In the last few days we have been having a snow fall warning for the whole area. And since it had snowed a good couple of inches over night we decided to go out and see if we could find some whitetail or mule deer.
We got the kids packed up and ready for a whole day out and about and brought the puppy (sitka) along. We put Sitkas jacket on him so he would stay warm in the box of the truck, the temperature only got up to 0. Kyle is trying to train him to be a hunting dog and to see how well he tracks blood. We left town at about 11:30 am and planned to be out until after dark (7:00 pm).
While we were driving down one of the main back roads we spotted 3 deer in the back of a clearing so we stopped. I jumped out, got my bow ready and started to head in after them. They weren't at all concerned about me, not until I got about 80 yards from them. I had my range finder with me and was using it as binoculars. I sat for a little bit and watched them. I decided to watch them and figure out which one the fawn belonged to. There were two does and a fawn, one doe was younger then the other. I watched them for about 10 minutes and figured out the fawn belonged to the older doe, so I set my sights on the other. She was much more jumpy then the mother, as was the fawn. But the mother didn't really take the fawns reactions into account. The doe I was after never stood still, she was back and forth, walking away then coming back, and the mother and fawn were in between us. Momma knew I was there but she wasn't worried...until I got within 40 yards of them and started circling behind them to get to the other doe. I'd take 2 steps then she would watch me, and it continued like that until the baby bounded away and momma slowly walked away from me...taking my doe with them. So I headed back to the road and back to the truck.
We seen many animals. Bald eagle, tons of elk (2 of which were legal bulls, 3 days after season ended), golden eagle, skunk, grizzly, redtail hawk, and tons of whitetails (most were does with fawns). We also found an area where a pack of wolves were running. Their tracks were all over the place and you could see where they had been sleeping. This got Kyle excited, we had decided this winter we were going to try some wolf hunting. Kyle went for a walk to look out over a lake to see if any were running around while I stayed with the kids. Pheonix was asking me what daddy was doing and when I told her he was looking to see if he could see a wolf she got excited and asked if she could shoot one when she got bigger. I think we will have a little hunter on our hands!
After a while we decided to go up a road nobody had been on. It was a long road. Finally we crept up to a landing that had fresh deer tracks on it. So Kyle and I jumped out with our bows and told the kids to sit and watch their movie and we would be right back. We walked up onto the landing and checked out the tracks, it was timber all around the old landing. We looked up the hill to where the tracks led and seen a deer disappearing through the timber. We decided to follow since we figured the deer didn't know we were there. There was absolutely no wind, which was nice because earlier it had a nasty bite. We quietly stalked up after it. About half way up the big hill, it caught sight of us and stopped, we got a good look at her then at 40 yards. Big mature doe, without a fawn. She was alone. She stood and watched us, she was more curious then scared. So I got my bow ready and started walking away from kyle to the left so I could get a clear shot. While I was walking, Kyle started to talk to her and it caught her attention. She was listening to him but watching me. I pulled back and settled my pin on her and let the calm run over me. I released. I seen where the arrow entered and her mule kick. It went through her and she took off. I listened and heard her crash. So Kyle and I hiked up to where she was standing and retrieved my arrow and found her trail. We tried to get Sitka to follow the trail but he couldn't put 2 and 2 together, it was his first time. She had ran straight across the hill, only 20 yards away. After 4 years of bowhunting and never able to harvest anything, I finally got my deer! It was well worth the hard work and long wait. 
We dragged her down to the landing through all the brush. As we were dragging her the Korelian was coming out in Sitka. He was jumping at her and nipping at her. He was excited. As we were heading through all the brush you could hear Pheonix cheering from the truck. We got to the landing and Kyle brought the truck up and let the kids out. Pheonix was very excited. Easton was leery of the deer. We got some pictures and Easton wanted to sit with me but he didn't know about the deer. After the pictures, the kids were happy to play in the snow and Pheonix would come help with the deer. Once we were done, we got everybody back in the truck and started to head out. We had about 1 hour left of light so we hunted the way out, hoping maybe Kyle would get lucky. He pulled a couple stalks but nothing. It was a great day spent as a family, and thankfully we were lucky enough to harvest a deer.
Nikita
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