My 2006 deer season

elkoholic

By elkoholic
in Deer Hunting

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elkoholic 12-Pointer

elkoholic

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The 2006 rifle season was a typical season for me and I thought I would expand on how it all developed. I realize that the way I hunt, the terrain and time span is very different from what most of the Real Tree forum members experience. To begin with, I spent zero time hunting deer with a bow this year, mainly because of lack of time (we were nearing completion on a home we were having built) and an ankle injury while hunting elk severely limited my mobility. By the time rifle season arrived the ankle was well on the mend and my main focus was on getting my nephew (on his first hunt in Montana) within range of a deer and hopefully an elk. He arrived for the first week of the season and on the first day saw five buck (all whitetail), three of which were 5x5s, while on stand and still hunting along the edge of old clearcuts. I lost track of how many buck we saw, both mulies and whitetail, during the week but he connected on a 5x6 whitetail and came up short on the elk. Most of the hunting was still hunting, with some spot and stalk thrown in and often miles from where we parked the truck. The third week of the season found me going it alone (a normal occurrence) and mainly focusing on still hunting until the rut started to kick in. Passed up a grundle of bucks early on hoping for a big one and knowing that shooting a buck would end my deer hunting for the year. The day my season ended I had returned to an area where the previous year I had rattled in eight different buck in the same day and this lead to an expectation of success. After parking at a locked gate I hiked in three inches of new snow for about 1&1/2 miles on a forest service road and then headed uphill for 400 to 500 yards. I was just above an old clearcut and as the sun threatened to top a distant ridge settled in on an old stump and started my first rattling sequence. I followed the rattling up with some buck grunts and a couple of doe bleats. After about 10 minutes I buck grunted again and was about to follow up with a couple of bleats when a buck walked into view about 40 yards away and proceeded to lick an overhanging branch. He caught the motion of me bringing my rifle to my shoulder and stared in my direction. A single shot brought the hunt to a conclusion and I finally got the chance to try out the game cart I had bought. After gutting the buck I hiked back to the truck to retrieve the cart and made quick work of getting him out, plus it saved my messed up back from a bunch of pain. Had him home for a picture taking session by 1:00 PM and finished cutting him up the next day. I just wish my elk season had gone as well, but then.....there's always next year.

My nephew's buck

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My 2006 whitetail

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