I was supposed to go to BC on an archery elk hunt. Permit was approved, and plans were in place, but forest fires had my unit all but locked down just a week before the season. My BC buddies decided to change plans and quickly planned a northern fly-in sheep hunt. This left me with the first two weeks of September off and no plans. We are pretty fortunate in Saskatchewan- with the opportunities we have - especially for bowhunters. Archery mule deer is an otc tag for us, so Plan B was pretty good - a solo mule deer hunt in southern Saskatchewan. 5 hour drive from home. Let’s go!!
The way I bowhunt there is to glass first thing in the morning and try to see where a good one beds down - then stalk in mid-day when the winds pick up. I am batting about .500 on putting a decent buck to bed - but haven’t been able to seal the deal just yet. Several blown stalks and a couple shots that I’d like to leave off my resume - that’s all I’ve got to show. In the evenings, I’ll sit in ground blinds set up near alfalfa. Day one I tiptoed out to my usual glassing point at first light. After about an hour of nothing exciting, I saw a decent buck jump the fence below me. He was in the next draw over, maybe 200 yards away. I immediately dropped down behind the ridge between us and cut the distance in half. Carefully, I peeked over the edge looking for antler tips, picking the scrubby bush apart with my binos as I slowly advanced. Then, to my left, I saw a second deer. This one was big - and he already had me pegged. Rookie mistake. In super slo-mo, I ducked down, hoping he would give me a pass after a few minutes. I waited 10-15 minutes before carefully peeking again, but no deer. They had both vanished. An hour into the hunt and I had already blown out the biggest deer I’ve seen in 3 years on that property. Super.
I am sure that I have history with this deer. 2 years ago, sitting near the same spot, I was glassing on the last morning of the hunt. By 10am or so, I decided to pack up and head for home, but took a quick peek over the backside of the hill. There, bedded in the wide open, was a nice buck - not very wide, but tall, kinda stickhorned with nice deep forks. I got as close as I could with only the hill to use as cover. My rangefinder said 70m - I adjusted my sight, settled on his chest and touched off the downhill shot. The arrow sailed just over his back, making a perfect kill on a chokecherry bush below him. He had no idea what had happened - but not liking the sound of the arrow crashing in to the bush, he got up and trotted away. Santa got me an angle compensating rangefinder for Christmas that year … the one positive out of that story. Fairly sure that buck was a two years younger version of the deer I saw last Sunday.
The evening of day one was uneventful … mule deer does and fawns all over the hayfield, but not a buck to be seen.
The mission for Day 2 is obvious - relocate the big 5pt.
I am fairly new to spot and stalk mule deer hunting. What I lack in experience I make up for in clumsiness and impatience. :) Started my search first thing in the am … the dry grass crunched so loud underfoot - I was seeing deer running far out in front of me. It seemed impossible that I was spooking them at that distance, but apparently so. After a few hours of this, I decided this might be a better day for fishing. After a quick bit of breakfast, the landowner and I walked in to a nearby creek. I couldn’t get one to take a fly, but Phil hooked one on a small spoon. 18” brown trout!! Hard to believe that a creek just a few feet wide would hold trout like that, but it does. Should have taken a picture, but my phone was charging back at camp. Beautiful fish. After a nap back at camp, I decided to sit in my ‘harrows blind’ for the evening. It is a set of folded up harrows that I’ve hung some camo netting on. The wind was supposed to be from the nw in the evening, and the deer come to this alfalfa from the south. Perfect.
As the sun hit the horizon, deer began to pop up on the hillsides surrounding me. A few does and fawns filtered by, just outside of bow range. Then a small buck appeared to the south of me - he was on a course that should bring him close …
I decided that shot opportunities being so hard to come by, I would take this shot if he offered. The buck stopped about 50 yards out, motionless - staring out on to the hayfield for signs of danger. After what had to be 15 minutes, the buck continued up the worn cattle track, closing in on me. Just as the deer got to 10 yards a bird landed on the harrows above my head. The deer stopped and stood - staring my way. Not that it was the time for any movement anyway, but I had no shot - the buck had to take a few more steps before entering my shooting window. Right then I felt a light puff of wind on the back of my neck - it took a couple seconds for the smell of gotch gravy to make it to the deer, but when it did, he took off like his tail was on fire. He disappeared up the draw, stopping to blow as he went. I heard other deer chiming in as well - blowing even though they had no idea what they were blowing about.
As I was walking out, I quickly rationalized that this must have happened for a reason - and bigger/better things would come as a result. (fyi - this is called foreshadowing).
During the off-season I decided to build a lighter arrow for this spot and stalk hunting. I love my 600g w/fixed blade for treestand hunting around home. Known 20 yard shots, and pass thru every time. However, I can see the advantage of a flatter arrow for these longer, open country shots. Also, despite being opposed to mechanical heads, I can’t deny there are some guys with impressive resumes that use them religiously. So - in the spirit of keeping an open mind … I built a 450g arrow tipped with a 100g Sevr150. My goal was to leave the bow exactly as it is - tuned for my 600g arrow. I adopted a Ranch Fairy approach on the light arrow, trying different tip weights until I found the one that flew the best. This arrow like 100g the best, so that’s what is on there. All I have to do when I switch arrows is to pop off my yardage wheel and put on the other one. I made sure to practice at home whenever the wind was blowing hard - the amount of wind drift is noticeably less than with my 600g.
On my way back to the camper, I popped in on the landowner for a visit. He said that just before dark, on the way home from the neighbours, they had seen the typical 5pt. He was still with his buddy and on the same hillside where I had seen them the day before. I checked the wind, and it was going to be from the se in the am - good for sneaking in on his hideout….
The 3D deer is at my preferred distance.
The far bag target is at a muley’s preferred distance. :)
After a bit of breakfast, I tried to have a nap, but couldn’t nod off. Did the WORDLE and a few other puzzles, forcing myself to wait until 2pm when the wind was supposed to peak.
I have only been on one Mule deer rifle hunt and shot a small one, but man hunting them gets in your blood.
Quartering too is a very deadly shot
Congrats on the plan and execution of the hunt. I wouldn’t want you after me :>)))
