S/D Mule deer hunt… abridged version
Mule Deer
20 yards from a couple little ones…
Plzz don’t turn
20 yards from a couple little ones…
Plzz don’t turn
Plzz don’t turn… seems to work
Plzz don’t turn… seems to work
I was hunting and hour north of Rapid city in Belle Fourche with Crago outfitters. The first couple days of the hunt were slow.. finding shooter bucks was tough.
I did take the opportunity to sneak up on a few that I didn’t intend on shooting just for still hunting practice….
Here are a couple of bucks we got 18 yards on…
A day and 1/2 into the hunt I ended up with a urinary tract infection and a stomach virus… Not fun constantly having to relieve myself.
A few days in the bigger bucks started showing themselves.
On the third morning after sneaking in on a couple smaller bucks we spotted hoping he was with bigger bucks we couldn’t see ( he was alone) the truck broke down…
The other guide and his hunter came to pick us up while driving back to camp we spotted 5 bucks 4 good ones in the group.
Long story short the bucks bedded in 2 different groups 60 yards apart.
The 4 of us slipped into the middle of them using the creek bottom.
3 bucks bedded on Sage flat 2 were bedded in the creek with us… we were able to get within 35 yards of each group…
The other hunter was gonna crawl up 10 yards closer to the 3 bucks and hopefully get a shot at the bigger of the 3 bedded together as I stood 30 yards from the other two bedded around a slight bend in the creek. I could just see the tops of their antlers… A wind shift cause “ my” bucks to bust out taking the other 3 with them.
The other hunter started bitching and moaning that we never should have done this together..I was like are you nuts?
We just spent 20 minutes within spitting distance of 5 wild deer and possibly could have killed two of them… if you don’t think that’s fun you shouldn’t be hunting
Stay straight
Stay straight
Mid day on day 4 I believe we spot two good whitetail bedded within 100 yards of this water hole not in a good spot for a stalk so we set up on the water expecting them to drink ( 88 degrees)
We use a creek bottom to slip into the water tank…
We build a makeshift brush blind and start waiting…
After a few hours the guide ( amazing eyes) spots the bucks 600 yards away with his naked eye on the hill way out in the distance.. They must have gotten up as we were out of view…
Stay
Stay
SOAB
SOAB
We packed up and headed to the other side of the ranch to find a good buck.
We would have to stop often so I could pee… on one of the pee stops the guide (Trey) spots a great buck down below 500 yards away… thank god I had to pee because he wasn’t visible when we were driving by…
He has amazing eyes when they are open.
Un f ing believable with the pics… lol
Plzz don’t turn
Plzz don’t turn
Plzz don’t turn..
Plzz don’t turn..
The bucks never gets to a place to get in on him so we watch him till dark and decide to come back before daylight and watch where he beds…
Next morning we are sitting right there .. an hour after daylight we still haven’t spotted him… Trey decides we’ll go elsewhere and glass… I had to pee again before we left as I’m peeing ( which took several minutes because of infection) the buck steps out
sounds like a pisser of a buck !
Plzz don’t turn
Plzz don’t turn
We sit on a hill 200 yards above the dried creek in the general area we last seen the buck.
Not exactly sure where they bedded we decided to slip in the dry creek bottom and still hunt slowly glassing as we snuck along…we dropped in at the X and started
I had to stop and pee 4/5 times in the first 100 or so yards ….each time Trey would keep walking.. finally I grabbed him and said stay here , you can’t be 8 yards ahead of me… If it happens it’s gonna be fast and close.
Every time we would get to a blind corner we would spend a few minutes glassing as far as we could around the corner.. most times it wasn’t far due to brush and angles…
As we closed in on the bend near the red dot Trey stepped up on a mound of dirt to get a better view… Nothing
Quietly he stepped down … we are on red alert … the grass is high and there’s lots of structure for a deer to hide..
we are using hand signals and whispering into each other’s ear to communicate…
We take just two more steps forward toward the bend when both bucks jump up 15 yards away.. we never saw them and they never saw us… they just heard the creek rocks clicking… before they bailed from the creek I had an arrow nocked.
They stopped on the Sage flat just trying to find what spooked them I’m sure they thought it was a raccoon or coyote…
I asked Trey the range.. good for him knowing his first range was wrong ( 25 yards) so he found an opening in the grass at the bucks head 2 x the rangefinder read 45 yards… I drew back and slowly rose from the weeds…
Plzz don’t turn
Plzz don’t turn
That’s awesome, Mark! Congratulations on a fine mule deer.
Hammertime ‘!! Bowsite is back . Thanks Shug
Great hunt Mark! Congrats!
Fun stuff Mark. Nice way to spend an afternoon.
Congrats! Thanks for sharing!
Congrats on your success, Mark! Nice buck.
Hopefully, you get your bladder malady resolved. In the meantime, might be a good time to put in a bunch of mock scrapes….
Nice buck! Congratulations!!
Great hunt! Great buck! Thanks man! Having a good year!
congrats on a great start to the yr
Way to go Mark!!! Keeping it positive as usual. Had to endure some stuff to get that one, good on you! Mulies are such fun to hunt. Wish there were some more accessible to us here.
Having a great season Mark! Awesome.
Thought I’d check in to see if we still had bowbook instead of bowsite. Glad to see bowsite again.
Congrats on a great hunt. I love it.
Wow, just pissing around sure paid off!! Congrats on a beauty Fuzzy Buck!
Helluva buck, nice work!
Great Season you have had so far, thanks for sharing.
Great Buck! Congrats! I Love it when a plan comes together.
Good job Mark!!! U da man. Great fall stacking up for you.
Beautiful buck! Thanks for sharing this one too!
Awesome deer and hunt! My bladder was giving me fits on my elk hunt last month. Something still isn't right. Finally getting in to see a doctor tomorrow....only took a month to get in.
Nice buck Shug, gonna save the velvet or not ?
It’s awesome when it comes together! Good job making your shot count!
Thanks guys… dry creek yes velvet is staying on…
From: drycreek 18-Oct-21Private Reply Nice buck Shug, gonna save the velvet or not ?
Way cool buck, Mark! You're a killer...congrats!
Congrats, Mark! I’ve hunted twice with the Cragos - Tanya, Colby, and the girls are great hosts. Such a cool area of the country and some of the funnest terrain to hunt deer in. Trey was my guide as well last time I was there and I had a great time hunting with him. While you see a lot of deer, it isn’t the easiest to kill one given the lack of cover at times and all the other eyes and ears that are typically around as well! That is a dandy buck for their area. Congrats again on getting it done!
Way to go SHUG! Nice buck...glad you kept after it while not feeling well. I ALWAYS carry a script of CIPRO on any trip of any kind "just in case". I'd highly recommend you get one from your doc and keep it with you. It is broad spectrum and can be helpful for many types of infections. It likely saved my life once in East Africa when I had a diverticulitis attack waaaaay into the bush.
Cool buck, Mark. Congrats!
Somebody get Mark some more tags!
