while not technically about deer,or elk, its a clear memory from one hunting trip.
I remember standing on a logging road about 15 minutes before full dark on a snowy evening, back in the 1990s ,while I waited on one of my hunting friends, from our camp to pick me up at the spot and time prearranged (30 minutes after dark), the temperature had dropped to the 20s F , as night approached.
when a pick up truck with and older guy driving pulls over and asked me to keep an eye out for his son, the truck smelled of stale beer and cigars, the son, who had used a cell phone a couple hours earlier to call him in camp and tell him he had shot a big elk, well down in a small canyon and needed help tracking and finding it, was the reason he was cruising the logging road.
the guy driving the truck knew which canyon,the son was hunting in, but figured his son would walk out to the logging road by dark, and there was no need to go wandering around looking for a wounded elk.
now personally , I could not believe the guys attitude, I,d been hunting that canyon most of the after noon, and had heard two closely separated shots about 3 hours previous and knew roughly were Id heard the shots.
Now even though I didn,t know this guy or his son, but I suggested WE go looking for his son, who might have an elk down, or need help packing it out, or be lost or hurt, as the weather looked like it would snow hard that night, and you sure don,t want to spend a night down in some canyon alone near a dead elk carcase if it can be avoided, especially if your not equipped to deal with the weather, or hang the elk well out of reach of any predators the scent might draw. and I suggested HE leave a note in the truck as too where we went and when, and to have his son, honk the horn in the parked truck 5 times if his son, got back to the truck before we did.
that suggestion was met with a stupid expression, and the guy said, he was just going to keep driving the logging road until his son showed up.
By then it was full dark, my ride showed up after a few minutes, and I explained the situation to my friends, the bottom of the canyon was about a 1/4-1/3 mile down hill at about 700 feet lower elevation (STEEP)but all three of us decided to walk in to make sure the guy was ok, and it was good that we did, we found him shivering wrapped in a poncho and sweater,and he had zero idea where the road was, his cell phone was dead, and he never found the elk or any blood, and in the dark he was not sure which way to get out of the canyon, he had tried to start a fire but his one pack of matches was wet.
we walked him out to the road, for which he thanked us over and over, we drove him back to his camp, where the parked pick-up was located, and left.
I remember standing on a logging road about 15 minutes before full dark on a snowy evening, back in the 1990s ,while I waited on one of my hunting friends, from our camp to pick me up at the spot and time prearranged (30 minutes after dark), the temperature had dropped to the 20s F , as night approached.
when a pick up truck with and older guy driving pulls over and asked me to keep an eye out for his son, the truck smelled of stale beer and cigars, the son, who had used a cell phone a couple hours earlier to call him in camp and tell him he had shot a big elk, well down in a small canyon and needed help tracking and finding it, was the reason he was cruising the logging road.
the guy driving the truck knew which canyon,the son was hunting in, but figured his son would walk out to the logging road by dark, and there was no need to go wandering around looking for a wounded elk.
now personally , I could not believe the guys attitude, I,d been hunting that canyon most of the after noon, and had heard two closely separated shots about 3 hours previous and knew roughly were Id heard the shots.
Now even though I didn,t know this guy or his son, but I suggested WE go looking for his son, who might have an elk down, or need help packing it out, or be lost or hurt, as the weather looked like it would snow hard that night, and you sure don,t want to spend a night down in some canyon alone near a dead elk carcase if it can be avoided, especially if your not equipped to deal with the weather, or hang the elk well out of reach of any predators the scent might draw. and I suggested HE leave a note in the truck as too where we went and when, and to have his son, honk the horn in the parked truck 5 times if his son, got back to the truck before we did.
that suggestion was met with a stupid expression, and the guy said, he was just going to keep driving the logging road until his son showed up.
By then it was full dark, my ride showed up after a few minutes, and I explained the situation to my friends, the bottom of the canyon was about a 1/4-1/3 mile down hill at about 700 feet lower elevation (STEEP)but all three of us decided to walk in to make sure the guy was ok, and it was good that we did, we found him shivering wrapped in a poncho and sweater,and he had zero idea where the road was, his cell phone was dead, and he never found the elk or any blood, and in the dark he was not sure which way to get out of the canyon, he had tried to start a fire but his one pack of matches was wet.
we walked him out to the road, for which he thanked us over and over, we drove him back to his camp, where the parked pick-up was located, and left.
