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We left for our 1-day Doe hunt at 2:00 AM Sunday morning, December 7th. Although it was both Deer and Elk season, and we each had licenses for a cow elk and doe deer, we had no illusions that there would actually be any elk in the hunting unit. This year, the weather has been unseasonably warm, and we didn’t think that any elk had moved into the migration/wintering grounds where we hunt them.
Matt Cosley and Kaoru Uno arrived at 2:00 AM. I had gone to bed at 11:30 and woke up at 1:00. Kaoru had about 6 hours of sleep, but Matt had about the same sleep schedule I had. But, we were off and running, with Kaoru driving, up to unit 211, between Meeker and Craig in northwest Colorado.
We arrived in the hunting unit about 6:30 after an uneventful crossing over Rabbit Ears pass. The weather was about 35 degrees, and we drove to several select areas in the unit where we had been successful before. The roads were frozen, but there wasn’t very much snow in the area. There were also almost no deer.
We continued to look around the unit, exploring every nook and cranny. Other hunters were also in the area, but not many (compared to other years). We assumed that the lack of elk in the area had most of them driving home on Saturday.
About 10:00, we were driving from one lookout to another when we spotted three deer running about 70 yards from the road. We pulled off to the side and hopped out. Matt and I ran to 50 feet away from the centerline of the road and I took aim and fired. I dropped one, but, the deer ran over a hill and onto private land before Matt could get a decent shot.
Kaoru, who was driving, found out the hard way of some features of the Ford F-150 that are not conducive to that type of hunting. When you drive the F-150, after the speed gets to about 5 mph, the doors auto-lock. You have to click the unlock button to open the other doors from outside the truck. His rifle was in the back seat. When he pulled off to the side of the road, he jumped out, closed the driver door, and tried to open the back door. It was locked. He then opened the driver door, clicked the unlock button, closed it, opened the back door, got his rifle from the case, closed the door, and ran over to where Matt and I were. By that time, the shooting was over, and the other deer were gone.
We loaded the deer onto the tailgate and drove to an area that was further away from the main road, where I quartered it (with their assistance). We then realized that we had forgotten to get ice when we filled up with gas. So we drove to Meeker and bought about 100 lbs of ice, and set the quarters to cool.
That afternoon the temperature rose to a high of 57 degrees. I’m sure there were a lot of people who enjoyed the nice weather, but we weren’t one of them. The roads melted and became slick with mud, and I slipped and slid and added more than a few pounds of mud to my undercarriage. We went to a few more lookout points, then drove back to a known evening deer area. After getting ready, we hiked up a hill that overlooked a large expansive valley, and nearby was some private land that deer often traverse. Matt was on the hill farthest north, Kaoru was on a hill about 500 yards south, and I was on a hill about 500 yards south of Kaoru. Although I had my doe tag filled, I figured that there might be a possibility of an elk crossing, regardless of how remote.
Just before sundown, Kaoru spotted a buck and two doe. However, they were on a piece of private land. The deer were about 180 yards away, but, when it comes to private land, they might as well have been a few miles away. We didn’t have permission to access, so they watched and waited until a half-hour after sundown.
From my position, I was scanning with binoculars, and spotted a snow-shoe hare (which was also in season). It was about 170 yards away on a hillside. Not wanting to disturb their doe hunt, and spook their deer, I held off on my shot. Then, with the very last visible light, I texted Kaoru with my Garmin Rino to ask if he could talk. He texted ‘no’ – so I held my shot, and the snowshoe hare lived to see another day. Granted, unless my shot was spot-on, there would be nothing left of the snow-shoe hare after I hit it…
The deer that Kaoru and Matt were watching on the private land never moved closer to the public land, and no other deer showed up. So those deer, also, lived to see another sunrise.
We drove home, arriving at about 11:00 PM. A long day, but we were happy that at least one of us was successful. I think I will turn this deer either into savory breakfast sausage, or Cajun jerky.
We left for our 1-day Doe hunt at 2:00 AM Sunday morning, December 7th. Although it was both Deer and Elk season, and we each had licenses for a cow elk and doe deer, we had no illusions that there would actually be any elk in the hunting unit. This year, the weather has been unseasonably warm, and we didn’t think that any elk had moved into the migration/wintering grounds where we hunt them.
Matt Cosley and Kaoru Uno arrived at 2:00 AM. I had gone to bed at 11:30 and woke up at 1:00. Kaoru had about 6 hours of sleep, but Matt had about the same sleep schedule I had. But, we were off and running, with Kaoru driving, up to unit 211, between Meeker and Craig in northwest Colorado.
We arrived in the hunting unit about 6:30 after an uneventful crossing over Rabbit Ears pass. The weather was about 35 degrees, and we drove to several select areas in the unit where we had been successful before. The roads were frozen, but there wasn’t very much snow in the area. There were also almost no deer.
We continued to look around the unit, exploring every nook and cranny. Other hunters were also in the area, but not many (compared to other years). We assumed that the lack of elk in the area had most of them driving home on Saturday.
About 10:00, we were driving from one lookout to another when we spotted three deer running about 70 yards from the road. We pulled off to the side and hopped out. Matt and I ran to 50 feet away from the centerline of the road and I took aim and fired. I dropped one, but, the deer ran over a hill and onto private land before Matt could get a decent shot.
Kaoru, who was driving, found out the hard way of some features of the Ford F-150 that are not conducive to that type of hunting. When you drive the F-150, after the speed gets to about 5 mph, the doors auto-lock. You have to click the unlock button to open the other doors from outside the truck. His rifle was in the back seat. When he pulled off to the side of the road, he jumped out, closed the driver door, and tried to open the back door. It was locked. He then opened the driver door, clicked the unlock button, closed it, opened the back door, got his rifle from the case, closed the door, and ran over to where Matt and I were. By that time, the shooting was over, and the other deer were gone.
We loaded the deer onto the tailgate and drove to an area that was further away from the main road, where I quartered it (with their assistance). We then realized that we had forgotten to get ice when we filled up with gas. So we drove to Meeker and bought about 100 lbs of ice, and set the quarters to cool.
That afternoon the temperature rose to a high of 57 degrees. I’m sure there were a lot of people who enjoyed the nice weather, but we weren’t one of them. The roads melted and became slick with mud, and I slipped and slid and added more than a few pounds of mud to my undercarriage. We went to a few more lookout points, then drove back to a known evening deer area. After getting ready, we hiked up a hill that overlooked a large expansive valley, and nearby was some private land that deer often traverse. Matt was on the hill farthest north, Kaoru was on a hill about 500 yards south, and I was on a hill about 500 yards south of Kaoru. Although I had my doe tag filled, I figured that there might be a possibility of an elk crossing, regardless of how remote.
Just before sundown, Kaoru spotted a buck and two doe. However, they were on a piece of private land. The deer were about 180 yards away, but, when it comes to private land, they might as well have been a few miles away. We didn’t have permission to access, so they watched and waited until a half-hour after sundown.
From my position, I was scanning with binoculars, and spotted a snow-shoe hare (which was also in season). It was about 170 yards away on a hillside. Not wanting to disturb their doe hunt, and spook their deer, I held off on my shot. Then, with the very last visible light, I texted Kaoru with my Garmin Rino to ask if he could talk. He texted ‘no’ – so I held my shot, and the snowshoe hare lived to see another day. Granted, unless my shot was spot-on, there would be nothing left of the snow-shoe hare after I hit it…
The deer that Kaoru and Matt were watching on the private land never moved closer to the public land, and no other deer showed up. So those deer, also, lived to see another sunrise.
We drove home, arriving at about 11:00 PM. A long day, but we were happy that at least one of us was successful. I think I will turn this deer either into savory breakfast sausage, or Cajun jerky.
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