Hey Hombre

[Bwana]

Perhaps you've told the story before, but I don't recall...what's with the puddy tat?

[Hombre]

It was a trip to Idaho for deer hunting and shot by a guy that was hunting with us. I don't think I've actually told the story. I'll give a short version here and update with some pictures later. Last year I had a buddy here in Washington who asked if I'd like to go on a deer hunt with him in Idaho, and basically said I have some farming buddies out that way. I said sure sounds like fun, just need to know logistics like where to buy my tag, what zone etc.

We get all the logistics taken care of and head out. I really didn't know much on the details just sounded like fun, deer hunting for a week. The trip itself was far more than I could ask for, and definitely more than I deserve. We showed up the first day and made a quick trip to the store for supplies (beer) and some wine and gifts for the farmers wives. Getting their we meet both farmers and one owned around 15,000 and another 20,000 acres. They said we could stay in the bunk house, and just let them know if we needed anything.

Day 1 we spent quite a bit of time out in the field, saw a lot of deer but nothing that was a shooter. I had a whitetail tag and my buddy had drawn a mulley buck tag. We came back in had dinner with the family and sat around and drank far too much beer.

Day 2 we hit some of the same spots, again saw a lot of deer but nothing either of us were willing to waste a tag on. One of the farmers came buy and said lets go check out another field I have. We walked into a horseshoe field that was probably 60 acres, and framed by the canyon. From the Canyon to the wheat stubble there was around a 5 foot unplanted wild grass. There were 4-5 does in the field but then I saw movement, in the tall grass was the mountain lion. He just turned and took off, not that fast but fast enough nobody could get a shot.

We laid in the bunk house and talked about this all night. Man we were so close. Figured we'd probably never see another one again, or have that chance. Then my buddy asked, you want me to drop you off at that field in the AM, walk in at dark and pick you back up 3-4 hours later. Now my expectation was never see him again, but I was still a no, remember we'd only seen does.

Day 3: We go to a few new fields in the AM, but not the one we'd been to with the cat. hunted the morning, but around 9:30 said lets go check the field again and see if any deer are in. Three of us are walking in, and there is a small hill just before getting into the field as we come over that same cat is sitting maybe 40 yards dead center of the field. This time though he really isn't taking off, I'm not really sure if he'd seen us or not. Anyway the guy with me gets off a shot and the cat jumps straight up in the air and it seemed like it took forever to come back down. I remember thinking which way is this going to go. He hits the ground and heads for the canyon the second shot hits his spine. The first shot was a good shot through both lungs, but the second put him down in the same field.

We're pumped and after the initial excitement we just question each other on why he's was back. We were going to give him a bit of time and started just looking around. About 10 feet from where he was was a pile of stubble and dirt. Under the pile was a 3x2 muley, he'd ate the back quarters. So clearly he'd come back to either move it or eat it.

It was a pretty cool experience.

[Bwana]

Cool story and thanks for sharing.

I assume the "rest of the story" will include more details about the deer hunt?

[LJ3]

When I look at the pic, this is what I see... and then the song starts.

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