I’m writing this because I hope to learn more about deer hunting by reading your responses. Also, I just love to write … I don’t claim to be a good writer and this might be painfully long winded for some of you to read but I would sure appreciated any input from you guys that do manage to get through it.

At 53 years old, this is only my second season deer hunting. I’ve wanted to deer hunt since I was a child but I was a city boy with no men in the family that had ever hunted. I came here to alder.com in 2013 as a result of my decision to quit crying about not having any help and just do it … Have you ever helped a young boy learn to deer hunt? Did you like the feeling you got when he loved it? Well all of you that have helped me out should have that same feeling because even though I’m 53 I have wanted this all my life and I am absolutely in love with this sport. Much thanks to you all …

A month ago I sent a map of an area in Skyline WMA to a friend here on alder.com. On that map was a set of trails I had drawn and planned to scout. He knew the area well and helped me greatly by pinpointing some spots in the area where he had seen good success in the past. Giving up a good hunting spot to another hunter is, in my opinion, a very selfless act. I would have a difficult time giving up my honey holes and as a result I am very grateful for his help. I will honor his wishes and keep the location secret but it is fair to say that it happened on a mountain in NE Skyline WMA somewhere along the Little Coon Creek valley.

This particular spot is fairly remote, a place that few hunters are willing to go because it takes a good deal of physical effort to hunt. ATVs cannot reach this place and there is very little evidence of anyone hunting there on foot. I went up the first time on the Thursday preceding the previous gun hunt … the weekend that the bitter cold weather set in. The path up is pretty much a ravine cut by drainage over the years. I mapped out my planned path in Google Earth, marked 8 waypoints, and uploaded it all to my iPhone GPS app (Motion-X GPS). If I don’t get off course my path will run about 1300 yards with an elevation change of 900 ft. I camped at Little Coon camp that Thursday night and the temp dropped to sub-zero … thought I was gonna die at one point LOL. I got up at 3AM and went up the path that morning and the hike up was absolutely brutal. I got lost several times but finally found my spot after hiking 1800 yards, mostly in the thick. I’ve been up there 5 time now and it’s really not that bad of a hike for me in good weather but try it at 3AM in single digit temps and it’s a lot for my 53 year old heart to take. Add to that I was carrying a pack with 30+ lbs of gear …

This area is on a bench with a break formed by a small stream. The water in the stream pools up every 5 to 10 yards or so as it breaks up the bench. Deer often will stop there and drink from the pools as evidenced my masses of hoof prints and my own observations. On the upper side of the bench is an old rock slide and it rises steeply for a good 60-70 yards before leveling off. I went about 30 yards up to a point overlooking the first pool from about 50 yards. I wrapped two sheets of camo around 3 trees from the ground to about 20” up. Then I laid sticks cross hatched over the camo and tossed leaves on them to cover up the holes. I put my strap on seat on one of the trees and sat and waited. I had a pile of does pass through that day and I let them all go in hopes of getting a shot at my first buck. I had a nice 8 point buzz by but he was in heavy thick and gave me only 3 seconds or so to react. I didn’t know they would disappear as soon as the appeared … I figured I could watch him until I got a clear shot … not. I hunted that Saturday also but had no success. Anyway I went home empty handed for that hunt and resolved to go back on the final hunt. I just needed to plan better with my time and to whittle my gear load down. I also decided that if I could take a large doe I would do so next time. I’d passed on many and the season was running out … I needed to put some meat in my freezer.

In my quest to be thorough and safe I was carrying 30+ lbs of gear. I had to lower that weight if I wanted to continue hiking up there. The heavy gear not only took more strength to carry but it made me top heavy and messed with my balance on some of the tricky parts of the path. The first thing I did was to take a single bottle of water instead of 3 bottles and a bottle of Gatorade. That freed up a few pounds. Then I dropped the chest harness in my ‘death kit’ that I attach my drag line to. That freed up another pound or so. I tossed extra food, backup clothing, my strap on seat, extra knives, extra flashlights and batteries; the list goes on … I ended up getting my gear down to about 15 lbs which I feel is quite manageable. Most of that gear is clothing. I now hike up with light socks, a single pair of pants, and a long sleeve cotton shirt to soak up the sweat. When I get to the top I strip, put all the wet clothes in a plastic sack and seal it, then wipe down with unscented wipes … especially my hair. Then I layer up with UA cold gear, then merino wool, then camo pants or bibs and a coat. On top of that I wear one of those 3D leafy suits. This works really well for me.

On Friday of the final gun hunt I got back up to my spot around 11AM. I never saw a thing, doe or buck. In fact, I have not seen any action at all after 11 AM any of the 5 times I’ve been up there. On Saturday I woke up at 1:30 AM, got my gear and headed out. I started up at 3AM and got there right at 4AM so I had plenty of time to get setup. Overnight it had snowed and that snow covered up my little mini-blind up so nicely. I no longer had my strap on seat so I sat on the ground with my back up against a tree, looking over the top of the blind.



At first light I could hear all sorts of movement below me on both sides of the pool. My old eyes just couldn’t resolve any deer and by the time I could see they were gone. I eased back against the tree and about fell asleep when at 6:15 AM I heard a shot fired around 500 yards to my left. That woke me up and I stood, leaning up against that tree in my blind. I could hear the deer working again and I stood up next to that tree until 7:05 AM when I hear a group running my direction from the left. Just as I had hoped, they stopped at the 2nd pool in the break … about 60 yards from me. There were three of them, the largest of which was in the rear. The first one was broadside to me but covered by trees but she was quite small. The second one was larger but I never really got a shot on her. The third one, oh my … she looked like a freaking donkey she was so big. She broadsided me with a 4” tree covering up the back of her front elbow where I wanted to target. She didn’t move for several seconds as I stayed lined up on her neck. Finally she moved forward and started to turn down the creek. She was basically quartering away and in motion with the angle increasing fast. I knew if I didn’t take the shot I was going to go home empty handed and I had confidence in my shooting skills so I lined up on her lung cavity and squeezed off a shot. I learned a new term yesterday to describe this; a hard quartering shot. She and the rest of the herd bolted to the left and out of sight.



I sat down and waited for a good 15 minutes before I went to find her. When I reached the hit point it was covered with fur, bright red blood spatter, and some lung matter. I knew I’d made my shot, now I just had to find her. This was my 5th deer and all the others except one were DRT. That one ran into a thicket and I would never have found her on my own but NickC was with me and he found her in about 20 minutes. This would be my first experience tracking a deer and I was on my own with no cell service so … I started looking for a trail. I immediately found a blood trail that reached about 5 yards to the left. At that point there was a 2’ x 3’ pattern of blood spatter then nothing … As it turns out, the warm blood easily penetrated the light snow cover and I just couldn’t see it under the snow. I searched for a good hour and a half with no luck at all. I tried marking her initial line of travel with marker tape for 100 yards then scanning 10 yards to both sides of the line … nothing. I expanded my search area to 20 yards each side … nothing .

At this point I was really discouraged. Taking the life of an animal is not something I take lightly. I didn’t know what to do so I just knelt down and prayed for God to help me. I thanked Him for the kill and I told Him that I wanted to honor His gift to me, that I didn’t want to lose this animal. I explained that I was at a loss and discouraged and that I just needed a little sign or something to keep me going. About that time the sun came out and the snow started melting off rather quickly. Soon I found more blood about 10 yards from the end of the initial trail. As I followed the new blood trail through the thick I was amazed both at how much blood there was and how I could tell what the doe had been doing along the way. I could tell she was stopping and stumbling around. Where she’d stop I’d see bits of lung and blood spatter, where she’d stumble I’d see smeared blood on the sides of trees and on the ground. I finally found her on top of a mound smack dab in what I believe is a bedding area. She had run 60 to 70 yards from the hit point right into the absolute thickest patch of saplings and briars I’ve ever been in. My first thought was “Oh my what a big doe, she really does look like a small donkey”.

I was amazed at the entrance hole in her side. The bullet had blown a hole 2”-3” in diameter in her rib cage and had not exited. I was using my Tikka T3 Compact 308 with my own hand loads. The bullet was a Barnes TTSX 150g and I had used 47g of Varget to load it. I had expected to find a small entrance hole but it looked as if the bullet had vaporized the skin and rib cage. I was so relieved, I believe that if I take an animal then I have got to accept it as a gift and to be thankful for that gift. It would have disturbed me to no end if I had lost her. I knelt again and said a prayer of thanks for this beautiful animal.



Ok now what do I do? I am smack dab in the middle of the thickest of thick, a good 70 yards from the break/creek, and a good 100 yards from the path down the mountain. Dragging her to that path was not an option; the best I could do was to drag her to the creek and try to follow it down to the next bench then try to gain access to the path. I marked the spot, went back to my perch and gathered up my gear, and returned. I opened up my ‘death kit’ and get my dragging straps out, put one around my waist, noosed her neck, coupled the two together with carbineers, and started dragging her straight downhill to the creek. I spent the next hour and a half splitting briars and saplings apart with my bare hands and barely making 300 yards progress. At that point, thankfully, I reached my normal path. Finishing the next 1000 yards took another hour and a half and when I got to the road 900 ft below I was completely spent. Total dragging distance according to my GPS app was 1294 yards. I’m just glad I was in good shape.

I stopped by the self check in station at Little Coon camp and recorded the kill. Some nice young guys were there and took this picture … She looks like she was ridden hard and hung out wet but … then again so do I

Great story and congratulations

Congrats Rocket, A well earned trophy.

X2

congrats rocket! youve done a good job since I saw you first start posting in here asking about hunting. Sounds like youre shooting some deer too. Great job!

and great job sticking with the tracking and recovering her!

Great story Rocket. I'm happy for you

Good story Rocket. Congrats on the nannerhead.

Awesome story Rocket, enjoyed the read.
To me, the hunt makes the trophy, not the horns.
Great hunt, you've got one to be proud of.

Congrats and great read!

Thanks for posting, I have been following your progress!

just a matter of time and a chance meeting.

Great story Paul! Congrats on a big doe!

Very nice, I know the area you speak of and it is rough. Congrats!!

Good read and congrats on the doe!

Good story. Congratulations on the deer. It is hard to learn to hunt by yourself, but you are certainly getting it figured out.

Thanks for sharing your story.

Congrats! Great story.

Congratulations! Well earned trophy slick!

Good read Rocket and congrats on your big doe, at least your drag was all down hill.