Blessings of THE GREAT HUNT-pics added page 5

[Charlie Lamb]

Mo lada!

[Danny Rowan]

OHHHH, there is blood on that thar arra and the head is missing!

Danny

[Irish]

Blood on the arrow, blood on the fletching, looks like the head is broken off.   And it is pointed east, if I am not mistaken.   Or is that South?

[Charlie Lamb]

More "sign".

 

[IB]

Wonder.......WHO....Got......What
         

[Charlie Lamb]

To start this one out let me go back a few days.

Terry's time with us was great. We shared some super country and deer hunted pretty hard.... OK, Terry hunted hard and I poked and dinked. What more is there?

For whatever reason (moon phase/temps) the deer just weren't cooperating with us. All the old deer haunts, where I would expect to see deer, seemed vacant, even devoid of deer.

We'd hunted high and low, literally.

Vance and I had gotten Terry to the airport with seconds to spare and with hasty goodbyes we'd pointed the pickup back toward our mountains.
I think both of us were thinking about resting for a day or so.

A storm front had moved in on the last evening of Terry's hunt and forced an early end to his season here.
Water is important out here and the country around Vance's place has been pretty arid for a while now.

Vance and I were looking the storm clouds over closely. He said he figured it would freeze overnight and from the chill in the wind I knew he was right.

The rain came before dark. Screaming out of the west on a bone chilling gale. All through the night the rain came...hard and steady.

It let up some the following day. Angry gray clouds scudded across the low mesas, borne on a hypothermic wind.

We stayed close to the house.

[robtattoo]

Now THAT'S penetration!  :eek:    :eek:    :eek:

[BigRonHuntAlot]

[Charlie Lamb]

At last the storm broke (yesterday) and we both knew if we were gonna see deer, this was gonna be the night.

From the house it's probably not more than half and hour or forty five minutes to one area Vance and I both love to hunt for deer.

We headed up that way with a couple of hours of good daylight left.

The trip up there was pretty uneventful except for seeing 5 moose down in the willows along the creek and good numbers of antelope back down in the flats.

Things were certainly looking up when we finally saw our first buck deer in several days of hunting. A little guy, we opted to pass him.

[Charlie Lamb]

Finally we wound our way up to the pass that takes you into a whole other mountain range and fate took over.

Rounding a hair pin turn, I glanced off into the roadside brush only to spot a snowshoe rabbit hopping into the low growth pines and huckleberry.

I'd been wanting a snowshoe hare to fix for supper. It's been a long time since I've had them and they are a treat on the plate, browned and slow fried.

At a wide spot in the road somewhat past where the rabbits were we assembled our gear and prepared to assault the nearby timber for more of the meaty little cusses.

Vance spotted a rabbit as we came around a huge lodgepole pine. It sat upright (checking us out) nearly 20 yards away.

The arrow in my hand slid silently across the bow and seated firmly on the string. In an instant I'd slipped my fingers around arrow and string and made ready to shoot.

Though these actions take a lot less time to happen than to tell, the bunny hopped into cover before I got to half draw.

Vance eased into the timber to the right as I padded along on the damp, ever so quiet pine needle carpet beneath my boots.

[Guru]

Just got home from a 14 hr. day......looking for more...

Congrats to somebody!

[Charlie Lamb]

We spooked around in that hole for a little while, working in ever widening circles. I was aware of Vance off to my right. I'd get glimpes of him every now and then.

The rabbits turned out to be too much for us. Still in their dark gray summer coats, they blended into the dark shadows cast by a sinking sun.

I don't remember exactly what got my attention first. Maybe it was the movement of a light gray body through the trees or maybe just a mere ear flicker.

It didn't matter which. I suddenly focused on no less than 5 deer milling around in front of me.

Their attention seemed to be focused in Vance's direction. I knew they could break and run at any moment. It was then that I saw the buck.

It didn't take long to decide that I'd shoot this deer if given the chance. I sidled around a huge lodgepole pine which broke up my silouette.

Now the deer were focused to the max and getting rigid in their posture. this was about to blow up in my face.
Taking full advantage of their distraction I eased from behind the last cover in good range of the buck who was now standing broadside to me, staring at Vance.

I easilly slid the 65# recurve to full draw and anchored. Unaware of me I took advantage to take an extra second to settle on the buck.

(cont.)

[Killdeer]

If you go to bed now, Charlie, I am gonna hire PETA people with airhorns when you go out again.

Killdeer

[Terry Green]

Originally posted by Charlie Lamb:
More "sign".

   

TOO FUNNY DUDE!!!!!!!!

[Toecutter]

16 hrs today (not meaning to one up you Guru!) and all I wanted was to hear the end of this story.
 You sure know how to tell a great story Charlie, thanks (I think).  Hope to get the rest real soon.

You all know what I'll be dreaming of tonight.
Sleep easy.

[zilla]

looks like Charlie found Vance's arra

[vermonster13]

[Whip]

I sure hope I have the rest of a story to go with my coffee in the morning!!!        :p

[Guru]

Good stuff Charlie...goin' in for another 14hrs today...now I have something else to look forward to coming home to!

That's a big ol' gut pile.....

[AZStickman]

Gotta love this time of year!!..... Thanks for sharing your hunt guys .... It's definitely got me primed for my Colorado trip.... Can't wait to see what hit the ground.....       Terry