jmden
Well-Known Member
Camp on the ridgetop at 7200' on the edge of the Pasayten Wilderness Area 9/14/12 anticipating the opening of 'High Buck' season at shooting light the next morning. We both bought TarpTent Rainbows this year for this kind of hunt. 2 lbs. 3 oz. and very room and incredibly versatile for 1 person. Could squeeze two into one if you had to. Cars are down in the valley below down a very steep slope.
I apologize for my ugly mug! 540yd. 23 deg down angle. It was unseasonably warm up there this year! I misaimed the rushed shot as he was just about to walk out from where we could see him and and mistakenly aimed for the onside shoulder with the 300g Berger Hybrid OTM traveling at 2954 fps MV from the Allen Precision 338AX exiting out the offside neck. Bang, flop as he was slightly quartered away with his neck bent downhill feeding. My brother shot one at the same distance 5 minutes later as 4 more bucks were standing around after I put down the larger one going 'what happened'? 2 bucks down an hour after shooting light on opening day, shot 5 minutes apart, hit in nearly the same location on the hillside. His was heart shot with a 210 VLD out of a 300 WSM and made it about 50 yds downhill below mine. We were both cleaning deer at the same time in nearly the same place in some of the most beautiful God's country one can imagine. What a blessing!
Partway back up to camp with a 95 lb load. 80 of it was boned out meat and antlers. The entire green section of the pack is filled with meat only. It was about 700' vertical back up to camp and then a very steep, dicey, x-country 1800' vert. down to the car with the same load of meat and then back up to camp to get camp out. The slope from camp down to the car would be suicide without trekking poles and years of mountaineering and x-country backcountry experience. Gotta get moving towards home 'cause that meat isn't going to cooldown up there. Got home a little after 11p last night. What a ton of satisfying work! Hope you guys get some meat in the freezer soon! Jon
Edit: BTW, I tried out Len's small, lightweight rear bag that he sells here at the lrh.com store on this trip. It is 11 oz. if you take the plastic belt clip off. It gave me 3 very solid (and adjustable by squeezing...this bag is small enough you can do that quite readily) shooting heights, based on it's three dimensions. Len has the best price for these I've seen on the internet and for the price would encourage anyone to try one out, especially if you are going on hunts like this where weight and space, but a solid, highly adjustable to the situation, rear bag is a must.
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