Opening day come and gone, trying again.
Had a good weekend in the Mountains. It did get cold at night but a good sleeping bag is worth its weight in gold. The days were cloudless, unlimited visibility, and in the 60s. Very nice. Tent camping is fine but it made me wish for a pop-up camper. Oh well, always have goals.
Camp filled up just a few hours after we got there, just in time to get spot #2, the one we wanted.
On Saturday I was sitting on a saddle looking down toward a spring with my back to a downed log when I heard what I though was a hunter coming from behind me to my left. It turned out to be a doe running hard up the saddle from a deep ravine. She got to the end of the log, stopped momentarily, and looked directly my direction but because of the background and assorted limbs didn't see me. She ran behind the log so was just about 4' from me when she went past. It was a nice experience.
Later that afternoon on the way back to camp I spooked a small buck from the sagebrush about 100 yds across a draw from me that I was about to enter. It sproinged away up and over the other side pretty as you please. I followed its tracks for 100 yds or so but didn't see it again.
These mule deer don't behave anything like whitetails, that's for sure! You practically have to step on them before they jump up.
As scarce as these mule deer are it's big news when 1 4x4 is taken during the whole season and the news spreads like wildfire across the mountain. A 4x3 or 3x3 is cause for serious celebration. So it's a different kind of hunting for sure.
Sunday it warmed up a little and I heard very few shots and saw absolutely no deer. I think that in the campground only one fork horn deer was taken on Saturday and nothing on Sunday. Tough hunting for sure.
We are going to try again this weekend, camping Fri and Sat nites. A mini heat wave here today (Wed) but it will drop again on the weekend so I expect perfect conditions again, cold nights and mornings and days in the mid to low 60s without a cloud in the sky.
As I said before, there is tremendous visibility from up there. I can see Telescope peak on the west side of Death Valley a good hundred miles north and off in the far distance, a bit hazy, Mt Whitney itself and that's got to be 200 miles.
Camp filled up just a few hours after we got there, just in time to get spot #2, the one we wanted.
On Saturday I was sitting on a saddle looking down toward a spring with my back to a downed log when I heard what I though was a hunter coming from behind me to my left. It turned out to be a doe running hard up the saddle from a deep ravine. She got to the end of the log, stopped momentarily, and looked directly my direction but because of the background and assorted limbs didn't see me. She ran behind the log so was just about 4' from me when she went past. It was a nice experience.
Later that afternoon on the way back to camp I spooked a small buck from the sagebrush about 100 yds across a draw from me that I was about to enter. It sproinged away up and over the other side pretty as you please. I followed its tracks for 100 yds or so but didn't see it again.
These mule deer don't behave anything like whitetails, that's for sure! You practically have to step on them before they jump up.
As scarce as these mule deer are it's big news when 1 4x4 is taken during the whole season and the news spreads like wildfire across the mountain. A 4x3 or 3x3 is cause for serious celebration. So it's a different kind of hunting for sure.
Sunday it warmed up a little and I heard very few shots and saw absolutely no deer. I think that in the campground only one fork horn deer was taken on Saturday and nothing on Sunday. Tough hunting for sure.
We are going to try again this weekend, camping Fri and Sat nites. A mini heat wave here today (Wed) but it will drop again on the weekend so I expect perfect conditions again, cold nights and mornings and days in the mid to low 60s without a cloud in the sky.
As I said before, there is tremendous visibility from up there. I can see Telescope peak on the west side of Death Valley a good hundred miles north and off in the far distance, a bit hazy, Mt Whitney itself and that's got to be 200 miles.
Total Comments 0
