Headed up to POW island to spend some time with some clients on their boat. We caught some silvers, halibut, and one nice yellow eye, but nothing really worthy of a bunch of pics.
The other bankers headed home, and as I waved goodbye to them, my boys flew up. We took the ferry over, which was a great experience, as we met some people who were headed to the same island we were.
The weather was awesome for the first few days, 75 degrees+, and kids being kids, especially when other kids show up, they headed for the water.
The fun ended as Hunter and Ryan's new friends headed back home.
Big Stick might just recognize a few of the kids there. (Kimber was a pleasure to meet, again.)
Killing time started as we headed out for deer.
Kyle was first up, as he took a small buck from 103 yards. The pic didn't turn out too well, but a small deer and a .270 Win don't necessarily go together. I got that one drug out then skinned and butchered it that day. We also saw a nice buck, 4 point+, that headed out at warp speed after we spooked it. That was the first deer for Kyle, and while out and about, it was Ryan's first time seeing a black bear in the wild.
We got to within about 45 yards of the bear as it crossed the road, about 45 yards ahead of us. That was the first of 8 bears we saw.
Ryan was up next,
as he had never had a chance at deer. We drove up the the area we were going to hunt and started hiking up the kelly diked road when I spotted a bedded deer a few hundred yards away about 10 steps into our hike. The reason it wa so easy to spot the deer was that they were in their summer coats, which were almost orange. We found a good rest for Ryan, and the 1x2 didn't seem to concerned, as it stayed in it's bed. From 130 yards Ryan lined up the .243 Win and made a beatiful shot that wasted no meat.
We headed back to camp after I drug out Ryan's deer, where I butchered his deer and got it iced down. We took the carcass up into the woods two hours after his shot and the bears had already gotten to the gut pile. Ryan's deer had bedded down about 70 yards from where Kyle made his shot from.
Hunter's turn started that evening, and we headed back up to where the other deer taken. Once again, the bears had cleared the carcass from Ryan's deer away, and we saw two bears in about a 2 miles of hiking. We also spotted a nice doe.
The next morning we parked the Samurai, (only truck on the island we were on) and hiked up the hill to our area. As Hunter looked over the area where Kyle had shot his deer from, I headed up the trail to scout out ahead and saw yet another bear. As I headed back to see if Hunter had seen anything, I looked over to the area where the big doe was the night before and spotted yet another orange deer. A few looks through the binocs confirmed it was a larger deer than the other two we had taken. I ranged the deer at 163 yards and showed Hunter where it was. He took a prone firing position and made a great shot at the furthest distance he has ever shot from.
The only issue was that the deer required a 3/4 mile drag back to the vehicle, as I had packed light, and with all of the bears in the area I didn't want to bone it out right there.
Three deer in 3 days, plus skinning and butchering, made for litle rest on my vacation, but it was worth it.
Here is the view from our cabin,
..and this is what the inside of the cabin was like..
Looking forward to next year!
Previous Topic
Index
