Well, I’ve got to say the hunts at Coon Camp Springs this year have been a little rough.  Our first hunter, and the only one I had the opportunity to guide for a couple of days, took several days and a miss to finally tag his buck.  Everyone  else has been self-guided.

The next hunter, a return customer, rolled in just as the late season weather came on.  After several days, he finally saw his buck, a nice 4×4, but the shot clipped branches and the hit went awry.  He lost the buck’s trail and went home empty-handed.

The next three hunters came as a group.  I heard earlier this week from Dave that they’d wounded and lost one on Saturday, and then wounded another on Sunday.  Word came later that they’d found the wounded one and put him down.  And here he is… I didn’t get measurements, but from the picture that may be one of the best racks to come off the ranch.

If the weather permits, the rest of these guys will be back at the ranch next week.  We’ll see what happens…

There are four hunters still to go, and the weather is starting to turn up there.  Bad weather means the deer should start moving, but it also means the roads at the ranch will get sloppy fast.  Hope everyone does well and stays safe.

I’ll provide updates as I get them.

Well, I guess there’s a first time for pretty much everything, but this is one I didn’t expect.

When I rolled out on Friday to help out with some guiding for mule deer at Coon Camp Springs this weekend, I was pretty confident that things would play out like they usually do.  I’d get the client out into one of my honey holes, we’d spot deer, and either find a shooter or at least see enough deer to get excited.  In the past several years, I’ve only had a couple of clients who went more than two days before killing their buck.

I guess I got a little taste of humility.  A huge, heaping helping, to be truthful.  For the better part of two days, the client and I didn’t see so much as a patch of fur.

I had to return to the city and work on Monday, so I showed the hunter around and gave him the lay of the land, including several of my “hot spots”, and then left him to his own devices for the rest of the week.  As of last night (Monday), he had finally spotted a good buck and missed a shot.  No details on that yet, but Dave is still up there to provide updates.

There will be four more hunters coming up in the next two weeks.  Weather is finally moving in, so it’s looking good for those guys… at least until the roads get too nasty.  I’m hoping for pictures as they come available.

So the 2010 Coon Camp Springs mule deer hunts are in the bag, as are all five of our PLM tags. 

As you may remember from the last update, we had three deer down for our first group of hunters, with one hunter, Al, holding out for a trophy buck.  His plan was to return the following weekend and try again. 

Well, it wasn’t a classic hunt.  The deer were simply not cooperating this year.  The warm weather seemed to keep the rut activity to a minimum.  All of the deer taken so far had swollen necks and stinky tarsals, but they were keeping to the thick stuff.  Al hoped that would break loose by the time he came back, but it didn’t happen.  After a couple of fruitless days glassing and hiking, he decided to pack up and head home.  He’d give me a call later in the week to see if my scouting had turned up more activity. 

Before I arrived back in camp, Al had been out driving around the ranch and had spotted an ancient buck with a couple of does.  The antlers looked sort of weird… “like Bullwinkle,” Al told me later. 

As he prepared to drive home, Al said he might ride around a bit more and look for a big, stupid deer.  After driving around, he’d head on out. 

I did some work around camp after he pulled out.  I don’t know how long he was gone, but as the sun started to drop I decided to roll out and glass a couple of spots with the new Nikon Fieldscope (figured I should get some use out of the danged thing).  There were two areas where I’d seen some promising sign, and thought if I glassed from a distance, I could spot movement without disturbing the animals. 

As I was switching positions, I spotted a vehicle coming up the road.  We’d had a tresspasser on the ranch the previous week, and at first I thought he might be coming back.  I tossed the spotting scope and tripod in the truck and started down to intercept him, but as I closed the distance, I realized it was Al’s truck!  I’d assumed he was long gone, and wondered what he had forgotten to make him come back.  I got even closer when I spotted the open tailgate, and then saw the rear-end of a deer.  I’ll be damned!  He got one!  (more…)

Well one thing after another, huh?

So I actually returned from Coon Camp Springs on Wednesday night.  On Thursday morning, as I prepared to catch up on the Wacky Wild Web, something hiccuped and my Internet connection went bye-bye.  Two hours of rebooting routers, modems, and computers didn’t do anything except get me really, really frustrated. 

Kat’s call later to AT&T only served to reheat that stew, and get her pretty riled up as well.  The best they could offer was to have someone out on the 16th… TUESDAY!  Boy, I’m sure glad they broke up the Bell monopoly and made life better for us customers. 

Anyway, enough venting on that topic.  Can’t change it.

I’m online now from a Holiday Inn Express in Lebec, CA.  Tomorrow morning at 10:00, I plan to be on a ferry heading for Catalina Island, where I’ll be deer hunting with a new friend, Charlie de la Rosa, thanks to another friend, Hank Shaw.  How this whole thing came about is sort of an extended tale for another day, but for now I’ll just say I’m tickled to have this opportunity… even if it does mean I’m out of the house almost before my laundry is dry from the last trip.

A full write-up of the Coon Camp hunts is in the offing, so if you’re curious it’ll be here before you know it.  Patience is a virtue.

Well, this marks almost two weeks up here at Coon Camp. 

I hope that by the time you read this, I’ll be kicking back, cutting firewood and prepping the camp to be shut down for the winter.  When I last made a live post, I still had two clients left to tag out.  By this point, I expect that’s been done… or at least we gave it one heck of a try! 

 Here’s another look at the father-and-son buck from last season, just in case you forgot what kind of mule deer we have up here.  I’m sincerely hoping to have some new pictures when I get home that’ll top even this one!

The next post you read from me should be live, from the comfort of my own living room!

This weekend I’ll be on the road back up to Coon Camp for the last two weeks of our season.  I’ll be meeting up with Al, to see if we can’t get him on the mule deer he’s been looking for, and then there’ll be some scouting to get ready for David’s hunt. 

I’m also hoping I can slip off sometime during that period to make a run at some waterfowl.  There’s a small refuge down in the valley that looks promising, and maybe we’ll have some birds using the ponds on the property.  Who knows?

In the meantime, my posts will be sporadic.  I won’t have direct access to the Internet, of course, so I’ll have to pre-load some stuff for ya’ll to gnaw on while I’m gone.  Don’t get all crazy and stuff while I’m out. 

So, see ya’ll in two weeks (or so)!

Just an update from the eastern Sierra…

Our first four hunters of the 2010 season packed up and went home yesterday evening.  In two and a half days of hunting, they were able to fill three tags (see yesterday’s story).  Al is still looking for that big 4×4, and will return this coming Sunday to see if we can find it for him. 

The rut is just now starting to take off, the moon is waning, and the weather has turned cold.  There’s snow on the ground this morning, and it looks like more coming this weekend.  Cold weather can make for some hot action up there, and I’m looking forward to putting Al right in the midst of it. 

The following weekend, Dave Brown, our last hunter, will pull into camp to see if he can do a repeat of his big buck from last year. 

This should be good!

It’s that time of year again, as we kick off our 2010 PLM mule deer hunts at Coon Camp Springs. 

This season at Coon Camp is going to be a little different.  We received one extra PLM tag this year, meaning we’ll be hosting five hunters instead of our usual four.  While we’ve certainly had our success filling out four tags, it’s never wise to get overconfident.  Wild animals are notoriously unpredictable, as is the weather.  Between the two, and the always fickle nature of hunters’ abilities, the only sure thing is that you never know how things will turn out.

One big difference this year is that I wasn’t able to get up prior to the hunts and do my scouting.  Fortunately, Dave was able to go up a couple of days early to check things out.  Unfortunately, he didn’t see any sign of the impending rut… and very little sign of deer activity.  That didn’t sound good.  

But two things I know.  One is that there are deer, plenty of deer, on that property.  The other is that sometimes you have to hunt for them.  They won’t just walk out and ask to be shot.

Another really big difference this year is that our first group of four hunters all arrived together.  Typically, I’ll take two hunters at a time, a manageable ratio for a single guide.  The normal hunt is a week long, and that’s usually more than enough time to get everyone on animals.  This year, the first group is scheduled for two weeks, although as I learned when they arrived on Friday, they’ll actually be leaving after four days.  Those who can will try to come back this coming weekend.

I drove up to Coon Camp on Friday evening, arriving at around 0330.  The clients had chosen to stay in cabins over at Eagle Lake, and were scheduled to be in camp by 0500 to start the hunt.  I set up my bunk in the guide cabin and tried to get a little nap.  Unfortunately, just as I got comfortable, Dave came into the kitchen to start coffee and breakfast.  Oh well, sleep is for wimps.

It was spitting snow and rain when the folks showed up.  Al, Larry, Denton, and Jim would be our guests for the next few days.  In camp to help, we had Dave and another Coon Camp Springs board member, Bob.  We decided I would take Al, and Dave would pair up with Larry.  A few days earlier, Dave had set up a blind for Denton who would hunt solo.  Because Jim has serious mobility issues, Bob would hunt with him from the truck.  The plan was on… even if the weather was going to work against us.

And it did…  (more…)

OK, so much for the attempt at the alliterative title… sometimes it works, sometimes… not so much.

Anyway, I am home, and it was hot.  

The plan for this weekend was to get out with Holly and a friend she met at the Women’s Hunting Camp.  Her new friend wanted to get a taste of deer hunting, so Holly must have figured the sadistic thing to do would be take her out on a mid-season, public land hunt.  One thing I can say with some certainty… if you come back for more after one of these trips, you’ve definitely got hunting in your blood.

Also along on the trip was my friend Dave Allen.  Dave spends most of his weekends working on the habitat projects up at Coon Camp Springs, and this would be his only weekend to actually use his B-zone deer tag.  In a couple of weeks we’ll have paying clients up at Coon Camp, which is sort of like hunting… only not quite.  It’s as close as we’ve been to actually getting to hunt the property since we started the habitat projects up there, though. 

The final member of the planned party was Payton, the 16 year-old son of another friend.  This would be Payton’s first time hunting big game.  He’s followed along with me a time or two, but on this trip he’d be toting a .270 and a valid tag.  It would be quite the hunting party.

Except for the party pooper… Holly.

As the weekend got closer, Holly emailed to tell me that, due to some things going on in her professional life she’d have to bail on the hunt.  With her out, her friend would also be pulling out of the trip (and who could blame her for not wanting to go out alone into the wilderness with three strange, armed men?).   That certainly put a bit of a damper on the plans, but Dave and Payton were set to go and of course I was chomping at the bit for any opportunity to get into the field.

We set up camp at the trailhead and proceeded to spend two and a half days swatting flies and sweating.  We saw a few deer, but no legal bucks.  By Sunday, as Payton and I sat on a high ridgetop overlooking a dense field of chemise and scrub oak, the temperatures were tapping the 106 degree mark.  My brain was boiling inside my skull when I finally decided to call it a day.  By the time Payton and I staggered back to the truck, my eyes were rolling and my head felt like someone was pounding from the inside out with an 8-pound sledge.  It didn’t help to find that we’d somehow gone through an entire case of water in less than two days. 

Dave had taken the “scenic route” back to camp (he’s a bit of a madman) and finally came stumbling in around 4:00.  We briefly debated heading out for the evening hunt, but without water, I didn’t want to chance it.  I’ve had a couple of real close calls with dehydration and heat exhaustion… no need to reinforce the lessons.

We relaxed in the little bit of shade that was left in camp until the shadows were starting to fill the canyon.  I decided we’d break camp and drive up to a lookout to do some glassing.  While I doubt anyone was up for a 500 yard sprint if we actually spotted a buck, it was a nice way to finish out the day.  Besides, I had the new 25-75x82mm Field Scope from Nikon that I wanted to try out. 

Of course, we were glassing the area that I would have hunted that evening, if we’d had the energy (and the water).  With about 45 minutes of shooting light left in the day, I spotted movement at about 900 yards.  Sure enough, a deer stepped out into the clearing.  Another followed, and then I made out the shape of one more in the bushes.  I put the spotting scope on them, and cranked up the magnification.  At about 40-power, I could clearly see that at least two of the deer were does.  The third wouldn’t show me a good look.  I cranked the scope up higher, but at about 60x, the tripod was too unstable to get a clear picture. 

I backed off the power and waited for the third deer to step into the open.  Just then, the largest doe looked back over her shoulder, into the dense chaparral.  Her ears pricked forward and her tail flicked.  Suddenly all three deer bolted across the clearing and into a draw.  I kept the glasses trained on the clearing, hoping to see that they were running from a randy buck, but nothing ever stepped out.  The shadows got deeper until it was nearly impossible to see anything at all. 

As we got back into the truck, I wondered aloud which of us would have been willing to make the dive into the canyon and across the meadows to attempt a shot if a buck had, indeed, appeared.  I got blank looks and then Dave, one of the most hardcore guys I know, shook his head.  “You guys could have him,” he said with a snort. 

I still wonder what he’d have said if a buck had shown up.  I enjoyed the mental picture of a breakneck race between him and Payton as they jockeyed to get into range and take the shot.  Me?  I’d have been there to shoot the whole thing on video… right from the truck.

On this hunt, I got my first real opportunity to try out some optics from Nikon.  In addition to the Field Scope, they also sent me the Monarch X, 10.5×45 binocular.  I used the binocular in NC, during my bowhunt there, but in that thick country you can’t really see more than 75 or 100 yards so it wasn’t much of a trial.  Out in Kokopelli Valley, on the other hand, there are sweeping vistas where quality optics are your best friend.

In short, I was pretty impressed with the Monarch X.  It’s probably unfair to compare them to my Leica Geovids, but they did actually compare somewhat favorably (and consider that they’re about one-fifth of the cost of the Leica).  The glass is clear and bright under all light conditions from pre-dawn to dusk.  I was able to pick out the subtle shades of a doe feeding in chemise at well over 700 yards, which I think is a good test of any hunting optic. 

The Monarch X is also fairly lightweight (don’t recall the actual weight, but you can find the specs on the Nikon website), and felt good in my hands during extended glassing.  I expect that with a tripod mount, these would be an excellent choice for most western hunting situations… especially when backed up with the Field Scope. 

I’ll be putting these glasses through their paces a lot over the coming months, both on my own hunts and while guiding.  I especially looking forward to using the Field Scope while guiding at Coon Camp Springs this season.  I expect it’s going to be a really useful addition to my gear.