hunter0925
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2013
- Messages
- 3,729
I punched my tag early on which left me wide open for mule deer with my wife, son and 2 other Tndeer members which I'm sure you will hear from one soon...
Monday we set up camp to scout before the Oct 15th opener on Wednesday. The number of deer we were seeing was definitely a positive but nothing is a slam dunk. We scouted Monday afternoon, Tuesday morning and Tuesday afternoon I ran to town and got my son to go glass the evening before the opener. All that my son and I turned up was 5 doe and one forkhorn that at that time he wasn't interested in.....
Wednesday morning my wife came to camp. I had just parked my side by side at the spot we planned to hunt when a truck blew past me and started getting his gear out. This completely blew my initial plan but after talking to him I initially decided to still hunt there and then rethought the situation and headed south to a different spot.
At the 2 track entrance was a camp. I asked the people where they were going to be hunting and got a vague, "either 4 miles this direction or 4 miles that direction" answer. Then they told me 4 other trucks had already driven into where I was headed. Back to our original plan!!
We got back to the original spot and things didn't go well. My interior lights wouldn't turn off and as I was trying to get them to I accidentally made the horn honk. Luckily, that caused 2 head lamps to turn towards us that showed me there were 2 more hunters hiking into the original spot. Check this one off.
Now I'm at a slight loss.. I know other spots but we are about to daylight. I'm not usually a road hunter and like to pack into spots. None of my other spots are big enough to hike into or they are to far for my wife to enjoy. I make the decision to ride and go to short glassing points just to try to get one of them on a deer. As we are driving down the road we see about 20 deer standing there feeding with 3 bucks! And they were all decent enough for a first buck! Problem was they were on private but possibly, maybe, hopefully heading towards public...
We watched the deer for nearly 2 hours when the bucks finally eased onto the public line but bedded in a sage draw. I ran up the road with my wife and son and got them set up in case the bucks came out of the draw where they could legally shoot and then went back to glass the bucks.... I couldn't find them! I looked as hard as I could but just couldn't see them.
I ran back to my wife and asked if they had seen them and she said no so back I went... There was one of the bucks... Back to my wife and son I went... No bucks! Back to glass them ... No bucks! I thought I could see everything but I was afraid they had given us a slip somehow. We waited and tried but I just couldn't figure it out.
I told my wife we weren't waiting all day. There were more bucks to find. As we got into the truck she suggested going back and checking again. When we got there now we could see one of the bucks again! Cat and mouse at its finest!
Back up the hill and set up I told her we would have to stalk in on them while my son stayed here in case they came his direction. She made an absolutely perfect stalk with me. At 50 yards we could see the bucks but the sage was to tall for her to get a shot through that she was comfortable with. Finally one of the bucks caught movement and stood up! This was her moment! Then I heard a noise and it wasn't a good one. A truck was coming up the road and I had to call her off from shooting. To make matters worse the truck spooked all the bucks across the road. I was heart broken but I knew they may be on public on that side so we ran to see if I could find them again.
All I saw was a few doe running through the bottom when my son yelled (not really but it was said with excitement) they are going up the hill dad! I hurriedly got my wife and son across the fence (legal requirements) and got her prone. I ranged the last buck, the only one to stop, at 556 yards and dialed for her. I told her to put the cross hairs behind the shoulder and a slow steady squeeze..... Boom! I thought she had missed! The dust looked like it kicked up just under the deer but it mule kicked and ran over the spine of the ridge. My son asked if he could shoot and I said yes. I didn't realize he was still dialed for 550 but when he shot he slipped on the shooting sticks and sent the shot 2ft high.... As soon as I saw his shot was high I watched and my wife's buck tipped over dead!
To say I was excited would be an understatement. I have killed a pile of animals but none gave me that excitement. This was my wife's first big game animal. She had practiced shooting to 800 yards even though we hoped for a closer shot. She couldn't believe my excitement for her because she always thought I was joking about how excited I got.
We cleaned as much out of packs as possible and I left her rifle and only took my sons rifle just in case. I also wanted to check in the next basin and see if there was a buck for him to shoot.
Once we got to the top I walked past my wife's buck to look for my son. I found a buck but could only see antlers in the sage. I will fast forward this part... I eventually got the buck to stand but my son missed him at 220 yards.
Back to my wife's buck I showed the family how to quarter and debone and then my shortest packout ever began and got us to the truck.
My wife took the deer to hang in the cooler and I took my son back out that evening. We turned up a lot of deer but only one buck that we just couldn't get a shot on for him.
The next morning we slept in due to bad weather with wind and rain that makes this Wyoming dirt the type of mud most people just don't understand.
My son woke up ready to role! He had a vendetta now that he had missed his first big game animal. He was looking for his first mule deer and was ready to go!
We took off in the side by side to try to avoid some of the mud that we nearly got stuck in the night before. Shortly after camp we started turning up deer but they were either on private or they were only doe.
As we made our way to the cliffs (of insanity) I saw a group of deer in the sage. As I glassed I told him there was a small buck there. At first I thought he was going to pass but that thought was fleeting as he got his rifle out of the case! I ranged and they were 550ish. I wanted him closer. I fully believe he could make the shot but I wasn't risking it. We got to 346 yards and that was as close as I could. He got settled on his shooting sticks and proceeded to slap the trigger for a clean miss again. I calmed him down and walked him through a slow steady squeeze..... Boom! Whop! He's down!
The buck hit the ground with authority!
We began making our way to the buck when the weather turned worse than it already was. At first the wind kicked up to 40mph. Then the hail started. Then snow fell. We threw on rain gear and quartered the deer through it. My son was freezing but there was work to do. He bragged because his "pack out" was shorter than his mom's. Lol
At the last report of his rifle I realized my season was over. Wyoming had given me all of her bounty for big game for the year. My freezer is full and my heart is fuller with the memories of this years hunts. My time with family in the field will stand a brief pause but next year is coming fast with new memories to be made.
Monday we set up camp to scout before the Oct 15th opener on Wednesday. The number of deer we were seeing was definitely a positive but nothing is a slam dunk. We scouted Monday afternoon, Tuesday morning and Tuesday afternoon I ran to town and got my son to go glass the evening before the opener. All that my son and I turned up was 5 doe and one forkhorn that at that time he wasn't interested in.....
Wednesday morning my wife came to camp. I had just parked my side by side at the spot we planned to hunt when a truck blew past me and started getting his gear out. This completely blew my initial plan but after talking to him I initially decided to still hunt there and then rethought the situation and headed south to a different spot.
At the 2 track entrance was a camp. I asked the people where they were going to be hunting and got a vague, "either 4 miles this direction or 4 miles that direction" answer. Then they told me 4 other trucks had already driven into where I was headed. Back to our original plan!!
We got back to the original spot and things didn't go well. My interior lights wouldn't turn off and as I was trying to get them to I accidentally made the horn honk. Luckily, that caused 2 head lamps to turn towards us that showed me there were 2 more hunters hiking into the original spot. Check this one off.
Now I'm at a slight loss.. I know other spots but we are about to daylight. I'm not usually a road hunter and like to pack into spots. None of my other spots are big enough to hike into or they are to far for my wife to enjoy. I make the decision to ride and go to short glassing points just to try to get one of them on a deer. As we are driving down the road we see about 20 deer standing there feeding with 3 bucks! And they were all decent enough for a first buck! Problem was they were on private but possibly, maybe, hopefully heading towards public...
We watched the deer for nearly 2 hours when the bucks finally eased onto the public line but bedded in a sage draw. I ran up the road with my wife and son and got them set up in case the bucks came out of the draw where they could legally shoot and then went back to glass the bucks.... I couldn't find them! I looked as hard as I could but just couldn't see them.
I ran back to my wife and asked if they had seen them and she said no so back I went... There was one of the bucks... Back to my wife and son I went... No bucks! Back to glass them ... No bucks! I thought I could see everything but I was afraid they had given us a slip somehow. We waited and tried but I just couldn't figure it out.
I told my wife we weren't waiting all day. There were more bucks to find. As we got into the truck she suggested going back and checking again. When we got there now we could see one of the bucks again! Cat and mouse at its finest!
Back up the hill and set up I told her we would have to stalk in on them while my son stayed here in case they came his direction. She made an absolutely perfect stalk with me. At 50 yards we could see the bucks but the sage was to tall for her to get a shot through that she was comfortable with. Finally one of the bucks caught movement and stood up! This was her moment! Then I heard a noise and it wasn't a good one. A truck was coming up the road and I had to call her off from shooting. To make matters worse the truck spooked all the bucks across the road. I was heart broken but I knew they may be on public on that side so we ran to see if I could find them again.
All I saw was a few doe running through the bottom when my son yelled (not really but it was said with excitement) they are going up the hill dad! I hurriedly got my wife and son across the fence (legal requirements) and got her prone. I ranged the last buck, the only one to stop, at 556 yards and dialed for her. I told her to put the cross hairs behind the shoulder and a slow steady squeeze..... Boom! I thought she had missed! The dust looked like it kicked up just under the deer but it mule kicked and ran over the spine of the ridge. My son asked if he could shoot and I said yes. I didn't realize he was still dialed for 550 but when he shot he slipped on the shooting sticks and sent the shot 2ft high.... As soon as I saw his shot was high I watched and my wife's buck tipped over dead!
To say I was excited would be an understatement. I have killed a pile of animals but none gave me that excitement. This was my wife's first big game animal. She had practiced shooting to 800 yards even though we hoped for a closer shot. She couldn't believe my excitement for her because she always thought I was joking about how excited I got.
We cleaned as much out of packs as possible and I left her rifle and only took my sons rifle just in case. I also wanted to check in the next basin and see if there was a buck for him to shoot.
Once we got to the top I walked past my wife's buck to look for my son. I found a buck but could only see antlers in the sage. I will fast forward this part... I eventually got the buck to stand but my son missed him at 220 yards.
Back to my wife's buck I showed the family how to quarter and debone and then my shortest packout ever began and got us to the truck.
My wife took the deer to hang in the cooler and I took my son back out that evening. We turned up a lot of deer but only one buck that we just couldn't get a shot on for him.
The next morning we slept in due to bad weather with wind and rain that makes this Wyoming dirt the type of mud most people just don't understand.
My son woke up ready to role! He had a vendetta now that he had missed his first big game animal. He was looking for his first mule deer and was ready to go!
We took off in the side by side to try to avoid some of the mud that we nearly got stuck in the night before. Shortly after camp we started turning up deer but they were either on private or they were only doe.
As we made our way to the cliffs (of insanity) I saw a group of deer in the sage. As I glassed I told him there was a small buck there. At first I thought he was going to pass but that thought was fleeting as he got his rifle out of the case! I ranged and they were 550ish. I wanted him closer. I fully believe he could make the shot but I wasn't risking it. We got to 346 yards and that was as close as I could. He got settled on his shooting sticks and proceeded to slap the trigger for a clean miss again. I calmed him down and walked him through a slow steady squeeze..... Boom! Whop! He's down!
The buck hit the ground with authority!
We began making our way to the buck when the weather turned worse than it already was. At first the wind kicked up to 40mph. Then the hail started. Then snow fell. We threw on rain gear and quartered the deer through it. My son was freezing but there was work to do. He bragged because his "pack out" was shorter than his mom's. Lol
At the last report of his rifle I realized my season was over. Wyoming had given me all of her bounty for big game for the year. My freezer is full and my heart is fuller with the memories of this years hunts. My time with family in the field will stand a brief pause but next year is coming fast with new memories to be made.
