My First Muley

[Maglic]

I have been a member of Hunting BC for two years now and have enjoyed reading other members hunting stories or countless tips. This is all much appreciated. As it is priceless for new BC hunters like me I would like to thank HBC community by sharing a story about my first mule deer ever; During my first hunting trip of the 2019 season, on September 14th.

A few details about me first. I was blessed to grow up in the mountainous regions of Southeast Europe very similar to BC with mountains, lakes, canyons, alpine, and mountaineering and hunting since I was a kid. Most of my school breaks I spent at my grandfather’s farm in the mountains and listened to hunting stories, participating in wild boar and roe deer hunts. But, unfortunate events and civil unrest in the early nineties forced me to leave my old country and move to Canada. Since then, besides skiing and occasional fishing I had never found enough time for the outdoors and hunting.

That all changed though with the birth of my son in Canada, he started showing the same love for the outdoors, hunting, and firearms in his early teen years. I tried to stall his desire and promised him when he turned 18 he may start hunting. As time flies fast, 2018 came around and we took our PAL and CORE courses together and started hunting as of 2018 hunting season.

Our hunting trips took us to Hope, Boston Bar, Logan Lake, Merritt, Princeton and Rock Creek. All of the trips were great and a lot of bear and deer sightings, but not a single shooting chance. Ones I saw were mostly on private land and at the end of the season I was kind of worried, and maybe a little bit disappointed. At least I got a feeling of what to expect next year. We continued with preparations for the next season, kept visiting the gun range to gain confidence in our rifles and I kept reading this site for tips and other help. We hoped that 2019 season would be a better one and indeed we got lucky, we drew in the LEH for the Mule Doe draw in region 3 area. So, I was relieved that if I could not get a 4 point this season, we will probably have a good chance to fill at least one tag (And that doe is now in our freezer).

Finally once the 2019 season rolled around, I decided to visit one of my previous locations from 2018 as I had some experience there. I decided to go to a spot in region 3, about a three and a half hour drive from my home. My son could not join me this time, as he was busy with school and work on the weekends, so I decided to do a day trip alone from Langley. This location was chosen because it was where I saw a huge buck previous season during the rut and the picture attached is from December 01 of 2018 describing this area where I spend 1.5 hours on that day.

https://i.imgur.com/Ip59Chg.jpg

I could not believe that this deer was within a 150 yard area for that entire time and I did not see him! But, I could hear the sounds, like scrapes for a long time from spot 1 (Spent ~30 minutes); And during my two walks, 1 and 2. Then I stayed in spot 3 for another 45 minutes. Finally when I started hearing the crows I thought it may be just them and no deer at all, so I started moving more and less carefully as the temperature began to drop. At one moment I heard a loud noise nearby and turned to see what it was, I saw a male and female running on the ridge towards the top of the hill. I tried to shoulder my gun, but I hit a rock behind me with the barrel, giving the deer enough time to get beyond the tree line. Obviously my inexperience played a role, though I was sad to miss the opportunity, but also very excited to see a big buck.

[Maglic]

Sept. 14th
This trip, I woke up around 2:45 AM picked the coffee and was on HWY 1 by 3:15. There was hardly any traffic on the road and the weather was rainy until I passed Larson Hill on HWY 5, where it became cloudy and no rain with wet soil perfect for hunting. I came to the spot around 6:30 AM and quickly ate the sandwich I had packed, I grabbed a small backpack, rifle and headed to the area I saw the deer. As soon as I was able to get into the open area with cut block, I stopped and started looking. One of the basic tips I found on this site was to glass and go carefully over the terrain. Although I thought it may be overrated, since I did not spot a sign of life, I still pulled out my Bushnell bino and started glassing the spot where I saw the big buck a year ago. After a couple of seconds, some strange ‘Tree trunk’ took my attention as it was slightly lighter in colour then the others, so I focused on that ‘trunk’ and realized it was moving. Suddenly it looked more like the rear of a mule deer and after a few more seconds he moved, showing his broadside to me. Now I was angry at myself, as I did not have a range finder and could not tell the exact range, I thought to use my scout tricks with fingers, but when this great opportunity presented itself I did not want to waste it. I estimated at least 500-600 yards and was only confident up to 300 yards, as this was the range I tested myself at the range. I decided to not shoot it and attempt to get closer, so there I was helplessly looking at how the deer was disappearing at the same spot exactly a year ago.

If I made one mistake, I did not potentially want to make another one, someone wrote that mule deer do not travel that far; So I continued walking towards the top of the ridge, trying not to disturb him. The wind was blowing towards me and as I was approaching the top of the ridge, I came across fresh poop and bedding.

https://i.imgur.com/f40ytgL.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2Oct4ja.jpg

At the top I realized that from a small groove at the top of the ridge, it was surrounded by another cut block about 70 yards wide. On the other side of the cut was recent growth and hard to hunt. My impression was that there was a deer hiding there, and I believed he couldn’t see me. I decided to head back to my car and try other areas first, and hope that the deer would move to a more accessible area during that time.

After trying some areas and sleeping for a bit, I returned to the top of the ridge around 4:00 PM from the other side. As I was hoping to catch the deer on his way back to the ridge. This time the wind was to my back, but I was hoping that the deer was still far and this would allow me to reposition. Also I decided to leave one trail cam at the top as I was not thinking I will get another chance the same day.

https://i.imgur.com/B0DpcIy.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/IUfHyVH.jpg

After setting camera on, as I was moving and making my way over a fallen tree, I made a noise and heard from my side a loud sound.

[Maglic]

There to my right I saw a deer jump about 30 yards below me at the edge of the forest! I was very excited, and I quickly cycled my x-bolt and saw the deer about 70 yards downhill from me. I took aim at his neck as he was very close to me and could easily make that shot, so I pulled the trigger. What followed next was nothing, no loud sound or kick that my 270 WSM normally makes. I couldn’t believe it, my firearm never misfired at the range. But then I noticed that I never chambered my round properly, that in my rush I did not pull back the bolt all the way and left myself with no round to fire.

I quickly chambered a round and noticed he had gone under a small ridge on the neighboring hill, but he reappeared heading towards the top of that hill around 130 yards from me. As I was putting him in my crosshairs and all I could see was his rear, I did not want to miss my only chance and so I waited for a better shot. The buck finally moved his head slightly to the left uncovering his entire neck and head area, so with my crosshair roughly at 1 third from the top of his neck I fired. The rifle kicked back and the deer instantly disappeared from my view. I couldn’t understand what happened, how a buck could run the remaining 20 to 30 yards into the forest without be noticing him, and how I could not see anything on the ground either. So I made my way to the spot where the deer was last standing, regretting firing so early and not waiting for a better shot or not waiting to come another day.

https://i.imgur.com/f75Fxrq.jpg

I approached the spot from 20 yards away and I see this sight, the buck did not escape into the forest behind. It dropped instantly in the spot where I shot it, I assume the 270 WSM bullet I fired instantly killed the deer. As it was getting late, around 5:45 PM, I made a couple of quick pictures and started butchering.

https://i.imgur.com/3S3JNr0.jpg

First I cut neck to let him bleed, then carry on with a gutless method I had learned from google. I was experienced with butchering lambs before in a traditional way, so I was not entirely new to this kind of butchering. The only difference was the deer was considerably larger then anything I previously had butchered. Finally after two hours of hard work, all the meat was finally inside bags and all I had to do now was transport it to my car. With me all I had was a small day pack from Cabelas, which I had picked up on sale for $29, and to make life more difficult my rifle sling had broke earlier in the day. Carrying the deer head in one hand, a rifle in the other, and a rucksack filled with meat I made my way back to my car. I had to make two trips to take all the meat from the carcass all the way back to my car, fortunately the car was only a mile away and with this heavy load it took my about thirty minutes to walk tat mile. When I got to the car after the first trip, it was already near dark and I still had to go back and collect the rest of the meat.

https://i.imgur.com/gy0vzvL.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ucL4IFZ.jpg

I did not want to travel without my rifle, as who knows what lurks in the night, so I was able to jerry rig a sling for my rifle and headed out for the rest of the meat. By 9PM I was all packed and ready, and by 10PM picked up a hot drink in Merritt and managed to get home by 1 AM the next day.

https://i.imgur.com/735d8BR.jpg

[Maglic]

I spent most of the next day cutting up the meat and putting it into a freezer, From 99 lbs. of meat I brought, after removing leg bones and fat 75 lbs. of lean meat was left.
The day after that I enjoyed a nice bowl of deer goulash.

https://i.imgur.com/M0hAoj0.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/HjZExxq.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/oaqUs8Y.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/jEkxC4Q.jpg

[Maglic]

After a month or so my antlers were all done.

https://i.imgur.com/7BOldWK.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/I54D4XP.jpg

Thank you for reading and
Happy 2020 to all of Hunting BC community

[ACE]

Very nice! Thank you for sharing your adventure. Have a great New Year.

[wideopenthrottle]

wooohooo........epic...thanks for that

[The Hermit]

Loved that story! Good for you! Hope you are able to get one this season with your son along ... for young guys are excellent meat packers! ;-)

[ydouask]

Thank you for your story. Your dedication and persistence were certainly rewarded. Nice buck, congratulations. And, Happy New Year !

[grizzly550]

That's a good buck man. Love the bases.

[Piperdown]

Congrats on a fine animal, nice to see a hunting story on HBC :)

[DannyO]

Thanks for sharing!

[338win mag]

That's a pretty nice buck, a great adventure too!

[Big Lew]

Thoroughly enjoyed your story, thanks for sharing such a great hunt!
Congratulations on bagging a fine specimen!

[Ovis17]

Congrats, nice buck!

[Hank Hunter]

Congrats on a beauty buck.

[boxhitch]

Nice deer and a good story too
Some of the subtle details provided will make good learning material for others

[Knute]

That is a fine looking buck, gnarly bases, pretty symmetrical antlers, gotta like it.
Congrats, I hope you get the chance at another when your son is with you.

[twoSevenO]

Congratulations, friend!

That's about as nice for a first buck as you could ask for. Not many people shoot one like that to start their mule deer hunting career off with!!!

[adriaticum]

Awesome buck, congrats!!

[RICKADY]

Beauty Buck, nice pic's, great story.
Congrat's

[tyreguy]

Nice work - perseverance pays off.

[ghost]

nice job i bet you go back there next year

[guest]

Great Post.
Thanks for sharing with hbc. Few and far between these days.

Congrats to you. May it be the 1st of many to follow.

[horse280]

Really nice deer and hey;great shooting Tex! More to come I'm sure! Horsee

[warnniklz]

Obviously you know what you're doing. Mount turned out great.

[303carbine]

Find someone in your area and have it scored, nice deer, nicely done as well.

[IronNoggin]

Great effort and persistence!
Makes for a FINE Read and excellent pictures to boot!

Well Done & Congratulations on your First of Many!! https://www.tnof.ca/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/Pozitive.gif

Cheers,
Nog

[835]

great job! And great Read!
and a great buck....

[Spy]

Great story and beautiful buck well done... :-)

[Getbent]

Great post and great first Buck!
thanks for taking the time to post it up...

[Bugle M In]

GREAT POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You got everything there from start to end.
Curious, did you have that in mind before you even got the buck that you would do it as such if you did?

That 1st pick of where you started and where the deer was a great idea for Newbs.
(I will have to remember that in the future)

Congrats, and with very few posts on HBC, a great start!

[Weatherby Fan]

Thats awesome, congrats on your Mule Deer he's a dandy, Thanks for taking us along on your hunt......looking forward to many more

[Ride Red]

Perseverance paid off in spades. Way to get it done with a great buck, congrats. 👍👍👍

[Mark-R]

Great story and recounting of details. Details matter in this game!
Congrats on a great buck especially for your first!

[HarryToolips]

Nice first buck! ..................

[bchunter181]

wow great story awesome buck congrats!

[Maglic]

Wow, this overwhelming response shows true nature of HBC community.
I will try to reply some of your comments and questions, thank you all for your words of encouragements and congratulations.

[Pauly]

Wow, this overwhelming response shows true nature of HBC community.
I will try to reply some of your comments and questions, thank you all for your words of encouragements and congratulations.
Awesome story and buck especially for your first one!! Fantastic

[Maglic]

Some of the subtle details provided will make good learning material for others
Besides sharing my story that was the idea.
Since English is my 3rd language I gave the story to my son to review and fix the grammar. He was removing some unrelated details telling me that it deviated from the story I told him that I do not care if the story is not the “proper story” but some details are important and they should be kept as they can help others. We all know “The evil is in detail” I would say the good as well.
One of the removed parts was that I spent $2000 on the spotting scope for this season and went hunting without a range finder that almost cost me losing this fine buck. Hope others won't make this mistake.

[Maglic]

Congratulations, friend!

That's about as nice for a first buck as you could ask for. Not many people shoot one like that to start their mule deer hunting career off with!!!
Thank you my friend, I hope it won't be the last good one.

[srthomas75]

great write up. That buck may spoil you for the future. It may take 10 years to equal that one.

[Maglic]

Great Post.
Thanks for sharing with hbc. Few and far between these days.

Congrats to you. May it be the 1st of many to follow.
I would agree, it was a good timing, I finally found some time since September

[Maglic]

Obviously you know what you're doing. Mount turned out great.
I am not sure If I knew, but I would say I tried hard. Readings of HBC post has made a grates impact on my decisions. With just so little time you have to be smart.
Someone wrote very good advice that you need to focus and get familiar with one area well then you move to the next. Last year was more scouting for areas to focus. this year I worked on details and that paid off.

For mount I have to thank to Chris and my friend that recommended him.

[REMINGTON JIM]

Awesome ! Great JOB ! Thanks for sharing it with us ! :smile: Cheers RJ

[Maglic]

Makes for a FINE Read and excellent pictures to boot!

Well Done & Congratulations on your First of Many!! https://www.tnof.ca/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/Pozitive.gif

Cheers,
Nog
Thank you,
The pictures are from my aging Samsung Note 5.

[Seth]

Congrats man. Beauty of a buck for sure, let alone your first! Keep up the good work.

[Rieber]

Fantastic deer and report. Well done and congratulations.

[Maglic]

You got everything there from start to end.
Curious, did you have that in mind before you even got the buck that you would do it as such if you did?

That 1st pick of where you started and where the deer was a great idea for Newbs.
(I will have to remember that in the future)
!
Well I like taking pictures for start so I got a tons of materials. I take pictures of Every nice spot (or other important point) and mark in google maps.
Second season I decided to give a shot first to the area with highest chances. Who could possibly think that this buck will wait for me :)
But as I said before I did prepare well and had confidence. I am not that young either and had spent fair amount of time in the mountains when I was young.
Besides, this HBC forum is a gold mine of hunting tips for patient readers .
Thank you (and many others) for your great contribution.

[Maglic]

Awesome story and buck especially for your first one!! Fantastic
Thank you Pauly,
and thank you and all others that replied to me on PM last year.
Good luck in 2020.

[Redthies]

Amazing first deer! Congrats!

What was your process for the euro mount?

[Maglic]

great write up. That buck may spoil you for the future. It may take 10 years to equal that one.
LOL - I have already heard that one few times , most likely TRUE (But you always hope for the exception)

[Maglic]

Amazing first deer! Congrats!

What was your process for the euro mount?

I actually gave it someone else to do the mount based on recommendation.
I have no experience with that. I

[john-brennan]

Nice mule deer congrats

[Redthies]

I actually gave it someone else to do the mount based on recommendation.
I have no experience with that.

They did a great job. Care to share who it was and what they charged you?

[Maglic]

They did a great job. Care to share who it was and what they charged you?
Already mentioned in one of my replies. Mount was done by Chris. More details in private message(.

[LuckyIfYouGetOne]

Helluva a sweet deer! Congrats and nice write up

[john-brennan]

Nice country along with a nice buck

[rageous]

Congratulations, that’s an awesome deer!

[kennyj]

Thats an awesome first buck!! Thanks for the great story.
And beautiful euro too.
kenny

[bottles]

That's a great 1st.

[180grainer]

That's pretty killer diller for a guys first deer.

[Husky7mm]

Nice mulie buck, Nice story nice rifle too. Next year a nice new back pack is in order. I have shoot a ton of big game with a 270 wsm in a browning, I just love it.

[Maglic]

That's pretty killer diller for a guys first deer.
Thanks , though it is not my first deer, scored some European roe deer , 30 years or so ago. But first one in Canada and first one using optics.

[Maglic]

Nice mulie buck, Nice story nice rifle too. Next year a nice new back pack is in order. I have shoot a ton of big game with a 270 wsm in a browning, I just love it.
Thanks , I love ballistics of 270wsm, so far I tested it up to 300 yards though the scope have aiming points up to ~700 yards(zeroed at 200). Regarding the backpack, I do have bigger one with frame but stop carrying it for those shorter walks around FSRs. I found it is much easier to move silently with the small one. Besides already spent money on new Nikon LaserForce :)

[Squamch]

That is a beauty deer sir! Well done!

[barongan]

Nice buck and congratulations. thanks for sharinghttp://juragan.club/assets/13/o.png

[djwinthehouse]

great story...keep up the good work

[Phila]

Great story & nice buck. Well done!

[sfire436]

I love it when people who put in so much effort get er done! Well done Sir.

[Tim Tam Slam]

Congrats dude, great buck

[Rustyb103]

Just read through this thread for some inspiration. Wow great work on a beautiful buck.

[Arctic Lake]

Great write up ! Nice looking deer for sure !
Arctic Lake

[Maglic]

Great write up ! Nice looking deer for sure !
Arctic Lake
Thanks
It's an old one from last year (lol)
I hope that "Muley Quest" will be a better one,
the folks are eagerly waiting over there (besides US election results)
:)

[adriaticum]

Good job from top to bottom!

[Jack Russell]

Nice buck, well done and congrats! Good wholesome food!