Went out this weekend to get my feet on the ground. Learned a lot.
I was a little to ambitious with my plan on checking water sources. Moving up and down those contour lines on foot is way different than drawing lines on a map. Not to mention there are no straight lines in the bush, off trail.
I didn't see as many rattlers as I thought we would. we did come across one on the way out. I saw his tail sticking out of a bush. we stopped he went in the bush and rattled so we gave him plenty of space.
Saw a good amount of lion sign. Prints, scat, When we were pretty far in we walked right through a kill site. I didn't even notice, then my buddy stopped me. We were standing in the middle of fawn pieces. Somewhat old probably a few weeks. no blood 2 foot patch of hide with hair, a chewed up leg. bottom of a skull. gave us the creeps we walked out of there watching our backs a little more.
Another thing that gave me the creeps is we came across an inactive grow site. saw enough of it from were we where at, didn't want to go in. Dropped a pin and reported it when we got back.
Got to see some deer sign, old droppings and some tracks. We should have done way more looking/glassing and less walking. Funny thing is, the more we walked in the less deer sign we saw. Should have been a clue then, that we didn't need to keep going in. We didn't see any deer while we were out. .... until we were getting closer to the truck. We were not being quiet just strolling along bs.ing then bang! we kick up a buck like 30 yards away. we freeze... he slowly walks up a hill away from us listening and sniffing. the wind was blowing his way too. I was able to get glass on him when he was about 180 yards away. Big bodied Spike or just about to become a fork. There was another behind a bush uphill I could not make out doe or buck. I'm guessing another young buck. maybe a bachelor pair of yearlings. That one just froze and did not move.
It was fun. i'm already planning on when to get out there again.
I was a little to ambitious with my plan on checking water sources. Moving up and down those contour lines on foot is way different than drawing lines on a map. Not to mention there are no straight lines in the bush, off trail.
I didn't see as many rattlers as I thought we would. we did come across one on the way out. I saw his tail sticking out of a bush. we stopped he went in the bush and rattled so we gave him plenty of space.
Saw a good amount of lion sign. Prints, scat, When we were pretty far in we walked right through a kill site. I didn't even notice, then my buddy stopped me. We were standing in the middle of fawn pieces. Somewhat old probably a few weeks. no blood 2 foot patch of hide with hair, a chewed up leg. bottom of a skull. gave us the creeps we walked out of there watching our backs a little more.
Another thing that gave me the creeps is we came across an inactive grow site. saw enough of it from were we where at, didn't want to go in. Dropped a pin and reported it when we got back.
Got to see some deer sign, old droppings and some tracks. We should have done way more looking/glassing and less walking. Funny thing is, the more we walked in the less deer sign we saw. Should have been a clue then, that we didn't need to keep going in. We didn't see any deer while we were out. .... until we were getting closer to the truck. We were not being quiet just strolling along bs.ing then bang! we kick up a buck like 30 yards away. we freeze... he slowly walks up a hill away from us listening and sniffing. the wind was blowing his way too. I was able to get glass on him when he was about 180 yards away. Big bodied Spike or just about to become a fork. There was another behind a bush uphill I could not make out doe or buck. I'm guessing another young buck. maybe a bachelor pair of yearlings. That one just froze and did not move.
It was fun. i'm already planning on when to get out there again.
