One morning in 1970, Harry and I were talking about what a beautiful day it was. This was a Saturday morning in October, the deer season was still open around Lucky Peak, in area thirty-nine. Why not take a quick run to Mack’s Creek along the Reservoir? We had plenty of time to take a sortie for a few hours of hunting. We grabbed our rifles and packs then away we went in Harry’s pickup.
Bud Garvin had gone for wood near Idaho City that morning so he could not go with us. However, we passed him coming back with his wood just outside of town. He had a g○○d sized load which he would need to unload when he made it home.
We thought no more about him and went on our way to Mack’s Creek to find a deer. There was an old road up Mack’s Creek, but most of the time it was not passable when wet. One place has a bad washout, which we would not try to cross in clear weather. The truck was parked near the main road, because of the wash out, from there we would walk up the creek a couple of miles to look for deer. This terrain was mostly open hillsides with patches of brush and some scattered timber pockets.
We left the creek bed and climbed up to some brush on the hillside. One such patch of brush was in our path climbing the hill. It was a large patch of about two acres, it seemed like a good place for a deer to be hiding in. As we approached the bottom of the brush, I saw a doe’s head moving through the center of the patch. I called Harry about a deer in the brush, and it would come out the other side running hard. Running hard it was, we could not even get a shot at her. The ground was soft from a recent rain making trailing her not a problem at all. We took off after her on the run. She seemed to know how to evade us quite well. After chasing her for some time, she doubled back up the hill towards some timber. I just caught sight of her when a rifle shot broke the stillness. I saw our deer go tumbling end over end down the hill. Where did this hunter come from and who was it? Harry had caught up with me by then and we both went over the hill with malice in our minds. No one else was around that we knew of.
Suddenly here was Bud Garvin standing over the deer with a big grin on his face. All he could say was Hi Guys! He had hurried on home, thrown his load of w○○d out on the ground, and took off after us as fast as he dared. He found our truck along the main road and surmised where we should be. He spotted us with his field glasses and could tell we were trailing a deer by our actions. From the direction we were headed, he guessed about where we would end up. He climbed the hill as fast as possible just in time to intercept her as she cutback up the hill towards the timber. He made a good one shot kill. Now that we had a deer, the next thing to do was to clean her out and get her back to the trucks. When this first messy chore was done, Bud put his tag on her but up inside the rib cage so it would not be pulled off while dragging her. We took turns pulling on her and we were at the truck in no time at all.
Bud wanted to give most of the meat to his mother and since we really did not need the meat, we let him take it all. His mother likes venison and can use meat. We have plenty of time to find our own deer later. Bud usually goes along with us to help with the work if we can find a deer somewhere. This was a short trip, but we still enjoyed going. The three of us always have a good time, when we get together.