“Lost” in The Kaibab
Geno and I were lucky to draw fourth choice antlerless Kaibab tags this year. I say lucky because this tag would give us a good chance for some venison as well as a reason to visit one of Arizona’s natural wonders. Our hunt began on Friday November 9th.
We arrived at Jacob’s Lake Thursday afternoon only to realize that I had forgotten the map. (Yeah, yeah, bad editor!) Dad, our family Kaibab expert had marked his favorite places on it. (He was busy with an elk hunt.) Our last Kaibab hunt was in 1992 so both of us were pretty much lost without that map. All of the maps were sold out at the store and the Forest Service office was closed. Not a good start.
Undaunted, we blindly went south on the main blacktop. Our tags were for the west side so a few miles down the road we took a good looking dirt road on our side. We had traveled about a mile when six doe suddenly appeared on the left. This event raised our adrenaline level and we decided to camp somewhere near. We found a side road that ended at a beautiful camping spot on a point overlooking a meadow.
We set up camp and pitched our little tents. The “three-man” for sleeping and the little “two-man” we used for a supply tent. There were several stands of aspen around our meadow and I eagerly planned a morning hunt directly from camp. We heated up some of Uncle Ron’s home made chicken soup and enjoyed it beside the campfire. The stars were dazzling and a cold breeze was coming steady from the east. During the night I noticed that the wind had picked up and I periodically heard raindrops drumming on our nylon tent.
The travel alarm went off well before dawn on Friday. What a surprise when I zipped open our tent to see more than a dusting of snow on the ground. (I was listening to snow hit our tent as the wind blew it from the trees.) Now, please understand that we are both desert rats and memories of last years knee deep elk hunt came freshly to mind. Turned out that setting up the “supply tent” was the most intelligent thing that we did yesterday.
We reasoned that since we were here and it was opening morning in arguable the best deer county of the state we would follow through with the planned morning hunt. We turned our faces into the blowing snowflakes and made a big circle around the meadow and over the two ridges where we had seen the deer yesterday. Nothing, nada, nada shot, nada track, nothing, zippo. Geno mentioned that he wished that we had never seen those deer yesterday. Maybe they were a mirage. By mid morning the skies were getting darker and we decided to go back to Jacob’s Lake and check on the weather and GET A MAP.
There was no snow there and we could see blue sky to the west. We got our map and made another wise choice; move to a lower elevation. Back at our picturesque camp (it was still snowing) we collapsed the tents leaving as much stuff in them as possible, threw waterproof items into the open pickup bed and left.
We took FS road 461 out of Jacob’s Lake and laughed about how funny we must look going down the road with the table legs sticking up and the lantern attached to the propane tree. We did not want to waste our first day any more than necessary.
It wasn’t long before I spotted a small group of doe from the truck. We stopped and I gave chase but they were already wise to us. When I came back to the truck Fish and Game was there checking tags and licenses. He commented on the disarray of our camping gear and was amused when we told him our snow story. It was much warmer here and the skies showed promise of a nice day.
We continued to route 22 and headed south. Here the landscape was high desert. Very steep canyons dotted with juniper and pinon. But, nothing looked familiar. Once we even turned around but after checking over the map decided that there was probably pine forests ahead. We passed a place called Big Springs and finally things started to get more familiar. Wow, what an incredible place. We went from snow flakes and aspen to canyon lands and sunshine in only about eight miles (as the crow flies). We could see a big gray cloud squatted over the highest point of the plateau and our previous camp sight.
Pretty soon the road started up and we were in Ponderosa pine. On a whim, we turned off the main road onto FS 255. There were several camps along this road and we were delighted with the sight of meat hanging in what seemed like every other camp. 255A had a sign that read “dead end”. We started down it and there was a perfect camping spot. We quickly set up our tents and went hunting.
Our dead end road followed a ridge line into an old burn area. Some kind of feed in the burn and a small water hole was holding deer here. There was also oak thickets scattered about. Like Louie (AZOD’s hunting editor) preaches. Find food, shelter and water and you will find game. That afternoon Geno got a glimpse of one deer sneaking through the brush. We saw two more that evening but neither of us could get a shot. We went back to camp encouraged, ready for tomorrow.
Next morning we split up. I went down a ravine while he followed a fence line. There was lots of shooting early. I had close shots on either side of me but I never seen a deer. Geno watched a person he dubbed “The Rifleman” take six shots at moving deer while he was running. This guy was vaulting over fencing and running, shooting and trying to load his rifle all at the same time!
We met up at mid morning. Earlier I had walked through an especially thick oak stand and thought that I had heard a deer in there. I figured that it might be wounded so I had him watch while I walked through again; nothing. We were coming back across the field side by side and here she came, in front of us, stodding by on three legs. Geno was uncomfortable with the shot so I knelt down and brought up my Mauser. A second later she was in the crosshairs, another second and the Mauser retorted. I thought that I had missed and said so.
My husband knew better. “It’s down, it’s down.” He kept saying. He has uncanny vision when it comes to distance and he walked right up to my dead doe. I had managed a clean chest kill with the quick shot. One of her legs was broken right at that lower joint. Possibly the handy work of “The Rifleman”. Another hunter had heard the shot and asked us if we needed any help. Most people in the field are courteous and ethical but it seems like there is always a “ Rifleman.”
We spent the rest of the morning taking care of the yearling doe. I had wanted a bigger deer but at the same time I was grateful for this one. I told Geno that he needed to kill a big one in order to get enough meat for winter.
During that midday slow time we checked the next ridge. It was a little higher, lots of pine, some aspen but no oak thickets and no water that we could see. The two tanks alongside the road were dry. We didn’t see any deer sign either. So, it was back to our burned out ridge for the afternoon hunt. Again, we saw several deer but no shot. We were driving back to camp at dusk when I spotted a single deer on my side. Geno stopped the truck and managed to circle around sneak up on it. We had our second deer on the evening of the second day. We turned that deer over to field dress it and I said .”Hey, that is a buck.” Yep, you guessed it, button buck. Between the two of us we had managed to bag one big deer.
We were happy campers the next morning as the headlight beams of early hunters shined through our tent. Geno yelled, “Go get ‘em ,boys.” Then snuggled down deeper into the bed roll. We spent Sunday morning quartering our deer and putting it into ice chests with frozen gallon water containers for ice. This way the meat will keep cold and not get wet. By noon we had checked out our deer and the Vermilion Cliffs were emerging in the windshield as we moved on to Dad’s elk camp.
Maybe next year the gods of the Arizona draw system will smile upon us and send Kaibab buck tags. But for now we are pleased with this years offering. There is venison in the freezer and it was a good hunt. If I had to choose a place to be “lost” it would be the North Kaibab Plateau. But next time I will bring the map.
Linda Dightmon
Team AZOD