We made a hunt on Friday afternoon late and only saw 3 does. There were many tarantulas out and about and we were very careful not to run over them. I picked one up and let it crawl up my arm and onto my neck, freaking out my huntin' buddy. He thought that they would bite, but they certainly do not unless forced to. it was late, so no photos that evening.
On Saturday we drove up a ridge before first light, topping out just before dawn. The valleys below were covered in a picturesque blanket of thick fog. In this pic you will see the San Benito Valley, immediately below and the Salinas Valley in the distance, Only the tallest hills are poking up out of the foggy sea.
Fingers of fog are protruding into the upper reaches of the SBV. This is looking across toward the neighbor's ranch. One of our access roads is visible on the next ridge over, and the adjacent property begins about a mile out.
Sunrise is minutes away.
Continuing up the ridge, we stopped and glassed the canyons for bucks. Only one was spotted and he was a small fork at 545 yds on my rangefinder. This is my partner's new Yamaha Rhino. Believe or not, he found it on Craigslist and drove up to OR to pick it up. There are two others on the ranch, but we let other hunters use them and the jeep.
We stopped and walked at several locations but saw only a few does. Oh, I nearly forgot that on the way out we spied a bunch of pigs coming up out of the river and rodeod 'em for a while, laughing like crazy. We headed them off and they veered over toward a back gate where we knew another few hunters were heading towards. Too dark for pics.
It takes a few hours to get to the top, where the big pines are, but no deer sign at that location. We did find a lioness' tracks with at least one cub tagging along. Both us and the neighbors agree that we have a cat problem. My buddy had seen a big buck the prior weekend and we did our best to hunt him up, but no luck there, either. At 0945, as we tooled along the road, I saw a bucks horns sticking up out of the tall grass about 40 yds off the road. He was still bedded but his body was invisible. I told Dick to shoot it, but he wanted me to take it. I stepped out of the vehicle, grabbed my .45-90 out of the zipped up rifle bag on the back and levered in a cartridge. At that the buck stood up and he looked perfect for a bunch of jerky. So, BA-WHOOM, down he went. My bud watched through his binocs and saw the blood pour out of the perfect shoulder shot. Wouldn't you know it, but the darned thing disappeared. I walked over where he was hit and saw a blood trail the a user of braille could'a seen. The little bugger has slid down into a ravine and ended up under a deadfall oak branch. The buck was dead on his hooves when hit, but still fell off the little flat and into the gulch. I tossed off the branch, put the gun back in the rig and got out my tools.
I gutted him and it was all we could do to drag the heavy little buck up where I could swing a rope around the horns to use the Rhino to drag him up to where we could toss him into the rig. WHEW!
Here we are, back at the skinning shed, doing the hard part. Take a gander at what a Barnes 250 TSX does to a deer. I have NO idea where the bullet went, it just kept on a going. The deer's lungs were "dee=stroyed".
After it was all said and done, there was 95 lbs of hanging meat. It will sit in the cooler at 40º until next weekend. We'll debone it, grind it up, and make jerky and salami.
This morning we saw this little buck enjoying a drink at one of the stock ponds and I was contented to take a few pics and be on the way.
All of a sudden we heard a BOOM and saw a bullet hit the water past the deer and it took off. Oops, some other guys saw him a popped the little guy. A youngster bagged his first buck.
I snapped that quick pic and we went over to visit a neighbor 5 miles up the trail and through his gate. He has a little over 12,000 acres and his family home sits in a valley at 3100' elevation. Ours is at 400', so they are a bit cooler. No power in there, it's all solar.
Some of my photos failed to translate, but you get the picture. A fun time was had by all.
My little buck is on the right. Here's the head. The forks were 19" high and 18" wide. 
Not a bad little beast, he should make some tasty jerky and salami. Of course, the backstraps will come home with me next Sunday. 
Here is the Rhino that we rode in this weekend. Well, one of them, anyway. The bag hangin' on the cage keeps the guns clean and dust free. 
