Doe Deer Hunt - Contrary to chatter in coffee shops, shooting a doe doesn’t make you less of a hunter, Kreil said. Instead, it demonstrates that you are an informed and conscientious hunter who understands that hunting is about wildlife management and not just about trophies.
The plan was to arrive at our hunting unit Thursday evening and bag two deer, and have a leisurely drive home Friday morning. It didn’t, however, quite go as planned.
Thursday morning, at about 1:00 AM, Mike Finch left his home in Evergreen, CO, to drive up to Craig for the morning hunt. He arrived early and caught some Z’s until sun up. After seeing virtually nothing, he went through some parcels of public hunting lands trying to find the doe. However, going was difficult. Last winter, we heard reports that there was a 50 – 70% Winter Kill on the deer population in our hunting unit. This was evidenced by the clear lack of deer where we typically hunt. We’ve had it in years past where we were practically tripping over them. Not so this year.
Mike continued to be on the lookout, scouting various areas, and sure enough, I got a call on my cell phone at about 11:00 stating that he had a doe down with his 7mm Mag. When Kaoru and I heard the message, we looked forward in anticipation to the evening hunt. We drove from Denver and arrived in Craig at about 5:00. We picked Mike up from the Hotel parking lot in Craig and drove to our hunting unit near Maybell. But the signs were not good. Typically, unfortunately, we can judge the amount of deer in an area by the amount of road kill we come across. On the way to our unit, we saw none. And sure enough, on the evening hunt, neither of us saw any deer in an area where we normally see plenty. But we weren’t discouraged – we were hopeful for the next morning.
Friday morning, after spending the night in a snug motel room (3 of us crammed with all our gear into a room barely large enough to fit a queen-sized bed, and just enough room at the base to fit a cot), we drove again to our hunting area. Kaoru and I part ways and we go to designated points – he’s taking the high ground on a hillside, I am further east overlooking some coolies to the east and west, and a large expanse of sagebrush and junipers to the north. It’s the same area that I got my doe 2nd season last year. Mike stays in his truck, heater on, and keeps us updated on a herd of deer that might cross the highway and come towards our position.
Around 9:30, after waiting what seemed an eternity (we’d been out since 7:00) and not seeing anything, I have to pee. I select a large juniper which I judge needed watering, and, as I’m going, I’m looking around with my binoculars. Sure enough, I see a herd of deer (just the heads, actually), crossing in a gully about 300 yards away. Being that I’m otherwise occupied at the moment, I hurry as fast as I can, scrambling to finish and get everything put away, get my backpack on, and radio that I’m going to intercept the herd. I see the direction they’re going and see a hill in the distance that I can probably sneak up and pop up over the top.
I sneak up over the ridge of the hill and spot the herd. I drop to my knees and pick out the only antlerless deer on which I have a shot (the others were all standing with one in front, one behind, etc.). One squeeze of the trigger from my 30.06, from 150 yards, and it drops. The rest of the herd run a short distance. I radio Kaoru and tell him to hurry over so that he can get one as well. However, by the time he gets to my position, they are 800 yards away and still going.
After quartering the deer, Mike and Kaoru help me pack it back to the truck. We put it in the cooler and drive into Maybell for some ice. We then head off to where Mike got his deer the day before to see whether we can find more. No such luck. At this point (about 11:30), Mike bids us farewell, and heads back to Evergreen. Kaoru and I drive to our old camp site (near the base of what we call “the fingers”) and we sight in Kaoru’s .22. He had remounted the scope previously and wanted to make sure it was sighted in for the late-season Hasenpfeffer hunt.
Now, about 1:00, Kaoru, still suffering from Jet Lag (having just arrived from Japan a few day previous), wanted a siesta. He crashed in the truck while I scanned the valley for deer. At about 2:00, I spot the outline of a deer, at about 550 yards away. All I see are the head and neck, in the shade of a juniper tree, and I’m unsure whether I am looking at a sagebrush, log, or a profile. Sure enough, after 5 minutes, it moves. I tell Kaoru to look through his binoculars and find the spot. We then come up with a plan to make a stalk. We are going to walk along the fence line, then cut a diagonal path towards the last known spot where the deer were seen.
We get all our gear on, and take off, quickly, but not noisily. We arrive at the spot where the deer were last seen. They’re not there, but after we go over a small ridge, we spot them again. They are flitting amongst the junipers, and Kaoru cannot get a clear shot. Again, they go over the next ridge, so we follow after (we give them time to settle down and scan for any additional deer in the area). After we go over the next ridge, they are gone, nowhere to be seen. So, our plan is to go over the next ridge, then if we don’t see them, we will climb up a nearby hill. Sure enough, no deer, so we walk up the backside of the hill and take a look. There are 4 deer, downhill, less than 200 feet away from us…
But we don’t see them! They are behind a clump of junipers, and perfectly camouflaged. After scanning for a few minutes, Kaoru decides to take off his jacket. It’s 65 degrees out, and he’s getting pretty warm from all the stalking. At the sound of the zipper, the deer start running out from behind the juniper. Kaoru scrambles to get his rifle, get in a kneeling position, and wait for the deer to come into view. At 150 yards away, all the deer stop and turn to look at us. But, they are all lined up one behind the other. No shot is possible. Then, one steps forward – here’s Kaoru’s opportunity!
But, he squeezed off a round on the out-breath, and the shot went low. Then the deer scrambled and disappeared. We gave chase, but, with as thick as the juniper trees were, we did not spot them again. So, we head back to the truck and devise another game plan. We go to some different areas and hunt, but see nothing. We stop and talk with some other hunters. They had been hunting for 7 days straight before they got their deer – and they were doe hunting as well!
That evening, just before sundown, we go to an area where there is a petroleum pipeline and a dry river bed where we’ve seen deer before. As I drive, just before I enter the river bed, I spot a doe on the side of the hill. I stop the truck and grab my binoculars, and the deer has disappeared. I point the general direction where we saw the deer, and we drive down into the river channel and head that direction. Sure enough, we come across the deer. Kaoru hops out of the truck and gives chase. Typically, when the deer are spooked, they run about 20 yards, turn around, and look at what spooked them. It’s a perfect opportunity for hunters, as they turn broadside to look at you, and you can then take your shot. But, this doe was smart, and it kept running. We saw nothing else until sundown.
The next morning we go back to the same spot we were the previous morning. Kaoru goes to the spot where I shot my deer, and I go to the juniper where I had initially seen the deer. When we arrive, we spot some deer walking down a ditch, a quarter of a mile away, towards the highway, where they were sure to cross. I run the quarter mile diagonal to try to intercept them, so that they turn and head back in the direction towards Kaoru. But, I was too slow. Kaoru was watching in the binoculars, and said that if I had arrived about 10 seconds previous, I would have intercepted them. So, I then hurry back up the slope towards the juniper, and Kaoru heads off in the direction of where I was the previous day.
Again, we waited about 2 hours. I have a Garmin Rino 530 GPS, and Kaoru and I had talked the previous day about resetting the compass. To do that, you go to the compass menu and select Calibrate Compass. Then you turn in a circle twice, slowly, while the satellite signal resets your compass to your position. Being that the only deer I had seen since the initial three were two that had come up a draw between Kaoru and I, and they were too far for Kaoru to intercept, I was figuring that I could take some time to play around. I walked up the slope from the juniper, and, facing towards it, I selected Calibrate Compass and turned slowly in a circle. Once. By the time I got back around to face the juniper again, I saw two deer walking beyond it, by about 75 yards. So much for calibrating my compass!
I could see that Kaoru, too, could see the deer. They were walking towards him, and as he reached the crest of the hill, they disappeared from his sight (because of the geographic features of the land). However, they emerged, and as I was watching both him and the deer, I saw a doe jump, then heard the shot, and the deer went down. Of course, the speed of light is faster than the speed of sound, so I saw the deer get hit before I heard the shot.
I walk the quarter-mile to Kaoru’s position, and he’s happy to have gotten a deer, and that it’s his 1st animal for his new rifle (300 Win Mag). I help him quarter the animal and we pack it out, put it in the cooler, and, with both tags now filled, we head back to Denver.
I spent Saturday evening and Sunday processing my deer. The meat is currently all ground up, with Cajun Jerky seasoning and cure mixed in, sitting in my refrigerator. I will be using Kaoru’s dehydrator to make jerky. I have 18 pounds of meat, so, I will probably end up with 3-4 pounds of jerky. Should be a good batch.
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