|
THE BIG GUY AND ME
It was Dec.8th 3:15 pm and the last day of 1998 late archery deer season in my unit here
in Washington State. I had just got off work and was driving way to fast up the snow covered gravel road that twists between sage brush patches and wheat fields.
I was burning day light Knew where I wanted to be only I wanted to be there an
hour earlier. I had seen his tracks in the mud and snow several times in the past few years and just the night before I found them again in the fresh snow. twice i had even had the fortune to see him
once in mid summer his huge rack covered in velvet and one time last hunting season at about 300 yards. Some how I had let my mind wonder and all of the sudden I was there,I slid to a stop and rolled
down the window filled my hand full of powdered chalk and gave it a toss in the air.
The wind was wrong I would have to drive about a quater mile then walk across a stubble
field to keep the wind in my favor. I parked and quickly pulled my camo from its plastic bag sprayed it with a sent blocker slipped in to my boots and headed out at a half run accross the field.
As I reached the edge of the draw I wanted to hunt there in the snow were three sets of fresh tracks. Looking off in the direction the tracks went I could see they went in to a patch of sage brush and I couldnt see any coming out so i pulled out my compact binoculars and quickly picked out three big does it was legal to take a doe in this unit and an easy thirty yard shot to the closest one but thats not what I was here for.
Slowly I moved back out of their site and circled down and around them so as not to
spook them from their beds. Slowly I slipped over the edge of the hill and into the draw about 3/4 of the way down I found what I wanted to see there in the new snow that had fallen for the better part
of the day, were the big tracks he was here and close. It was geting late and would be dark soon .Following the tracks for about two hundred yards I suddenly came to a place where they turned sharply up
hill.
My heart jumped to my throat I knew Where he was going to be bedded down and it was an
easy quiet stalk in to the big patch of sage brush circling back around so I could come in above him slowly and as quiet as I could be. Moving down hill though the tall brush glassing and looking I
couldn't find him and in another 15 minutes it would all be over I was almost back to the spot where his tracks had turned up the hill when I heard a sharp crack behind me. I could see him sneaking
through the brush less than 20 yards away the sage was tall and thick with no chance for a shot I watched as he walked at an angle away from me. Up the hill looking for a open spot that I might be able
to get a clear shot at his vitals. I watched in vain at about 70 yards he broke out of the brush and stopped .
Standing there broad side looking down at me "right about then I was wishing I was
Chuck Adams" but I'm not and he knew it once again I raised the binoculars to my eyes he looked as if he was smiling at me. Focusing in on his antlers I counted 6 on one side 7 on the other man what
a buck it was. It wasn't until he turned straight away and began walking away that I realized how wide his rack really was. A good 30"s or better the buck of a life time the one every one
dreamsabout and I blew it. As he walked away I called out to him "I'll be back next year" he looked back as if to say I'll be waiting and vanished over the hill.
It was almost completly dark as I walked back toward the blazer it began to snow the
coyotes started to howl the moon peered out from between the clouds lighting the snow flakes up like a million fireflies. I kept running the the scene through my mind and how could I have walked
right by him? Then as if I was hit by a bolt of lightning I became over whelmed with the feeling that the big guy and me would meet again. The old blazer was warm and dry. I drove slow down the snow
covered gravel road that twists between sage brush patches and wheat fields Season closed with a site most people will never see, only us that have the great fortune to be hunters will ever know .
If you would like info. on hunting in Washington State please visit
there web site at
http://www.wa.gov/wdfw/
|
