spear
11-01-2011, 11:46 PM
I'll never know if the 5x4 Muley I shot at in Region 8 in sept was wounded mortally or clean missed, but the one i shot at this week is hanging at the butchers now.
Islander7mm and i headed out to our spot in region 8, good open country with stands of pine timber bordering the ridges and poplar filled draws, MULEY country. It requires some steep vertical gain right out of the truck and the days were long as we were hunting dark to dark. Our first day we spotted a small fork with a group of does but had no prolem passing him up as we shot a nice buck in the area last year, and I had seen a number of larger bucks in sept this year and scouting in the summer. We also spotted a larger 2 point feeding off a steep ridge at 500 yards, the wind and terrain gave us no approach.
On the Third day we had some high winds, we decided to stick to the timber thinking the deer would be held up in the thick stuff staying out of the wind. 6 hours of still hunting and hiking later we came back into the open high country t stop on a knoll and have lunch. We sat down, I pulled out the thermos for coffee but a small dark spec caught my eye 500 or so yards away. Up go the binos in one hand, bedded deer. Islander grabs my thermos from me, two hands on the binos, confirm its a decent sized buck.
http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy178/islander7mm/2011-10-28201133181.jpg
Out comes the spotter and Islander7mm sings music to my ears telling me its a 4point. Lunch back in the bags, we take a few trees and a poplar grove for landmarks and plan a stalk. Drop off the backside of the ridge, circle behind the buck through the valley and start stalking down the ridge the buck was bedded on to get a shot. We had the wind most of the time but occasionally it would swirl and we would stop and wait. We figured we were withing 100 yards or so but couldn't get a visual.
All of a sudden I catch movement straight ahead, looking through the Timber I see the buck staring at us, he must have caught wind or heard something. He was about 30 yards away and the only thing I could see was face the bottom of his antlers and the top half of his shoulder. Islander got his gun up just incase and I let him know I was taking the shot.
The 260 Remington barks and the buck takes of downhill like a rocket. Then it goes silent. Shot felt good. We go down exepecting the buck to be laying there dead, no buck. Islander immediately picked up his tracks with good but not great blood. 300 yards later of great tracking by Islander while I keep an eye out for movement the buck stands up and takes off just ahead of us, he is draggin his front left leg. We let him sit after this for a bit, then picked up his trail again. No Blood. He went through a thicket and we lost his trail until Islander7mm noticed a broken branch on a log giving us direction of travel. While he kept following tracks I walked onto a low ridge to look around and I saw the buck about 100 yards on a sidehill lookingback at me. Pack off, rifle down, safety off, BOOM again. Buck down, he slowly lowers his head and doesnt move again.
We walked over to him after a few min of letting him sit just incase, when we got to within 3 yards the buck lurched up like LAZARUS!! a quick shot to the neck fixed that. One tough buck. Upon inspection we found my first shot to hit his shoulder while he was quartering towards, it went in and then out on the same side 4 or 5 ribs back shattering two ribs on the way out, no vitals hit.
http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy178/islander7mm/DSC_0023-2.jpg
Not a bruiser but my biggest buck to date. All thanks to the best hunting partner a guy could ask for Islander7mm. We also managed a white tail doe in the last hour of hunting light of our trip.
http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy178/islander7mm/DSC_0026-1.jpg
http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy178/islander7mm/DSC_0053.jpg
It was our first time packing out an animal, some heavy packs but well worth the effort to hunt some incredible area. A few scenery shots.
[IMG]
Three more days of hunting only yielded a tonne of muley does and a last minute whitey doe to help fill our freezers.
Islander7mm and i headed out to our spot in region 8, good open country with stands of pine timber bordering the ridges and poplar filled draws, MULEY country. It requires some steep vertical gain right out of the truck and the days were long as we were hunting dark to dark. Our first day we spotted a small fork with a group of does but had no prolem passing him up as we shot a nice buck in the area last year, and I had seen a number of larger bucks in sept this year and scouting in the summer. We also spotted a larger 2 point feeding off a steep ridge at 500 yards, the wind and terrain gave us no approach.
On the Third day we had some high winds, we decided to stick to the timber thinking the deer would be held up in the thick stuff staying out of the wind. 6 hours of still hunting and hiking later we came back into the open high country t stop on a knoll and have lunch. We sat down, I pulled out the thermos for coffee but a small dark spec caught my eye 500 or so yards away. Up go the binos in one hand, bedded deer. Islander grabs my thermos from me, two hands on the binos, confirm its a decent sized buck.
http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy178/islander7mm/2011-10-28201133181.jpg
Out comes the spotter and Islander7mm sings music to my ears telling me its a 4point. Lunch back in the bags, we take a few trees and a poplar grove for landmarks and plan a stalk. Drop off the backside of the ridge, circle behind the buck through the valley and start stalking down the ridge the buck was bedded on to get a shot. We had the wind most of the time but occasionally it would swirl and we would stop and wait. We figured we were withing 100 yards or so but couldn't get a visual.
All of a sudden I catch movement straight ahead, looking through the Timber I see the buck staring at us, he must have caught wind or heard something. He was about 30 yards away and the only thing I could see was face the bottom of his antlers and the top half of his shoulder. Islander got his gun up just incase and I let him know I was taking the shot.
The 260 Remington barks and the buck takes of downhill like a rocket. Then it goes silent. Shot felt good. We go down exepecting the buck to be laying there dead, no buck. Islander immediately picked up his tracks with good but not great blood. 300 yards later of great tracking by Islander while I keep an eye out for movement the buck stands up and takes off just ahead of us, he is draggin his front left leg. We let him sit after this for a bit, then picked up his trail again. No Blood. He went through a thicket and we lost his trail until Islander7mm noticed a broken branch on a log giving us direction of travel. While he kept following tracks I walked onto a low ridge to look around and I saw the buck about 100 yards on a sidehill lookingback at me. Pack off, rifle down, safety off, BOOM again. Buck down, he slowly lowers his head and doesnt move again.
We walked over to him after a few min of letting him sit just incase, when we got to within 3 yards the buck lurched up like LAZARUS!! a quick shot to the neck fixed that. One tough buck. Upon inspection we found my first shot to hit his shoulder while he was quartering towards, it went in and then out on the same side 4 or 5 ribs back shattering two ribs on the way out, no vitals hit.
http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy178/islander7mm/DSC_0023-2.jpg
Not a bruiser but my biggest buck to date. All thanks to the best hunting partner a guy could ask for Islander7mm. We also managed a white tail doe in the last hour of hunting light of our trip.
http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy178/islander7mm/DSC_0026-1.jpg
http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy178/islander7mm/DSC_0053.jpg
It was our first time packing out an animal, some heavy packs but well worth the effort to hunt some incredible area. A few scenery shots.
[IMG]
Three more days of hunting only yielded a tonne of muley does and a last minute whitey doe to help fill our freezers.