Post by azslim on Mar 31, 2010 16:53:06 GMT -5
Been a while since I have been around. Thought I would share a story with you folks from a January archery hunt.
I had a friend come out from Wisconsin, we met in Quantico in the Marine Corps 30+ years ago, and he got an education about desert mule deer. here is an excerpt from the email I sent out to some friends.
Well he didn't get a deer but he had a big boy sneak up on him - TWICE! If the deer had a gun or hard-on Joe was screwed. The blind we built wasn't in that great of a position, it was an old one that was too close and open but Joe only had 1 pin set at 30 yds on an old PSE so that dictated where it was built, but the scent lock gear and ghillie worked great. He had a big buck come into water about 30 mins after I left him, the buck noticed something, a new coffee table, so he didn't come right in but walked a circle, put the sun at his back and directly in Joe's face and Joe lost him. Next thing he knows the buck is 15 yds behind him staring at the new "coffee table" in the drinking area (more on coffee tables later). This buck tormented Joe for about an hour never giving him a shot then turned and walked away. I showed up around 11:00 and Joe was jazzed, I said since the buck didn't get a drink he would probably be back. That evening a doe came in to water and while watching her Joe heard footsteps behind him, next thing he knew the buck was about 15 feet away stamping his foot trying to get the new "coffee table" to move. Joe thinks it was his breathing that finally gave him away, he was pretty close to hyperventilating. End result is he never got a shot but he had one hell of an experience - it's the first time he ever had deer sneak up on him. Since his tag is good for a year and he now knows what is necessary to hunt the desert he will probably be back in Dec with a new bow that he can shoot out to 60 or 70 yds and multiple pins on his sights. We had a great time, tried the glassing gig the first couple days hiking high and checking the terrain with 15x bino's, since that wasn't panning out I then sat him on water the next 2.5 days and he saw deer every time but the last morning, and as we were driving out we kicked up 6 or 7 that were heading over towards the water so they were on their way.
Now about the "coffee table" analogy. Suppose you left for the day and while you were gone someone came into your house and added a new coffee table, you would notice it right away wouldn't you. These deer are totally aware of their surroundings so I try to put a blind 40 to 60 yds off water just like I was taught, anything closer is a "new coffee table". That is what Joe experienced, all the deer that came into water stared at him, some walked over and checked him out and generally tormented him......it was great! The blind wasn't good for killing deer but it was great for watching them.
If I remember the count he had about 13 - 15 deer show up, but only the one buck. Was a strange season, I glassed up several batches of does but they didn't have any bucks except for one group of 6 does and a forkhorn we drove up on the first evening in the unit. Introducing my friend to desert hunting was better than doing it myself. Even tho I had my bow with me the entire time I only took it out of the truck once during our hunt, not going the be the case when he comes back in Dec tho. And when I said "big boy", Joe figures the buck was as wide as his bow and real tall, my guess was a 180", maybe better. I had the same thing happen to me when my friend that taught me how to hunt desert deer put me in a blind the first time. I had a monster walk up and stare at me from 40 yds, I had a recurve and wouldn't shoot past 25 yds. I learned about "new coffee tables" then too, relied too much on my ghillie, they couldn't tell I was human but they knew I was something new as they walked circles around me out of range. It was then that I got addicted, I don't think there is a cure.
I had a friend come out from Wisconsin, we met in Quantico in the Marine Corps 30+ years ago, and he got an education about desert mule deer. here is an excerpt from the email I sent out to some friends.
Well he didn't get a deer but he had a big boy sneak up on him - TWICE! If the deer had a gun or hard-on Joe was screwed. The blind we built wasn't in that great of a position, it was an old one that was too close and open but Joe only had 1 pin set at 30 yds on an old PSE so that dictated where it was built, but the scent lock gear and ghillie worked great. He had a big buck come into water about 30 mins after I left him, the buck noticed something, a new coffee table, so he didn't come right in but walked a circle, put the sun at his back and directly in Joe's face and Joe lost him. Next thing he knows the buck is 15 yds behind him staring at the new "coffee table" in the drinking area (more on coffee tables later). This buck tormented Joe for about an hour never giving him a shot then turned and walked away. I showed up around 11:00 and Joe was jazzed, I said since the buck didn't get a drink he would probably be back. That evening a doe came in to water and while watching her Joe heard footsteps behind him, next thing he knew the buck was about 15 feet away stamping his foot trying to get the new "coffee table" to move. Joe thinks it was his breathing that finally gave him away, he was pretty close to hyperventilating. End result is he never got a shot but he had one hell of an experience - it's the first time he ever had deer sneak up on him. Since his tag is good for a year and he now knows what is necessary to hunt the desert he will probably be back in Dec with a new bow that he can shoot out to 60 or 70 yds and multiple pins on his sights. We had a great time, tried the glassing gig the first couple days hiking high and checking the terrain with 15x bino's, since that wasn't panning out I then sat him on water the next 2.5 days and he saw deer every time but the last morning, and as we were driving out we kicked up 6 or 7 that were heading over towards the water so they were on their way.
Now about the "coffee table" analogy. Suppose you left for the day and while you were gone someone came into your house and added a new coffee table, you would notice it right away wouldn't you. These deer are totally aware of their surroundings so I try to put a blind 40 to 60 yds off water just like I was taught, anything closer is a "new coffee table". That is what Joe experienced, all the deer that came into water stared at him, some walked over and checked him out and generally tormented him......it was great! The blind wasn't good for killing deer but it was great for watching them.
If I remember the count he had about 13 - 15 deer show up, but only the one buck. Was a strange season, I glassed up several batches of does but they didn't have any bucks except for one group of 6 does and a forkhorn we drove up on the first evening in the unit. Introducing my friend to desert hunting was better than doing it myself. Even tho I had my bow with me the entire time I only took it out of the truck once during our hunt, not going the be the case when he comes back in Dec tho. And when I said "big boy", Joe figures the buck was as wide as his bow and real tall, my guess was a 180", maybe better. I had the same thing happen to me when my friend that taught me how to hunt desert deer put me in a blind the first time. I had a monster walk up and stare at me from 40 yds, I had a recurve and wouldn't shoot past 25 yds. I learned about "new coffee tables" then too, relied too much on my ghillie, they couldn't tell I was human but they knew I was something new as they walked circles around me out of range. It was then that I got addicted, I don't think there is a cure.
