wilydawg
New member
After many months of planning and anticipation, the time had finally come for mine and my nephew's mule deer hunt. And what a hunt it turned out to be!
We started out on lower elevation open ground looking for bucks, but after 2 solid days of hiking and wearing our eyes out on the glass we failed to turn up the kind of bucks we were looking for. We did see plenty of wildlife including antelope, badgers and coyotes (which got a pass as they always showed up at the most inopportune times!),along with plenty of deer, even lots of smaller bucks. Just not the bruisers we were hoping for.
So we decided to make a move to some higher and heavily forested ground to see what we could turn up. We spent the next 2 1/2 days of our hunt hiking our boot leather off and did manage to each bump a great buck, but in thick timber neither one of us could get a shot, and couldn't locate them again after they buggered out.
With only 1/2 day left to hunt before we had to get back to our daily lives, we decided to go back low again to see if anything had changed, as there was a little weather since we went high which could have gotten things down there moving. My nephew had located a heavy bodied old buck which was somewhat antlered challenged there earlier in the hunt and since my widower sister in law loves it when I bring her meat it was decided that if we saw him we'd whack him for the freezer.
So we got down there at about 3:30 Pm and started looking around. We went to the area the old buck had been spotted in and couldn't turn him up, so we kept moving and glassing every new view we came to. After several vistas turned up nothing but does, fawns and small bucks, we stopped at a great vantage and right away turned up a lone deer at about a mile. We put the spotting scope on him and decided he was worth going after. While we were discussing a plan, he bedded down which gave us confidence he would hang tight for awhile.
After looking the terrain over near the buck it was decided that I should probably get after him since since the shot would be likely be a long one and my nephew felt it would be out of his wheelhouse. I've shot a lot of game at longer ranges, and had built a .300 WSM the first of the year which I had been shooting extensively since.
He and one of our friends stayed there on the scope to alert us if he moved during the stalk, while myself and our other bud started the stalk.
The country was very open but by using the contour and some brush we felt we could get within 400-500 yards of him and having shot all summer out to over 800 yards and with almost no breeze I felt confident at that range.
So off we went. After closing the distance to about 550 and with a slight breeze in our face we felt that if we were very careful and used the limited brush to our advantage we could get closer without spooking him. We hit the last bush we had for cover and ranged the center of the hillside at app. 380 yards. But we couldn't seem to locate the buck! We knew he had to be there but where was he?
We had used what little landmarks we could identify when we started the stalk as a reference to his location, but as it turned out we were off a bit and had been looking in the wrong area of a huge slope. All of a sudden my buddy says "there he is up-slope of where we've been looking, and he's staring right at us"!
I was hoping to find a way to get prone, but no dice as the sagebrush prohibited doing so. I had brought my tripod along just in case and hurriedly began setting up for the shot as I got the play by play from my bud. As I was trying to get set up the buck jumped out of his bed and began moving up the slope, joined by another smaller buck we hadn't yet seen.
I ended up shooting at him twice and missed (just barely!) But after settling in on the best shot he presented, and making the elevation adjustment I broke the third shot and down he went!!!
He ended up being right at 786 yards, which is longer than I wanted to shoot (I'd rather shoot at 100 yards if I can!) but within the range that I had consistently rang the gong all summer.
I'm standing where he went down, I shot him from the far ridge to the right.
After making our way over to him and sizing him up we saw that he was just about exactly what we figured upon first seeing him. Not a giant but a good solid buck. So no ground shrinkage which is always nice! And best of all with his big body he'd provide lots of meat for my sister in law, which was really the goal when we started the hunt.
My buck.
Now the only issue was getting him out! We took some pics and started cutting him up for the trip out, while the other two guys came to join the party. With four of us the work and very steep hike out went pretty quickly and we found ourselves back at the truck before dark.
My nephew was chomping a little at the bit to get home, as he had a pressing family engagement the next day and since the goal of getting meat had been reached was ready to leave and head for home. I told him that we still had a little daylight left so we should finish it out and keep looking around until dark. He agreed so off to a vantage point we went.
Almost immediately we spotted another lone deer feeding, and after setting up the scope saw that it was a pretty good buck, similar to the one I'd taken! We mapped out an approach and figured we could drive pretty close and with a relatively short hike could possibly get onto the buck before dark. While we were making a plan, one of our buds remarked that he thought the buck had just bedded as he could no longer see him. But we knew he couldn't get out of the basin without us seeing him so off we went...
This time we all went along on the stalk, figuring if we were lucky enough to kill him we'd all be there to start the extraction that much quicker, plus we were all stoked to be right in the mix! And when we got into view of the pocket he was in he should be within easy range.
We descended down the slope toward him, stopping for a minute each time the view changed to look for him so we wouldn't blow him out. But when we got to a point where we thought we should be able to see him, he was nowhere in sight, so the theory that he had bedded down seemed to be the deal.
The problem was that it was getting dark quick and the window was closing fast. We couldn't believe he wasn't moving since we figured him to be within 100 yards of us! So we set my nephew up on the tripod and started walking around in the high sagebrush to see if we could get him up. Sure enough, he jumped out of his bed at about 75 yards and began trotting up the slope away from us.
My nephew got on him, and just as the buck slowed and turned broadside he put one in the buck's boiler room and he was dead before he hit the ground!
I'll tell you what there was some serious whooping it up and back slapping at that moment! We went to the buck and again he was pretty close to what we figured him to be, not the giant he had been holding out for but another good solid buck, the biggest he had a chance to take this hunt.
My nephew's buck.
The extraction was a lot easier this time, as there was a two track we hadn't seen that allowed us to get the truck right to the buck, which was sure welcome after the energy we had expended getting mine out!
At the truck and fixing to head out.
We bid adios to our friends as they still had hunting to do yet, and started our trek home, replaying the evenings events over as we drove. My nephew and I share a special relationship and have been on many hunts together, but we both agreed that this one was right up there near the top, if not the top one we'd been blessed enough to share.
I know that this is a long read but thanks for taking a look.
wily
We started out on lower elevation open ground looking for bucks, but after 2 solid days of hiking and wearing our eyes out on the glass we failed to turn up the kind of bucks we were looking for. We did see plenty of wildlife including antelope, badgers and coyotes (which got a pass as they always showed up at the most inopportune times!),along with plenty of deer, even lots of smaller bucks. Just not the bruisers we were hoping for.
So we decided to make a move to some higher and heavily forested ground to see what we could turn up. We spent the next 2 1/2 days of our hunt hiking our boot leather off and did manage to each bump a great buck, but in thick timber neither one of us could get a shot, and couldn't locate them again after they buggered out.
With only 1/2 day left to hunt before we had to get back to our daily lives, we decided to go back low again to see if anything had changed, as there was a little weather since we went high which could have gotten things down there moving. My nephew had located a heavy bodied old buck which was somewhat antlered challenged there earlier in the hunt and since my widower sister in law loves it when I bring her meat it was decided that if we saw him we'd whack him for the freezer.
So we got down there at about 3:30 Pm and started looking around. We went to the area the old buck had been spotted in and couldn't turn him up, so we kept moving and glassing every new view we came to. After several vistas turned up nothing but does, fawns and small bucks, we stopped at a great vantage and right away turned up a lone deer at about a mile. We put the spotting scope on him and decided he was worth going after. While we were discussing a plan, he bedded down which gave us confidence he would hang tight for awhile.
After looking the terrain over near the buck it was decided that I should probably get after him since since the shot would be likely be a long one and my nephew felt it would be out of his wheelhouse. I've shot a lot of game at longer ranges, and had built a .300 WSM the first of the year which I had been shooting extensively since.
He and one of our friends stayed there on the scope to alert us if he moved during the stalk, while myself and our other bud started the stalk.
The country was very open but by using the contour and some brush we felt we could get within 400-500 yards of him and having shot all summer out to over 800 yards and with almost no breeze I felt confident at that range.
So off we went. After closing the distance to about 550 and with a slight breeze in our face we felt that if we were very careful and used the limited brush to our advantage we could get closer without spooking him. We hit the last bush we had for cover and ranged the center of the hillside at app. 380 yards. But we couldn't seem to locate the buck! We knew he had to be there but where was he?
We had used what little landmarks we could identify when we started the stalk as a reference to his location, but as it turned out we were off a bit and had been looking in the wrong area of a huge slope. All of a sudden my buddy says "there he is up-slope of where we've been looking, and he's staring right at us"!
I was hoping to find a way to get prone, but no dice as the sagebrush prohibited doing so. I had brought my tripod along just in case and hurriedly began setting up for the shot as I got the play by play from my bud. As I was trying to get set up the buck jumped out of his bed and began moving up the slope, joined by another smaller buck we hadn't yet seen.
I ended up shooting at him twice and missed (just barely!) But after settling in on the best shot he presented, and making the elevation adjustment I broke the third shot and down he went!!!
He ended up being right at 786 yards, which is longer than I wanted to shoot (I'd rather shoot at 100 yards if I can!) but within the range that I had consistently rang the gong all summer.
I'm standing where he went down, I shot him from the far ridge to the right.
After making our way over to him and sizing him up we saw that he was just about exactly what we figured upon first seeing him. Not a giant but a good solid buck. So no ground shrinkage which is always nice! And best of all with his big body he'd provide lots of meat for my sister in law, which was really the goal when we started the hunt.
My buck.
Now the only issue was getting him out! We took some pics and started cutting him up for the trip out, while the other two guys came to join the party. With four of us the work and very steep hike out went pretty quickly and we found ourselves back at the truck before dark.
My nephew was chomping a little at the bit to get home, as he had a pressing family engagement the next day and since the goal of getting meat had been reached was ready to leave and head for home. I told him that we still had a little daylight left so we should finish it out and keep looking around until dark. He agreed so off to a vantage point we went.
Almost immediately we spotted another lone deer feeding, and after setting up the scope saw that it was a pretty good buck, similar to the one I'd taken! We mapped out an approach and figured we could drive pretty close and with a relatively short hike could possibly get onto the buck before dark. While we were making a plan, one of our buds remarked that he thought the buck had just bedded as he could no longer see him. But we knew he couldn't get out of the basin without us seeing him so off we went...
This time we all went along on the stalk, figuring if we were lucky enough to kill him we'd all be there to start the extraction that much quicker, plus we were all stoked to be right in the mix! And when we got into view of the pocket he was in he should be within easy range.
We descended down the slope toward him, stopping for a minute each time the view changed to look for him so we wouldn't blow him out. But when we got to a point where we thought we should be able to see him, he was nowhere in sight, so the theory that he had bedded down seemed to be the deal.
The problem was that it was getting dark quick and the window was closing fast. We couldn't believe he wasn't moving since we figured him to be within 100 yards of us! So we set my nephew up on the tripod and started walking around in the high sagebrush to see if we could get him up. Sure enough, he jumped out of his bed at about 75 yards and began trotting up the slope away from us.
My nephew got on him, and just as the buck slowed and turned broadside he put one in the buck's boiler room and he was dead before he hit the ground!
I'll tell you what there was some serious whooping it up and back slapping at that moment! We went to the buck and again he was pretty close to what we figured him to be, not the giant he had been holding out for but another good solid buck, the biggest he had a chance to take this hunt.
My nephew's buck.
The extraction was a lot easier this time, as there was a two track we hadn't seen that allowed us to get the truck right to the buck, which was sure welcome after the energy we had expended getting mine out!
At the truck and fixing to head out.
We bid adios to our friends as they still had hunting to do yet, and started our trek home, replaying the evenings events over as we drove. My nephew and I share a special relationship and have been on many hunts together, but we both agreed that this one was right up there near the top, if not the top one we'd been blessed enough to share.
I know that this is a long read but thanks for taking a look.
wily
