Snowy Deer Hunt
by: Rhonda Matt
The 2008 deer season started with a big blizzard so I was snowed in on opening day. I finally made it out to my dad’s ranch Saturday night. Sunday started out foggy and COLD! It was about 17 degrees with a southeast wind. There was about 18 inches of snow on the ground not including the monstrous drifts that were everywhere. It made getting around rather difficult. We found some areas with deeper snow that we anticipated and had to shovel a few times.
We went to a place we call the Duffy Place first just to see what we could see. Visibility was about 100 yards. There were several herds of deer and lots of nice bucks, but decided to pass on them since they would be so much nicer next year. They looked young and still have a lot of growing to do.
We headed to the breaks pasture and spotted two nice bucks. I was given my choice. We tried to sneak in closer for a better look but with the snow crunching and the wind not being quite right, they both heard us and took off. DANG! Off they went down the draw, but eventually stopping to look back. We thought they had settled enough so dad & I were going to try again but at a different angle. When we got to where we thought we needed to be (AFTER getting stuck the 2nd time), they had vanished into thin air.
By this time it’s almost noon so we decide to run home to do some chores and rest our poor backs from all the shoveling. After eating lunch and resting for about an hour, we decide to go back out and tried the Duffy Place again. Since the fog lifted, we were able to see further and saw LOTS of nice deer everywhere, but just was not overly satisfied with any of them like the two we saw this morning.
By this time, it’s beginning to get late in the afternoon and we decide to abandon the Duffy Place and head back over to where we saw the two from this morning. Usually about this time of day, they start making their way to our neighbor’s corn fields through our pastures. We made it back to our land and there they were, and there were three of them!! The wind was right and we were far enough away, he couldn’t hear the crunch of the snow as we made our way to a good position. I sat down near a yucca plant about 200 yards +/- away from the trail the deer were following. When he came into sight, I set my site on him and waited. He was after a hot doe and would never stop long enough for me to make a solid shot. He continued on the trail and it was a now or never as he would be too far away or over the hill in just a matter of seconds. FINALLY, he hesitated only slightly, I pulled the trigger. The hillside was steep and he ended up sliding down the hillside about 50 yards (seemed like 100) before he finally came to a stop in some exposed brush.
He is a 6×6 Muley. Field dressed, he weighed 200 lbs. Just check out the picture. He was definitely worth all the shoveling.
Leave a Reply