My mule deer drought is finally at an end. After four years of close encounters but just not being able to pull the trigger a really nice 5x3 found his way into my scope. This past Saturday was a snow day so in other words perfect for being up on a mountain searching for a mature mule deer buck. After leaving the truck just shortly before daylight I knew I was in the right spot when I spotted 4 does within 5 minutes. I spent the next 6 hours slowly making my way up the ridge skirting a cutblock watching groups of does, one small buck and a herd of elk feeding across the block. I watched at least a dozen or more does in small groups feeding and bedding all morning. It was the most animals I've seen in one outing all season(I think last winter was really hard on the animals, areas I used to see animals every time seemed to be deserted this year). The area is relatively new to me since a friend purchased a an acreage backing on to crown giving me access to the bottom edge of this block without having to drive into the area.
Around 1:30pm I decided to head back down to the truck by slowly making my way across the block into the wind giving me a chance to get a look at a lot of the area. Half an hour later I spot a doe, watch it for a while then there's another, a third appears out of some minor fold, followed by a fourth, doe number five shows up after scouring the immediate area closely. The sixth and seventh does seem to appear out of nowhere followed by a buck. There isn't much cover to cut the distance(400m+ steep uphill and no way to get prone or even sit) so despite really wanting to shoot I watched as they slowly fed across the hillside not really getting closer but not getting farther away. As soon as they disappeared into a small ravine I headed as quickly as I could up towards where I thought they might come out, I was wrong. As I'm picking apart the hillside where I thought they should be I just happen to glance up and to my right and there they are all grouped together staring down at me from a very steep section of the block approximately 180-200m away. I get set up on my shooting stick and wait for the buck to clear the does. They are all kind of milling around some feeding, others watching me, and the whole time the buck is sort of moving through the group but never stepping clear. This goes on for a while.
Finally he looks like he going to head up and clear the group, I'm on him as soon as he steps clear he's in trouble. Just as he almost steps into the clear he wheels around and heads down, a lot went through my head right about then 1) he's at a terrible angle for me to shoot 2) he's going to clear the group 3) he's going to disappear into the ravine below them in about 1/2 a second. I'm shooting steeply uphill at an animal quartering downhill very steeply it's like I'm shooting more at his back. Well I squeezed the trigger and watched him stagger before he was out of sight. The does seemed completely unconcerned as I made my way up and across to where I had seen the buck disappear. When I found him he wasn't quite done so I had to finish him. Really prefer one shot kills but I was just grateful that I was getting a chance to end my mule deer drought with such a beautiful animal. A big bodied 5x3, almost a 6x3 but the one sticker is only 3/4". Heavy antlers with a couple of them more blade shaped and a bit of palmation. It was a bit of work to get him off the mountain and into the woodshed at home. He's by far and away the biggest deer I've ever shot, the only thing that would have made it more perfect is if I'd got him on one of my backpacking trips. Mountain mule deer are my favourite animal to hunt. For this hunt I was using my 25-06rem shooting Federal Premium 115gr Nosler Partitions.
I took a few pictures but I've never been able to upload onto this site without using an outside website so I just don't bother.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by wideopenthrottle
