Moon Phase:
There is a reason that my fishing trips tend to die off this time of year and that's because its deer hunting season. We went as a group this year for the second time in a row to Grouse Creek. Grouse Creek is a very small town in the very north west corner of the state only a few miles from the Nevada border and about 10 miles from the Idaho border. We were successful last year hunting this spot with Dave and Bushman both getting deer. We also had a chance at a monster buck but couldn't quite get the job done! We got there on Thursday evening this year to get camp set and ready to scout on Friday. We had 3 four wheelers and 2 motorcycles this year which really helps in the steep rugged country that Grouse Creek offers. We scouted on Friday and got a good game plan together for opening morning. When we woke up for the opening we had an unexpected surprise with 3 inches of snow on the ground and a white out blizzard! Even with the bad conditions there was nothing that was going to stop us from hunting the opener so we bundled up and made it to our spot. Corey and I were on one side of the canyon while Dave and Bushman were on the other. As the sun came up it was tough to spot due to the snow and wind in our face but I was lucky enough to see two deer on Dave and Bush's side of the canyon. After a little concurring with Corey we both decided that they were two nice bucks. We got on the radios and let Dave and Bush know where they were and they instantly spotted them and got into position. After a few shots we had two nice bucks down on the hillside!
What an extreme and wild successful opening morning. We hunted hard for the next 3 days and saw a few small bucks but nothing worth killing. It wasn't until the fourth day just before dusk that Dave and I were spotting a hill side and found a really nice tall buck laying underneath some cedars. I knew I didn't have much time til dark so I hauled butt over to a ridge to try to get a closer shot. Once I got to the ridge the thick cedars blocked my vision and I could not find the deer. It got dark and I was unable to get the kill! When I hiked back to the hillside where Dave and our four wheelers were we noticed that the four wheeler I was driving was gone! It was dark and we were disoriented so we decided we would just come back in the morning and find it! When we got there in the morning we did find it, but not where we wanted to! The parking brake had failed and the four wheeler was at the bottom of a 400 foot canyon!!!
Ouch!!! It made for an exciting but very stressful day! We got the four wheeler out and it will be taken care of but what an experience! It was a great hunt and we had a lot of fun! We bagged two nice four points and demolished a Polaris! The trip included; Dave, Bushman, Corey, Newton, Rob, and myself. Can't wait til next year!!!
