Montana Mule Deer Hunt - 2010 Flashback
Mule Deer
This hunt takes place in early September of 2010 in Eastern Montana. It has been nearly 4 years since this trip has taken place, but much of it is as fresh in my mind as if it happened yesterday. What a great hunt. I was looking through my old pictures which brought up so many great memories and I decided that it was finally time to put forth the effort required to bring the hunt to you guys here on bowsite. I’m going to attempt to do it right, so this may take some time.
2010 was the first year that my family and I started filming our hunts for Midwest Whitetail. I had always wanted to kill a velvet mule deer and this was the perfect excuse to take a buddy along to film the adventure and preserve the memory forever. So one of my good friends from college volunteered to film for me. Thanks Ryan, this hunt wouldn’t have been the same without you.
This is Ryan is full cameraman gear.
The fact that most of our effort was focused on capturing the hunt on video means that I wasn’t able to capture many animals with the regular camera. So some of these pictures are captured from the still frame of the video. Not great quality, but better than nothing. Plus, when I am done posting the story, I will post the video for you to watch.
Through much research and some good reviews on the bowsite outfitter review section I booked a hunt with Tracy Weyer of Hidden Valley Outfitters near Wibaux, MT. I booked for the first 6 day of season to ensure that most of the bucks would be in velvet.
I left my house in Sedalia MO to head North to pick up Ryan my friend and cameraman at his place in Lincoln NE. After I picked up Ryan, I pointed the car West and adrenaline took us the rest of the way.
If it hadn't been for my wife agreeing to this trip, I wouldn't have happened.
Wow, some of these pictures are going to be really blurry. Sorry about that.
We got to camp in the afternoon and met up with the outfitter Tracy and our guide for the week Chad.
Chad moved from Pennsylvania several years ago to become a professional hunting and fishing guide. I’m sure glad he did as he is good at what he does.
After unpacking, I got out my bow and shot a few shots.
As you might have guessed, I didn’t sleep very much that night as I was anticipating the next day’s hunt. We got up very early and ate a huge breakfast prepared by Tracy’s mom at the main ranch house. Then it was off to the hunt.
Accommodations were comfortable enough, I just couldn't sleep with all the anticipation.
Tracy has over 600,000 acres to hunt so you can imagine that it could occasionally take some time to arrive at your hunting destination. I would say that it took us 40 minutes to get to the ranch we would be hunting. We were running a bit late, maybe 10 minutes and as we rounded a bend in the road there were deer everywhere.
On a huge alfalfa field there were at least five whitetail buck that would go over 140 inches and one monster that would score over 160.
When we got to the gate of the property we would be hunting, I got out to open the gate and spotted the first shooter of the trip. He was skylined on the hill and looked to be a great buck. I got back in the truck and we drove several miles past the buck in order to get in front of him. We hid the truck the best we could and got out to glass.
Chad and I glassing for the big buck we saw back at the gate.
We didn't see the big buck from the gate, but almost immediately we spotted another bachelor group of buck with at least three shooters among them and decided to make a move to cut them off.
We got to the spot we wanted to get to but we weren’t close enough of a shot. I think we were with 72 yards, but couldn’t get closer without spooking the bucks. We backed out and tried to get in front of them again.
Somewhere along the way they must have gotten ahead of us and we ended up spooking them. This trip was going to be awesome. Only the first hour and multiple shooters spotted.
We glassed the rest of the morning gathering information for later in the hunt. Then we ate lunch and decided to head back to the main lodge to hunt behind the ranch house.
This was a typical lunch for us out on the range. Sandwiches.
We hadn’t glassed for 20 minutes when Chad the guide says, “Bingo, I gotcha.” Chad spots a great big buck up on the mountain bedded down. The plan is to get below the buck and wait for him to filter his way to alfalfa field below.
I believe he was bedded in the bare ground in the upper left hand side of this picture.
So we pack up or stuff and make the short mile or so hike to the bottom of the valley below the bedded buck. Chad hangs back a bit on a little knoll to have a better vantage point. He sends us forward maybe 300 yards to set up and wait. We set up where three or four ditches run together on the edge of some brush where we have a clear shot out in front of our position. It is a major natural funnel.
Before long we notice two nice bucks to the North. One bedded and one standing looking our direction. They act a little nervous. Had they watched sneak into our hiding spot? Probably so, judging by their reactions. Neither look to be shooters.
We sit and wait for a few hours and finally the big buck stands and starts to walk our direction. This is the biggest mule deer of the entire trip. He is a wide 7x5 with character. He looks to be at least 29 inches wide and could score very well. Unfortunately, he is out of velvet. Like it matters on a buck like this, but I thought I would at least point it out. I know with photo is really bad and does no justice to this buck, but I think he would gross in the 180-190's.
As the buck feeds past us at 56 yards, I seriously contemplate at shot. I feel very comfortable out to 60 yards, but wind is just too much for me to take a shot.
As this huge buck is feeding inside my effective range, I catch movement off to our left. A previously unseen buck makes his way right through the middle of the opening. I would guess this buck to be 140 inches and in full velvet…good enough for me.
I anticipate where he will end up and take a couple of measurements with my rangefinder. I range some yellow flowers at 24 yards. Piece of cake.
The yellow flowers are 24 yards, but the buck stands there facing me. He doesn't see us. Could my first day of my first mule deer hunt be going any better?
Come on Korey, I got to know how this turns out.
Sorry, ElStone, this may take a while. I have to leave tomorrow for work. I won't be back until Friday at the earliest. Whatever I don't get done today will have to wait.
Unfortunately, this doe comes out of the island of brush we are sitting in and walks toward the buck. It didn’t take her long to realize something was wrong. She spotted us hiding and didn’t like it. She is on edge big time.
The doe flinches just a bit causing the buck to turn broadside so I see my chance and pull back my bow and settle the pin.
As my bow goes off, the buck whirls and heads back in the direction of the other big buck. I am very thankful that the arrow didn’t hit anything on the deer. Had he stayed still the hunt would have been over on the first night, but that wasn’t the case. So close!!!
In this picture, I've circled the arrow in flight. Right at first after the shot, I was afraid that I may have hit him in the leg, but upon reviewing the video was relieved to see a clean miss.
The next morning we got up a little earlier, ate breakfast a little quicker and drove a little faster to our go-to ranch 40 minutes away. We again hid the truck and went to our glassing spot when it was still a bit dark out. We glassed as the sun came up.
Getting in early paid off as we watched a parade of bucks enter a cut in the side of a canyon. From our glassing vantage point we probably watched the bucks walk for a mile or so, from the alfalfa field in the bottoms to the shaded cut where they decided to bed. This was a big change from the whitetail hunting back home.
One of the bucks in the group is a toad. He was high 180’s all day and very likely went into the low 190’s. I would guess he was the second biggest buck of the trip. Sorry no pictures from this stalk.
They all bedded close together and there were at least 3 shooters in the group. The big guy bedded closest to the base of the knoll we were planning to pop up over for the shot and was going to be inside of 25 yards. We marked the spot mentally and drove around to the other side of the big valley to reorient ourselves.
The spot they picked to bed was easy to find. We made our decent off of the valley/canyon wall and slowly crept towards the top of the knoll to peek over.
Looking back now, it is easy to see the mistakes that were made throughout this hunt. This is a glaring one that still hurts. Instead of slowly peaking over the hill to survey the situation carefully, we agreed to all crest the hill at the same time in one fluid motion. Chad the guide would run the rangefinder and call out a range, Ryan would run the camera, and I would run the bow. Things couldn’t have gone much worse. And to rub salt in the wound, in hindsight, slowly peeking over would have likely worked.
So when we crested the hill, the bucks had moved away from the base of the hill. In the harsh contrasting light, Chad and Ryan were having trouble picking up the bucks. I have my bow drawn and ask Chad how far…like 3 or 4 times. He finally says 80 yards. I retort, “these right here!” They couldn’t have been 50 yards. Why would he be saying 80 yards? So without a range I decide not to risk a shot and they spook and run away. I ask Chad why he didn’t give me a range. He said, “My battery died!” I take out my rangefinder and measure to the spot the bucks were standing and come up with 45-50 yards. Chad apologizes for his mistake and we get kick out of the whole deal. I was disappointed to miss out on opportunity a such a great buck, but once I saw the footage that Ryan captured I was sort of glad we didn’t capitalize. The video was basically nonexistent. He popped up over the hill as the buck took off. What a mess! We are going to have to do something different.
So after the bucks busted off, we went back to our original glassing point on the other side of the valley to check if another solo buck we had glassed earlier was bedded yet. Lucky for us he had. He wasn’t a huge buck, maybe only 22 inches wide, but he was super tall and a shooter for me even on my second morning.
Again, we marked the spot where the buck was bedded and circled around to get above him and work down and shoot him in his bed. Ryan’s on camera and we work closer together. We got within shooting range of the tree and I could see parts of the deer sticking out of the shade. This was so exciting! Could this really be about to happen?
Then the deer stands up and jolts its head back in our direction in horror. What happened to its rack? I was utterly shocked at first, then I realized we had stalked the wrong tree. We had gotten inside of 20 yards on a bedded mule deer doe. How exciting!
Two stalks in one morning…I was completely satisfied with the way this hunt was unfolding. Deer everywhere, multiple shooter every day and beautiful scenery. We took a lunch and moved to another part of the huge ranch with some steep cuts and ravines where we could see forever. We watched some whitetails in the bottom below. We also watched a group of coyotes howl and sing the night away. Very cool stuff. I had to pinch myself to know I wasn’t dreaming. The view was unreal!
No shooters this evening until right at last light when we were walking back to the truck. We were out of camera light and nearly out of legal shooting light and he was over a mile from the feeding fields. Given the slow movement last night and this night, we are trying to make the best out of our morning hunts.
Another view near where we parked the truck! Yellowstone River in the background.
More to come on Friday when I return from work...that is if anyone is following this????
Yes! Nicely done Korey! Keep it coming!!!!
Mark
Awesome!
Heck with work, keep it coming.
Great work so far Korey! Keep it coming!
That night Tracy’s mom fixed the best pork chops I had ever eaten. They were also the thinnest pork chops I had ever seen. Also with supper was a very unique dessert dish with whole grain wheat mixed in with a pudding of some sort.
We grow wheat on the farm back home in Missouri and I never heard of such a dessert. I never figured out if this was a local specialty or what the deal was. Have any of you heard of a dessert with wheat cornels in it?
Tracy’s mother has cooked meals for hundreds of hunter over the years and I’m not sure if any of them could remember her name. We were all told to call her Mom and that seemed to suit her just fine.
She certainly was a tough woman and a great cook.
In hindsight, I wish I had taken a picture of every meal, but didn't.
I couldn’t wait for our third morning of hunting. The mornings had been so much more exciting with multiple shooters to stalk every morning.
When I think of early season hunting back home, we always skip the morning hunts because the evenings are more productive, but it is just the opposite with this mule deer trip. I’m not sure if this is common or not, but I couldn’t wait for our morning hunt. Falling asleep would again be a chore given the excitement of the morning hunts.
Here is another picture of the bunk house. This is the living room.
The third morning of our hunt started out similar to the second; an early wake up call and a big breakfast at the ranch house. With some well wishes from Mom and Tracy we headed out for our 40 minute drive. This day seemed different. Could this be the day we connect on a big Montana Mule Deer! I could feel it in the air.
The wind was different today, so we decided to drive up the other side of the canyon and glass from that side (the East side) to keep the deer from smelling us. We arrive early to our glassing lookout and set up the camera and spotting scope.
As it gets light, we see deer coming up out of the feed fields in the bottoms below. As the light improves and the deer get closer we see what we need to see…antlers! Big antlers! And several of them!
One buck appears to have red antlers. Then we realize he has some of his velvet still hanging from his bases. Very cool to see!
He was a shooter to me even though he was a narrow 2x3. He was huge in body size and had great mass. A deer I would be happy to pursue. He was likely passed his prime and a unique trophy.
Big Red would have been the deer to stalk that morning if there hadn’t been other bigger bucks in more stalkable positions. One buck was a true trophy and was in the best position for a stalk. We just needed him to stay put while we attempted a stalk. This was so exciting!
Here is a picture of Mr. Big right as he is bedding down; hopefully for the rest of the day.
The buck beds under a shade tree and we decide to wait a bit to make sure he stays put. While we waited, the other bucks that were with Mr. Big, bedded near his location and seemed content in the shade of these spindly little desert trees.
This seemed like a great set up and we didn’t want to mess this up, so we continued to wait to make sure the deer would stay put. Would this be my buck?
I'm not sure what he would score, but maybe we will know in a bit?
Keep it coming Korey. It's getting good.
Looks like a giant. And? LOL
As we sat and waited, Big Red got up out of his bed and vacated the area. It seemed like something was wrong, but we couldn’t be sure. Then sure enough buck after buck got up out of their bed and left the bedding area.
All the bucks except Mr. Big! This was working out pretty good for us; only one set of ears, one set of eyes and one nose to deal with. Every single one of the bucks that left all used the exact same trail to leave the canyon. They all used a land bridge where the creek made a sharp bend. This land bridge was only 40 yards wide or less, so it was an option to set up there and wait.
Ryan actually thought this was going to be my best option, but I wanted to stalk this giant in his bed.
After determining that the buck was going to stay put, we made the decision that Ryan would stay back and film the stalk with the doubler on the camera from the new lookout.
He would also be responsible for any hand signals to let us know if the buck was still there or moved slightly.
Chad and I descend the canyon wall, determined to make this stalk count. We make it across the sage flat in the bottom by crawling on our hands and knees.
Then we drop into the creek bank with all the trees where the buck is bedded. We are within 100 yards with a good wind direction, but it is very light.
A quick check with Ryan lets us know that all is good.
This is where the stalk gets a little interesting. I remove my boots to make sure that I don’t make a sound as I sneak closer, but my pants are making noise as they brush up against the dry plants. So I decide that I’m going to roll them up so that I can just let the calf-high brush rub up against my legs, but it’s not working, they won’t stay rolled up. So off come the pants. That’s better, much quieter. Nothing is going to stand in the way of getting to this buck. Obviously, no one wants to see pictures of this.
I make it another 20 yards and hear Chad call out, “You can put your pants back on, Ryan is calling off the stalk.”
Shoot! I didn’t even hear him leave. What went wrong? I’m very frustrated at this point.
We get back up to Ryan’s lookout and find out that as I approached the buck, he stood, looked back and walked out of the trees and out of the canyon. I guess there wasn’t enough wind to cover our approach. Bummer, this was a great opportunity to squander.
To rub salt in my wounds, Ryan points out that the buck left the canyon using the exact same trail as the other bucks. We learn from our mistake and make a mental note of this “whitetail like” behavior.
Again, I think this buck was in the 180's. Any guesses on score? I honestly haven't got a clue, I was just leading you guys on earlier.
When we get back to the truck we decide to try another nearby ranch to see if we can find some more bucks that haven’t been pressured so much. On our way out of the ranch we spot something in the road that we have been hoping to avoid this entire trip.
I actually wasn’t aware that I was going to be hunting in rattlesnake country until I arrived at camp. Not something I want to come face to face with during a stalk. Tracy had grown up around these guys and has some chilling stories to tell.
A little further down the road and we spot something else that I had no idea I was going to have an opportunity to see when I booked this hunt. A big horn sheep! It was a ewe with a collar, but still!
What a shock to see this girl on a cliff near the road. We did get some video of the ewe, but no still pictures.
Unfortunately, the footage ended up on the cutting room floor and didn’t make the episode.
We spend the rest of the evening glassing the new ranch, but we didn’t see any more bucks.
Evenings are slow. The way I was looking at the hunt at this point, was that I had 3 more morning hunts to make something happen.
Morning four of this hunt was very similar the rest; however, pressure was starting to mount. After well wishes from Mom and Tracy we headed to Chad’s Suburban and took our 40 minute drive passed the Yellowstone River. We opened the gate and took the trail that lead to the Eastern side of the canyon to glass.
We spot several shooter bucks that are headed to the little knoll where we had the unsuccessful stalk on the giant on morning number two and decide to get to a pinch point and wait for them to pass within range.
The wind was marginal for this approach, but with the morning thermals causing our scent to rise it was worth the risk. To this point the only buck I had a chance to get a shot at was when Ryan and I set up and the let the bucks come to us. Although waiting for the bucks to bed and trying to stalk them is more fun, it just hasn’t worked up to this point in the hunt.
When the bucks got to about 175-200 yards way, it was obvious that they hit our scent stream. They left the canyon. We tried to find and other buck to bed down that morning, but didn’t have any luck. It feels like we wasted a good morning.
Midday we drive to the back of the ranch we have been spending so much time on and actually spot a little buck bedded alone. Interestingly enough, after glassing for quite some time, he really is alone and we drive one to find other deer.
Instead, we find a group of ranch hands rounding up some cattle at the beginning of a cattle drive. Pretty neat stuff for me since the only cattle drives I’ve been a part of is when we move our cattle across the county road on the farm.
That evening, we move to another ranch and set up the spotting scope to try to find another group of bucks to make a move on.
The weather was really starting to change this evening and starting to get colder. Maybe the bucks would be moving?
Here we are bundled up.
Ryan and Chad.
Chad's been guiding a while and knows that the reclining position is most comfortable for long glassing sessions!
The evening isn’t terribly productive, but we do end up spotting some deer right at last light. I think we ended up seeing 13 deer from this spot not a one was a shooter. They didn’t move until almost dark and it just drives home the fact the evenings are good for filming sunsets and exercising your eyes, but not so good for seeing deer.
Two mornings left! Crunch time is closing in!
Sorry this has taken such a long time to write. I didn't realize how much work this was when I took it on. I will try to get a little more written up and posted this afternoon.
Stay tuned, it will be worth it.
Thanks for sharing korey. I'm heading out in 3 weeks so getting me fired up! Justin Kamps
Keep it coming. A little suspense is alright. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.
Enjoying it greatly Korey! Thanks for sharing!
Great thread. Keep it coming...
Thanks for the patience; today will be another installment.
So the fifth morning is upon us and we wake to some very cool temperatures and crystal clear skies. The stars before breakfast were truly a blessing and a real treat.
After our morning meal we head to our ranch, open the gate and drive to the top of the west side of the canyon.
Again we get set up for the morning mule deer commute in the dark and wait for the bucks we have seen all of the last four mornings with high hopes of making this one count.
As we sit, I can’t help but think about all the great opportunities I’ve had to connect with some huge bucks on this trip and that I’m learning something with every stalk and encounter.
Unfortunately, today would bring a lesson of a different kind.
We sit for several hours and where there had been a parade of bucks all the mornings prior we spot nothing. All the pressure from our failed attempts earlier in the hunt have been too much for the bucks to tolerate.
Multiple bucks and multiple opportunities every single day thus far this trip, and now this?
This is a lesson I didn’t want to have to learn, but in hindsight this might be the best lesson of all.
Golden opportunities have to be capitalized on.
We spend the day in the area of the ranch trying to locate a bedded buck.
We look at all of Chad’s secret spots on this and the surrounding ranches, but turn up nothing.
Here is a view of one of Chad’s spots.
Frustration starts to set in.
The hunt was better than I could have every imagined and I was getting spoiled, then reality sets in.
This is hunting.
Since mornings are so much better than the evenings I figured we would do like we did the night before, check out a new ranch and glass until dark to find a good buck for the final morning’s hunt.
Chad had other plans.
Like all good guide do, Chad was staying positive and helped keep our spirits high. He knew we could make something happen this evening if we were in the right spot.
The spot for our evening hunt was going to be back at the main ranch; the same area where I missed that buck the first night.
I wasn’t really expecting much out of this spot or this evening.
We drove to the back of the ranch near Blue Mountain where I had missed the buck on the first evening, but we went further North towards the property line to have a look up there. At first, I was right, there wasn’t much going on.
Here is a view in the area we are hunting.
So we sat and glassed for hours looking for anything to tip us that a deer was in the area, but we saw nothing.
I was glassing to the east and Ryan and Chad were looking north. We were sitting 15 or 20 yards apart.
Great write up....keep it coming!
Then all of the sudden Chad says, “Elk!” I was snapped back from my daze. “Did you see it?” Chad asks. But I was facing the wrong direction.
Ryan and Chad both got to see this young bull, but I just missed seeing him before he went over the hill. Chad says, “Let’s go see him.” I was game; in fact, I was really excited just to move from our spot to see a little different country. This area was not known for holding elk so this was going to be a treat.
We had to move maybe 300 yards head to look over the rise where the bull disappeared in order to get a look at him. Sure enough as soon as Chad raises up to have a look over the hill he immediately drops to the ground. I think, “Great he’s there and I will get to see my first elk in the wild.”
Nope, instead Chad spots several bedded mule deer. Upon further investigation, we determine that they are a bachelor group of five bucks with at least 3 being shooters.
We watch the deer for only a few minutes and try to come up with a plan to shoot one tonight. They aren’t really moving much, but the biggest one does get up to browse on some brush. Then he beds back down.
One option is to get between them and the alfalfa below and wait for them to move passed us; Chad says this is a good option for our situation. But there is only an hour to hunt before dark and they just aren’t moving.
They have been moving so slowly in the evenings that I just don’t want to wait for them…they look too comfortable.
I forget to mention this earlier, but the wind is also howling at 40 mph and I think that is also contributing to the fact that they aren’t wanting to move.
Another option is to stalk them in their beds. Heck the wind is blowing like crazy, wouldn’t this work?
It might, but the brush they are bedded in is likely taller than it looks from where we are at. Plus we don’t want to rush a stalk with night approaching.
So, plan B is also out.
One hundred or so yard behind the bucks is a saddle or dip in the hill and there looks to be a faint trail going right through the center of it.
Plan C starts to materialize. Earlier in the hunt we learned that all the bucks typically use the same trail when exiting an area and we were hoping to use that info to our advantage this evening. Ryan and I agreed that we could make it back to the trail in less than 45 minutes and we would still have light enough to shoot. Chad would wait for our signal and then skyline and bump the bucks from their beds and we hoped they would use the trail through the saddle that we were sitting on to vacate the area.
This was Ryan and I’s plan and I could tell from Chad reaction that he didn’t think it would work, but was more than willing to give it a try.
Ryan and I booked it down the hill and circled to get to the saddle without being seen by the group of bucks. As we were approaching the saddle (maybe 150 yards from our destination) we are stopped in our tracks.
Two big bucks are standing there looking at us. For a minute I thought we were too late and we had messed up, but I noticed that one of the bucks was out of velvet and couldn’t have been the bucks we were after since they were all still in velvet.
So against our better judgment we pushed forward spooking the two big bucks away as we knew we had a good opportunity ahead and we needed to get there fast for this to work.
We get to our spot and try to blend in with some sagebrush. Ryan sets up a few feet behind me and starts to film. We are only 25 yards from the main trail in the center of the saddle everything looks good.
The wind is really whipping through the saddle and I know I will have to account for it with my aim point, but here in the saddle it is very difficult to determine the wind direction. Where we are, it is blowing left to right, and 20 yards ahead is it blowing right to left. It has to be something with this saddle making the wind finicky.
I take out my rangefinder and get a few measurements. I make sure Ryan is ready and wave to Chad to give him the signal. Then I clip my release on my loop and wait.
Here is a photo taken near our set up.
Several minutes go by and nothing. I unclip my release and set down my bow. I look through my binoculars and Chad is still laying there glassing. He is looking right at us and I give him the signal again. This time he waves back and stands up.
I later learn that he didn’t see the signal the first time since Ryan and I made such good time on our approach and he wasn’t looking for us yet.
As Chad stands to move the bucks our direction I grab my bow and re-hook my release.
Thirty seconds pass and I see the first velvet antlers bounding our direction. After the first, the rest follow. They are trotting in! It’s actually working! But how am I going to stop them?
It turns out that stopping them isn’t going to be an issue. The biggest buck just so happens to be the closest buck; this is a good thing, because I was going to shoot the closest decent buck and be completely happy with that logic. As I draw my bow, he spots us sitting there and stops at the sagebrush I had just ranged.
43 yards and angling ever so slightly in my direction. To compensate for the wind, I aim straight up the middle of his front legs and squeeze off the shot.
Well I think it's time for a break don't you?
You are plagiarizing Ridge Wraith...or at least went to the same writing school! Awesome story!
Excellent story Korey. Many of us all following along with great interest. Thanks for posting.
Great story - keep going!
WTH? I gave you an entire day to take "time for a break"....you didn't forget the ending did you?
Trust me guys, I would have much rather been inside telling a story today. I had some TSI to do today and the heat index was 103. But it has to get done before my elk hunt!!!
I can’t believe it, my shot is way off!
You can even see it in the video the wind is blowing 90 to nothing from left to right for the first 10 yards or so from our set up, but at the deer it was blowing 180 degrees the other direction.
Thank goodness I had a lot of luck on my side and I was able to hit the deer in a vital spot on the neck and severed the main arteries. Not a shot to be proud of, but when I saw the blood squirting out of the side of the neck, I know I had just taken my first mule deer. When I saw that blood coming out, I went nuts.
After a short series of jumping up and down, whoops and hollers and a touch of over celebration, we ran up to the hill to look over to see if we could see the buck go down or at least see which direction he was headed.
Five bucks had jumped the fence, but now only four bucks stood there looking at us as we crested the hill.
We had good blood right way, but it was hard to track in the sand and the dry earth soaked up the moisture. Because of the height of the hit and the high winds, there were spots where the blood trail was ten foot wide! It was easy to follow.
We start to lose blood and it is getting dark making trailing even more difficult. The buck was going way further than we ever thought he could, given the amount of blood he was losing.
This really sucks!
We have tracked over 200 yards. Should we turn back and look for him in the morning?
We decide that he has to be dead just up ahead so we continue on. We get out our lights and continue trailing.
We track another 100 yards or so and the deer makes a sharp turn. I shine my light around and sure enough I see velvet antlers sticking up above the sagebrush. He is dead!!! He wasn’t easy to track, but we did it.
After the celebrating, the work begins. I tell Chad that I know he usually guts his client’s deer for them, but he wouldn’t have to on this one. I was going to do the field dressing on my deer. He later lets me know that I’m his first client to ever gut his own deer.
After we get him dressed out, we take a few pictures.
Given the cool temperatures we decide to leave the buck overnight and come back and take more pictures and some video in the morning before we pack him out. Before we leave, we prop the buck open to help him cool completely.
When we get back to the lodge, Chad’s lab, Bella, can smell the “success” on our hands.
The next morning we head out in the fog to bone-out and haul the meat back to the cooler. The cool damp morning lets me know how lucky I’ve been with my footwear choice. Halfway to my buck through the dewy grass my hikers are soaked through. Good thing this is the last day.
When we get to the buck we do some interviews for the show and take some more pictures. Chad is a very experienced guide and I would recommend him for anyone looking for a hunt like this one. He worked really hard every day to get us on a buck.
Ryan is a good friend and I'm sure glad I was able to share the hunt with him.
Ryan also did a great job running the camera. I wish we had upgraded to HD prior to this hunt in order to get a higher quality video, but I am very tickled with the way the hunt turned out.
I will post a link at the end of the story and you can see for yourself.
One more before we cut him up.
I will mention that the buck didn’t look as good in the pictures the next day and I wish we had taken more, but that is just another lesson that I learned on this hunt.
We all help cut up the deer and have in the game bag in less than 30 minutes. Chad insists on packing out the heavy load giving the excuse that the back fits him better. I hesitate, but agree.
Later on, after driving 20 hours home, I see that letting Chad lug the buck to the truck was a good move.
When we get back to the ranch, Ryan bags up the meat into gallon bags and puts it in the cooler with ice. Chad finishes caping out the buck and saws the antlers from the skull. I set up the video camera and film the rest of the narration and interviews for the hunt. When we all finish, we pack up, say our good-byes, hand out the tips and hit the road.
Congrats! What a beautiful Mulie!
That pretty much wraps up the hunt. Thanks to everyone that followed along. To be honest, I’m a little sad the story is over as it was so much fun reliving the hunt and sharing the details with you…lots of work, but fun!
One of my favorite pictures from the trip!
That was great thanks. HUNT
When you watch the video of the hunt keep in mind that this is before we went to HD. Also, keep in mind that the editors can’t show everything, so the hunt I’ve described here on Bowsite is really the way it happened. Plus, in many instances we didn’t give them all the footage they needed to complete a segment, so they had to make due with what they had to work with. It’s really interesting to look back at this video to see how far our videos have come in only 4 years.
Thanks for the story!
Where in East MT were you? Public or private? Block Mgmt?
Great story! Congrats on a dandy mule deer. Thanks much for sharing it with us.
Look forward to seeing more.
Great job, thanks for taking the time to share all of it.
