Hunting Douglas 11/28/2010 -- no pics

Went out yesterday in falling snow...I walked down to McDonough and then started climbing as the muskegs below that area are really brushy (plus I wanted to do some tracking and the stuff down below was melting quick)...got up there, started on a set of tracks and followed them for a while.  Jumped a rabbit while I was tracking, though I quickly lost it as it was white on white...I lost the deer after it joined up with a smaller one and they went over a cliff.  Then I started on another set of tracks.  Followed those for about 5 minutes before I saw the ass end of a doe as she turned around and ran uphill...I guess I could've had a shot had I already had that spot in my crosshairs with the safety off and caught her as she lunged uphill, but I really doubt it.  Then I followed another set that went pretty much straight up into the alpine.  I smelled it, but I never saw it...I ended up like 100 feet from the top.  Really exhausting stuff....On the plus side, I did see a ptarmigan up there.  I definitely learned about hunting in the snow -- wear your impermeable rain gear.  Each piece of snow that fell on me or brushed up against me soaked into my rain gear.   I was completely soaked when I got out to the beach...

Hunting Douglas 11/14/2010

It's about frickin' time! I caught this guy in the timber as I was going up the mountain.  I had climbed up a very steep area and came out on a small bench about 60 yards above this guy.  I was pretty tired, so I took the time to put on my gloves and wasn't exactly quiet when I racked the round.  But he stayed put and I put him down :)  Didn't even know it was a buck when I pulled the trigger.

I shot him from the top of the area in the video (like the 2 second mark)...

Hunting Douglas Veteran's Day

This time I hiked down to Nevada creek -- it's about 2.5 hours I think, given how fast I walk.  The deer are definitely running around on the beach at night.  Oh how I would like to run into one on the beach during one of my hunts :) .... At any rate, my only action this time was as I jumped two deer (a buck and a doe, I believe) as I walked up Nevada Creek.  Just a flash, and they were gone...oh well.  Nice 12 mile hike though....

Hunting Douglas Halloween Weekend

It wasn't spooky....it was frustrating!!! I hiked down the beach from Sandy Beach for an hour and change...move through the timber into a meadow....and I snuck up on a doe right as I entered the meadow.  I was only 20 yards from her, but I couldn't get a shot off due to the amount of brush between us.  After a few moments, she left the meadow...and left me frustrated.  So I climbed up the mountain, well into the snow line...after a while I stopped and blew the call....as I'm standing there, after a while I hear "chunk ... chunk ... chunk....chunk-chunk-chunk-chunk"  A deer ran right by me (directly behind and above) at 30 yards (?), and I only caught a glimpse of it.  And that was all I saw for the day.  Frustrating stuff, given the amount of hiking I did...I also saw a blue grouse--I need to pick up a .22 pistol....

Hunting Douglas 10/23/2010

The weekend before I had missed a doe in the meadow at the bottom of the mountain.  So this weekend, I climbed the mountain looking for sign in the snow.  Once I got up the mountain a ways I found a rub with some large tracks near it....so I followed a series of rubs up and over the mountain.  I ended up seeing a doe move through a stand of trees, but nothing that I could put in the scope...oh well.  Good day of hiking I guess!

I took a couple of videos as I hiked up the mountain stream as well....The first video is while I'm climbing up the stream.  The second video is at the headwaters of the creek...