34 – VOGELAND GULCH – 1968
A group of us came up with a wild idea of going for a day only trip for deer. We knew the deer were migrating through the hills around Lucky Peak to eventually end up in the f○○thills east of town. Deer hunting was open for rifles during some of October for either sex. Harry and l got together with LeRoy and Uncle Lewie a few days before time to go to decide where to go. Sunday Seemed to be the best day to go so we planned on it for the next coming Sunday. We had heard of a place called Vogeland Gulch off the highway to Idaho City. Uncle Lewie was raised in the area and knew the deer should be there. LeRoy brought along his step sonI Glenny and I brought Kevin also. We met in a parking area at the mouth of Vogeland Gulch about daylight, Sunday morning. We would all go up the creek to the head of it. Uncle Lewie was having Problems with his heart, about that time. He would stop about halfway and wait beside the trail for us to return. He would be able to watch the nearby hills for any deer moving through. The rest of us went on up to the summit. We felt sure that he would be alright. We thought there may be more deer near the top of the gulch. As planned, each person had to shoot his own deer or go without. We had tags for five deer with Uncle Lewie having a tag of his own, but we really did not figure he would find one where he was at. It would be a long walk to get to the top of the hill, about two hours of hard walking on the trail. The five of us stayed close together, Glenny and Kevin were both young hunters, and we wanted to be near if they had a chance to shoot something.
We were fairly near the top when the sun started peeking over the hill. We had not been there long, when deer started coming over the hill, right at us. LeRoy and Glenny were on a small ridge a short way from us when a very large four point buck appeared in front of them. LeRoy shot him between the eyes because he was so close. At the sound of the shot, a herd of deer came running our way. Kevin shot a large doe but he had to try a couple of times, using my .30-30. We could not shoot either sex during this hunt and that was what we were doing. Harry knocked down a yearling buck out of this same bunch. We were looking around to see where the other deer had gone, they were out of sight. We decided to start looking for a good place to field dress the deer, we had already shot. Glenny was standing watching LeRoy work on the big buck, when a smal doe came over the hill right at him. He grabbed up his rifle and after a couple misses, put her down.
That left me without a deer. It was not long before another small group of deer came running over the summit right past us. I was using military .3O-O6 rifle, which had a peep sight on it and I had learned how to shoot it straight. A two-point buck slowed to a walk about fifty yards away. I knew we had a lot of deer to pack out already, so it just seemed like a good deer to finish off our limit with. We were about a mile from the trucks so somehow, we were going to have to pack them out. The small deer would not be a problem, but the four point was something else. There was a large pine tree not far from us, which seemed to be a good place to take all the deer to. Some of them still had to be dressed out. We unloaded our rifles and laid them aside so we would not be tempted to shoot a deer for Uncle Lewie. Early in the day we had heard a shot down below us, but we had no way of knowing whom had shot or why. Now the fun was over and the work was to begin. We not only had to finish field dressing the rest of the deer, but we had to think about getting them to the trucks.
We sized up the situation: one very large buck, one large doe, two good sized yearlings, and a two-point buck. There was no way we could pack them on our backs that far. We better go get the donkeys. The deer would be alright in the shade of the large Pine tree and it would make a good landmark to find them, when we get back if its starting to get dark. Down the trail we went as fast as we could. We really did not notice how fast the day had gone. By this time it was late afternoon we were starting to be concerned about Uncle Lewie being by himself so long. We were hurrying as fast as possible, when here he was sitting on top of a three point buck in the middle of the trail. He had been sitting above the trail, where he could see all around him in case we would chase something his way. He had only waited a couple of hours when he spotted this nice buck making it-s way down the trail. The buck was looking behind him in the direction from where we had been shooting. The buck never saw Uncle Lewie, sitting in the sage brush. He put him down with one clean shot and as luck would have it, the deer fell right in the main trail. That was the lone shot we had heard earlier in the morning. This made matters even worse. Now we had_ Six-deer to pack out. LeRoy had two donkeys, and Harry had one at home. We hurried on down to the trucks to go get them.
We knew time was against us by now. The round trip would take a couple of hours if all went well. The timing was pretty good. We all arrived back at the same time. This trip Aunt Lucy came along, hoping to be of some help to us. Now the sun was getting quite low in the west. The trail was a good one and easy to follow with the donkeys. We went up for the five deer first. The large buck was loaded on LeRoy’s oldest donkey because she had done a lot of packing and was very strong. Harry loaded the large doe on his donkey. We put the two point on the Other donkey. I packed one of the yearlings, as did Harry. We had all five deer going towards the trucks, at the same time.
All was going well, until the donkey carrying the four-point buck decided to try to jump the creek, which we had to cross instead of just quietly walking through it. She hit the other side and lost her balance. She went over backwards into the creek. She landed upside down with the buck underneath her. The creek was not deep, about six inches in the holes, but the donkey, deer and all landed upside down. We had to lift her up with the deer still tied on to get her turned over and her feet under her. You talk about something heavy. With everyone straining their best, we managed to get her upright. We had to tie the deer back in place, because he had slipped sideways badly. Needless to say, she did not want anymore to do with jumping and acting foolish. On down the trail we went, making good time. We had not reached Uncle Lewie yet, when Kevin got behind with the donkey he was leading. We kept watching for him to catch up but when he did not show up, we decided to go back to look for him. The deer had slipped a little in the pack saddle. Kevin tried to straighten it up when the donkey being young′ took off down the trail on the run. She got to close to the edge and slipped off the trail rolling into the creek, below. She was not hurt, but happened to fall into one of the few deep holes in the creek. Kevin had no way of getting the deer off her, therefore all he could do was to sit in the creek with her head in his lap to keep her quiet and from drowning. After we found them, it took some doing to get her back on her feet and reloaded. Kevin had done the right thing, all the way. I was very proud of him. We finally got the donkey back up on the trail and was thankful she could walk, ok. We soon caught up with the rest of the donkeys. Glenny was holding their ropes waiting for us to come back down to him.
Not far on down the trail was Uncle Lewie waiting with his deer. It was a g○○d sized deer and we were getting tired. It was tied on Harry’s donkey, with the one she was already carrying. She could handle it for the rest of the way without hurting her. She was large and strong enough to get by. Darkness had satin by the time we reached the trucks. Aunt Lucy was starting to worry some,. because we had been gone, so long. She was very relieved when we showed up in good shape. The deer were loaded into the trucks for the trip home.
We still had to skin the deer when we made it home, to get them bagged up to keep the flies off. They would hang in different garages for a few days to cool out, before cutting them into steaks for the freezer. Uncle Lewie would take care of his deer, as would LeRoy. By the time everything was done, the old clock on the wall was nearing midnight. We had to go to work, the next morning if we could get out of bed. This had been a long hard day, but we were all happy to get our deer for the year.