Dave K, a good friend, and I went hunting today. With a short 5 hours of sleep, an hour drive, hour motorcycle ride and 20 minute walk started the day. We found a spot overlooking a valley with a good mix of cover and openings. A good place to spot deer moving thru and an even better place for them to disappear.
The wind picked up shortly after getting to the ridge we would glass from. Followed by fog and rain. Then snow, higher winds and more fog. Spotting deer in a valley below is not an easy task when the fog level is somewhere in between you and the valley floor. After what seemed like too long I spotted a deer. About 300 yards away browsing slowly toward his eventual resting place. The deers head was behind a tree so I just watched. After a few short moments he turned his head to reveal a decent set of antlers that were most likely legal. (All mule deer must be at least 3 points on one side). I set down my binoculars and reached back for my spotting scope. Immediately I realized I had just made a mistake. I did not mark the location of the deer. You see last weekend I was hunting with my cousin around wheat fields. Spotting deer is not as easy as one might think there. However, once you do they are easy to find again. This valley however provided plenty of places for said deer to become invisible to the human eye, namely me. We glassed and glassed and eventually still hunted thru the valley, never to see that deer again.
the ride down was less eventful than the ride up, when Dave bailed and cracked his cranium, but extremely cold. We were both wet and it just doesn't require enough energy riding a bike down a mountain in neutral to keep a guy warm. As we finally arrived at the car an hour later we were both quite thankful for the simple things in life. Like a car with heat.
had a blast Dave, hope it isn't 14 years before we do it again.
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