Mixed bag and Mixed Blessings

Ursus21

Active member
Well the month of November threw me all over life's roller coaster. I've literally been up, down, and all around the gamut of emotions related to hunting.

First the ups: Helped my friend find and pack out this tall racked buck he shot early in the month. He'd never seen one deboned and packed out before. I think he's sold on the process now. Beats the heck out of dragging the dumb things.
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Went back a couple weeks later to find a buck-a-roo for me. However my friend set the bar pretty high for mule deer and I couldn't find one that would tempt me. Passed up 20 bucks that day and the only thing that died was this little fellow. Touched one off with the ol' 30.06 and Mr. Yote lost his mind.
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Before and after this hunt I was also spending a lot of time with my third oldest boy trying to get him his first whitetail buck. He's killed three respectable muley bucks in the previous 3 years, and it was time for a change. Long story short it took a lot of time, a couple missed, bucks, and some serious weather survival (read froze our butts off), and then he finally connected.
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Now that his buck was down I had a good friend (known as Switch here on Predatormasters.com) coming in from California on his first mule deer hunt. He made a great one shot kill at 305 yards, the first morning, and connected on this great "first" buck!
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Had to pack this bugger out too. I ended up packing the meat out while my pard packed out the head and hide. Good thing he's a good friend.
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Here's the buck in the back of my pick up.
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I was in the frame of mind to kill something that day but just couldn't find the right buck. So I settled for this really pretty coyote. One shot at 290 yards and down she went.
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The next day my pard and I hunted all day. It was tough conditions in blowing snow with -20 to -25 degree temps. Visibility wasn't good and we didn't see much except for birds so we killed some hungarian partridge, sharptailed grouse, and pheasants. Then just before the day was done and we were a few hundreds from the gate to leave the property we unexpectedly jumped a nice whitetail buck. I'd already put my rifle away behind the seat as we were basically done. By the time I got it out, jacked in a round, flip up the scope cover, flip down the bi-pod, and get the scope turned up, he's about 300 yards and packing the mail. I get one quick shot and miss. I'm now officially pizzed, disappointed, and mad at myself for letting my guard down. To top it off the land owner's son in law killed the buck 3 days later. Then he gave me permission to hunt the whole ranch 5000 acres the rest of the season. Said I could have it all to myself. Only problem, the next day a tresspasser snuck on, wounded a buck, then chased it into the hefer's running them all over He!! and gone. Land owner's cousin and partner caught the guy, and said cousin, blew his top. Long story short, the whole place got shut down for the rest of the season because of this idiot...maybe forever.
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Now I'm not only upset, but very depressed. I hate suffering for some one elses stupidity. Snow continues to fall, wind continues to blow. Access to the high country where I have most of my permission and where most of the public land is, is now all impossible to access. Besides, all the deer have mirgrated down to the low private property that is near impossible to get permission for. My options are limited. Thank goodness for a good friend that called as I was pouting around the house. He invited me to his property/cabin up in the mountains to finish out the season. Said he hadn't seen much, but one never knew. Long story short we actually saw quite a few deer, but nothing big. We hiked just about 4 miles in two feet of deep wet snow with snow shoes. The going was tough and it kicked my butt. We are only about 200 from the ATV trail and I'm spent. With only an hour and a half left in my season I figured I'm done. Then suddenly this buck stepped out of the timber and changed my whole "dark-cloud" mood in an instant. So I guess it proves that even unlucky dumb guy's can beat the odds now and then. Now I can get back to more important things like hunting coyotes.
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Great write-up man! It looks like you boys had a very productive hunt and got some nice animals on the ground... I would like to hear a few more details on your whitetail, he looks like a pretty big 8!

Congrats...
 
My whitetail was with a doe and only 115 yards away. I had plenty of time to shoot. I can make a shot like this in my sleep. Heck, I just whacked a coyote at 290 yards the week before, 115 yds is nothing. So I promptly shot right over his back. Well at least I think that is where it went, bottom line I missed. He and the doe took off. Fortunately they stopped at around 200 yards. The buck was focused on the doe and the doe focused on me. She started to leave, but the buck hesitated just for a second and I pole-axed him. He went straight down. All I can figure is after such a long season that perhaps I got a little buck fever on that first shot. Haven't had any kind of buck fever in years so I guess it's good to know I can still get excited. After all the miles and miles of hiking during the season, the countless hours looking, and passing up 69 other bucks there was a great deal of satisfaction in being lucky enough to take this buck. Killed him with Hornady Light Magnum 165gr Interbond bullet out of my 30.06. The bullet caused major damage and resulted in a near instant death.
 
Those are some nice deer! I love those mixed bag hunts. Too bad about the trespasser. Hopefully your good character and good will can keep a relationship where you can keep hunting.
 
One more pic from the mixed bag hunt. It was around -20 to -25 when Switch took this photo of me. I ended up with frost bit ears that day. They are still peeling as I sit here and post this.
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Troy, definitely good times. Sounds like I left a little luck behind for you. Always glad to share the wealth.

To be honest, I think I could've packed the head, hide, meat and YOU off that hill I was so happy. I'll never forget the sight of that bruiser in the scope and watching him fall over dead after the shot. Oh yeah, I've been telling everyone it was a 307-yard shot...what's two yards between friends. LOL

The next day was cold, but chasing all the birds was a blast. Thanks again for the invite.
 
Switch I was going to say except for me missing that buck I wouldn't change anything about your hunt. However in hindsight I'm really glad I missed that buck as the one I got is considerably better.
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You saw Montana in some seriously harsh conditions and you kept a great attitude. A guy just can't ask anymore from a hunting partner than that...well other than be a good shot...and you had that covered.
 
Congrats on the Muley Swith, Good write up as usuall Troy. I'm glad that you finally got your buck you deserve one. Now on to the yote slaying, I am so ready! I have a couple weeks of travel and work and then I'm gonna be hunting everyday the wind lets me.
 
Wow!! What a story. Great job on the story and photos, and one heck of a good time hunting. Sorry to hear about the idiot who ruined your hunting on that place. Hopefully things will work out for you in the future.

You certainly got some super nice deer. The coyotes and birds rounded out a good season it seems. But, I'm sure you have more coyote hunting to do this winter. Please keep us posted with some super photos like the ones above.

Thanks a lot for your post.

David
 
Corey, thanks. Definitely felt good to put a nice buck on the ground the first morning. Then in true Montana fashion, we ran around shooting birds, coyotes and porcupines...I flat out love going to MT.

Good luck chasing coyotes.
 
Nice looking whitey. I got bored so went and bought an over the counter cow tag on a whim and took a quick drive and put elk #2 in the freezer for the year. The yotes have been a little tough to get lately. Im thinnkin now that all the yahoos are out of the woods they will calm down.
 
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