A busy fall with life stuff and guiding has kept HC and i from getting out on a hunt for ourselves this season.. So a last minute plan was hatched with the influence of fresh snow to get us out on a proven location for muleys.. We have hunted this area over the years with the bar set high leaving the region 8 un-notched on that tag.. Never the less we have always seen great deer just not "THE" deer we've been looking for.. Having only the day to hunt we were going in looking for meat so headed in with the bar lowered lol...
Venturing in doubled on the quad and in snow with huge excitment for what may lay ahead we were spotting deer with next to no daylight between the snow swells... evntually we spotted a couple of bucks noting huge but a great start to the day..
Arriving at our pack point we shed some gear and headed in with the packs to the glassing point in a long hidden basin.. once there we were still not seeing good due to the snow swells and were unable do so for about an hour.. but then just as it lifted a bit the hill came alive! there were about 15 deer in different spots all the way down and in the bottom i glassed up a heavy set of horns chasing a doe! Setting up the spotter revealed a descent shooter.. we beded this buck and contimplated the stalk and who was going to b the shooter.....!? so we were gonna flip for it but there was no change in our pockets lol.. so all i came up with was a lighter and chapstick. I put them 1 in each hand behind my back and said pick one! the chapstick will be the shooter. J picked and came up with the chapstick.. K well lets go!! downth ridge we went and about an hour later aftyer bumping a handful of deer and a descent 3x3 had us in position to where we thought the deer was beded.. belly crawling to the edge revealed the group and the buck 170 yrds away.. j set up and waited.. too many branches in the way! 15 mins go by and the buck finally stands up one shot from the 270 wsm and down he goes!
After some field photos, caping and boning out the entire carcass we had lunch planning our attck for the way back hoping to go 2 for 2.. hunting the way out we seen a pile more deer no shooters and eventually grunted the the last bit back to the quad only to get there by 5pm..
Knowing we had spotted 2 descent bucks on the way in we planned on going to look for them in the last hour of light.. While gearing up i looked across the draw to the opposite timberline and thought i had spotted a deer, having my nocs off J glassed and said 'no deer'. Ohwell.. I looked up again and thought there it was again and he said where abouts? he said nope! frick! then i hear theres a four!!! Im like where? Right there.. Shit i knew it! off i go.. making the stalk across the open cut trying to close the near km distance before dark and without being spotted. Using some dead snags dropping into the draw i keep glassing his where abouts as to cut him off as hes on the move working his way along only to get pegged!! so standing still which seemed like eternity... eventually he went back to business and beating trees.. as he did this a path was picked to where i could close the gap.. Once in position its almost dark and i don t see him so i radio up my spotter and he says hes right there! so im like its now or never and bust out and b line to where i think he is! then out of the x-mas trees there he is broadside at 250.. i lay out prone up hill at the bank and touch one of from the 300 and watch him bounce off a tree and the rest is history...
Here we r going out heavy lol.. Eventually after wearing threw the hide after running outta snow we ended up making 2 trips and finally getting to the truck @9:15
Nothing like a great hunt with a great friend!! not too bad for a couple of meat bucks eh...
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