# Ridgetops Hunting Journal



## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

The last couple years I've kept a journal of my scouting trips and hunting trips and shared them on some other hunting sites. I've recieved some very nice feedback, so I'll be doing it again. 
Although I didn't draw my first choice deer tag this year. I'm looking foreward to scouting a new area that I've had my eye on for a few years now. I've done all the google earth scouting that I can stand and now it's time to put the boots to work. In the past 12 years, I've either scouted or hunted 11 different sub-units. So you can see, I tend to get around. 
This year I'm going to try and include weather conditions in my reports too.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

June 12th
While camping with my family for the week in the area I also hunt general season (any bull) elk in. I was able to get out for a few hours and set up a couple trail cameras and hike around a bit. 
While my son Davud and I were setting up a couple cameras, one on a small pond and the other in some aspens where I knew about a good trail the elk have used in the past, we came across a few nice bucks right off the atv trail we were using. 
We hiked about a 1/4 mile to the aspens and once there, we spooked two feeding bulls. One of them looked really wide but I was too slow to get a picture. I hoped to get them on the trail cam when or if they come back in the next couple days.
Here's a couple pictures of the bucks.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

June 13th
This morning I glassed from a high point. In one hour of glassing, I was able to spot one raghorn bull elk over a mile away and one 2 1/2 year old buck, which will probably be a three or small four point. The wind was blowing 10-20 mph from the south and not a cloud in the sky. unfortunatly, I was too slow to get any pictures of big game today.


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## stillhunterman (Feb 15, 2009)

I've enjoyed following your posts on other sites ridge. Glad to see you following up here.


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

Looking forward to each entry! Thanks! I love this kind of thing!


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Thanks Stillhunter and Bears Butt. I'll do my best to keep up with it, along with all the honey dos around the yard. lol
Work has been rough this year. Closing in on 200 overtime hours already this year but I won't complain too much, with about 15% of my income going to medical bills and another 15% to charity, the overtime is welcome.


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## ARCHER11 (May 26, 2011)

Cool! Looking forward to following along! Good luck!


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

June 14th

This morning I planned to spend a couple hours and hike into one of my most favorite honey holes of all time. I have never seen another person in this wilderness area and I just flat out love the "lay of the land" in this location.
It was very cold for the middle of June, must have been in the low 40's or upper 30's. The down slope winds were blowing from the North but I knew that they would change to the strong South winds within an hour or two after sun up as the winds have been strong from the South for several days. It rained a little last night but the winds dried all the moisture up so that my boots never showed any sign of wetness.
I topped out on a big flat with waist high brush and started to see some nice feeding bucks. Although I tried to keep the wind in my favor and keep myself in the shadows of the tree as much as possible, many of the bucks spotted something (undoubtedly me) that was out of place. I'm sure if I would have sat still or laid down most of them would have went back to feeding, but I pushed on to see more country, which caused many of the bucks to head out. After hiking for almost an hour, I found what I was looking for in a small bowl. There were three bull elk (two of them big) and seven bucks. All were feeding within a few hundred yards of each other. What an awesome sight! Here's some of the bucks before I arrived at the bowl.
to be continued.....


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

OH YA! You need look no further! Just keep an eye on them and they will be on your wall! Of course it's obvious you are not in Utah as I can tell those bucks are not from the same breeding stock the DWR has for stocking purposes! :smile:


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

great pic there. looks like some nice bucks for you to chase.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

June 14th continued...

Most of the bucks in the bowl were about the same as the one pictured above but the was one that really stood out. At over 500 yards, he really looked good. I had to get a closer look. Here he is before I moved in closer.

As I moved within 200 yards, he had moved into the shade of the trees. The only way I was going to get any more pictures of him was to move out into the open, so I could get a clear view. This put me into the sun and it didn't take the old buck long to spot me and he was on his way within a few seconds. This is going to be one great buck.

Now it was time to turn my attention to the two big bull elk. They are going to make the summer drag just a little longer. Oct. 5th just can't come soon enough.

I promised my wife I would be back before noon to go fishing in the afternoon. So after just a few minutes of watching these awesome animals, I was on my way back to the truck.


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## Oblivion5888 (Sep 12, 2011)

Just curious, was the June 14th trip on an open bull unit for general season?


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Oblivion5888 said:


> Just curious, was the June 14th trip on an open bull unit for general season?


 Yes


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

June 16th
My wife and I went up to get my trail cameras today. When I arrived at the pond I discovered that the pole my camera was on had been knocked over and my camera had been stomped into mud. But after further investagation, it had been some elk that had committed the vandalism. 
It took over 24 hours for anything to come in after I set up the camera. 
I got some really nice reflection pictures off the water but then the elk showed up and you can see in one picture that the camera angle changes, then the next picture is when my camera hit the ground just before getting stomped on.:-?







































My camera in the aspens only picked up a couple small bucks and a few does. The elk I saw never came back down the trail in the three days the camera was up.


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## Doc (Sep 11, 2007)

Those reflection pictures are really cool pictures.


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## bowhunt3r4l1f3 (Jan 12, 2011)

Ridgetop, those bulls are on any anybull unit...?!:? That front bull is probably pushing over 360...!


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

bowhunt3r4l1f3 said:


> Ridgetop, those bulls are on any anybull unit...?!:? That front bull is probably pushing over 360...!


 I was thinking he would go over 350" but I'm really bad at judging elk .I do know that they were big.;-)
Since I'm willing to shoot the first legal bull I see, I'm not too concerned about score but it's fun to talk about.:thumb:


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## 1finelogger (Jun 1, 2013)

I want to thank Ridgetop for the articles and pictures that he is sharing on this forum! Being from out of state and lucky enough to draw a LE Central Manti bull tag and seeing the pictures and reading the stories gets a person wanting to be there yesterday:smile:! Thank you again for sharing! 1finelogger---Jerry


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

1finelogger said:


> I want to thank Ridgetop for the articles and pictures that he is sharing on this forum! Being from out of state and lucky enough to draw a LE Central Manti bull tag and seeing the pictures and reading the stories gets a person wanting to be there yesterday:smile:! Thank you again for sharing! 1finelogger---Jerry


Jerry, I'm glad your enjoying my post. Here's a little video of those two bulls pictured on 6-14 and the second video is from last year. Good luck on your hunt.


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## 1finelogger (Jun 1, 2013)

What a great way to start the day:grin:! A great cup of coffee and fantastic videos of magnificent animals! Ridgetop---You have got to be living the sportsman dream! It can't get any better than being outdoors in nature sharing her beauty! Thank you again for sharing these pictures and videos of our great outdoors! Keep them coming as I'm sure I'm not the only one who enjoys them! 1finelogger---Jerry


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## bowhunt3r4l1f3 (Jan 12, 2011)

I'm still having a hard time believing these are on an any bull unit. Those are big bulls!


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

bowhunt3r4l1f3 said:


> I'm still having a hard time believing these are on an any bull unit. Those are big bulls!


 I have seen big bulls on many of the any bull units over the years and they are still there in a few spots.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

June 22,
Today I went up to our old camp (we established it a few years ago), to retrieve some supplies we left up there, to keep my pack lighter when doing these backcountry hunts. I have started to hide five gallon buckets with airtight lids to store supplies. I will store food, camp stoves, sleeping bags, water, wet wipes, garbage bags, sleeping pads, and many other things.
As hard as I tried, I could not find any of my hunting partners to go up with me this day. I got a much later start than I usually do (I try to be out one to two hours before first light), leaving the truck as the sun was just starting to come up. I spotted a few deer up high on the mountain, but after examining them with my spotting scope, I realized they were either all does or very small bucks. It's a lot easier to see the deer this time of year with their brownish red hair against the green landscape. Further up the trail I came to a spot where I could see down into a saddle and I instantly saw four bucks feeding. All of them looked like they will be three point or better bucks, but one stood out from the rest. It had some of the biggest ears I've seen on a buck with an average body size. Even this early in the year, I could tell it was going to be a really nice buck. I'm sure someone's going to run across it in this easy access area by time the hunt comes around.
I was surprised to see them feeding so late in the morning with it being unusually hot and it was a full moon too. The wind was blowing about 10 MPH, which did seem to cool things down a little. On a side note: It seems like I often see bucks feeding later in the mornings when the wind is blowing hard.

This first video is of the four bucks together. It's hard to tell which is the best buck. 





This video is through my spotting scope, hand held of course. You can see he's going to be a pretty nice buck.





Once I got to our old campsite, I sat down and had lunch and just soaked in all the memories from the past few years. I then consolidated my buckets and filled up my pack with the things I felt would be needed at our new camp location this year. I had left a trail cam up there in a bucket with extra batteries, so I set it up on a well used trail on my way back out. I think I'll try and check it out later this fall and see what's been around. I did not see another single deer after the four bucks, even with the wind in my face during most of the hike in.


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## outdoorser (Jan 14, 2013)

I love these posts, ridgetop.


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## nateysmith (May 13, 2013)

These are such great posts! I love seeing all the pics and videos.


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## CurrentCreekHunter (May 4, 2013)

Great post love the updates and the pics/videos!


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Well I haven't been able to get out for a couple weeks now and it might look like at least another week before I have a chance of doing any more looking around. I have to admit, I'm getting a little worried about how out of shape if gotten. I'm about 40 lbs. overweight, both knees have been hurting and I have a stress fracture in my right foot. Also, my asthma has been really bad this year becuase of the high pollen counts but I'm going to give it my best shot anyway and we'll see how things work out.

Here's a highlight from last year to pass some time away. I really learded a leason on this buck. 
After doing an overnight packpack trip in early July last year in the high country with my friend Corby. While driving out just before noon, way down in the flats, we spotted 4 bucks up the hill. Three smaller bucks were bedded in the trees but for some reason the biggest one was right out in the open. I grabbed my video camera and got this footage before he ran back into the trees. 





I knew he was going to be a great buck and there must be some water around that the maps didn't show. So when I got home, I searched google earth and located a small spring about a 1/2 mile up canyon from these bucks. It was time to put a trail camera on the spring. You wouldn't believe what I found on my camera after two weeks.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

As I was hiking in to set up my trail cam on the spring. I had this buck come running down the hill and stopped less than 100 yards away.








After letting my camera sit for a couple weeks I went back and found that there were a few other nice bucks around the area. Never did get any pictures of the 4 bucks I had first seen from the road.

























It's amazing how just a chance sighting in the middle of the day led me to several nice bucks. So always keep alert. And yes, these are all general season public land bucks.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

I finally got to get out and look around in our new area.

July 20th, Tom and I planned on hiking up into a basin that has caught our eye for a few years now. At first, things weren't going to well. My atv had a dead battery and then we got lost in the dark and couldn't find the trail. By time we started to hike, it was already getting light. For the first 1/2 mile , the hike was fairly easy and I was doing just fine but then we needed to head straight up a steep ridge to get on the ridgeline to look into the basin. That's when I told Tom (Mr. Ironman) that I would meet him at the top. When I caught up with him about a 1/2 hour later. He had spotted a couple nice bucks. Then I spotted another boxey 26" wide buck. A few minutes later Tom spotted two more good bucks, a 7x6 and a 6x5. We also, saw 5 or 6 smaller bucks. In all, we saw 6 mature bucks. Not a bad first day into a new area. 
Here's a picture of the 6x5. The others were about a mile away and a little camera shy.


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Really GOOD STUFF Ridge:!:


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## USMARINEhuntinfool (Sep 15, 2007)

Dude, I don't know how I've been missing these. Way cool idea, thanks for sharing it all.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

goofy elk said:


> Really GOOD STUFF Ridge:!:


 Thanks Goofy. 
If things play out right, I just may need to change my user name to "Goofy Deer". :shock:
Opps, I little TMI. sorry. 8)

Back to the story.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

July 21st, 

I met my cousin John at the trailhead at 5:30 am. We both only had a few hours to look around and would need to be off the mountain by 10:00am to get to our families. By 7:00 am, we were glassing a really good looking mountain that should hold some good bucks but after looking for about 30 to 45 minutes and not seeing a single deer of any kind. We decided to move on. The plan was for John to go check on a couple trail cameras he had set up a few weeks earlier and I would cross over to the other side of the canyon that we were on , so I could look back at the country we couldn't see from our current location. As I got further around the canyon and slowly worked my way down slope, The mountain started to really "open up". I've mensioned to people before about how important it is the "glass with the grain" of the mountain, instead of against it. It's like opening up the blinds of a window all the way instead of only looking through them half opened. Anyway, once I finally got to that special glassing spot, I sat down and started looking across the huge canyon. Instantly I was able to spot a group of 4 good bucks, then further down canyon another group of 3 bucks with one of them having great forks but I could not tell how wide it was before they disappeared into the trees. Then a few minutes later I spotted another great buck even further down canyon, near the bottom. I knew it was getting late and the bucks would be bedding soon and I was running out of time but I had to get a better look at this last buck.

To be continued....


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

July 21st cont...

As I found a good spot to re-set up my spotting scope in the little bit of shade I could find. Once I was back at looking at the tall, heavy buck lower in the canyon. I could not believe my eyes. He had a droptine and a big one at that. His antlers looked really goofy. They looked more like a raghorn 4 or 5 point elk that your standard Mule Deer. After a few minutes, he turned his head. Are you kidding me? Did I just see a second droptine on the other side? Now the heatwaves were getting really strong through my scope and the air was getting more hazy, I just could not tell for sure how many points this buck had. I would need to get a better look at him another time. It was also time for me to go and meet up with John and see if he had anything good on the trail cams and head back home. 
I meet up with John and told him about the bucks I saw. He hadn't seen anything and he only had one nice looking 24-25" 3x4 on the cameras.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

July 21st continued...

On my way back home, I called my other hunting partners to let them know what I had found. Tom wanted to know if I wanted to go back out and get video of the raghorn buck. Since we did know exactly where he was at the time, this might be the best chance. After several meetings that afternoon that I had committed to, we were off. We frankly ran out of daylight before we could get to the raghorn buck. We did end up seeing him from a distance but because he was in very thick brush and we were looking at him from below. We just couldn't get a good look at him. So I still didn't know how many points he had or if he did indeed have two droptines. I could tell he was a very heavy and tall buck but that's about it.
We did come across this nice buck in the bottom of the canyon as we were hiking in. He just let us walk right on by him until we were out of sight.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Sorry I haven't been able to keep up on this post. Due to my heavy work schedule and the many chores around the house, I just haven't had time. During my free time, I have been scouting my but off the past six weeks. 
I have had a goal for the past 20 years to get at least one 30" wide buck and one 180" main frame buck before I hang it up. This year I have found two bucks that will qualify. 
Here are the top three biggest bucks that we have found this year.

The first, I found in mid-July but haven't seen it in six weeks now. His antlers look more like a raghorn elk than a mule deer but I love how crazy he looks.

The second buck, we haven't seen in person but have him on two different trail cams in canyons about 1/2 mile apart. He's an 8x7 and should go over 30" wide.

The third buck I found last Friday night and took the pictures on Saturday morning. I'm guessing he has a solid 180"+ main frame.

Which buck do you guys like best?


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## MWScott72 (May 23, 2011)

Great thread Ridgetop. It's impressive how much you are able to get out. That 8x7 looks mighty nice!


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## Oblivion5888 (Sep 12, 2011)

While i'd take any of those bucks, i think i like #2 the best.

Also, could you elaborate on the glassing "with the grain"?

thanks


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## Kat3eWhit (Sep 6, 2013)

I've enjoyed following your posts on other sites ridge. Glad to see you following up here.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

MWScott72 said:


> Great thread Ridgetop. It's impressive how much you are able to get out. That 8x7 looks mighty nice!


 Well, I don't get a lot of sleep sometimes.:shock:
I am going to take a much needed break now for about two weeks and spend time with the whole family. I usually try to take one of my kids out with me on my scouting trips. It's time to get the old smoke pole dialed in.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Oblivion5888 said:


> While i'd take any of those bucks, i think i like #2 the best.
> 
> Also, could you elaborate on the glassing "with the grain"?
> 
> thanks


I'll explain when I have more time.


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## Kingpennington (Aug 14, 2012)

ridgetop said:


> I'll explain when I have more time.


This is one hell of a thread!!! Thanks for the updates.


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## Packout (Nov 20, 2007)

I like the wide buck with the extras. The "space" his antlers take up is very impressive-- tall, wide, deep, heavy, dropper, cheaters, etc... All 3 are solid, mature deer. Gotta love Utah deer hunting mixed with some work! Look forward to the end results.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Well, it looks like there will be no tag soup for me this year.8)
Now I can play guide for the rifle hunt but for now it's time to focus on this weekends elk hunt.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

What an amazing week I've had. After shooting my largest Utah buck ever last Saturday. I headed out Friday night with a general season any bull tag in hand and yesterday I connected with my largest bull to date. It's a heavy 6x7. I'll try to post a story with pictures when I have more time.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

when it rains it pours

congrats!


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Remember this buck?



Never could find him all summer but then on opening day of the rifle hunt we were just down canyon from him when another hunter shot it. 
He ended up being 34" wide.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Well as things slow down around the forum and I when I have a little time to spare, I'll continue with some of my scouting reports from the summer.

July 24th, 
I had the day off work, so my friend Paul, who drove down from Idaho and my cousin John went into an area to the north of the basin Tom and I had glassed a few days earlier. We only saw a few does and three bucks in this new area. The biggest buck was an average 22" wide 130" class buck and one two point had about a 3" cheater on one side, which was kind of cool. John and I quickly headed back to the South to glass the basin again and Paul headed down canyon to look around. John and I spotted a couple nice bucks in the basin, which I'm sure they were the same bucks Tom and I had seen before but at almost two miles away, it was hard to tell. Paul ended up seeing about 12-15 small bucks lower in the canyon. About noon, we headed off the mountain. Paul headed back home to Idaho, John headed to scout antelope in a unit that his wife had drawn and I headed back to the mountain where I had seen the raghorn buck.
Once I got to my glassing spot further up canyon where Tom and I had made it before. It took only a few minutes to spot a big 3x4 that was about 27-28" wide and the raghorn buck. I decided to call him "raghorn" because his rack looked more like a raghorn elk than a mule deer. 
Here's some video of the bucks. I could see now that instead of two droptines, he had a big 8" long eye guard on his left side that when straight out like what you would see on an elk and then a big 10" dropper on his right side.





Then about 10 minutes after the sun had set and it was starting to get dark. It spotted two nice bucks coming out of a narrow canyon about a mile away. They were focused on heading straight into the first little draw down canyon. I think I may have found a water source.:mrgreen:
Both bucks were nice but I really liked the lead buck with his long main beams. I named him "beamer". I figured he might end up in the 170" range and was around 26-27" wide. The 3x4 that was with him was in that 27" range too.
Here's a little video of those two bucks. Also through my spotting scope.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

July 27th
Today Tom and I was going to explore the country higher above the basin. After hiking for about an hour and it was just starting to get light, it started to rain. We put on our rain gear and continued on up the mountain. We got into some really steep nasty stuff and with the ground and rocks wet, it was a little scary. At one point we got ledged up and had to climb a small tree to get up a 10' rocky chute. Not too easy with 30 lb. packs on our back. We also were taking up a few trail cams to place in areas we wanted to scout more. We did get a closer look at some of the bucks in the basin and a few more that we had never seen before.
Here's pictures of a few of them...







to be cont....


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

continued....
July 27th

After tom and I took some video of these bucks we picked up our packs and headed back towards the trailhead. We were going to meet our friend Corby and all three of us were going to head for the mountain that I saw the raghorn buck on and try to find him again. Well, after hiking a couple hours and with about one mile left to go. We stopped to make a phone call and when I opened my pack to get the phone out, I notice that my video camera was gone.  I must have left it in the rocks on the last rocky point we were on when I was using the camera. Which was about two miles back and about 1,800' in elevation climb. I was very sad because it was going to rain hard again overnight and I knew I couldn't make it back up there. I was pretty beat. Tom said he would go and get it. He left me all his gear and I gave him my left over water. I would then meet back up with him and Corby on the other side of the mountain, which would be a shorter hike for Tom from where the camera was left. What a great guy to do something like that.
After Tom found the camera and was hiking back out, he caught this nice buck sneaking away. It was one that we had missed seeing earlier.


Once Corby and I met up with Tom, it was getting late. So we ended up checking out a different area right before dark. Corby spotted 4 nice bucks about 1,000 yards away and with it getting dark, it was really hard to tell how good they were. Two of the bucks were licking each other, which was kind of weird. End of another great scouting trip. Well, except for forgetting the video camera.O|*O|*O|*


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Awesome journal Ridge .:!:.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

July 28th
I didn't have much going on today. So I figured I would try and get a better look at those bucks we saw the night before. So in the darkness of night I headed back to the same canyon from the evening before. I arrived just as it was getting light. I glassed the draw we had seen the bucks in with no luck. I then headed over the ridge to the North to check out a real good looking area. After an hour of glassing and about 1.5 miles hiked. Now this is when most guys would call it quits but I decided to head to a higher spot on the ridge back to the South and try and glass the canyon to the South of where we saw the bucks from the night before. Still nothing. Now it's about 9:00 am and getting hot. The bucks have probably gone to bed by now, so I start hiking back to the quad in the bottom of the canyon. 
There's a small water hole by where I parked and I decided to go look around it for tracks. There were a few tracks but not as many as I would thought. From this location I can see another good brushy potential feeding area about two canyons to the South and I start glassing again.
I then see two deer standing side by side and it looks like they are licking each other. It must be the same two bucks from the night before. I get my spotting scope on them and I can tell they're good bucks and one looks wide. Now I'm starting to feel very tired and fatigued from the day before but I still want to get a good look at these bucks. They're in a good spot where I can stalk within a couple hundred yards pretty easy. By the time I climbed the 3/4mile and about 800 feet elevation to these bucks, they had bedded. I set up the camera and then made some noise to get them to stand. Here's the pictures I got. 
I think the wide buck should go about 28" wide and he had two small cheaters on his right side.
I also found a last years shed off a 170" class buck as I hiked back down to the quad again. I was really looking forward to a nap when I got home.

Here's the two bucks I saw and you can see the wet streak down the three points neck where the other buck had been licking it.
If I hadn't been so persistent about finding these bucks, I probably would have not seen a single deer this morning or the big shed.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

1finelogger said:


> What a great way to start the day:grin:! A great cup of coffee and fantastic videos of magnificent animals! Ridgetop---You have got to be living the sportsman dream! It can't get any better than being outdoors in nature sharing her beauty! Thank you again for sharing these pictures and videos of our great outdoors! Keep them coming as I'm sure I'm not the only one who enjoys them! 1finelogger---Jerry


Because of this post, I've decided to share the rest of my season from last fall. It might take a few weeks but hopefully will keep a few of you entertained.

Aug. 4th
My cousin John called me with a report about his morning scouting trip. He had gone up to the head of the canyon where I had seen the droptine buck I had named raghorn. He never did see the raghorn buck but did find another great buck that he figured was close to 28" wide and had cheaters on both sides. John said the buck reminded him of a buck we had been hunting the year before that we had named "lookout" but this new buck was not as big. 
So we named him "little lookout".
I never did see the video that John took until later in the year but I was really excited to know that there was at least three really nice buck in this area. 
Here's video of the buck that John saw.





John also sent me a text of a picture through his spotting scope of a deer drinking at a small seep. 
Back on July 24th when Tom and I were in that same canyon, Tom thought he saw a dark spot on the ridge above us and some birds flying in and out of the area. We now know it was the same small seep. Now it's time to put a trail camera on the seep and see what's coming into it.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Aug. 14th

Tom and I were able to get off work early and make the long drive out to our hunting area. Even though we would only had about an hour of light once we got there and then the long drive to get back home late into the night, it would be worth it. Tom and Corby had set up a camera on the new found spring the weekend before but Tom wanted to set up a second camera and check to see what had already come in. While Tom "ran" up the mountain towards the spring, I stayed back and glassed the mountain from below. About 10 minutes before sunset, I spotted three bucks feeding out of some trees. They were about a mile away and feeding towards the bottom of the head of the canyon we were in. I kept watching as Tom kept climbing. The bucks then hit a trail and started heading down canyon in my direction. With about five minutes of light left, the bucks (now about 600 yards away) turned into a small draw and stopped. With my spotting scope at 50x, I could see them taking turns drinking at a newly found small seep. This one was about 500 yards downhill from the one Tom had his cameras on. Although the best of the three bucks was a 24" wide, tall and heavy with weak forks, the highlight of this trip was finding a second water source in this new honey hole. On our way home that night, Tom looked through the trail camera pictures and we were disappointed that no mature bucks had used it. Maybe they were using the lower seep instead.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Oblivion5888 said:


> Also, could you elaborate on the glassing "with the grain"?
> 
> thanks


Tip of the week

It's actually a simple concept but sometimes takes a lot of effort to achieve.
Glassing the grain of how the trees grow is like standing in your house and trying to look through your window blinds while they are slightly open. While looking at your blinds straight on, it's hard to see anything outside but if you get low to the floor and look up through the blinds or up on a chair to look down(depending on the direction the blinds are angled) you then will be able to see through the blinds. Well in most cases, trees are the same way. You either get further up or down slope and all of a sudden you can see through the trees and see many hidden openings within the trees where the deer may be feeding. 
Most people don't want to hike 1000' in elevation up or down slope in hopes of finding those openings but it has paid off for me big time over the years.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Aug. 16th
Here it is the day before the archery deer opener and not one of my hunting partners are able to get out. 
So I decided to go with Roger,a neighbor friend of mine. He didn't really know where to go on his unit, so I offered to show him an area I have always thought looked good from a distance. I poured over Google Earth, looking for the best areas to glass from and set up camp. We would be backpacking in a few miles. 
Even though we both had got off work early, we got out of town a lot later than we hoped. By the time we arrived at the trailhead , we had only about an hour of light left. About a mile up the trail we decided to drop our packs and hike up the steep canyon slope above the trail. The evening light was fading fast, so we were hoping to spot a few bucks before it got dark. In the 10-15 minutes of light we had left, I spotted a doe and two fawns moving uphill across the canyon from us. I then spotted another doe moving quickly across a sage flat towards the doe and fawns. I wondered if there was water that they were going to.
I like to see the direction deer are heading in the heat of the summer, hopefully they will lead me to water. 
We did notice a good looking side canyon about a mile further up that looked real good for the morning. 
After it got dark, we wandered around looking for a flat spot and we were really having a hard time finding anything. Roger finally found a semi flat spot for his tent and I found an old cow bed next to a tree that I was able to dig out a little bigger and cut a few branches with a hand saw I had. I still ended up at the bottom of my tent several times throughout the night.
:-?


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

August 17, 2014

What a warm night it was. The alarm went off at 4:30 AM and our plan was to leave camp around 5:00. I expected it to take us at least an hour to hike up to a rocky point we had seen far up the mountain the night before. It didn't take more than five minutes into the hike and I was already down to my t-shirt. As we continued to climb, I realized that I was doing much better than Roger. Admittedly, he was carrying a bow and I was not. He also had about 120 oz. of water compared to my 64 oz. 

We made it to the rocky point just as it was starting to get light. We glassed about 10-15 minutes in the beautiful canyon which lay before us, when we heard rocks rolling. After minutes more, I finally spotted two does with two fawns. I wondered if it was the same four deer we saw the evening before, lower in the adjacent canyon. They were heading up into this area when we last saw them. Another 20 minutes went by with no more sightings and I was starting to get discouraged. I couldn't believe we weren't seeing more deer, especially bucks. I spotted another doe and fawn at the head of the canyon we were in. 

The sun was about to come over the ridge, where it would be right in our eyes if we continued to glass this canyon. I decided to look around the edges of the timber above us one more time before I tried to move lower on the ridgeline to avoid the sun for a few more minutes. Suddenly, I saw a big buck feeding where I'd seen nothing earlier. I hurried and put my spotting scope on it and grabbed my video camera out of my pack. I got a few quick seconds of video before the sun blinded my view.

I motioned to Roger that we needed to get lower on the ridgeline, back into the shade so we could keep glassing. As we snuck back over the ridge, I saw movement about 600 yards across the canyon just west of us. There were nine deer walking single file across a rocky face; seven of them were bucks (all small two and three-pointers.)

Once we set up again below the rocky point, we once again only had minutes before the sun would be in our face once more. I started glassing frantically for that nice buck I had seen, but couldn't find it. I spotted two other bucks about 200 yards up in the timber. One was a small two point and the other was nice-heavier and better all around forks than the first big buck I had on video. Just as I grabbed my camera to video this second big buck, the sun came over the ridge again and within seconds, a big swarm of  gnats converged upon us. It was unbearable!

We came up with a plan to hike above the feeding bucks and hopefully see when they bedded down. It took about another hour to hike up above the bucks but the angle was wrong, we were definitely glassing against the grain. We decided not to push the deer out of the area and headed to look over the next canyon south. It was now sometime between 10:00-11:00 AM and everything would be bedded. I decided to glass a brushy area below some timber and I saw something that looked like antlers in the brush. I told Roger that I may have just found a buck of a lifetime or maybe an elk. Once I got my scope set up on the patch of brush, a raghorn bull elk came into view. Then another and a spike. Roger suddenly was thinking about getting an archery elk tag and trying for that spike for a few weeks. 

Once noon hit, it grew really warm and we were past using up over half our water, so we decided to head back down and break camp. A great opening day.
Video:


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

August 22nd,

John and I planned on camping out at the base of the mountain and getting up a couple hours before light. We wanted to hike several miles with several thousand feet of elevation changes. I was really excited about this trip, but somewhat worried that I couldn't physically handle it. We arrived at the mountain about an hour before dark, just in time to witness a very violent thunderstorm. There must have been several hundred lightning strikes within that hour. Just as the heavy rain let up, another hunter came riding an atv out of one of the nearby canyons. I couldn't believe he had just waited out the storm. I know I would have hated being out there in it! As it got dark, we found the flattest place available to pitch a tent. John didn't want to bother, so he slept in the cab of the truck, while I took the small 2-man tent.

In the morning, our plan was to take our atvs far up one canyon to gain elevation, then sidehill the canyon face angling up towards a long ridge. We were then going to follow that ridge to the head of its canyon and intersect another long ridgeline in order to reach a high peak that towered above the basin Tom and I scouted back in July. The plan was to glass as we hiked and also retrieve the trail cameras we set up a few weeks earlier. (I was afraid the other archery hunters in the area would come across them and not be respectful of another's property-it was time to get the cameras off the mountain.)


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

August 23rd:

John and I started climbing and side-hilling about an hour before light. One thing that Google Earth can be misleading about is that the mountain can sure be a lot steeper and brushier than it looks on the computer. It took almost an hour to reach the first ridgeline. As we snuck over into the next canyon, we sat down to rest and glass the far side of the first canyon. I raised up my 10 x 42s and looked over a good-looking brushy area. Within ten seconds, I was pulling out my spotting scope and tripod for a closer look. John just shook his head and said "really?" He knew I had seen some deer. I quickly pointed in the direction of the deer and said, "There are several bucks over there. Some nice ones too." 

There were seven mature bucks in all. The two best were a 28-29" 4x4 that laid out wide but without much height. Another one was about 24x25" wide with a 3" cheater on one side. The others were 3x4 or 3x3 and all about 20-23"wide and not very heavy. I got so caught up in the moment, I didn't even try to video tape them as they all fed single file over the ridge about 20 minutes later. 

Although this picture is from the archery opening day 2012, this is what it was like to see those bucks go over the ridge.










We then continued climbing higher in the canyon until we reached the next canyon about an hour later. We found another good place to glass again and we were hoping to relocate the seven bucks. Unfortunately, the angle of the hill was bad and we couldn't see much below us. I was glassing higher in the canyon and spotted a few more deer. John walked down onto a rocky point to look further down canyon. I got my spotting scope out again and found three more bucks, all small four points. While I was looking through my scope, John was trying to get my attention because he had left his bow behind and he had seen a great buck less than 100 yards below him off the rocky point (about 100 yards from my location.) John walked back up to tell me about the big buck; it was with four or five smaller bucks. John said he only saw the buck from the side, so he wasn't sure how wide it was, but it had some of the biggest front forks he had ever seen.

We looked for the big buck for about an hour and watched most of the other bucks bed down but we couldn't locate it. We then continued to climb higher up the canyon towards the first trail cam. I must have told John "It's just a couple hundred yards further" about five different times. I couldn't believe how far we had hiked and how much further we still had to go.

We finally reached the first trail cam and had lunch there. We then hiked up over the ridge into "the basin" to retrieve Tom's other two cameras and then hiked out the bottom of the basin. We finally got back to the ATVs about 3:00 PM and we were both dead tired. After I got home and looked at the trail cam pictures I was very impressed with a few of the bucks that had come in. The interesting thing about the pictures, was that not a single mature buck was seen after the start of the archery hunt in the basin. I'm guessing other hunters must have hit it pretty hard.


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## Dirtbag08 (Apr 30, 2013)

I'm glad to see that you are continuing this thread. I have thoroughly enjoyed your stories. Thanks Ridgetop


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Dirtbag08 said:


> I'm glad to see that you are continuing this thread. I have thoroughly enjoyed your stories. Thanks Ridgetop


Thanks.
Here's a few of the bucks from the trail cams that got us excited.


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