By my standards, today was a perfect day. I set the alarm for 4:30. The winds were howling. I reset it for 5:30 and got up and dressed hoping the winds would die down. The extra hour of sleep was great. I got up, dressed, made coffee and breakfast and was out the door at 6:00. The plan today was to travel approx. 4.5 miles from the road and replacing three aging cameras that had been failing. It was 21 degrees when I left the truck, the winds were not too bad. It was 8:15 when I got to the first cameras. I replaced cards, replaced failing cameras, and moved one to a much better used trail. There were a lot of deer racks in the snow. About 10:00 I was working on camera 5. About 100 yards away, just out of sight, the woods exploded with the sounds of two bucks seriously going at it. The crash of antlers, grunting, and brush breaking. It stopped for a short period and began again, this time with more aggression. The battle ended with the sound of one buck running off and the victor uttering a huge grunt/roar and a snort wheeze. The woods fell silent again. I finished maintenance of the cameras. I checked the wind. I figured that the battle meant there was a hot doe in the vicinity and the victor was tending her. If I could get her to answer the call he would follow. Knowing that the world was frozen and noisy to walk through, I thought I would backtrack to the creek and quietly wade up it covering my approach. I would go some 120 yards into the old growth where I knew of a bedding area on top of an old stream bank, elevated so I could look out across the forest floor. I checked my rifle and slipped into the creek. 20 minutes later I moved up to the ridge top from the creek. As I crested, I noticed a fawn feeding 40 yards distant. I thought to myself, if the doe was being tended and the fawn was distant from her, she might respond to protect the fawn and bring her suiter along with her. After all, he had just won a fight to be by her side. I took off my pack, pulled out my calls, and prepared for what I hoped would happen. I blew on the call once. To my right the world exploded and the doe ran into an opening 30 yards distant and within the next few seconds she was 3 feet away. Her flanks told me she was being tended. She was giving the agitated staccato bleat. The fawn looked left across the draw. I heard a stick break. I grabbed the Hawken, cocked it, swinging to the opening the doe had just come through. A huge bodied buck entered the opening, now lighted by a ray of sunlight through the old growth canopy. The Hawken found its target and fired. The buck stumbled moving around several trees and out of sight. At the shot the doe did a cartwheel leaving the premises. I collected my thoughts and reloaded. The woods were now silent. I put on my pack and grabbed the reloaded rifle and moved to the last place I saw the buck. The sign told me the search would not be long, large splatters of bright red lung blood lined the trail. 50 yards distant he lay on his side where he fell. His body was huge. For a second time in two days, I would be coming out heavy. I paid my respect and admired the warrior. His antlers carried the marks of the recent fight. His missing incisors told a story of past fights. I took photos and boned him out. My pack was heavy to say the least. I could not pick the pack up but somehow my legs supported it once I stood for roughly 4.5 miles back to the truck. At home, Karen and I weighed the pack at 122 pounds. I am thankful I can still do such packs. An incredible experience. I played my cards right today and came home with a pack full of meat and experiences of a lifetime. I love these public lands and the Sitka Black-tailed deer. #publiclandowner #publiclandhunter #tongassnationalforest #sitkablacktail #muledeerfoundation
