luckynuts
12-13-2010, 05:16 PM
Well this year's hunting season had surpassed my expectations with my son taking his first deer a little 4x4 whitetail. It even got better as he did it again in November when he took his first Mulie.
I had planned our hunt way in advance. Actually after coming home from our annual moose hunt I started scouting and scouting hard. by the end of October I had 3 mulies picked out and the one I really wanted to hunt was a really good 3pt that carried his heavy frame way up high. Plus he was very predictable in the mornings staying way out past his bedtime:wink:
Due to me working the first week of Mulie season I soon learned that 2 of the 3 bucks I had seen had been harvested on opening day, one of them being the big three pt. Though spirits were lifted on Nov 4th when I seen 2 of the biggest mulies I had seen in a long time. One on property I had permission on and the other permission I would soon acquire on my last day on shift.
The night before the 11th a good buddy called me up and asked if I wanted to head out hunting, I told him I had made plans with Liam but he was more than welcome to come along. Scotty showed up and we headed off arriving at our spot a little early. I was just commenting on it's a little dark when a black Chevy tore out of the fields we were going to hunt:evil:. We made the most of the morning but only counted 3 does and 1 fawn but hey that's hunting. I decided we should head up into timber country and cruise through a big slash maybe get to see a whitey for Scott. Well we found that whitey but the 5x5 didn't hang around long enough to even get the truck stopped. Not seeing much was turning out to be a real slow day, we headed back hoping to find Liam a mule deer.
After checking out a few spots Scott got a call from a buddy who had taken a good whitey. We decided we should go and have a look at this whitetail and glad we did. After admiring the deer Ian told Liam he had seen a couple of legal Mule deer down where he was hunting. So we loaded up our gear and headed out for a late afternoon/evening hunt.
After checking out all the fields and little coulees we came up over a hill and all at once we said Deer! on the far hill here was a buck bedded down with his does. Though our excitement was cut short when Ian told us we didn't have permission to hunt that land. Though a few phone calls later and the hunt was on. The boys dropped Liam and I off at the corner and we used the timber as cover to make the 300yd stalk down which would take us about 80-90 yds below the deer. Trying to keep as quiet as we could walking on the crunchy snow we came to the opening only to find 4 other does we had not seen jump up and blow and take off running up the hill past the buck! Crap I left the shooting stick in the truck! I flipped my unloaded gun around stuck the taped barrel in the snow and had Liam rest his gun on my butt plate.
Fortunately for us the buck who was bedded and looking up hill away from us kept his attention on the hot doe. Which is when I realized Liam was shaking and breathing really hard. Liam kept saying Dad he's a big buck! I took his gun and had him sit down talking in a whisper to try and settle his nerves. We got set back up just in time as the hot doe finally sensed something and started off towards the other does this made the buck get up from his comfy bed and when he did he was standing slightly quartering away towards our right. Just when I was about to tell Liam to take the shot I heard the 250 go bang and watched the buck jump straight up and give a little kick out the back with both legs. He took off running in a loop and past us on our left heading into the timber. Liam and I quickly got on the blood trail while Scott and Ian circled around and this is where we found him just inside a strip of timber.
W.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Liams_Mule_deer_2010_002.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/../photos/data/500/Liams_Mule_deer_2010_002.jpg)
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Liams_Mule_deer_2010_004.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/../photos/data/500/Liams_Mule_deer_2010_004.jpg)
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Liams_Mule_deer_2010_005.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/../photos/data/500/Liams_Mule_deer_2010_005.jpg)
I had planned our hunt way in advance. Actually after coming home from our annual moose hunt I started scouting and scouting hard. by the end of October I had 3 mulies picked out and the one I really wanted to hunt was a really good 3pt that carried his heavy frame way up high. Plus he was very predictable in the mornings staying way out past his bedtime:wink:
Due to me working the first week of Mulie season I soon learned that 2 of the 3 bucks I had seen had been harvested on opening day, one of them being the big three pt. Though spirits were lifted on Nov 4th when I seen 2 of the biggest mulies I had seen in a long time. One on property I had permission on and the other permission I would soon acquire on my last day on shift.
The night before the 11th a good buddy called me up and asked if I wanted to head out hunting, I told him I had made plans with Liam but he was more than welcome to come along. Scotty showed up and we headed off arriving at our spot a little early. I was just commenting on it's a little dark when a black Chevy tore out of the fields we were going to hunt:evil:. We made the most of the morning but only counted 3 does and 1 fawn but hey that's hunting. I decided we should head up into timber country and cruise through a big slash maybe get to see a whitey for Scott. Well we found that whitey but the 5x5 didn't hang around long enough to even get the truck stopped. Not seeing much was turning out to be a real slow day, we headed back hoping to find Liam a mule deer.
After checking out a few spots Scott got a call from a buddy who had taken a good whitey. We decided we should go and have a look at this whitetail and glad we did. After admiring the deer Ian told Liam he had seen a couple of legal Mule deer down where he was hunting. So we loaded up our gear and headed out for a late afternoon/evening hunt.
After checking out all the fields and little coulees we came up over a hill and all at once we said Deer! on the far hill here was a buck bedded down with his does. Though our excitement was cut short when Ian told us we didn't have permission to hunt that land. Though a few phone calls later and the hunt was on. The boys dropped Liam and I off at the corner and we used the timber as cover to make the 300yd stalk down which would take us about 80-90 yds below the deer. Trying to keep as quiet as we could walking on the crunchy snow we came to the opening only to find 4 other does we had not seen jump up and blow and take off running up the hill past the buck! Crap I left the shooting stick in the truck! I flipped my unloaded gun around stuck the taped barrel in the snow and had Liam rest his gun on my butt plate.
Fortunately for us the buck who was bedded and looking up hill away from us kept his attention on the hot doe. Which is when I realized Liam was shaking and breathing really hard. Liam kept saying Dad he's a big buck! I took his gun and had him sit down talking in a whisper to try and settle his nerves. We got set back up just in time as the hot doe finally sensed something and started off towards the other does this made the buck get up from his comfy bed and when he did he was standing slightly quartering away towards our right. Just when I was about to tell Liam to take the shot I heard the 250 go bang and watched the buck jump straight up and give a little kick out the back with both legs. He took off running in a loop and past us on our left heading into the timber. Liam and I quickly got on the blood trail while Scott and Ian circled around and this is where we found him just inside a strip of timber.
W.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Liams_Mule_deer_2010_002.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/../photos/data/500/Liams_Mule_deer_2010_002.jpg)
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Liams_Mule_deer_2010_004.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/../photos/data/500/Liams_Mule_deer_2010_004.jpg)
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Liams_Mule_deer_2010_005.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/../photos/data/500/Liams_Mule_deer_2010_005.jpg)