The fall of 1963 found Dale M○○re and I thinking about trying to find a deer to have some meat for the table. We would go out several times before the season closed, or until we used our tags. The season had just opened so where to go was the main topic of our discussion. I came up with the idea of trying Halfway Creek, on the road to Idaho City above Lucky Peak Reservoir. Many years ago, I had been there with my folks, while a teenager. As I remembered, there were a lot of deer living there, year-round, unless the snow forced them out. We decided to give that area a try・ Don Moore, Dale’s son, would go with us and carry a rifle also. He was a Careful hunter, having had his dad and I as instructors, as he started out.
Early on a Saturday morning the three of loaded into Dale-s Jeep pickup for a quick trip to Halfway Creek. We packed a g○○d lunch because we would be gone all day. We had plenty of sandwiches and lots of soda pop. The road up the creek was starting to get badly washed out. No one maintains it at all. Anymore. Years ago, there was an old homestead at the upper end of the valley. In a few more years the road would no longer be open at all. We had no problem getting to the upper end, where very few hunters go into that area anymore. We had the whole place to ourselves. We parked in a grassy meadow, then surveyed the nearby mountains around us. At times, there were elk at the upper end, but we were only after deer. The leaves were mostly gone from the trees and bushes, which would help us spot any deer that may be around. To the south of us was a long ridge that seemed to be fairly open. There were lots of brush patches and fir thickets everywhere. Deer could be hiding anywhere in places like that. The three of us stayed close together going up the ridge. We walked about a half a mile watching very carefully for any movement of deer. There seemed to be trucks everywhere and most of them were fresh that morning.
Suddenly, Don stopped quickly ahead of us and started pointing his rifle up the hill. He had not said anything about seeing some deer or anything. L asked him why he was aiming up the hill. When he finally got out the words that there were deer ahead of us. A couple does and a nice buck t○○k off on a hurried flight, not more than twenty yards from us. The dogs went one way, and the buck took off past me. Don never did take a shot at any of them, just pointed in their direction. The buck was only about forty yards away. I tried to shoot him in the head. After missing a couple of times, Dale finally shot him through the chest. This was alright with me, because the buck was getting further away with each jump and just about to go over the next ridge. The dogs disappeared into the timber in a matter of seconds. We had no chance for them. We had a nice three point to take care of anyway. The best thing to do was to dress him out and get him to the truck.
The job of dressing out a deer only takes a very short time. We are old hands at this chore. Dale had shot him almost through the heart, which aids greatly with not having a gut shot deer to contend with. I t○○k a rope out of my backpack, to be tied to his antlers for dragging him downhill to the truck. The buck was quite large, weighing close to two hundred pounds. All three of us had to do a lot of pulling to get him downhill, through the brush. A couple hours later we finally made it to the truck. We were tired out completely but satisfied to have a nice fat buck lying beside the truck. Noon time was getting close. Time to break out a sandwich and a can of soda pop. We took plenty of time eating and we also needed to rest for a while. While resting we watched the far hills around us for movement or maybe another deer. There had to be some more around, somewhere. After an hour had gone past, we took another hike up a different hill looking for a couple more deer to fill the other tags. There were lots of real fresh tracks, but no deer in them. Deer had been feeding on grass and leaves during the night and early morning, but seemed to have bedded down, somewhere now. The weather was quite warm for late October.
We should be getting the buck home. We needed time to skin him out and bagged up to let him cool for a few days. After a few days we would split him between us. We each got a nice pile of wrapped venison for the winter’s table fare.