Another night at the refuge
I went down to the refuge last night at 1800 to try and get a quick hunt before it got dark; but mainly because I was bored. There was another guy down there, but, what else was I going to do? So I parked next to him and got ready. I thought I saw him off in the distance, walking down the road to another part of the riverbottom. So, being the good guy I am, I looped around to the far edge of where it looked like he was going so as not to mess up his hunt.
I waded through a slough at the shallowest place possible in that area, the water was juuuussttt deep enough to go over the tops of my boots. Nice. That's the good thing about hunting in warm weather I suppose, your feet might be wet, but they're not cold. I had wanted to explore my boundaries down there a little more, so I walked until I came to the refuge fence and started traversing along it...just to get a feel for the cover and country down there. Of course, this meant walking through thick, mosquito-infested, 8-foot high orchard grass. There was no being sneaky about it, but I did what I could to at least sound like a DEER walking through tall grass. My urge was to just plow through it and get out in the open, but I stuck to my guns. Boy there were a lot of little hidden sloughs in there, a lot of times I'd have to back track a ways because either the brush was too thick or the water too deep. Hey, I was exploring right? Good to know.
I started to break out into this more open area and it got a little more "deery" feeling. Just looked like a place that deer would like to walk through. How did I know? Well, I wanted to walk there and it was quiet going...so why wouldn't they? I started to hear the sounds of slow walking off to the west of me and in some more of that tall grass. It would take a couple steps and stop, then a couple more, and stop. A deer! I hunkered down real quick and listened some more. It was getting louder and closer! I moved a little more to put a small bush between me and this deer, put my face mask on, got an arrow ready and waited. About 10 minutes later this thing finally comes out of the grass...but it was really short for a deer. Plus it was black. Another bear!? Sure enough, it was a small black bear kinda ambling toward me. I let it get to about 15 yards and figured if I didn't stand up or something, he was going to step on me. (Again, the wind was perfect...he wouldn't have smelled me before he was brushing by me.) So I stood up. He kind of stopped, looked at me, THEN ran. But he only ran about 20 yards and stopped to look back. The unfortunate thing was that was the way I wanted to go...where he was running to. I followed him a little and he again ran off. When he stopped the next time, he was only about 30 yards away and stood up to try and get a better look at me. That's when I put the bow above my head so he could see how truly HUGE I was, and off he went, crashing through the brush. Interesting.
But then I'm thinking, "Okay, if that bear is over on that side, then I'll sidle around to the opposite side of this patch of trees and see if it scares something out." To do this I had to cross an opening this all had happened in. I got about halfway across and just looked back to see if I could see the bear again and lo and behold...there's the other bowhunter in a tree! CRAP! He must have watched the whole thing. So I gave him a wave that said, "sorry dude" and went slowly and quietly the way I had come in. I made a large circle and ended up in the area I was at the first night I went to the refuge...and not where I wanted to be at all. But by this time it was a little late to try to get to another "good" spot and I just concentrated on being quiet and sitting still. Just in case. Sure enough, I heard a splash come from the slough around a small bend. I knew there was a trail that led into the water there, so figured maybe a deer was crossing.
I very slowly worked my way across the slough, snuck along the brush beside it, and then peeeeeked over some grass. I had successfully snuck up to within about 15 yards of two mallards who made the splashes when they landed. Fantastic. I stood up and they flew off...ducks don't like big things anywhere near them. You wouldn't think they'd be THAT spooky...but then again, I suppose if trees had big guns and would shoot at me every time I went to a restaurant, or bed, or to take a bath...I might be a little spooky too.
After I took care of that, I crossed the slough again (well, you know, my boots were already soaked...what's the difference right?) and headed over to listen and look at a small opening. Nothing. So, by this time, it was getting close to being dark and I decided, "why?" and started to make my way back to the truck. Again, I crossed the slough and walked through the last little grove of trees in the middle of this marshy area. Sure enough, the sound of me walking through the grass spooked a deer! Of course. But, it didn't wind me, it just heard me...so it only took two bounds and stopped. I couldn't see it because of the grass and brush, but I knew it was just standing right there. I was able to get down and back into some heavy hawthornes where it was a little darker. I figured that'd be a good blind.
Well this is all well and good for awhile. I could hear this deer begin to move around a little and just as I thought it might make it's way out in the open...these ROBINS started flying into the hawthorns right above my head. They'd land, flap around, squawk at each other, and then fly off. Land, make noise, repeat. Son of a...! That was obviously enough for that deer...let's see, it heard something that sounded a lot like a man walking, then nothing. Then a lot of random noises that didn't sound pretty. Hmmm. It finally got entirely too dark to shoot and I got up and left...not a deer anywhere close.
I thought about leaving a note on that other guy's truck, but decided it was probably understood that I was sorry. Maybe he'll read this someday...wouldn't THAT be funny? All in all, I figured out that if you are out after elk, you'll get shots at deer. If you're out after deer, you'll get shots at bear. Perhaps next year I'll get a bear tag and see what the next one in the list is.
I waded through a slough at the shallowest place possible in that area, the water was juuuussttt deep enough to go over the tops of my boots. Nice. That's the good thing about hunting in warm weather I suppose, your feet might be wet, but they're not cold. I had wanted to explore my boundaries down there a little more, so I walked until I came to the refuge fence and started traversing along it...just to get a feel for the cover and country down there. Of course, this meant walking through thick, mosquito-infested, 8-foot high orchard grass. There was no being sneaky about it, but I did what I could to at least sound like a DEER walking through tall grass. My urge was to just plow through it and get out in the open, but I stuck to my guns. Boy there were a lot of little hidden sloughs in there, a lot of times I'd have to back track a ways because either the brush was too thick or the water too deep. Hey, I was exploring right? Good to know.
I started to break out into this more open area and it got a little more "deery" feeling. Just looked like a place that deer would like to walk through. How did I know? Well, I wanted to walk there and it was quiet going...so why wouldn't they? I started to hear the sounds of slow walking off to the west of me and in some more of that tall grass. It would take a couple steps and stop, then a couple more, and stop. A deer! I hunkered down real quick and listened some more. It was getting louder and closer! I moved a little more to put a small bush between me and this deer, put my face mask on, got an arrow ready and waited. About 10 minutes later this thing finally comes out of the grass...but it was really short for a deer. Plus it was black. Another bear!? Sure enough, it was a small black bear kinda ambling toward me. I let it get to about 15 yards and figured if I didn't stand up or something, he was going to step on me. (Again, the wind was perfect...he wouldn't have smelled me before he was brushing by me.) So I stood up. He kind of stopped, looked at me, THEN ran. But he only ran about 20 yards and stopped to look back. The unfortunate thing was that was the way I wanted to go...where he was running to. I followed him a little and he again ran off. When he stopped the next time, he was only about 30 yards away and stood up to try and get a better look at me. That's when I put the bow above my head so he could see how truly HUGE I was, and off he went, crashing through the brush. Interesting.
But then I'm thinking, "Okay, if that bear is over on that side, then I'll sidle around to the opposite side of this patch of trees and see if it scares something out." To do this I had to cross an opening this all had happened in. I got about halfway across and just looked back to see if I could see the bear again and lo and behold...there's the other bowhunter in a tree! CRAP! He must have watched the whole thing. So I gave him a wave that said, "sorry dude" and went slowly and quietly the way I had come in. I made a large circle and ended up in the area I was at the first night I went to the refuge...and not where I wanted to be at all. But by this time it was a little late to try to get to another "good" spot and I just concentrated on being quiet and sitting still. Just in case. Sure enough, I heard a splash come from the slough around a small bend. I knew there was a trail that led into the water there, so figured maybe a deer was crossing.
I very slowly worked my way across the slough, snuck along the brush beside it, and then peeeeeked over some grass. I had successfully snuck up to within about 15 yards of two mallards who made the splashes when they landed. Fantastic. I stood up and they flew off...ducks don't like big things anywhere near them. You wouldn't think they'd be THAT spooky...but then again, I suppose if trees had big guns and would shoot at me every time I went to a restaurant, or bed, or to take a bath...I might be a little spooky too.
After I took care of that, I crossed the slough again (well, you know, my boots were already soaked...what's the difference right?) and headed over to listen and look at a small opening. Nothing. So, by this time, it was getting close to being dark and I decided, "why?" and started to make my way back to the truck. Again, I crossed the slough and walked through the last little grove of trees in the middle of this marshy area. Sure enough, the sound of me walking through the grass spooked a deer! Of course. But, it didn't wind me, it just heard me...so it only took two bounds and stopped. I couldn't see it because of the grass and brush, but I knew it was just standing right there. I was able to get down and back into some heavy hawthornes where it was a little darker. I figured that'd be a good blind.
Well this is all well and good for awhile. I could hear this deer begin to move around a little and just as I thought it might make it's way out in the open...these ROBINS started flying into the hawthorns right above my head. They'd land, flap around, squawk at each other, and then fly off. Land, make noise, repeat. Son of a...! That was obviously enough for that deer...let's see, it heard something that sounded a lot like a man walking, then nothing. Then a lot of random noises that didn't sound pretty. Hmmm. It finally got entirely too dark to shoot and I got up and left...not a deer anywhere close.
I thought about leaving a note on that other guy's truck, but decided it was probably understood that I was sorry. Maybe he'll read this someday...wouldn't THAT be funny? All in all, I figured out that if you are out after elk, you'll get shots at deer. If you're out after deer, you'll get shots at bear. Perhaps next year I'll get a bear tag and see what the next one in the list is.
posted by geotracker12 at 4:00 PM
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