Saturday morning, opening day and we began hunting a lake right by camp. We hunted the fast-drying lake and soon spotted three bucks. They looked good and were feeding, but constantly shifting and moving. While glassing them, we were treated to two of the bucks going full on in battle. They were thrashing about, engaging their horns and generally kicking up a fuss. Outstanding! Since they were distracted, I decided we needed to get behind them, otherwise we'd have to swim to get to them with no cover — NOT!

We spotted them again at about 400 yards and waited to ambush them. The ambush happened and both brothers fired, Edgar made an excellent shot and the veteran dumped his goat at 125 yards. First-timer Felix tried for a running goat (since the veteran fired first) and he hit it high and we went chasing it. The two remaining bucks, including the injured one, swam across a piece of the lake back to where we first spotted them that morning! We dragged the first buckm and then Felix and I went back to look for the injured buck.

About an hour later, we found the uninjured buck and let him pass. About a 1/4 mile later, we finally made a loop to where we figured the injured buck would want a nice vantage point to rest and keep his eye on those fellers who were chasing him and flinging hot lead. Sure enough, we bounced the injured buck (I confirmed he had blood high on his shoulder), and then Felix shot his goat at 205 yards, dropping him.

The hunt was picture perfect, from the research, glassing, stalking and the finished product; two filled tags by 12:00 noon of the first day. What could be nicer, especially for a lucky first-timer?

Submitted by Oscar Ramirez
Sacramento, California