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WY High Country Hunt w/pics

tjhunter

By tjhunter
in Deer Hunting-Bear-Elk-Moose

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tjhunter

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I flew into Jackson on evening of Friday September 22nd. There is nothing like landing next to the Tetons to get a guy fired up for a high country mule deer hunt!!! While waiting for my ride, I hit the bar for one last cocktail before heading into the back country for a week. I could get used to a view like this. I told my wife if they had Snake River Lager on top of the mountain, I would never come home.

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Saturday morning, a buddy and I hit one of his honey holes. We saw a lot of does and fawns. Not one buck. A small bull moose hung out for us for a couple of pics.

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Yours truly. God, it's good to be in the mountains!!!

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Deadman Mountain. They don't call it that because of it's gentle grade.

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We took Saturday afternoon pretty easy. Sunday morning we tried another spot. No deer, but my buddy called in a small bull elk. I may have to buy a tag next year. He made it look far too easy. This bull was clear across the canyon. A couple of hits on his cow call, a few bugles and this bull was right below us. It's amazing what a guy will do for a gal - no matter what type of animal it is….Young and dumb. It reminds me of when I was 18.

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Sunday afternoon I met my horse guy - Wan Wolfley - and picked up my horse up by Waterdog Lake. I was packed and on my way up Grayback Ridge by 230pm. Because of a scheduling conflict, I was heading up solo. I was a little nervous to go on my own, but I had a tag in my pocket and I wasn't going to let it go to waste. I was at my campsite by 6pm - 6 miles and 3,000 feet in elevation. I was spent.

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I tied my horse off(this is some foreshadowing), threw my tent up and headed to the nearest basin to do some glassing. I glassed up some does and fawns and a bunch of elk. The sun started to set so I headed back to camp. Something was missing -my horse. Houdini, as I named him, somehow got the knot untied and walked off. I was able to call Wan Wolfley, the person that rented me the horse, and he said that the horse probably just walked back down the trail to the outfitter camp at the base of the mountain. Wan told me to keep on hunting and that the outfitter would probably bring up the horse - if in fact they had him. If not, Wan said that he would get me a horse to get all of my gear off of the mountain. Wan put my mind at ease and I could focus on the task at hand - killing a big buck.

The next few days I spent sitting, walking and glassing. I glassed up a few bucks, but nothing worth pulling the trigger on. I'm just glad I wasn't in very steep country…

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Even though the country is very rough, it wasn't taking a toll on me physically. But, mentally the lonliness was getting to me. I spent a lot of time just scanning the two way radio and listening to peoples stories. That was fairly entertaining.

I ran into the outfitter on Tuesday morning after watching a very nice bull elk rangle up his cows. The outfitter told me that they had my horse down at their camp and they would bring him up the next time they came up the mountain. I was very relieved!!! The outfitter then proceeded down the mountain and had his clients kill the big bull.

I decided to saddle up the horse and take him to an area where I had jumped a nice buck two days in a row. I had dropped off of a knob and jumped the buck - coming down from directly above him. I decided that I would try and come in from the side today. I rode my horse up to the area and tied him off. This time, I used a knot that Superman couldn't get undone. I angled up the mountain off of the horse trail and did some still hunting. I jumped two small bucks and they bolted. I needed to slow down. So, I would move a few feet and glass. Sidehill then glass - sidehill then glass. I popped out from behind a tree and threw up my glasses. All that I could see were antlers and ears about 80 yards away!!! I eased back behind the tree, slid my pack off and eased back from behind the tree. He never woke up. He was dead before the noise of the shot reached him. I sprinted up to him and as I did I jumped a smallish 4 point out his bed.

As I ran up on him.

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He's not the monster I was hoping for, but I had never snuck up on a buck in his bed before. Plus, I did it all on my own!!! The pictures don't do him justice - not that he's much bigger than what he looks like.

Houdini and my buck. I'm glad I had the horse now.

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As I packed the deer back to my camp - about 3 miles - I jumped a very nice 4 point less than a half mile from my camp - on the horse trail!!! I couldn't believe it.

Here's what a camp should look like.

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I was able to get ahold of Wan and he was able to meet me that evening. I busted my tail to get off the mountain. Over 6 miles in 1 hour and 50 minutes with a 40 pound pack on. I was on a flight to Minneapolis the next morning and was able to see my family 2 days early. It was a great hunt, but stressful at times. The physical aspect wasn't bad, but I struggled at times with the mental aspect. Sometimes my mind would just wander - wondering what the hell I was doing. Then, shortly later that feeling would go away and I would feel unbeleivable.

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