A-31 Saturday Hunt

I lay in my bed and watch as the clock hits 2:45am, knowing I only have a few more seconds before my alarm goes off. I get up and out of bed, turn off my alarm before it goes off and wakes up my girlfriend. Into the shower, get dressed and load up my pack with water and food. 3:25 I hear my buddy Al pull up out front. It is go time.. Saturday was the first day of D-11 Rifle season. But we are Bow Hunters so it was stick and string against the smoke sticks.

We made the hour drive to our spot and beat our other buddy Brandon to the spot. He pulled in about 3 minutes behind us. We were the only 2 trucks in the spot.We now only have 2 miles to get to our hunting spot for the day. A great vantage point over looking a great drainage and a few bowls to glass as the morning sun would be coming up at any time.When we got out of the truck it was 41 degrees. It was chilly but way better than the heat. Jackets came out and we started the slow hike in not wanting to spook anything or work up a sweat. Took us about an hour to get to where we wanted to be. Once we got set a slight breeze was blowing and I was freezing. I pulled out my head cover and covered up.

The last time in this spot it was about 90 degrees so this was a welcoming cold. As the sun cam up the hills came life birds chirping. About a half hour or so and I see him walking down the road. A lone gun hunter looking for his spot to call home for the day. We were about a mile from him and had no clue we were there. It felt weird knowing I could see him and he could not see me. I love my Mossy Oak Brush Camo it blends in so well to the area we were. After about 20 minutes the hunter has got set at the bottom of the drainage. I  get a text from Brandon that he is facing up our way. To be safe the orange hats came out. I don't know if the hunter ever saw us but it must have been pretty funny to stare at a hillside, then in a blink of an eye 3 orange dots above you appear.

We could see a few more smoke sticks on the surrounding hills walking in circles. We met up on top of a hill and decided to head east to check out a new area that had trails like a super highway. We could not see them from our previous scouting trips. The wind picked up to 25-30mph constant. Al and I hiked out a new way to check out another finger and we were back at the truck by 3pm. Got home cleaned up and off to my neighbors for Burgers and Beers. Till Next time

Catching Up.

Well to say I stepped away from the keyboard is an understatement. I have had tons of things on my plate the last few months. We had to let our secretary go and W have been taking in all the slack. As for hunting I have been able to get out a few times this year. I went out in Big Bear for archery deer opener. I was up the whole week and hunted everyday but Thursday. I scoured that mountain from front to back and one more time over. I did find a great spot for bear. Finding a parking spot was another task with no turn outs or even a brush clearing to pull off into. So after spending little time there it was back to it. All in all a pretty lack lust trip being alone in mountain land made the heart race. I saw does and fawns but never saw a quality shooter. Big Bear is a tough place to hunt. I only saw one hunter the whole time up there. Thursday I need a little R&R so off to Big Bear Golf Course for a quick 9 holes. It was great to take some time and just enjoy the mountain air with out lugging my pack and bow. As for my local A-31 we have hit the hills a few times seeing more deer in one day than the whole time in Big Bear. We have a great looking 3x3 a few forkies and tones of does. This should bring us all success hopefully. Brandon, Al (socalbowhunter.com) and myself have been hitting the range at least once a week and I have been shooting in my back yard a lot. I have already shot through my 18-1 Rinehart in a little over 6 months. G5 montec practice tips tore it up. We are a week away from Rifle season here in So Cal. I will be updating more and am going to start posting pics soon.