Hunting season was still open in Area 39 for deer, therefore Harry Mar
latt, Dale Moore, and I worked up a trip for one day, to Aldape Summit. Aldape Summit can be reached by taking the 8th Street Road out of town. The road first goes up to Mile High Sumit, then by turning right at the top, it will eventually come out at Rocky Canyon on the opposite Side of Aldape Summit.
We started out before daylight on a Saturday morning, in Harry’s Chevy truck. Travel time would be a couple of hours to get to the area we wanted to hunt. The weather was normal for October, but there was a slight chill in the air from a light wind blowing. The sun was up by the time we reached the mountain top. There seemed to be a lot of deer around from all the tracks, hopefully we might find one wandering around somewhere. There are usually a number of deer hanging out in the thick brush and trees in the area of the summit. We had not found any deer by hunting in the lower foothills so we thought they might be hiding in the higher hills. Dale went out one way, I wandered down an old road, while Harry found a good vantage place in some pine trees, on a small ridge. Dale and I walked a long way in our own directions and neither of us could find a deer.
We were both almost back to Harry, when suddenly a shot rang out and echoed across the valley. I ran around the last bend in the road to see what was going on. Dale caught up with me about this time so on around we went to a large flat area. Just as we came into view, Harry was walking across the bare flat towards a large four-point buck lying on the ground. We walked up nearby to see if the buck was dead or just faking it. His eyes were closed, which was not a good sign. Harry walked up close enough to kick him in the hind leg. If there was life there, he would move. Well, there was life there. the buck kicked back and knocked Harry end over end down the hill. The blow nearly broke Harry’s leg as hard as he kicked him. Dale was carrying a .22 magnum pistol as a side arm. He Pulled it out and shot the old buck between the eyes. This was one tough old boy. As the shot hit him, he bounded to his feet and squared off to fight us all right there. Dale Shot him a second time, which finally put him down for good. Harry had been sitting in the trees watching the flat and the area around him. Not a sound was made as this large buck walked within a few yards of him. Harry noticed a limb moving on one of the nearby pine trees. At that time there was not a bit of wind, and no birds were around so he stood up to have a better look around. He then spotted the buck walking across the flat and proceeded to put a hole through him with his old .30-30 rifle. The bullet had gone through the lungs but had not broken any bones. He would have died in a little while, but as it was, he sure got in a good lick for himself in the meantime. We thought it was very funny, the way Harry went rolling down the hill, even though he was hurting. The buck would probably have gotten away had an antler not hooked on the tree limb.
Harry and I dressed out the deer, while Dale helped by holding the legs up out of the way. The job did not take very long with the three of us working on him. The buck was in fine condition and its neck had not started swelling up, from being close to rutting season. We were not far from the truck, Harry quickly brought it to the flat, where the deer was laying. We loaded the buck into the back of the truck then we talked about where to look for a couple more deer.
There has to be some more deer around somewhere. Noontime was coming fast; breakfast had been early that morning. We drove around for a while looking for a nice sunny place to sit。 All afternoon we walked and drove but not another deer could be found. As the sun started to get low in the west, we decided to head for home. We would need some time to skin out the buck and get him sacked to keep the flies off. He would hang in Harry’s garage for a few days. until we could get around to cutting him into steaks. This was a good eating deer, despite him being a large four point. We had a successful day and would be ready to go somewhere again next weekend.