NARRATOR: A mid-season melt
for a hunt.
But today, Jake Herrick isn't chasing lions.
He's tracking his next meal.
JAKE HERRICK: I got an empty freezer,
and I definitely need to get some really good, clean meat.
NARRATOR: Mule deer are known to graze at high altitudes
where the terrain is steepest.
I'm trying to find my way through the rocks here.
It looks like I found a spot I can finally crawl through here.
NARRATOR: Jake's betting that the receding snow has reopened
their feeding ground 6,000 feet up the mountain,
but not for long.
Once the deep freeze returns, the herd will be out of reach.
Trying to find a spot I can poke through.
This country is rugged as heck.
You don't want to make a slip and a fall.
Oh, [bleep]!
[sighs]
Close call there.
Lost my footing a little bit.
All right.
I'm at the top of the hill.
I just need to make my way down to this rock point,
do some glass, and hopefully I can get them spotted.
Oh, shoot, right there sneaking out of the brush
there, chasing that doe.
Let's see if I can't sneak down somewhere
and get a shot at them.
That doe is just streaking across the hillside
with the buck hot on her tail.
I'm thinking they're going to end up out on this point here.
I'm going to work my way down to this little rock knob
and get set up to shoot, see if we can't get that buck.
NARRATOR: In the steep and jagged peaks
of the Tobacco Route Mountains, Jake's
moving in to get a clean shot.
They're feeding across that hillside over there.
NARRATOR: He's been chasing the mule deer for three hours.
And now, still 100 yards out of range,
he can't risk letting the opportunity pass.
All right.
They're working their way up towards that ridge there.
The buck is following the doe.
[gunshot]
Well, it looks like a good hit.
Doesn't look like she's quite tipping over yet.
NARRATOR: Big game like this 200-pound buck
get a surge of adrenaline when wounded,
enough to run for several minutes after a hit.
Damn it.
He's heading up over the hill.
NARRATOR: At this distance, there's
no way to confirm a kill. - All right.
I better get over that ridge and get up buck tracked down.
Just hoping we can turn up some blood here somewhere
and track him down.
This area right here is about where
I thought he was standing.
He could be anywhere out here.
They usually tend to go downhill when they're shot.
They'll try to find a hole or something to lay in.
There he is.
Woo!
All right.
We got us a nice, mature buck.
He's got a nice body on him, lots of good meat.
NARRATOR: The full-size buck will
provide nearly 70 pounds of meat to last
through the end of winter.
But breaking down such a large kill takes a skilled hand.
We don't want to be out here after dark with fresh meat
on our back.
There's bears and mountain lions out here,
and it's a wild place with wild animals.
This was their home, and meat is what they eat.
When I butcher my deer, the processing of it
is just something I love to do.
This, to me, is what keeps me going.
There's nothing like outsmarting the smartest animals out there,
and doing it yourself.
All right.
Over the mountain I go.
This nice buck here is going to provide me
with a lot of good meat through the wintertime to keep me out
and about running lions and keep me chasing them hound dogs.
Got a lot of work ahead of me.
The work has just begun.
And we'll be back at it again tomorrow.