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After dropping Phil off, Troy gassed the Razor and moved off at a safe clip. The spot where Craig wanted to hunt was quite a ways off and they would have some rough trail to get over, especially in the dark. The lights on the ATV were super bright LED’s, but the men did not want to use them all so they opted for the smaller red fog lights. Occasionally, the men would stop and switch on the overhead spots when they came to a particularly rough patch in the trail. The cold air wasn’t really a worrisome problem with the cold weather clothing they wore. The men knew how cold it could get up in the mountains and dressed with layers of thermal underwear, wools socks, and light to heavy outer wear. They knew the only worry would be any exposed skin areas so they each wore neoprene masks.
When they reached the next drop off point Troy decided to do a radio check and make sure that Phil was set in his position. He whispered into the lapel mic, “Phil, this is Troy. Do you copy?”
“Loud and clear, buddy. Just got to my tree and getting ready to climb up. Sun should be up soon. You boys set yet?”
“Just now dropping Craig off at his spot,” Troy said. “It will take him about a half an hour to get to his tree stand. I should be at mine down by the barn about that same time. I’ll holler back on the radio when I get there. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Roger that fellas, good luck.” With that, Phil had signed off and continued getting his gear ready. He used a climbing stand that allowed him to literally climb straight up a tree. He preferred being about fifteen feet off the ground. Most game would never spot him as he sat quietly watching the trails below. It was a great vantage point when hunting in the woods.
“I figured he would already be up in the tree by now,” Craig said softly as he lifted his tree stand up on his back, picked up his rifle and stepped back from the Razor.
“He’s probably walking slowly since he’s only seen the trail during the day time. Once he gets his bearings he’ll be okay,” Troy replied.
“Probably so. I’m gonna slip on down to my spot. I marked the tree good so I can find it in the dark. Call me on the radio when you get set.” Craig turned and trudged off into the woods.
Troy put the Razor in gear and cracked the throttle to move out slowly. He switched on the normal driving lights since he no longer had a co-pilot. After about ten minutes of motoring through the rough terrain he stopped the vehicle and got out to relieve himself. The ATV was still running and the driver side door hung open. When he had finished his business he turned to walk back, but stopped short. Just out of range of the driving lights stood something very large!
Troy’s chest tightened and his breathing suddenly came in short gasps. His pulse quickened and adrenaline pumped through his body. He could literally feel himself shaking as it coursed through his veins. He didn’t know if he should stay still and silent or if he should jump in the ATV and edge up closer. He realized he was frozen in place and he should get back over to the quad where he could get his hands on his rifle. He started edging slowly to the vehicle, but didn’t take his eyes off the giant figure on the trail. The figure moved again ever so slightly. Troy could make out the silhouette moving in the dark fringe, but still had no idea what it was. As he stepped over an old tree that had fallen he suddenly tripped and almost fell. He took his eyes off the dark mass for only a moment, but when he looked up, it was gone.
The animal had slipped off as silently as it appeared. He was even more nervous not knowing where it went. The forest was thick with underbrush in this area and he couldn’t see more than a few feet past the trail. He reached the vehicle and pulled his rifle out of the case and checked to make sure it was loaded. He also reached into his pack and pulled out his Colt 1911 and made sure he had two full clips. Laying the rifle in his lap and the pistol in back in the paddle holster at his side, he moved forward. He reached the spot where the massive figure had been standing, stopped the quad, and looked around. Seeing nothing close, he switched the engine off so that he could listen more clearly.
After a few minutes of intense looking and listening, he reached in and turned on all of the lights in the quad and switched his head lamp on as well. The sun was beginning to come up by now, but in the woods it was still dark enough to need the lights. Troy investigated the ground in the area thoroughly, but found no tracks of any kind. He had hoped to see the tracks of a heavy white tail, but the trail was very hard and rocky here and not much good for tracking anything. The little amount of snow on the ground never penetrated the floor in this location deep in the woods. He walked up the trail on both sides for quite a ways, but could find no traces of the animal whatever it was. He motored on down the mountain and found the spot where he could park the ATV and hide it in cover. From there he would walk in with his own climber tree stand. He turned off the motor and hid the key in a magnetic box under the dash. Next, he checked his pack to make sure it was secured to the tree stand and slung it on his back. He snapped the closures around his chest and settled the weight. Satisfied with his packing, he grabbed his rifle and headed to a stand of tall pines overlooking a very well used game trail.
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Phil had been in his tree stand watching the game trails that crisscrossed below him for about half an hour when he heard a call come through the radio. He had the ear pieces lying close to each ear, but not in so that he could hear the ambient noises from the woods. He reached up and put one of the ear buds in and keyed the mic open.
“This is Phil, what was that again?”
All three men were approximately a half mile apart from each other in their hunting stands. “Hey Phil, Craig, this is Troy. Just letting you boys know that I’m in my tree stand now. Sun’s up, but with this overcast weather it sure doesn’t seem like it.”
Phil was the first to reply, “Hey T, Phil here. I’m settled in. They should be on top of us soon!”
A moment later Craig chimed in, “Copy that. Damn, it’s cold sitting up here in this tree stand. Looks like more snow coming in.”
The temperature had dropped over night down into the single digits, but at least the wind wasn’t blowing too much in the deep woods.
“Ah suck it up, buttercup,” Phil replied. “You’ve been begging Troy to come up here to hunt these big mountain deer and now you’re bitching like a little, whiney girl.”
Troy keyed his radio, “Knock off the chatter you two and start watching for trophies that are probably walking all around you.”
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Craig was sitting perfectly still, intently watching the game trails when he heard a soft rustle in the leaves behind him. The animal was slowly making his way toward him, but Craig dared not turn his head fully around in case he may spook it away. At this point, he had no idea of what it could be. As the animal moved closer to him Craig checked his hands on his rifle to make sure that he could throw the safety off and take aim if it was the trophy buck he wanted. The animal seemed to have veered off to his left and was now moving away so Craig decided to take a look. He turned his head very slowly with his eyes wide to see as much area as possible on his peripheral. He spotted the big bodied buck about twenty yards away from his stand. It was a good eight-pointer that probably would go about one-eighty, but it wasn’t the one he was after. He had spent a lot of money to come up to Troy’s and he wasn’t leaving with anything less than a nice, big buck. He let this one go thinking there would be another one soon.
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A half-mile away Phil sat comfortably in his tree stand twenty feet off the ground. He was an avid hunter and had been on several big game hunts including a trip to Alaska to hunt Dahl sheep. The weather there was much more intense than the range where they now hunted. In Alaska, he was guided across mountains of incredible, frozen terrain that only wild animals had ever walked. The day treks covered several miles on foot and many more on horseback. He was accustomed to roughing it in the wilderness, but nothing could compare to the frigid temperatures and harsh conditions he had faced there.
L
ike the others, Phil was statue still as he scanned the woods while only moving his eyes. His breath could be seen floating away and disappearing into the tree branches. He was thinking about one of his hunting trips a few years back. He had hunted hard for several days and it was the last day of the hunt. He had thought for sure that he would be leaving empty handed on that trip. He was climbing out of his hunting blind and no sooner had his feet hit the ground when he heard a sound on the trail not forty yards away. When he looked up he knew it was the buck that he had been waiting for. It turned out to be one of the biggest ones he had ever taken.
About mid-morning Phil saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. He unhurriedly reached down and took his field glasses out of his coat where he kept them and scanned the area. He kept the binoculars inside his first layer coat to keep them from banging around making unnecessary noise or getting caught on a limb; also to keep them from fogging up in the weather. As he scanned the area, he caught site of the animal. He knew it was a whitetail deer by the markings of its tail, but he couldn’t make out if it was a buck or a doe from where it was standing in the brush. He could see its tail clearly through his binoculars. One of the most identifiable characteristics of the deer is their tails. They are fringed in white and they run with their tails up in a very distinct way. Mule deer have black tips on their tails and run with their tails down. Typically, the mule deer will run in a very distinct pattern that makes them look like they are hopping on all four feet. The ears of the mule deer are much larger and distinctive, but Phil had not had a chance to see the deer’s head well enough yet.
He waited patiently as the deer moved around, foraging. Finally, he saw it. It was a beautiful buck moving closer his way. Suddenly, a flutter of sound came from the leaves off to his left. Phil glanced over and saw two smaller does scampering through the brush playing with each other. The buck looked back down, but was hidden by trees. Phil waited patiently for the buck to move in closer so that he could get a better look. Finally, it stepped out from the trees and he was able to see it was a very nice buck though he still could not make out its antler points. Legally, he could only take a whitetail buck if the deer’s antlers were at least five inches in length. This one had no problems with that minimum requirement, though he still wasn’t able to get a positive look at how big and how many points it carried.
The two deer below him were mostly playing and in no way concerned that Phil was camouflaged only twenty feet above them nor were they seemingly aware of the buck nearby. One of the does pranced directly beneath Phil’s tree stand and stopped to sniff around. He could hear it bleating. Ba’eh , Ba’eh! The buck was moving closer to check out the doe. Phil still had his field glasses in hand with his rifle resting on his stand across his lap. He moved very slowly to put them away. From this distance he could see the buck move in cautiously. This was a trophy worth taking and he wasn’t going to pass it up. Adrenaline pumped through his body and his ears seemed to block out every noise around him in a deafening silence. He moved his hands gingerly to his rifle. The rifle was a Winchester Model 70 Safari Express 375 H&H Magnum. He was shooting a 235 gr load which was more than capable of humanely bringing down these northern bucks. At a velocity of almost 3,000 fps the round was perfectly suited for the task at hand. Phil brought the rifle up to his shoulder, careful to not let the deer see his movement. Looking through the Swarovski Z5 scope on the rifle, Phil could see the buck clearly. He put the reticle directly over the deer’s vitals, took a deep breath and let half out, paused and slowly squeezed the trigger.
Chapter 6
The wind had picked up considerably and it was getting much colder now. Troy thought that he probably should have layered up a little more, but he was still fine with his artic camo hunting clothes he had on. His base layer kept him snug and he also wore a full face cover that not only protected his skin, but was also camouflaged. In the spot he had picked out, he was able to overlook an open field where a small pond stood near the edge. The pond itself was obviously used by deer and other wild game and the trails all converged near it. It was a great vantage point for hunting, but unfortunately it was also open to the cold wind that came whistling across the field. As he scanned the area from one side to the other he had seen a couple of small bucks and several does step out into the field to munch on the grass. The sky had become more white than gray and soon it began snowing, small flakes at first, but soon becoming the size of a quarter. He had not watched any weather reports so he wasn’t sure just how much snow was expected, but up here it could be a lot in a short amount of time.
The radio had been silent all morning. None of the men wished to try and chit chat for any reason. They were too busy concentrating on watching for game. Troy was looking at the pond when he noticed a new comer. A lone elk cow appeared and sauntered over to the pond for a drink of the cold water. She was huge and must have weighed in at a good four-hundred pounds or so. As he sat there watching her it occurred to him that she could’ve been what he saw on the trail earlier that morning.
Troy heard the crack of a rifle shot echo through the woods. The cow he was watching looked up and then quietly moved off into the cover of the brush. He could no longer see her at all now. When he heard the shot his body automatically stiffened and his pulse raced. He knew it was one of his friends and if they had missed their prey then perhaps the sound of the rifle would scare the game in his direction. He waited and watched intently for several minutes.
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Craig, a silent sentry on the game trail not far away, heard the report of the big bore rifle. From the direction of the sound he knew that it would have been Phil shooting. In his excitement, he thought about radioing him immediately, but figured he had better wait until Phil called for them first. He didn’t want to disturb him if he was still in hunter mode. He knew his buddy would call when he was ready. Craig sat motionless, the only sign of his presence being the heated breath that vaporized every few seconds. He had his binoculars up to his eyes scanning in the direction from which the shot was fired. He was experienced hunting with a group in this fashion and he figured if Phil had spooked anything else with the shot then it may come past his position. He was ready.
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Phil’s shot was perfect! He saw the buck jump and arch its back as it spun away and quickly loped off into the brush. The other two deer beneath him heard the loud explosion of the rifle and with raised white tails, flagged out of the area as quickly as possible. Phil’s heart was racing and felt as if it would literally jump out of his chest. He knew he made a good, clean shot. He would be patient, though, and wait for a bit before he started the climb down to go track the animal. The deer may lie down nearby, but if for some reason the shot was off even just a little, it might be spooked to jump back up and run off again. Phil patiently waited and knew not to push too soon. He would wait for twenty minutes or so before going after it. The buck would eventually lie down and he would have no problems retrieving his game.
Craig waited for ten minutes, but couldn’t stand it any longer and radioed Phil.
“Hey, Phil? Did you get one?” Craig asked.
“Yeah boy and he’s a nice one. At least a ten pointer and huge! Wow, what a deer.”
“Do you need any help?”
“Not yet, he ran after I shot, so I’ll let him go lay down and bleed out. Don’t want to pressure him back up. If he runs off up that mountain we may never get ‘im. I’ll get down in about twenty or thirty minutes and go track ‘im. I’ll holler if I need ya when I do.”
“OK, buddy, congrats! I’m gonna wait right here then and hope his big brother comes by me,” Craig laughed over the radio as he scanned the game trails beneath him. He was glad for his friend and would be the first to offer assistance.
Troy chimed in, “Congratulations. Can’t wait to make some of that deer jerky! I’m gonna wait ‘til you give me a holler and I’ll bring the Razor up to drag it out.”
Troy then signed off and remained diligent of the trail
s in his watchful gaze. It may take a few minutes for the forest to quiet back down, but he knew it wouldn’t take long. He had been hunting many times when shots rang out nearby and deer that he’d been watching never even looked up.
Phil waited patiently and allowed his heart rate to slow. After twenty minutes, he unloaded his rifle, slipped it into a rolled up soft case and lowered it softly down to the ground. He stood up and spun around in his tree stand, adjusted his safety line and inched his way to the ground. It took another ten or fifteen minutes to climb down, but once he reached the forest floor, he wiggled out of the stand and left it attached to the tree. Picking up his rifle, he pulled the cover off and reloaded the gun as a precaution. He wanted to make sure that he was ready if for some reason his first shot didn’t take the deer down cleanly. He would be able to get another shot. He certainly didn’t want a wounded animal out there.
Phil made his way over to the spot where he had shot the deer and found blood on the ground. He was a highly skilled tracker, but in the snow the animal wouldn’t be difficult to track at all. He started slowly walking down the trail being as silent as possible. About twenty yards further along he found more signs in the snow of the deer’s path and knew he was on the right track. Every few feet he spotted signs and now the crimson trail was obvious to spot. Tracking the animal was simply a matter of following it. He stopped and scanned up ahead and spotted his prey. “Woo hoo,” he shouted excitedly as he hurriedly walked to the downed animal.
Siege at Hawthorn Lake: Murder on the Mountain Page 5