visualize it. I should have closed the distance and rechecked. With only ten minutes of light left I decided to let it be. I wasn’t very excited about shooting him anyway and with the fading light didn’t feel good about.
My next hunt day was November 12, I decided to move across the county. Drew @TRICER offered to hunt with me which was much appreciated. Between work, my young kids, his business obligations and all of his youth hunts we hardly ever get to hunt together so that was a lot of fun. We saw something like 12-15 deer. Mostly does, likely a buck or two but they were solidly on private so we didn’t spend any time evaluating them. We hunted till dark, had a great time, and put in a solid effort in a place I have a lot of history with and have hauled some bucks out of.
My week 4 hunt day was technically the 21st, however, my wife decided to go up north to see her parents and she took our daughter with her. I had our son but he goes to daycare 5 days a week, which meant that I would get a couple of bonus days, but I would lose the best morning hours due to daycare drop off. On the 17th I took my son to school then went straight to the airport to drop my wife and daughter off and then headed straight into the field. I didn’t get into the field until 11, and I had to leave by 3 to pick my son up from daycare at 5. 11-3 is probably the worst 4 hours you could pick to hunt for a day but I was enjoying just having the extra time to hunt. That day was uneventful. For the 18th I would have to do morning drop off but I arranged for my dad to pick up my son and do his whole evening routine. This would allow me to hunt until dark. I had my truck packed the night before and I got up early and got my son up a little early and got him to daycare by a little after 8. I blasted out to my spot and got on the glassing knob by 10. I was hunting an area I had been hunting but I chose to hunt from a glassing knob that I hadn’t tried yet but had been wanting to. The weather on the 18th was great, cloudy, highs in the 50’s with some light rain forecasted for the evening. There was nothing moving through the late morning and early afternoon. It was almost cold though and I felt the weather might help me. I knew I was down to my last days and I was really motivated to make something happen. Sometime after 2 some passing light showers started, nothing to serious. I hadn’t seen a deer and I was thinking of moving over to the spot I had seen the spork buck a few weeks prior. But I really liked my view and I felt strongly that there were deer in there so I decided to stick it out until dark. Just after 3 a shower ended and I glassed the opposing canyon wall and up near the top bedded under a sumac was a deer, and it was immediately obvious that it was a buck. All I could see was his white face. I quickly switched to my 15’s and confirmed there was antler above his ears as he moved his head while he looked around. I couldn’t tell exactly how good he was at that distance (around 3/4 mile) but I could tell he was a good buck. At this late stage in the game I really was not going to be picky. I quickly messaged my dad to let him know I was going to give it a try and that I might be late, and I texted Drew to let him know as well. Then I dropped off my glassing knob and started moving fast. As soon as I left my knob it started raining. My only option for a stalk was basically to walk right at him. He was cross-canyon and the only way for me to close the distance was to lose elevation. It began raining pretty hard, which ended up being to my benefit. It gave me some auditory cover to move and actually a pretty decent visual screen as well. I knew exactly where the buck was and I could see his white muzzle. When I got to 400 yards I glassed him freehand and watched him stand up. He was just milling around near his bed feeding, and probably waiting for dark before coming off the hill. At one point I saw him shake his coat and water exploded off of him in a big plume. I really slowed down and kept my eyes on him and took real slow steps as I dropped down into the canyon. When I got to 360 I stopped and got my tripod and glass out and took another look at him and confirmed he was a really nice 3x3 with good mass. I have been in dad mode and not shooting at all so I really wanted to get to at least 300 for my shot. So I slowly kept moving toward him and down hill until I got to a sumac and I glassed him freehand and saw that he was staring right at me. I ranged him and just my luck, he was exactly 300. It was still raining pretty good so I just very slowly rolled out of my pack and layed it down and extended my bipod to full height as I was now a few hundred feet below the buck. I slowly sat down and was able to lie back against the hill and lean my right shoulder into my pack and shoulder my rifle with the bipod supporting the front end. I was essentially lying down on the slope with my pack allowing me to adjust the angle of my torso perfectly. I settled in behind the scope and found that I was very steady. The only movement in the scope was the tick-tock of the crosshair back and forth with every heartbeat. The buck was still staring at me but I think the rain had provided enough cover that he really didn’t know what I was. During my stalk he had been perfectly broadside but he was now quartering to me and had his body slightly twisted to me and this position really compressed my view of his vitals. I really needed him to take a step to open up my view of his ribs. I waited, and waited, and waited and he just stood there watching. I ran through my options and decided I really didn’t want to take the shot in his current position. The rain had slowed some but continued and the light was fading. I started to feel like I wasn’t going to get my chance. I kept having to back out the magnification on the scope to give me more light. Finally he relaxed and took a step forward and now I could plainly see his front shoulder and ribs. I took a breath and squeezed the trigger.
[Find the buck]
My view of the buck instantly vanished in a massive vapor plume as the hot, wet air exited the barrel and met the cold air in the canyon. I had not expected anywhere near the rain that had occurred and hadn’t taped my barrel. I had been using a rifle cover but it had come off earlier in the stalk. It was as if I had just touched off a black powder rifle. I backed out the zoom on the scope and then quickly switched to binoculars and panned around, but could see nothing. I had maybe 8 or 10 minutes of usable light left and I chose to use that to at least get to where he was standing when I shot him. I dropped down the short remaining distance to the canyon bottom and then hustled up the other side, slipping a few times on the steep, wet grass and mud. I was able to find the exact spot he was standing, confirmed by his bed a few yards away. But, there was no blood, no roll path, no anything to suggest a deer had been hit. I took my pack off and marked it where the deer had been standing and started walking the obvious game trails first and then looking in less likely areas and all the while convincing myself that I had just missed and that I should get home to my son and relieve my dad from childcare duty. I had kept Drew informed of what had been going on and he called me to tell me he was coming out to help. I tried to argue with him a little that it was no use but he insisted and was convinced that I had killed the deer. And so I relented and kept doing loops and walking trails, never seeing a drop of blood or any sign of a hit. Drew showed up and we decided to look further to the north where there was a shallow gulley. Sure enough, about 75 yards from where I shot the deer, he was piled up half buried in the sage. The brush was so tall I couldn’t see him from 3 yards. You had to step into this little opening to see the deer, it was so steep he was suspended in a buckwheat bush above the slope below him. I completely lost it I was so happy. I very nearly walked off the mountain a couple of times completely convinced I had missed the deer, which in retrospect was silly. I had a rock-solid shooting platform and I know my rifle performs well at that distance. A good hunting partner will be there to talk some sense into you when you are cold, wet, hungry, dehydrated and not thinking straight.
There were a few things that threw me off in this specific situation. While it was raining, I don't think the amount of rain was enough to wash a blood trail away. The shot was perfect, I clipped the back of his right shoulder and the bullet exited just behind his ribs on the left side. Because I was shooting so severely up hill, the exit hole was quite high. That, combined with the path of the bullet opening up the abdominal cavity allowed all of the blood to pool in the abdominal cavity. Even where he was piled up there was almost no blood. Another thing is that nearly every animal I have shot with the 140 grain TTSX has just fallen over dead, like where it stood. So with that in mind along with no evidence of a wounded animal, I was really thrown off. Of course all of this started with not being able to see what happened after the shot… so tape your barrel if there is any chance of rain at all.
[As he lay]
[Disbelief]
[Angles]
[Do it right]
Drew helped me take the deer apart and we had some good laughs and then he helped with the packout and we parted ways. I got home around 1045 and thanked my dad profusely, got out of my soaking wet gear, took care of my rifle, threw a frozen pizza in the oven, got a hot shower and cracked a cold beer. Between out-of-state hunts, hunting other socal D zones, and a growing family, it has been a while since I shot a D16 buck. I'm pretty thrilled to have gotten this one on such limited time! I hope you all have a had a good season so far and I wish you luck in whatever you have planned for the remainder of the year.
[Get some friends that’ll help you find a buck on a cold rainy night]
[Merry Christmas SCH]
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