Just got back from the OR-NV border on a 4-day mule deer hunt. After my successful antelope hunt back in August I was eager to get out there and hunt again. Unfortunately I discovered deer are a lot harder to hunt and I wasn't successful, but I learned a lot of lessons below. Larry post coming up
Day 1 - I made the 14-hour drive to my unit, but by the time I took the circuitous route and rough road to get to my hunting spot, it was closer to 18 hours. My Plan A to get to my glassing knob fell apart because the road turned into an ATV road that beat up the truck. Thanks to wise advice from guys on this forum I made several backup plans, so I went to Plan B and circled around to another spot to make it to the high ground. I was able to hike in a good distance, but my plan to backpack up to the peak went out the window when the snow on the ground made any further approach impracticable. I was able to find an alternative glassing knob but didn't turn up anything. I also found out my "10F"-rated quilt is BS and I was freezing my tail off in the night at 20F. The Sea to Summit Sleeping Bag Liner that supposedly adds "14F" of insulation is also baloney.
Lessons learned from day one:
-Don't underestimate the amount of time needed to drive to my hunting grounds
-Don't put too much faith in the temperature rating of sleeping bags
-Think of liners as keeping your bag clean rather than adding any insulating value
-Even though I monitored the weather and saw no snow in the forecast, I should've checked historic weather so I would've known to expect snow on the ground
Day 2 - I stayed in the same area and did some more glassing. I saw some deer tracks which was a good sign. During my glassing session I saw a doe skyline herself at the top of the mountain, and the group disappeared over the ridge. Getting up there would be a tremendous effort, but I shortly glassed up another group of does that was at a reasonable distance. I kept eyes on them for half the day, but no buck showed itself. I would scan more of the mountain, then return to the spot where the does were to make sure they were still there. This is when I learned how easy it is to miss game: Even though I knew exactly where these does were, it would take my eyes sometimes up to a minute to see their shape amongst the rocks. My Plan C was quite a distance away, but I eventually got restless and made the long trek to my Plan C spot to see if I could find something better. It turned out to be completely desolate, and I found myself wishing I stayed with the does.
Lessons learned from day two:
-My backup waypoints looked nice on a map when e-scouting, but the actual commitment to jump between them can be a big investment of time and energy
-Be more patient next time I spot does instead of jumping somewhere else in hopes of something better
Day 3 - Now I was extremely far from my initial two spots, so I decided to check out other spots I had marked when e-scouting. These spots turned out to have some big country, but I went for it anyway and put the 10x binoculars on a tripod. Not sure if there was any game out there, but I definitely felt like the 10x's were inadequate and there were probably a dozen times when I wanted a closer look at something but was unable to. I found myself not even glassing the distant country because it was hopeless. I even tried the @HATCHET1 method and did some truck glassing, it didn't yield better results but admittedly was much more comfortable.
Lessons learned from day three:
-Invest in bigger optics to pair with my 10x binos
-Get a comfortable pillow for the truck so I can take a nap with the heater on
Day 4 - I was considering making the drive back to my initial spots since I at least saw does there, but there was a storm coming in and didn't want to get stuck up there. I stopped by the local town to refuel and met a couple of locals that told me where they saw bucks. I was losing motivation and running out of ideas, so I checked out their spots but no luck. There were a few roads I wish I could've taken but my truck didn't have enough clearance. I talked to another hunter and he said he was going to wait out the storm and look for bucks right after. I was jealous because I had to go home in the morning, wishing I planned more time for the trip.
Lessons learned from day four:
-Budget more time for my next out-of-state hunt, I'm already investing a lot of money and effort to get up there so I don't want to be limited by time
-Look into getting a better-equipped vehicle next season, I hated having to turn around several times.
So that's about it, I had a good time and saw some nice country. Already thinking about next year.
.
Day 1 - I made the 14-hour drive to my unit, but by the time I took the circuitous route and rough road to get to my hunting spot, it was closer to 18 hours. My Plan A to get to my glassing knob fell apart because the road turned into an ATV road that beat up the truck. Thanks to wise advice from guys on this forum I made several backup plans, so I went to Plan B and circled around to another spot to make it to the high ground. I was able to hike in a good distance, but my plan to backpack up to the peak went out the window when the snow on the ground made any further approach impracticable. I was able to find an alternative glassing knob but didn't turn up anything. I also found out my "10F"-rated quilt is BS and I was freezing my tail off in the night at 20F. The Sea to Summit Sleeping Bag Liner that supposedly adds "14F" of insulation is also baloney.
Lessons learned from day one:
-Don't underestimate the amount of time needed to drive to my hunting grounds
-Don't put too much faith in the temperature rating of sleeping bags
-Think of liners as keeping your bag clean rather than adding any insulating value
-Even though I monitored the weather and saw no snow in the forecast, I should've checked historic weather so I would've known to expect snow on the ground
Day 2 - I stayed in the same area and did some more glassing. I saw some deer tracks which was a good sign. During my glassing session I saw a doe skyline herself at the top of the mountain, and the group disappeared over the ridge. Getting up there would be a tremendous effort, but I shortly glassed up another group of does that was at a reasonable distance. I kept eyes on them for half the day, but no buck showed itself. I would scan more of the mountain, then return to the spot where the does were to make sure they were still there. This is when I learned how easy it is to miss game: Even though I knew exactly where these does were, it would take my eyes sometimes up to a minute to see their shape amongst the rocks. My Plan C was quite a distance away, but I eventually got restless and made the long trek to my Plan C spot to see if I could find something better. It turned out to be completely desolate, and I found myself wishing I stayed with the does.
Lessons learned from day two:
-My backup waypoints looked nice on a map when e-scouting, but the actual commitment to jump between them can be a big investment of time and energy
-Be more patient next time I spot does instead of jumping somewhere else in hopes of something better
Day 3 - Now I was extremely far from my initial two spots, so I decided to check out other spots I had marked when e-scouting. These spots turned out to have some big country, but I went for it anyway and put the 10x binoculars on a tripod. Not sure if there was any game out there, but I definitely felt like the 10x's were inadequate and there were probably a dozen times when I wanted a closer look at something but was unable to. I found myself not even glassing the distant country because it was hopeless. I even tried the @HATCHET1 method and did some truck glassing, it didn't yield better results but admittedly was much more comfortable.
Lessons learned from day three:
-Invest in bigger optics to pair with my 10x binos
-Get a comfortable pillow for the truck so I can take a nap with the heater on
Day 4 - I was considering making the drive back to my initial spots since I at least saw does there, but there was a storm coming in and didn't want to get stuck up there. I stopped by the local town to refuel and met a couple of locals that told me where they saw bucks. I was losing motivation and running out of ideas, so I checked out their spots but no luck. There were a few roads I wish I could've taken but my truck didn't have enough clearance. I talked to another hunter and he said he was going to wait out the storm and look for bucks right after. I was jealous because I had to go home in the morning, wishing I planned more time for the trip.
Lessons learned from day four:
-Budget more time for my next out-of-state hunt, I'm already investing a lot of money and effort to get up there so I don't want to be limited by time
-Look into getting a better-equipped vehicle next season, I hated having to turn around several times.
So that's about it, I had a good time and saw some nice country. Already thinking about next year.
.
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