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Day 0
We boarded the Beaver late in the day after waiting a few hours for the weather to clear.
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After checking out a few different areas and seeing lots of deer running around, we picked this lake, as it had the best "exit plan" with several directions of low valleys to fly through if the weather socked in and got bad.
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Meet Andy and April - friends of mine from California. April wanted a scenic camping vacation and Andy wanted a mountain hunting trip - so here we are, at a very remote lake, in the middle of nowhere...in the rain (heh, heh).
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As we got ready for the climb to spike camp, the sun visited us briefly. We packed up and headed for higher country.
After an entertaining climb, I located our new home, set up camp, and cooked dinner - just in time for a great sunset.
After dinner, we hit the hay.
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Day 1 - Opening Day!
We got up early and glassed everywhere that didn't have clouds of fog in the way. There were quite a few deer, but nothing real big. Dave chased a spike with his bow until it busted him at 12 yards (he couldn't see it). After a few hours, I located a "way-off" spot that seemed to have larger deer. It was quite a bit higher than where we were, so we packed for the day and headed up.
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After a long hike, we located a bowl with some nice forkys in it. They weren't big enough for the first deer, so we continued glassing. Andy spotted a decent buck above and beyond the forkys, and I put the scope on him - he was a shooter...3x3 plus eye guards. He was bedded down on the side of an upper bowl.
We located another forky walking around near the big boy, too. We formulated a plan that would (hopefully) not spook the lower forkys into him.
After cutting around the outside of the lower bowl, we left Dave behind to stalk the forkys with his bow, while we circled the edge and climbed up into the upper bowl. April voluteered to stay back a ways, while Andy and I completed the stalk.
The wind was not perfect, so we hurried. We peeked over the rocks and found 4 deer standing where there were only two. We ducked down and grabbed our binos to see which one was the biggie. We quickly glassed to find that there were 3 forkys and the 3x3. Andy and I made ready and he fired his .270 WSM. I called his shot good and the buck started cutting to the left and down the hill. It went down and slid into to a big pile of rocks.
I swung onto the forkys to see if any were worthy, but decided to pass. Andy mentioned a 5th deer had shown up and it looked like a doe. We verified that with our rifle scopes. Andy stood up and started for his deer and I headed back toward April and Dave.
When I got to April, she motioned that Dave was still stalking, so I peeked over the edge and saw him stand up with a puzzled look. Apparently, the bucks had snuck out during his stalk while he was out of their sight. I waved him up and told him there were still some forkys up by Andy's deer. The three of us headed up to see if they were still there.
As we came over the rocks, Dave spotted one of the forkys way up on top. He put a "hail mary" out there and it disappeared over the top.
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After taking a few pics, I headed up to see if Dave's deer was hit. After looking around the crest where the deer was standing and training him for about a mile, I decided he was not hit and circled around to the other side of the mountain. I glassed quite a few areas, but it was midday and the sun was partly out, so there weren't many deer to find.
I crossed the top and came back down to find Andy and Dave finishing up the deer caping and boning. April was trying to take a little siesta in the sun, too. We munched some trail mix, finished packing up, and headed for spike camp.
Andy suffered a little with his moderate load (80+ lbs), and we enjoyed our light packs (for a change).
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Day 2
After getting in late, I woke up around 5:15 am to moving clouds and fog. I sat up on our glassing hill for a while and found quite a few smaller deer. Dave, then Andy joined me and helped cover the glassing areas better. A small forky appeared across the way, so Dave stalked it with my rifle and nailed it at 78 yards.
Andy and I brought down Dave's pack to where he had shot from. We were discussing the stalk when Andy looked up and said "There's a buck!". I dropped to the ground and cranked up my scope to 14 power to get a good look. It was a medium-small forky with decent width and no eye guards - clear up on the top of the ridge in front of us. Because of the proximity to camp, I thought about trying a shot and ranged him at 356 yards. I settled the bipod down and put the rifle butt on the ground so that there wouldn't be any movement. I then pulled into the rifle, set the 310 yard reticle on his chest, and squeezed off a round. He bucked and disappeared from sight.
We were pretty sure he was hit well, so we took a few pics of Dave's deer and Dave proceeded to bone & cape him out. Andy helped Dave while I pumped some water and retrieved our gear and packs.
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April decided to stay at camp while the three of us headed up after my deer. As we eased up to where he was standing, I found it about 10 feet away from the edge in a mud puddle. The shot had been perfect - right through the heart.
I suggested to Andy that he make his way along the ridgeline to see if there were any others while Dave and I took pics and started processing the deer.
About 3/4th's of the way through the task, a heavy shower took us by surprise, and we dove for the brush to get out of the downpour. After a few minutes, it subsided and we finished up. Andy showed up and said the biggest he'd seen was a mini-forky, so we headed down to camp.
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After hanging the meat, a little nap, and a snack, we hunted the evening glassing the upper ridges in search of a medium forky for Andy.
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We spotted some smaller bucks and does, but nothing big enough. The wind switched and picked up. I mentioned that a storm was coming. After glassing fairly late we headed back to camp for an evening meal.
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Day 3 - Weather day
after we hit the sack, the wind continued to pick - up along with the rain. By morning, the winds were around 60-80 mph with a torrential downpour to go with it. As you can guess, there wasn't many deer moving around and if you went outside for any more than a bathroom break, you'd be soaked.
We hid out in the tents till evening, then I got out to make some supper in the 60 mph winds.
Day 4 - Lots of rain
We glassed our usual areas in the morning and saw only small ones in the rain. We decided to take the meat down to the lake and put it in the coolers.
After packing the meat down, Dave and Andy decided to hunt around the lake area, while April and I located a good place for the tents. After finding a couple of good spots, April and I went back up, packed up spike camp, and brought the whole camp down. My pack was around 110-120 with my rifle and April's was around 25-30. I was very impressed at how well she did!
We grabbed a sandwich and crawled into our tents, out of the rain. A couple of hours later, Andy and Dave arrived with a great story on stalking a nice-sized forky with brow tines. April made us dinner (sandwiches) and we hit the hay.
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Day 5 - More rain
I was awake at 4:00 am listening to the rain pour down on the tent. I was anxious to go out and see if I could find a nicer deer than I had bagged, but the weather kept me in the tent. Finally, I got out of the tent around 11:30 am, grabbed some brunch, and called the weather with the sat phone (VHF wouldn't receive any of the WX stations). After that I called Ward Air to double check the scheduled pickup of 5:00 pm and their weather.
Around 12:15 pm, Dave and I wandered out to find another deer or two. We jumped a mini forky out of his bed at 15 yards, but he was in the brush too much for Dave to get a shot with his bow. We spotted a nice, small forky across a couple of ridgetops and I talked Dave into doing a stalk with his bow while I backed him up. It was quite entertaining, laying on top of that ridge with the rain pelting down on me while I watched Dave and this buck. Dave got to within 10 yards of the forky, but couldn't see it behind a rockface. It quickly snorted and jumped away - not giving me a good shot.
We located a mini-forky below us and Dave got as close as he could above him (in the cliffs). I ranged him at 76 yards with a 35-40 degree angle downward. I blew the deer call and the buck stood up. He put the 60 yard pin 4 inches over his head for the facing shot, and let it fly. The arrow shot straight and true, but went right between his antlers, 2 inches over his head, and stuck in the muskeg behind him. The deer spooked and trotted off away from us.
After some cursing, Dave realized that it was a long shot and that he should have used the 50 yard pin, but it was real close. We glassed a little more, then headed back to the lake. |
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When we got back, I called Ward Air to give them a weather update, and then we broke camp. The weather was a little iffy, but the plane arrived on time. I thought April was going to hug the pilot - she was so happy to see him land...
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On the way back, April spotted a small island that she said she was going to retire on...
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Once back, we crashed for the night and got up early and processed the meat. After a little running around, we decided to go out and try our hand at fishing. We ended up getting a few rockfish, a couple red snapper, and a small halibut. I cooked the halibut for everyone on the boat and it was a big hit.
The next morning, I helped Andy and April pack and dropped them off at the airport. I think Andy will try and get back up here next year to do another hunt with us.
I hope they do...we all had a blast!
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