Because chapter members cannot yet log into the website, web admin Cheryl Stubbendieck has posted this hunt report for Mick.
Hello, fellow members and guests of the Platte River Chapter of SCI. One of the many great things our new website offers is a place to share our hunting adventures. I am honored to have the privilege to kick this off with my Columbian Blacktail hunt.
I met Craig "Gus" Augustynovich at the SCI national convention in Reno in January 2020. Gus is the owner of Fins & Feathers Guide Service near Roseburg, Oregon. I was impressed with the trophy-quality of the shoulder-mounted Blacktail and Columbian whitetail he displayed in his booth. He told me all of them were shot the previous year. Gus offers a three-day, four-night all-inclusive hunt for a very reasonable price.
His home and lodge is located a few miles from Roseburg in Douglas County, which is known for some of the biggest Columbian Blacktail in the country. The lodge is new, clean and very comfortable. The cook was talented and the atmosphere friendly. The short season and Gus's strict management for trophy deer restrict him to three sets of two hunters per rifle season.
My hunt began on Oct. 24, 2020. Our plan on that first morning was to hunt on top of the biggest mountain in the area and get to the top before sunrise. Just as it began to get light enough to see, a heavy fog rolled in. Plan A was scrapped and we headed back down and onto a different property 10 miles away. We started seeing blacktail as soon as we got below the fog and along the way to the new location.
Once we were through the gates at the next property, we took a two-track path to the top of a ridge overlooking a large bowl below. We would stop and glass below but failed to see a shooter, so we started down and drove to the opposite side of the bowl. On our first stop on this side, Gus spotted a nice buck with a doe. It appeared rut was beginning as the buck was staying with the doe and wasn't going to leave her. He was easy to see from our height advantage but a closer stalk was out of the question because we would lose sight as soon as we descended into the thick brush.
Gus said, “Can you shoot 450 yards?” I fired right back at him: “You told me to be prepared to shoot 300!” I had prepared: My scope was zeroed at 200 yards, and l knew it would shoot six inches low at 300. I said l didn't have any idea how much drop there would be at 450. Gus asked what l was shooting. I told him a 7mm Rem. mag. with 162-grain ELD-X bullets. So he googles it: “You must shoot 25 inches high.”
I looked through the scope at the buck to see how steady l could be and if l felt good about even trying the shot. Immediately after l found the tiny deer in my scope, l raised my head to crank up the magnification on my Leopold VX R 3-9. To my disappointment, it was already set on 9. I found the buck in my scope again and to my surprise l felt very steady and confident. Enough time had passed that all the excitement and buck fever was gone.
I decided a 25-inch drop would have me hold one foot above his back. So keeping the vertical crosshair on his front leg, I raised the horizontal to my guess of one foot over the top, and again l felt comfortable about this shot so l squeeeeezed the trigger and a second later heard the thump. The buck dropped both front legs but managed 50 yards behind cover. We watched that spot for a good 30 minutes, and not seeing anything we drove back to the top and walked down to where the buck disappeared. He was there, heart-shot. I am 1 for 1 @ 450 and think l will quit right there. My hunt was over by 1 p.m. on the first day.
I would recommend this hunt to anyone. I plan to hunt or fish with Gus again. Maybe Columbian whitetail, black bear, Rio turkey, Roosevelt Elk, or fishing with him for sturgeon, king salmon, or halibut. He offers fishing in Alaska in the summer months.
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Note: After our membership list is loaded onto the website, you'll be able to log in and post comments or start a new thread with the story of your hunt. We hope this will be soon, we need to be sure our membership records are tracking with those of SCI.