Pheonix's First Deer

Friday! The start of the weekend. Work is done, school is out and we are scrambling to get our hunting gear together and into the truck so we have time to hunt. The sun sets at 7pm now and is black out by 7:30, so it doesn't leave a lot of time to get everything together and to get out.

We managed to get everything done and horse fed by 4:30 and we were hunting by 5. Doe season had opened up on the 10th of this month for everyone. On the way out I was telling Pheonix she had the rest of season to shoot a doe and a buck, October 10-31 was doe for everyone, and youth had a doe season Nov 1- 30 and general buck season went until the 30th of November. She had passed up so many spike bucks since September 1st, I wasn't sure she would be wanting to shoot a doe as her first deer. We have been hunting for this one big buck we have seen 4 times now and she has had a chance at twice. So I was a bit surprised when she said she was willing to shoot a doe.

Right off the get go we found a deer, from a distance it looked like a doe but as got closer you could see it was a little button buck so we continued on. We came upon a lone doe after that, she wasn't concerned about us and was just kind of milling around. I asked her if she wanted that one and she asked my thoughts on it. I told her she was a young doe and that was all she needed to hear- she wanted to pass. Onward we went. After that every doe we found had fawns with her. But it was a beautiful evening and we were having a good time. She wanted to go into the area where the buck hangs out. I told her we wouldn't see him because we are going in to early- she was ok with that. Now I drive a half ton truck and this road is basically a rough quad trail, I don't really like taking my truck in there because I have poor tires for the type of terrain I have to drive through but we took it slow and my truck made it in one piece lol. 7 o'clock hit and I told her that we didn't have much light left for hunting, so if we seen a deer and she wanted to take it, she would need to move a little faster getting set up than she usually does. Shortly after I said that she says deer! So I stop and look with my binoculars. A doe- I scanned the clearing looking for any sign of another deer with her and there was nothing to be found, so I drove the truck up a little farther and parked it. We jumped out and walked the fence line back to where we seen the deer. We got there and the doe was still there feeding. So Pheonix tried to set up using the fence as a rest- didn't work. It was either to high or too low for her. So we set up the shooting sticks aka my trekking poles strapped together. She goes mom they are to low, so I reset them and she was good. I sat watching the doe in my binos. Now she has missed 2 bucks this season already, so I was hoping she wouldn't have a threepeat. The doe was in a massive clearing up on a steep hill and Pheonix was shooting off her knees because that's the most comfortable position for her- so the shot was a steep one and more difficult than the two misses earlier. It didn't take her long to find her in her scope and after a minute- boom. I watched the doe run about 10 yards then stop and stand there. I quickly said reload reload! She did and was able to shift the gun and shooting sticks so she had a sight of the doe and within a few seconds- boom. Off goes her second shot. I said you got her! I watched her run about 30 yards and she disappeared from my sight. So we listened and sure enough you could hear her crash. Pheonix asked what was that? I replied, "That's your doe crashing. She's down! " She was pretty excited, she wanted to go find her right then and there. I told her to wait a few minutes so I could bring the truck back down and get my pack.

By the time we got the truck back down the light was fading fast. So I looked for my headlamps in my pack. I found my back up lamp- batteries were dead, crap! I looked around and couldn't find my good one, double crap. So I searched my truck to find the yellow one I kept in it for emergencies and it was no where to be found....maybe Kyle took it? uh oh. No headlamps and it was now dark...so I used the flashlight on my phone which sucks...bad. So we headed towards where we last seen her, in the dark with the flashlight on my phone. Pheonix was nervous, there was a cow bull hanging out in the clearing and now that it was dark you couldn't see him. But he never bothered us. We searched for an hour and I started to say it would be better to come back in the morning. But as we started walking down I found blood, so we searched for a little longer. Couldn't find her, so I went through my pack and found a garbage bag (my flagging tape was in the truck) and tied it to a tree marking the blood trail for morning. We got back to the truck at 9pm. She was understandably worried that coyotes were going to get it, but I reassured her it would be fine.


I got the kids up early the next morning so we could eat and get going right away. We headed back in and as we pulled up to where I had parked the truck the night before I looked up on the hill and said there she is. Pheonix was excited and asked how I knew it was her- I could see her white belly from down here. She was about 10 yards from where I tied the garbage bag onto the tree- we had walked all around her the night before! To be fair she did die in like a dug out on the hill lol. We had brought the dogs with us just encase she was hard to find- more eyes the better. But they weren't needed this time lol. So we all hiked up to her and not a hair was out of place. We looked her over and it looked like Pheonix missed her first shot and her second one was perfect- double lung shot. Unfortunately the steep angle of the shot resulted in the bullet exiting through the guts- I was careful not to puncture the bloated belly. Koda was not being helpful trying to bury the deer in dirt while I was working on it. After pictures, I got all the meat off that I could and strapped it on my backpack- Pheonix had to help me get up lol. And we hiked back down to the truck. Once at the butcher he weighed the meat- 60lbs. Now she's asking every day when her deer will be done!

Mause Creek Hike

July 6th 2017

 
Kyles suggested "Test Hike" for my legs. We packed up our packs like we were going on our hunt (just minus the large amount of food and our rifles) and headed out. We parked at the trail head, jumped out of the jeep and got eaten by mosquitoes. We loaded the packs after we sprayed down with bug repellent and we were off.

There was some blow down along the trail..but overall the trail was in really good shape. But the bugs were so bad for the first half of the trail before you really start climbing.I ended up spraying down 4 times on our way up.

Once we got to this point the bugs died down a bit, but there were more horse flies. Poor Onca was going crazy. All the bugs went after him instead of us.
 As soon as he seen the water he was swimming! He loves water, typical lab.




We continued to climb up the mountains on the left side of the saddle
in the picture above. We ended up having to climb up through snow
until we got to the pass. Where more snow awaited us as well as a strong wind. I welcomed the wind and snow and the significant temperature dropped it brought with it.  I dont do very well with heat, and by this point I had a headache starting.

The climb was somewhat steep, but the snow made it easier to go up. By the time we came back down though it was pretty soft from the hot sun which made it quite a bit harder.

Kyle standing on the top of the pass going over to the other side. It was an amazing view. He checked to see what the elevation was there and we were at 7400 ft.

A lot more snow on the other side. A good portion of the trail was snow covered all the way to the tanglefoot lakes. So we hung out up top of the pass for a while. Relaxed...I went exploring with Onca and Kyle had a nap on the trail.

Looking back at the trail while on my exploration.

I was actually surprised Onca came with me. He is the type of dog that takes the EXACT same trail you take when he is following you. When I left the trail to come over to this ridge, I took the rocks instead of the snow because I don't trust whats under the snow. He followed me through the rocks and got scared! He froze up and was shaking. I tried to give him a nudge to get him to keep going and he was like a statue. So Kyle tried calling him back and he still wouldn't move. Eventually I was able to help him get through it and he went back up to Kyle, but he didn't want to leave me. So he came down through the snow and joined me lol.

We eventually made our way back to Kyle and he made the call to turn around and go back down to the spring and meadow, and that's where we would camp.

We put the tent up and threw our sleeping pads inside then decided to have something to eat. We have been playing with our own meals to eat while out in the backcountry, rather then the typical Mountain Houses and this was the perfect time to try them out.
After dinner Kyle went in the tent to have a nap and I hung out with Onca and just relaxed. I have a hard time napping during the day.

Kyle was napping...and Onca was going crazy from the bugs so he decided it would be a good idea to sit on me. He is 80lbs...and does not fit on my lap easily...but he managed to get everything but one foot on me. See picture below


Eventually Kyle woke up and realized I wasnt in the tent and
started telling me to come lay down and relax. I figured it would give Onca a break from the bugs too. Even though Onca had the whole tent and there were no bugs inside...he insisted on sleeping on me.



After a bit Kyle decided that there was just way too much time between now and night time...and the fact we had to pick up the kids by 10am...to justify staying up there overnight. I was bummed but happy I wouldn't have to get up at 5am lol. 

So we packed everything back up and made our way back down the mountain. It was a good test for my legs, which never gave me an issue, and for testing our food ideas and to brainstorm how to help me stay cool when its hot.

We were also able to test some of the new gear we have acquired and decide if there is anything that needs to be changed.




If you are curious how hot it was, look below. That is the temperature when we got back into town at 8:30pm. Where we had the tent set up it was probably 30 degrees still, on the other side where all the snow was, it was more like 20-25 degrees.