Day 3 - Sage Deer

Once again we arose at 3:30 in the morning and headed to the southern check-in area at Snake River Ranch. The guides said elk had come in the previous evening and expectations for a successful hunt were high. The roads were a mess due to melting sow so we chained all four wheels. We were positioned at Gate 2 before shooting light came at around 7:00. We used the binoculars but all we saw were two bulls cross a meadow separately. At 8:30 we talked to Tom Riley, one of the guides. He informed us that the two bulls we had seen had split off a larger herd of about 3,000. The larger herd had been on the ranch on the far side of the next hill to our left. It took them over an hour to get past the shooter on that hill, who took one cow. We checked out about 9:00 and headed to Craig for fuel, then to the BLM land at mile marker 123 on the east side of Highway 13.

The BLM land is a treeless area, as you can see in the picture, except for a few trees down by Fourmile Creek. We sat on a knoll a couple hundred yards from Fourmile Creek for a couple hours, glassing for deer and seeing nothing. We finally gave up and headed to the northernmost section. The mountain in the center of the picture is Long Mountain, 13 miles distant and 2 miles north of the northern check-in area at Snake River Ranch.



As we drove to another overlook a doe suddenly appeared in the sage 40 yards in front of us. It crossed the trail we were on and Dave jumped out with his Marlin .30-30 in hand, ready to fill his doe tag. I took a quick peek with my binoculars and saw a small flash of light above the doe’s ears. “Buck” I yelled, and another look showed it was a forkhorn. Now it was my turn to jump out of the truck. The buck was quartering away but stopped for one last look back over its shoulder. It was ready to run and a couple steps would put it out of sight over a fold in the sage-covered hillside. As soon as the crosshairs settled I took the shot. Immediately afterwards I saw the buck disappear over the fold. Dave and I both took off after the buck, not wanting to lose it in the sage. We found it about 150 yards from where I had been standing. It had gone straight down with the shot. We took it to Snake River Processing in Baggs, Wyoming, by 6:30, getting there just before they closed their doors for the day.

The rifle in this case was my Ruger M77 7mm Remington Magnum, my first and for many years my only centerfire bolt action rifle. I had acquired in 1982 for my first elk hunt. The load was a handloaded 140 grain North Fork bonded bullet pushed to 3200fps.