Brambles 2009 Muley

[Brambles]

Well this whole story started on October 26th. First day back in the field after the bear attack.

Rattler and I hiked into an area, couple Km's in and we spot a buck, he gives us the slip but I start following him through the timber. That is until I come across a FRESH set of Grizz tracks in the snow and FRESH dig sites:shock: . I have to say I held it together but was on RED ALERT as I backed out of the area.

We continue the hunt and come across 3 Deer, a Doe with a buck fawn and a doe fawn. Then suddenly Rattler spots a 4th deer. GRAB YOUR GUN, THERE'S A SHOOTER.

After an hour of watching this buck, at distances of 200-400 yards we decided not to cancel a tag on him this early in the season. But he has some potential but we figured we could find something bigger with so much season left. If his G4's weren't as short, his Pecker would have hit the dirt that day.

Here's that buck, we called him Orville. As in Orville Reddenbacher. Each time we rattled he would POP out of the alders.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/PA250183.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/PA250181.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/PA250220.jpg

[Cyrus]

nice buck! he would be in my freezer right now if he crossed my path! cool photos!

[pete_k]

Great to see you guys out and back at it.
Nice buck to pass up. But I hear ya as far as hunting season being
over if you take it.

How did you take those pictures?

[Big7]

Decent buck...if only his fronts were forked like the back ones!

[Brambles]

From that day forward I hunted Everyday, actually I think I took one or two days off. Seen a couple more deer but nothing better.

Full moon starts.....Beautiful clear nights start.....Snow Starts.........Daylight deer movement grinds to a halt. We go days without seeing deer.

It stays like this for a week:evil: Hunting sucked BIG TIME


Then the full moon started to go dark, the evenings started to cloud over, and the snow still came. The hunting was getting better

With all the snow the deer had moved, it took us some time to figure out where they went. They hunkered down in the timber and didn't leave for nothin.

Today I cut some tracks in the timber high up a valley and eventually found a spookey littke two point. It took 3 hours to still hunt the stretch of timber. I had quite a walk afterwards to get back up to the quad. The snow was going sideways, stinging your eye's, and piling up fast.

Nothing had moved other than the forkorn so I headed down in elevation. It was getting to be that time and I noticed a deer had come from the low side of the trail, shitkicked a alder bush and did a fine job at it and went into the timber on the high side.

I started following and after a couple hundered yards another deer came onto the tracks, and he was bleeding. Great I am on the trail of two bucks.

After another hundered yards or so of slowly still hunting the timber I scan in front of me and see a brown body 24 yards in front of me. Its head is behind a tree. I slowly tilt to my right with my bino's up and see half of a wide rack with 4 points, I was darn sure I knew who it was.

I figured with the poor hunting we had and the limited time left in the season that I shouldn't pass him up twice. I shoulder my rifle and take a shot, I hit him hard but he runs down hill towards me at a 30 degree angle to my left, I quickly chamber another round and pop him in the neck.

He must have got in a fight earlier in the day, he was gored behind the front shoulder, bruises all over his front shoulders and his G2 on his right side was broken but thankfully was still hanging on. We have since fixed it with electical tape, can hardley tell its broke:wink:

Here he is, sorry the pics suck but the lighting wasn't optimum.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/PB070261.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/PB070262.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/PB070275.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/PB070280.jpg

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[killman]

Nice job guy's great buck.

[Rackaholic]

WOW that that's a beauty, very wide, congrats! What's did he score?

[kootenayelkslayer]

Good job Brambles, he's a fine buck!

[BCrams]

Awsome buck Jeff!! Nice to see you reconnect on him!!

[d6dan]

Nice Wide Buck Brambles!. Good write up and pics:-D congrats..

[5 spike]

nice looking animal there. congrats.

[sawmill]

Holey Moley!!!!!Nice one,I hate you guys:mrgreen:

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Right on BOYZ!!!

Really glad to see you both back out there putting the hurt on the critters(instead of the ohter way around:wink:).

I like these stories with some history with the animal that's taken later on.

Congrats Jeff! Dandy buck!!!

SSS

[1/2 slam]

You deserve that one after the fall you had.Congratulations!

[hunter1947]

Thats a dandy deer you got the brambles ,I guess you where a little scared when get this deer out ,one thing on your mind at all times ,Griz :roll:.
Congrats to you and your partner on putting this deer to rest http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon6.gif.

[model88]

Nic buck Brambles congrats!!!
88

[meathead]

nice buck jeff wate a year you and rattler have had its nice to have loyal hunting partners.:-D:wink:

[Bow Walker]

Great story and a good come back. You guys ought to be proud.

[bad arrow]

Hey thats a great mulie, how wide is that rack? Isn't that a grizz peeking through the trees in the 1 pic? lol

[35 Whelen]

Way to go Jeff....getting right back in the saddle again and givin her. Congratulations to you and Ken. Hard work and determination pays off. The two of you will have a life long bond, that will likely never be broken.

You will look back many years from now and say " Yeehaaaaa what a ride" and that is what life should be like, not looking back and saying god I wished I had done this and that.

Good on ya

Paul

[BCLongshot]

U guys are Studs.

Maybe 1 day we'll hook up.

[steelheadSABO]

nice buck i wonder what broke his antler

[trigger]

awesome buck. congrats. good write up as well

[jimzuk]

That's a great buck and a great story. Glad to see you guys out there after the incident.

[hillclimber]

nice buck congrats. how wide is he

[BlacktailStalker]

Nice buck Jeff, good to see you guys still goin' hard :cool:

[Brambles]

Sorry for the late response guys, we were out trying to get a big buck for Rattler.

He's 26 3/8 outside spread with a 23 3/8 inside spread on the Mainbeams.

As far as score, he didn't score what we had though, not far off but there was no recovering from short G4itis. I didn't shoot him for score anyways, one of the main reasons I shot him is because he's a totally opposite looking buck than the one I shot last year. Everywhere that buck is weak, this buck is strong, and vice versa. Plus I got pictures of him alive and thats Just plain cool.:mrgreen:

[steepNdeep]

Right on Jeff... cool to hear that you guys never even missed a beat after the piñata incident! Nice buck! Funny, I've got pics of the buck in my avi and lots of vid. of my bro's bull... it's satisfying when you know the critter personally... Congrats! :cool:

Any sign of the buck that you saw last year???

[frenchbar]

congrats guys!

[mark]

Right on man, sweet looking buck nice inside spread on him!
A you were whining that the hunting sucked!

[Brambles]

Any sign of the buck that you saw last year???


No we never seen him, the snow really messed us up with our quest for him. He's way way back and the snow was too deep to access so we had to hunt another location. I look forward to hunting him next year.

Each year I put a piece of the puzzle together. This year had lots of schooling.

[Brambles]

Right on man, sweet looking buck nice inside spread on him!
A you were whining that the hunting sucked!


Yeah the full moon really sucked, but things are getting better with the darker nights and overcast skies, boatloads of snow seems to finally be helping too instead of hurting us.

[MattB]

Thats a good buck! How wide was he?

[Brambles]

Thats a good buck! How wide was he?


26 3/8 outside,

[rifleman]

beauty buck you guys. way to get back at er & harvest a nice buck.

[MattB]

26 1/2 outside,
Right on! Sweet buck, congrats again!

[Ambush]

Great buck!! 98% of us wouldn't have passed him up the first time.

You and Rattler have already had season you will NEVER forget. It would be fitting that Rattler get a good one to.

Way to face your demons!!!

Congratulations.

[dana]

Brambles,
Sweet buck dude! That break adds special character. I'd leave it the way it is.

[Rattler]

Once again, good work Jeff. I'm glad we found this buck again.

Now to find the buck that tuned him up...

[Brambles]

Once again, good work Jeff. I'm glad we found this buck again.

Now to find the buck that tuned him up...


Yeah I truly thought I was gonna eat Tag soup this year, AND I HATE SOUP:mrgreen:

Good luck finding the buck that tuned him up, he's gotta be a brute, I wish there was something I could do to help you out, but timber hunting is a one man adventure.

I expect a call tomorrow:wink:

[Wild Images]

I expect a call tomorrow:wink:[/quote]


Good luck , bring pics to Kamloops in March
Been an adventure this fall for sure, almost makes a guy want to move to the WK :mrgreen:

[gameslayer]

That is pretty cool you got those earlier pictures of him Brambles, great buck. Good to see you going hard after the incident (good interveiw by the way)

[Freshtracks]

Congrats a on a great looking buck ... and good to see you guys haven't missed a beat after the gbear event. Honestly though ... how fast was the pulse racing ... backing out of them tracks?

[troutseeker]

Nice buck, good story! Did you use the .270 WSM?

[The Hermit]

I sure wish we had big deer on the island! Nice going!

[Gus]

Hell of a buck there Brambles. I'd have shot him the first time:smile: Nice work!

[leadpillproductions]

great buck i like the back fork looks cool

[ydouask]

Hey Rattler, good luck out there in these last couple of days. I'm starting to feel related to you two... Brambles, have you tried that fiberglass reinforced packing tape, now that stuff is strong ! Nice mature buck Jeff, well done.

[Brambles]

Nice buck, good story! Did you use the .270 WSM?

Yeah I used that Sako A7 270 wsm all year, shot my bull elk and this muley buck with it. Packed it for sheep on our Grizzly bear adventure but the only blood that got spilt on it was my own on that hunt.
Maybe it will take a whitetail and or a goat this year still.

FYI 130 barnes TTSX @ 3250 FPS chronied

At 24 yards I think the impact velocity is still 3200 :mrgreen:

[Brambles]

Hey Rattler, good luck out there in these last couple of days. I'm starting to feel related to you two... Brambles, have you tried that fiberglass reinforced packing tape, now that stuff is strong ! Nice mature buck Jeff, well done.


Nah I'll fix it up for real, I can't bring myself to leave it broken, it bothers me and I feel lucky that the tine was still hanging on there after being broken. I mean what are the odds of that happening????:shock:

Just gotta order some taxidermy stuff to get it repaired.

Some of the brow's are broken a little short too but I won't touch them, probably a 1/2 inch on the one side and 1/4 on the other.

[Brambles]

Thought I'd try the multiquote option, and answer a few unanswered questions. Hope this works




How did you take those pictures?

You zoom your spotting scope in and aim your camera through the scope, try and get everything focused. Takes a little effort and learning but you can occasionally get some decent pictures, defenitly better than trying to rely on your memory. Any then people can't call BS on you when you say you passed on a good buck.


nice buck i wonder what broke his antler

OH we are pretty sure who broke his antler, never got a look at him this year though. He's a smart one


Brambles,
Sweet buck dude! That break adds special character. I'd leave it the way it is.


Ah I can't just leave it, broken tines really bother my, don't know why, they just do.




Good luck , bring pics to Kamloops in March
Been an adventure this fall for sure, almost makes a guy want to move to the WK :mrgreen:


If his G4's were better you'd be bringing him to the banquet in march:-D


Congrats a on a great looking buck ... and good to see you guys haven't missed a beat after the gbear event. Honestly though ... how fast was the pulse racing ... backing out of them tracks?

Oh it was pretty exciting there for a while. I scanned the timber pretty hard before I started to move back, and each time I needed to turn my back to go over deadfall. Spent most of the time walking downhill backwards. Definitly lets you know your alive.

[Brambles]

Thats a dandy deer you got the brambles ,I guess you where a little scared when getting this deer out ,one thing on your mind at all times ,Griz :roll:.



Actually Wayne, I didn't think of grizz at all. Its been pretty good,

Ironically enough I think the grizz attack helped my hunting, I go even slower now and keep a keener eye out for stuff, even more than before. My senses are heightened.

I don't think its paranoia, cause i"m not walking around scared thinking a grizz is behind every tree. But I do think its a heightened sense of awareness. Tell you the truth I didn't even think of grizz while still hunting, just total focus on my surroundings looking for mule deer, my end goal has always been getting a better deer than the year before.

Life is good.

[johnny cabbage]

Nice Muley Brambles! I love reading stories of hard earned deer, not the road hunters getting lucky!

[Brambles]

Here's another picture, and the main reason I hunt the way I do, with persistance and devotion. I want my little guy to be proud of his Daddy, and set a good example for him. Hopefully the end result his him being a better hunter than I. I can't wait to take him for his first big buck:mrgreen: In 7.5 years:cry:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/PB090298.jpg

[BCrams]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/PB090298.jpg

He's pouting.

Thinking, "Whats up with this lil buck Dad." :mrgreen:

Just kidding!

[Brambles]

He's pouting.

Thinking, "Whats up with this lil buck Dad." :mrgreen:

Just kidding!


I think he's pouting cause he wants smarties:mrgreen: You try and get a 2.5 year old to stand still for a picture:wink: You take what you can get.:tongue:

[fozzy]

Congrats Brambles, nice buck you got there. I'm not sure I could have passed up that other one you called Orville :)
I need to take some lessons from guys like you Dana and Mark.

[Brambles]

Congrats Brambles, nice buck you got there. I'm not sure I could have passed up that other one you called Orville :)
I need to take some lessons from guys like you Dana and Mark.


The buck I killed WAS Orville. Those first pics are of him Alive on October 26th, the rest are of him Dead on November 7th. I was holding out for something bigger but time was running out and up until that point the hunting had been pretty tough, so I decided not to pass on him for a second time. The broken tine throws you off when you look at him, and the ears flopped out to the side like they do when they are dead kinda eats up some of the inside spread, but its him for sure.


First time I"ve weighted a deer, he weighed 177 lbs hanging, hide off, head off, guts out, front legs off but back legs still up in the air.

Not sure if its a big bodied deer or not but I think he's the biggest bodied deer I've shot so far.

[Brambles]

I need to take some lessons from guys like you Dana and Mark.


Well thanks for the compliment, however I don't feel I'm in the same class as Mark and Dana, they have been at this mulie thing for much much longer than I have and have built up some pretty impressive collections. Although I've been hunting for almost 20 years I have only been focusing on Mulies for the last 5 seasons.

I'm working hard though, doing whatever I can to improve my hunt, I research mule deer year around, I have a very extensive collection of mule deer video's and books that could possibly be unmatched, that combined with real world mulie hunting experiance, lots of days in the bush and one day hopefully I can consider myself as capable as those guys.

Thanks

[fozzy]

The buck I killed WAS Orville. Those first pics are of him Alive on October 26th, the rest are of him Dead on November 7th. I was holding out for something bigger but time was running out and up until that point the hunting had been pretty tough, so I decided not to pass on him for a second time. The broken tine throws you off when you look at him, and the ears flopped out to the side like they do when they are dead kinda eats up some of the inside spread, but its him for sure.


First time I"ve weighted a deer, he weighed 177 lbs hanging, hide off, head off, guts out, front legs off but back legs still up in the air.

Not sure if its a big bodied deer or not but I think he's the biggest bodied deer I've shot so far.

Oops my mistake. I should read slower :) Yes that broken tine did also throw me for a loop, I went back and looked closer to the pics. Very nice buck indeed.

[hunterofthedeer]

Well awesome buck there brambles

[whitetailsheds]

Great buck Brambles! Just wondering how that point didn't completely break off? Looks like it kinda separated/ split? Was there some pliability/ flex to the bone? Always thought those things would just fly right off....

[Brambles]

Great buck Brambles! Just wondering how that point didn't completely break off? Looks like it kinda separated/ split? Was there some pliability/ flex to the bone? Always thought those things would just fly right off....

Yeaht there is pliability, its splintered like trying to break green branches. I was totally shocked to see it still there, at first I wondered if my bulled had deflected but closer examination shows a break not a bullet, plus both shots are accounted for.

[kennyj]

Thats an awesome mulie and a great story.Thanks for posting.
kenny