wilkup
Well-Known Member
We left my house at 5:30 this past Sunday morning for our day hunt and successfully made it back home by 9pm.
This deer was HEAVY AF!
Hardest and heaviest hike out I've ever done.
We shot him in the afternoon as he running for another bed. Missed him with my first shot at 100 and change and then he dropped into a creek drainage. He popped back out at 280 running full tilt and I was able to drop with my second shot. I sent a third into his neck to be sure he was anchored and then the work began in earnest. We were on the side of a steep hill and I had to tie him off and wedge myself between him and a tree to keep from sliding down.
A storm rolled in right as we started loading our packs up. We made the 3 mile trek back to the truck in pouring rain. First ascending 800' back up to the game trail we came in on and then dropping a couple thousand feet over some very treacherous, steep, slippery terrain back to the truck.
I think this was one of the most physically and mentally challenging things I've ever demanded of my body.
I was ready to give up several times and verbalized my feelings at least twice. Once as we climbed up the several hundred feet with our heavy packs on to find the game trail home and a second time as I collapsed under the crushing weight of my pack on our way down while were lost in the dark on a very slippery scree field.
I couldn't have asked for a better adventure! What a season and what a memory!
This deer was HEAVY AF!
Hardest and heaviest hike out I've ever done.
We shot him in the afternoon as he running for another bed. Missed him with my first shot at 100 and change and then he dropped into a creek drainage. He popped back out at 280 running full tilt and I was able to drop with my second shot. I sent a third into his neck to be sure he was anchored and then the work began in earnest. We were on the side of a steep hill and I had to tie him off and wedge myself between him and a tree to keep from sliding down.
A storm rolled in right as we started loading our packs up. We made the 3 mile trek back to the truck in pouring rain. First ascending 800' back up to the game trail we came in on and then dropping a couple thousand feet over some very treacherous, steep, slippery terrain back to the truck.
I think this was one of the most physically and mentally challenging things I've ever demanded of my body.
I was ready to give up several times and verbalized my feelings at least twice. Once as we climbed up the several hundred feet with our heavy packs on to find the game trail home and a second time as I collapsed under the crushing weight of my pack on our way down while were lost in the dark on a very slippery scree field.
I couldn't have asked for a better adventure! What a season and what a memory!
