In 2012, my oldest son, Nick, had enlisted with the Army and had the fall to get in shape before boot camp. We backpacked hard that fall for blacktail deer and ended up each harvesting two very nice bucks, which were later featured in Huntin’ Fool in the story “Backpacking for Boot Camp.” Nick is still enlisted, so our hunting time together is limited.
In 2017, my younger son, Tommy, was training for the Navy SEAL program. He was working out three times a day until he met the standard and was rewarded a SEAL contract. His boot camp was set for early October, so it gave us some hunting time in September. It was time to plan our backpacking trip for blacktail deer. In 2014, Tommy had backpacked with my good friend, Ryan James, and me. Tommy shot his first deer on that hunt, and Ryan shot his best buck to date.
The three of us would be making the 14-mile pack into the California wilderness area for the 2017 hunt. Prior to the hunt, Tommy had told me he was set on harvesting at least a three-pointer. He said he would pass on the smaller bucks. I’ve taken some very respectable blacktail deer, and my last deer to date was 145 1/4" B&C. Ryan has taken some nice 4-point bucks and was saying he was holding out for something special or he would go home empty-handed. I knew with our standards that we had our work cut out for us.
Opening morning, Tommy and I hunted together and saw a small forked horn and a few does. Ryan saw a nice 3x4 that he passed on. He took some photos of the buck through his scope and shared them with us back at camp. Most guys would have shot this buck. The evening hunt was warm, and no deer were spotted.
On day two, Tommy and Ryan decided to sleep and rest their legs. I decided I was going hunting. I left in the dark, as we normally do. An hour later and still in darkness, I was at the spot where I wanted to be. As soon as first light hit, I spotted a buck at the bottom of the canyon at about 450 yards. He was moving fairly steady on a trail as if he was already heading for his bedding area. He was a mature buck with decent mass and eyeguards. I could make out four points per side, and that’s all I needed. I hadn’t shot a blacktail buck since 2012. I quickly found a large, flat rock to prone out on. I made the quick adjustments on my scope for the shot. The deer just kept moving. I held for the travel time and squeezed off a shot. The deer made a quick turn downhill and went into some thick manzanita brush. I knew I had missed him. I scanned the brush and could see him looking my direction. I had a frontal shot of his chest. I squeezed off a round, and down he went. I made my way to the buck and was happy with him. I’ve shot many that would score better, but this was still a nice buck. He had decent width and mass with eyeguards.
I did my photo session and boned out the deer. As I was busy at work, a decent three-pointer walked by at about 100 yards. I took some photos of the buck through my scope and loaded up my backpack. It was going to be a grueling hike out of this canyon and back to camp. I had to climb about 1,500 feet out of this hole.
I arrived back at camp at around 1 p.m. As I was approaching camp, Ryan and Tommy saw me. They didn’t hear my shots and had no idea I had harvested a buck. I told them I had a buck on my back. Ryan said something like, “Do you?” I walked up next to him, and he could see the horns. He said he knew something was up because I was out later than I had said. The evening hunt was slow. It appeared a storm was rolling in. It rained hard all night.
Morning arrived, and it was still raining hard. The clouds shut down any chance of glassing, so we held tight until the storm broke at about 1 p.m. We all headed towards the area Tommy and I had hunted opening day. Ryan took one canyon, and we went to the same canyon we had glassed opening morning. The wind was relentless on top of the ridge. I walked away about 20 yards to get out of the wind so I could layer up. Tommy immediately said he had spotted two bucks. I hustled over, and he pointed them out. They were at 500 yards at the bottom of the canyon. One was clearly a three-pointer. The other buck appeared to have heavier, darker horns. That buck went into some thick brush, and it appeared he had bedded. Tommy told me that when he had first seen the three-pointer, he was walking down the hill and bumped the other buck off of his bed.
After about five minutes, the three-pointer reappeared in a small meadow. Tommy said he wanted him. We made some scope adjustments, and he set up prone for the shot. This would be only the second deer he’d shot at, and the first one was at 400 yards. The buck turned broadside, and Tommy squeezed off a round. I heard the hit, and the deer ran hard and fast into the timber. I suspected he had hit him just a little bit back behind the lungs.
We made the grueling, steep hike down the canyon. One hour later, we were there. We found blood and tracked the deer. About 100 yards later, there he lay, expired. It was a very respectful three-pointer. It was Tommy’s biggest buck to date, and he had made one heck of a shot. We did a photo session and quickly boned out the deer. By the time we were done, it was almost dark. Two hours later, we were back at camp.
It rained hard all night. The morning arrived, and it was still pouring. The weather report was calling for heavy rain for a couple of days. Ryan suggested we get off the mountain and pack out due to the weather.
Tommy went off to boot camp, and Ryan and I made a second hunt into the wilderness. We packed in 12 miles, and the next morning, we were notified that our towns were under attack by fire. Both of our homes were reportedly in danger, so we packed out and went home. Our homes ended up being fine, but Ryan had several friends who lost their homes.
A week later, I was going back into the wilderness. Ryan couldn’t make it because he was helping out friends. I phoned Tommy’s closest friend, Jacob, to see if he wanted to go. He was all over it. We packed six miles in to about 7,000 feet. Jacob had never shot a deer. He had shot at one the year prior at 700 yards but missed.
The weather was unseasonably warm. We hunted one area for a couple days but never saw a deer. We decided to move camp a few miles to a different spot I had hunted in the past. Before we left, I had Jacob shoot at a large rock at 500 yards. I set up my rifle for him and made the scope adjustments. There was a really small, dark spot in the middle of the rock. I told him to concentrate on hitting that spot and not the large rock. He made his shot and hit the rock dead center.
We moved our camp. That first evening, we saw some bears and a doe. The next morning, we were glassing a canyon at first light when Jacob said he had spotted some bucks. They were about 200 yards away in the bottom of the canyon. Jacob proned out for the shot. It was first light, and the bucks were already heading to their bedding areas. The best buck was a 3x2, so I told Jacob to shoot that one. He took his time, and when the buck turned broadside, he squeezed off a shot and the buck went down. He was so thrilled, and I was happy to be a part of it. We made our way down to the buck, did a photo session, and boned out the deer. Jacob packed it back to camp. We had a fun night and packed out the next day.
This was a very rewarding season with Tommy getting his biggest buck and longest shot right before boot camp and Jacob getting his first buck. Tommy graduated the SEALS boot camp in December and is now in the next step.
California Deer Hunting
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