The Deer Hunt 2008

I wasn't sure if I'd even get to hunt this year with how many hours a week I end up working, but I did manage to get out this weekend and go hunting with my folks. I went straight from work down to Nephi canyon on Friday to camp with my parents. We had a great time...

Saturday morning was opening morning and my mom, dad and I went to our traditional spot up Pole Canyon off of the Nebo loop road. It wasn't cold like it usually is, so the hiking was a breeze! We probably made it up the mountain by around 7am right as the sun was rising! This is seriously my favorite moment of any deer hunt, the whole canyon is quiet, and the sun slowly comes up. It's just a relaxing, and peaceful feeling. Well, the peace didn't last long...

Immediately after getting up on the mountain we saw 2 deer on the top of the ridge across the canyon from us, they were both does. We sat down to watch them for a while, and six more deer came out of a draw and headed up the mountain. All six of them were does. So we hung tight a little while longer, just keeping an eye on the hillside. My dad decided to take a little hike to look in some other draws, so he left my mom and I to watch. We sat there for a while, but I just kept getting the urge to hike around the top of the canyon and get closer to where we had seen the 8 does earlier in the morning. So I meandered along the top of the canyon, and hiked over onto the other side of the mountain. I had taken maybe 10 steps onto the other side when 3 deer jumped out of the oak and started running like mad away from me. The first one was a doe, the 2nd one was a 4 point buck and the 3rd was another doe. I sprinted like crazy across the top of the hillside and got a shot off at the buck before it went down into a draw, I shot high and missed. I kept running towards the draw they went into, and they jumped out again heading into another draw at a full out sprint, I took 2 more shots but by this time they were a good 100 + yards away and were running like crazy. I missed with both shots. I settled down, reloaded and hiked back over to where my mom was on the side we were originally on because I knew I could get a better view into the draws from there.

While we were sitting there we decided to split up and have my mom "bird dog" for us by hiking into the draw where we had last seen the deer. (She's the best bird dog on the planet by the way :) ). She hiked across and started chucking rocks and doing everything to scare them out. It worked! A doe and the 4 point jumped out and started running like mad towards the bottom of the canyon. I fired again at the buck and my shot was behind him, then fired again, still behind him, I could see my shots kicking up dust. I finally settled in and aimed ahead of him and fired, bringing him down right at the bottom of the canyon near the mouth of an old river bed. He was a challenge! It's really hard to bring down a deer when they're in an all out sprint like that, so I was excited that I was able to get him.

We then spent a good chunk of the day dragging him out. It was a team effort with my mom, dad and I all working together to bring him from the bottom of the canyon up to the top where our vehicle was parked. It was slow going, and I'm still sore from it, but was a great experience. A lot of what makes the deer hunt great is just working together and enjoying the challenge. It was hard work, but a fun day, and who knows with how hard it is to draw out sometimes this may be the last deer we get for a while, so I really savored the day. Deer hunting always brings back a lot of memories...

On Sunday since we had gotten our deer (I was the only one with a tag this year, my dad didn't draw out) so we just took it easy and hung out at camp with my parents. Brooklyn loves camping! She and I went through a tunnel in a dried up river bed and she had a blast. She kept making "spooky" noises and got a kick out of throwing rocks and hearing them echo. She's my sweetie, I love spending time with her.

It was a fun weekend! But dang, deer hunting is a lot of hard work as well!