A buck in the hand . ..

On Friday night I climbed up into the hills with my friends Peter and Brian to camp and hunt deer.  The first hunt of the season!  Brian usually comes to hunt much later in the fall and so I was excited to show him how awesome it is to hunt deer in Kodiak's alpine in August.  My favorite hunting of the year.

And it was stunning.  So green and dramatic.  We set up our teepee on a soft mat of bunchberries and there were gentians blooming by the center pole in the middle of the tent.  We could look right out the teepee door and see the sunlit ocean.

We got up in the dark and hiked up to the top of the mountain in the moonlight.  Once at our perch on top we settled in and started to glass for deer.  Then as the sun rose deer popped up everywhere.  There were some big bucks on a distant ridge, and we were about to start over toward them when 2 smaller bucks appeared close by.  My opening day criteria is a 3 point with eye guards - so there we had it.  And at 230 yards they were well within range too.  So we thought, 'big boys on a distant ridge or these ones right here'.  It was an easy decision.  'A buck in the hand is worth 2 in the bush!'

Then came the hard part - butchering the deer and carrying them home.  The black flies came out in force for the butchering part.  And then it was a long slog to the car.  But by 11:30 we were all happily ensconced in the car, cool wind blowing in through open windows, listening to oldies on the way home.  Patrick