Columbia Basin Ranch Hunt Ends with a Bang

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were filled with mule deer, but we didn’t find a no-brainer. We did find lots of mule deer and a few whitetails.

I had the option of shooting a “trophy” buck or a management buck. Here’s a trophy quality buck  we observed and passed on.

This guy was a great buck, but not a no-brainer.Saw this buck a couple times, but just couldn't get motivated.

Am I crazy? No. I’ll come back for them next year or the year after.

Saw this buck a couple times, but just couldn't quite get motivated. Maybe I should have taken the shot.

This 2x2 was quite wide. Didn't get close to him.

In the morning of the last day, we found a big 3×3 that the rancher wanted taken out. We didn’t get a shot at him, but watched as he bred a doe. We decided to take a different tack on him, but he evaded us.

In the evening we came back and closed the deal as the sun set. Here he is – probably a mule deer-whitetail cross.

He qualified as a "management buck."

 

From 250 yards, I missed on my first shot, but he gave me a second try and he dropped. After a couple minutes, he got back to his feet. The third shot put him down again.

The bruiser was 23 wide and 19 high, a pretty good three point. I was happy and fulfilled by four days of mule deer watching. Taking home lots of venison. Couldn’t ask for more.

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BC Deer Hunt

BC was great, the deer were there and the hunting was good. Although I didn’t bring home a buck, I was impressed by the opportunity and also the bucks my friends Jeff and George bagged. The area was densely wooded except where fields had been created by clearing timber and those fields held both whitetail and mule deer.

The forest held mostly mule deer, which were very elusive, even during the rut. The fields were all on privately owned property and the deer there were easier to spot and probably easier to approach as well. Farming and ranch activities somewhat moderated their willingness to accept the presence of vehicles.

Here are photos of bucks taken on the trip. More later.

Jeff and his guide Corey with Jeff's whitetail

Jeff’s whitetail had a gross score over 160 B&C. He shot it from a tree stand while Corey rattled.

Jeff with the head and cape of his mule deer buck

Jeff’s muley had three points on each side, double eye guards, heavy horns, an outside width of 26 inches and a height of 21 inches. It was aged at about seven years old. The buck came to the sound of Corey’s rattling horns.

George "W." with his muley.

Seattle George took this buck during heavy rutting activity. It had typical muley antlers, a width of 23 inches and antler height of  18 inches. Jeff and George took these mule deer bucks within 100 yards of the same spot, two days apart.

I found a buck I would have shot, on the last day of the hunt, but despite huge outside dimensions, the buck was not legal. After the 20th of November, mule deer bucks must have four antler tines on each side and the buck I encountered on November 22nd was only three by two.

Light was poor and he was far away. Here’s the best photo I have. Our outfitter, Kiff Covert of Dome Creek Outfitters took good care of us and I recommend him highly.

This buck had great dimensions, but not enough antler tines.

Kiff has a better picture of this 3×2 and I intend to publish it in a later post. More BC info as I find time.

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Versatile Clothing Makes for a Light Pack

It’s always difficult packing enough clothing for a serious hunt without creating a huge burden.

On our recent D6 horse pack trip, I worked hard to keep clothing to a minimum. Having recently purchased some Sitka clothing, a 90%  jacket, 90% pants, suspenders and base layer, I made this the core of my daily clothes. I added a down vest and a windbreakers/rain suit. The result was quite effective for the weather on Sonora Pass during September.

Now I’m beginning to make preparations for my BC deer hunt in mid November. Once again I plan to use the Sitka gear as my core clothing. I’ve added thermal underwear, a pair of wool trousers and today I went to the Good Will Store and found a perfect fleece pull over. With the pull over, base layer, down vest, hooded rain/wind jacket and 90% jacket, I should be able to handle whatever BC has to offer. According to the weather records, the temps should vary from a low of 15 degrees to a high of about 40 degrees farenheit. These are great temperatures for deer hunting.

By adding a warm hat, neck gater and warm gloves, I can cover most any expected weather situation. This system will be luggage friendly and I won’t have to pack around huge amounts of clothing – a bugaboo for late season trips.

All I have left to cover is purchase of new boots with thinsulate insulation. I’ll probably purchase them from the nearby Red Wing Shoe Store, they’ve done well for me in the past. My current boots have no insulation and I want to keep my feet warm.

For the trip, I’ll pack my hunting clothes and wear jeans, shirt and a light jacket for traveling and in the airport. That will give me one set of clothing for travel and another for hunting. That’s enough for me.

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Montana, Land of Plenty for the Outdoorsman

Just back from a week in Montana. What a place. Here’s a snippit of what we saw.

We viewed Merriam turkeys and whitetail deer constantly from the porch.

 

Whitetails were present along the river while we fished and in town when we passed through.

 

These four bucks were watering at the river as we fished.

 

Left to right, Jerry (guide), myself, brother-law-Bill and Monte (guide)

 

We caught lots of smallmouth and some pike. The smally in the photo is three pounds, our largest. Fishing at Thompson Falls, we caught two others about that size and a zillion small bass. Largest fish caught was a five pound pike.

We spent the week with Flat Iron Outfitting, owned and operated by Ross Fratzke. He runs a hunting operation on about 3,000 acres of private ground for white-tails and elk. He also guides on the Lolo National Forrest for deer, bear and elk.

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When Wounded Hogs Charge

During the several years that I part timed as a pig guide, we killed about 25 to 30 wild boars. Several hunters came back for a second or even third time. One of those was Roger Fung. Roger was very excited about killing a big pig.

 

He was slight of stature, probably in the 150 pound range and he didn’t shoot a big rifle, but it was effective. He liked the 7 mm .08 because it didn’t knock him down and was pretty effective on pig-size game.

 

On his first trip we found a nice boar of about 200 pounds and he easily downed it. The boar appeared to be fairly old and had nice “choppers.”

 

About a year later Roger contacted me again and we arranged another hunt. This time we found a good pig about 8:00 AM. We spotted the large boar heading our way. We only had to move short distance down the ridge to intercept it at about 100 yards.

 

Roger dropped down into the prone position and the boar stopped broadside, presenting a perfect shot. At the sound of the shot, the pig dropped like a stone. As we congratulated each other, I was surprized to see the boar jump to its feet and run out of sight, down the ridge in front of us.

 

We immediately took off in hot pursuit. I angled off the ridge to my right and we dropped into the small canyon finding no sign of the pig. We did come face to face with another boar, but we were not interested. The first pig was much larger – plus it already had Roger’s bullet in it!

 

I was very surprised by the lack of sign and concluded that the boar must have turned after it went out of sight and dropped off the opposite side of the ridge. Sure enough, as we crossed over the top of the ridge, we spotted the boar lying on its side motionless, about 50 yards away.

 

As I didn’t carry a weapon of any type, I motioned to Roger to step in front of me as we approached the boar. I wasn’t convinced it was dead. Sure enough, at about 20 paces, the 350 pound barrel of pig jumped to its feet and ran directly towards us. Roger raised his rifle to his hip and let fly. The bullet pierced the pig’s left ear.

 

Fortunately the muzzle blast at 10 yards slowed the pig long enough for Roger to chamber a second round. This time he raised the rifle just as the pig moved forward for a final charge. The shot was pure and the big boar went down for good.

 

From that time on I carried either a 12-gauge shotgun or .44 magnum hand gun while guiding for wild pigs.

 

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