Day Five

Jerry has writer's cramps after yesterday's long winded description of how he got his elk. Today they split us up - Jerry hunted with one of the other hunters (Dan) in camp that already had an elk and they went off with Russ Kipp (the owner of the lodge) to hunt mule deer. Another guy (Mike) and I went with one of the guides (Cody) to look for elk. Before sunup we were in front of the huge "valley herd" of approximately 200+ elk - unfortunately, 5 other hunters were in the same area and shot early at something we could not see. Obviously, the shot spooked the elk and they took off going right through a rancher's fence and knocking down a good 40 to 50 yards of pasture fence. The bottom line for us was that the elk were now on land that we could not hunt.

We spent the balance of the morning glassing for elk in all the likely places and could find nothing. We did, however, just before lunch, spy a decent mule deer buck that we decided to try for right after lunch. So, after lunch we went back to the spot and sure enough there he was. Cody and I began a stalk after a long (45 minute) drive on forest service roads like the worst ones we have ever seen in Arizona. But, the drive got us to about 500 yards to the draw where the mule deer buck was. We inched through a deep ravine and went up the side hill to look down into the ravine where he was - he was still there with what looked like 17 or 18 other deer.

Now comes the sad part - I shot, about 150 to 170 yards ..................and missed. We chased him to the next ridge but he was gone. The surprising thing was when I shot the entire hillside exploded with deer - prolly 30 or more.

Now, feeling down after my second miss we headed out of that area. On the way out we spotted another buck. Again, Cody and I leave the vehicle and trot to a ridge that afforded us nearly a broadside shot. Once again I shot (approx. 170 yards) using Cody's shooting sticks that he insisted I use. Guess what, I missed and then followed up with 3 more misses. I reloaded, threw away the shooting sticks and drilled the buck shooting freehand - he dropped dead in his tracks. SO NOW WE HAVE A MULE DEER TOO - Jerry tells me he can get a picture on the blog so look for it - it's not a big buck, but it is a buck.

Jerry has stories of his own for today, but he is not writing this blog today so his stories will have to wait.

We are now going to have another celebratory refreshment.

Ta Ta for now - Lee and Jerry