Update...Has anyone heard from Whip? ... Short Story and Pic's Added

[Paul Mattson]

I know he was off on a month long hunt.  Checkin to see if anyone has heard how it's been going.

[joebuck]

I think his lawnmower threw a bearing on the trail.  

[BowHuntingFool]

Yeah Paul, I was wondering the same thing!

[John3]

Where did he go hunt for a month? Now that is a bow trip!

[Shaun]

Yes, but I hate to spill any beans. He visited our camp near Durango between his mule deer hunt in CO and his elk hunt in NM. Then I sent an e and he replied from his Blackberry from elk camp. I can tell you this much... the WI deer hunt/bow build event at the end of Oct (St Judes item) is going to be having a lot of wild game diners.

Also, if you order from Prairie Traditions (sponsor list) before he gets back, his lovely wife will take your order and she gets to keep the money! Included with each order may be some info on Joe's western adventures.

A month has got to be up soon and he will be back with lots of stories and pics.

[jcar315]

Shaun, That is music to my ears (I am a BIG eater!!!) I too can't wait to hear of Whips adventure and see the pics!

[smiley]

I know he is home now. but I will let him tell his story.   :D

[Whip]

I just got back Wed. night.  After being gone a month there is a lot to catch up on - 1st on the list being getting reaquanted with my wife    

I uploaded a bunch of pics this morning and will get started as soon as I can, but in the meantime, I'll answer the question of "what did you eat" first....

How does fresh backstrap with mushrooms and fried potatoes sound??  :D  

[frassettor]

Just Great!......Not only am I in suspense, but now Im hungry!! Great job Joe, the coffees on...      

[beachbowhunter]

That's a Hungry Man sized portion...or is that a Vance-sized portion?...hmmm.

Congrats Joe, I can't wait to hear/see all about it!

N

[Whip]

My hunting partner for the first part of my trip was Wayne Hoffman.  No, not Biggie.  This was a much smaller version who goes by Smiley here.

We have both been applying for Colorado preference points for deer for many years and decided this would be a good year to burn them up.  After doing some research we settled on unit 61 south of Grand Junction CO.  Known primarily as a premium elk unit, it also is a draw unit for deer and was reported to contain some very nice bucks.

This would be my eleventh mule deer tag, and I had yet to taste success on any of my previous trips.  Mule deer have been my nemesis for as long as I have been going out west.  

We arrived in the unit a couple days prior to the opener to give us a chance to get familiar with an area we had never seen in person before.





It didn't take long to figure out that the deer in the area didn't care for the openings, and instead were sticking to the popples for cover.



This would be tough hunting.  Although we did see some nice bucks during our initial forays, the deer were relatively scarce and we knew we had our work cut out for us.  The best plan seemed to be simply still hunting through the popples early and late and hoping to see one before they saw us.

[sticshooter]

yeah baby. Hurry up whip. I'm getting the  PORKIES right now. Please don't take as long as pinecone in telling the story .<><  

[highPlains]

Can't wait to see more of the pictures Joe!

[Whip]

On the first morning of hunting I found myself within 40-50 yards of a bachelor group of 4 bucks, but they busted me before I could get much closer.  That encounter was encouraging, but they ended up being the last bucks I saw for the next few days.

On the forth morning we decided to try a new area.  We had run into a couple of elk hunters who said they had seen great deer sign down near where the aspens meet the oak brush. While that contradicted everything else we had heard advising us to stay as high as we could for the deer, it was worth a try.

A couple hours after sun up I heard an elk bugle a couple of times in the general direction I was headed.  I like seeing elk just about more than anything, and decided to head that way.  As I eased along I caught movement ahead, and thought at first it was an elk.  But when the head came up it morphed into a beautiful 4x4 muley buck.  He was alone and feeding in my direction, so I just crouched where I was and hoped for the best.

His course would bring him within 20 yards of where I hid, but something else caught his interest and just as he was begining to get close enough he veered away.  All I could think was he was going to walk out of my life as he turned and headed away from me.  As he hesitated at 30 yards a thought flashed through my brain that I had been shooting stumps at that distance all week.  Could I make that shot on an animal?  I drew back as the sight picture became clear the arrow was on its way.

At the hit it appeared to be low and back behind the leg by a foot, but angling forward.  The buck gave a loud grunt and bolted downhill, and then slowed before he got out of sight.  I was a little concerned with the hit and gave it an hour before checking for blood.  When the time was up I searched both where I thought he had stood and along the first part of the path he had taken and found nothing.  Fearing a liver hit or worse, I backed out and returned to camp.

By noon temperatures were warming and we decided to go ahead and see what we could find.  It had been four hours, and although if it had been a stomach hit I would prefer to wait longer, I was concerned about losing the meat.  My own gut feeling kept telling me that he was hit hard and hadn't gone far.

Searching along the route he had taken turned up nothing.  We worked the hillside back and forth along the route he had taken and neither of us could find a speck of blood or any sign of a hit.  I was becoming more pessimistic by the moment.  I still felt that the deer was dead, but really wondered how we would find him in the thick waist high brush without a clue on where he had gone.  Just as we were about to start grid seaching I found one spot of blood on a fallen aspen leaf.  Finally a clue!

From that point, although the blood sign was still sparse, we made progress on the trail.  We found a spot where he had stood, and shortly after were rewarded with this sight.

   

The arrow had indead angled forward and exited the opposite shoulder.  Why there wasn't more blood is still a mystery to me.  After so many years of hard hunting and wondering whether it would ever happen, and then to sink to such lows wondering if I had blown the best opportunity of my life, I was overcome with the emotion of finding him.  What a great feeling of relief!!  

While there were certainly larger deer in the area I couldn't be happier with this boy.

[Shaun]

Again Joe, that is one fine animal! Way to go and fine shooting.

[twitchstick]

That is a great mule deer and sure sounds like you eared this one.I always love to here when someone earns a good buck.Send some luck my way and agin thats an awsome buck!

[meathead]

Fine deer you have there Joe.

[turkey522]

Congrats thanks for your hunt and pics with us.

Terry

[oneshot-onekill]

Whip....congrats on a beautiful animal and a great shot.....what were the spec's on bow, arrow and bh?

[Whip]

There's more to come....

Smiley spent the rest of the week trying to duplicate my luck, but with no success.  We just couldn't find many deer no matter where we tried.  But it was easy to see why this unit is in such high demand for elk.  They were everywhere, and even during the first week of September were already doing plenty of bugling.

One morning I was working through the same area I had killed the buck and came across two does and a fawn.  One of the does seemed facinated with me and hung around for a good 45 minutes browsing and occasionally checking me out.  As I was watching her a cow, spike, and small forked bull came through behind her.  










On my walk out on another morning, this young coyote let me slip in close.