We moved over a few ridges that morning to glass new country. During the night, the cold wind picked up and the gusts about blew us off the hill. We decided to drop into the timber and hunt through the trees in the hopes of catching a buck in his bed. We hunted through the morning and the rain started about 10 pm. We heard deer below us, and even bumped a few. But the ground was still to dry and noisy for effectively slipping through the woods. We arrived at the vehicles at noon as the rain began in earnest.

We surmised the bucks would be deeper in the canyons so we drove down to a lower access point some 1500 feet lower. The wind and rain picked up in intensity, as we arrived at the trailhead. Right away we spotted a spike buck that let us get to 60 yards in the wide open before he trotted off into the manzanita. We skirted the edges of the trees and brush as we dropped further in the canyon. Our afternoon hike took us another 2000 feet lower in just a mile and a half.

We turned around with 2 hours of light left, and used nearly an hour and a half of it to climb back out of the hole. We spotted the same spike, and two does and fawns on the way back to the truck. They were headed to the small piece of private land where a fork horn buck fed with another couple of does. Our shivering vigil in the saddle the does came through was uneventful except for the thermoregulatory challenge of being sweat soaked from a strenuous climb and rain and wind beaten on the outside.

We crawled into the truck, fired up the heater and began the four mile climb up to the main road. At the higher elevation, the rain turned to snow and we put the truck in 4×4 for the last 4 miles to get back to camp. It was a slow drive with the flakes being blown across the road and the wipers trying to keep up with the flurries.

What awaited us at camp was three inches of wet snow and a collapsed dome tent. Rich suddenly had to leave the next day. (He had mentioned that earlier in the week, but it became a joke in regards to the timing) After some pictures and cussing, we straightened it up. At that point the snow has stopped and it just got cold. Rich would hunt with me the next morning before he headed home.