10/18/2026
Marel's hunt made it look easy!! We took off after Mike's goat & boy did we work for it. We got on some great goats. We saw some GREAT rut activity. We tried for the next 2 days.
The afternoon of day 2 we were on a great setup, but there were a lot of eyes. We started down the hill at the target buck. Everything was looking good, then a group bedded down farther south got restless & stood up. My heart sunk. There was a buck in it, too. The buck we had our sights on was in no mood to entertain a rival in his space. He turned & went after him. He ran that other buck about 3/4 of a mile away.
So many scenarios were going through my head, but sometimes it's best to sit & watch & wait. Our target took his sweet time coming back, only to notice an even smaller buck wandering up north. He couldn't leave it alone, so off he went AGAIN. He ran that buck all over, like he was just trying to impress the ladies before they broke & headed south on a line. Again, we waited.
The theme this year was "wind," & this day was holding steady & "breezy." The buck started back our way again. We had nothing to lose but time & opportunity so we waited him out a second time. By now he's a little more interested in resting, but his group had started splitting. He ran some down to bring them back just to have 3 others bolt. He played this game for a while & looked like he was about to give up.
Then, like it sometimes happens, you could feel the shift & it looked like it was gonna come together. The group that stayed in the same place this whole time was very comfortable with us, so it was just a matter of getting at a good angle on the buck for a shot.
We were at 45 yards & Mike was ready to take a shot in the breeze, adding another variable to a challenging sport. It's archery & not everything always works perfectly. The shot was a fatal shot, just not that day. We tried for another shot without success. He acted like he was gonna give up, only to get up & go a little farther. It came time to make the very hard decision to leave the field & try get back on him the next day.
Over the years we have learned some valuable lessons about hunting wounded animals. We let the landowner know the situation & got back out early the next day. We had him walk in below us & bed down. I took the pet cow for a walk because we had pushed hard the day before with the horses & needed a new game. We almost had him, but he went 50 yards farther west than we hoped. I had good eyes on him & let the landowner know, but we had to call it & send Mike & Marel home.
It's happened before, & thankfully with our experiences & the landowner's vigilance, he found him expired & we were able to retrieve Mike's goat & get it sent to him.
Not every hunt is easy or goes the way you hope it will. In the end we can say we did the best we could. Mike & Marel will have great goats on their wall, meat in their freezer, & we all have the memories. 🏹
At this point in the season, we were 8 hunters, 8 goats taken. It was also time for the Veteran's Outdoor Therapy crew to hunt. Again, we will save their stories for the very last this year & we'll tell you about Walt's hunt next week!!!
