The story behind my buck from this past season actually starts on September 26th 2010. Dad, Justin, and myself had decided to try a new area for a pack in trip for elk. Until that moment I ate, slept, and breathed with the sound of elk bugles in the fall, bow in hand.
2010 had been a particularly frustrating season in pursuit of the wapiti. Blown stalk, after blown stalk. Wind change after wind change. Not filling my cow tag because in the rain I had put my rangefinder in my pocket, and was too noisy to get out 20 yards from the elk. I guessed 30, and you guessed it, right over her back. Entering the pack in, there was hope for a change of luck, but it came in the form of grey ghosts of the high country.
The evening of the 26th didn't produce any monster bulls, but it put me in some new country that held some good deer. No elk were in store with a bow that year but much had been learned, including where I would be spending some time chasing Mulies when it opened the first week of October.
On the 6th of October I found myself back in the same country, solo, with a rifle. The back story is that two of my hunting partners had killed really good deer and I was just a little bit jealous. Ok, really jealous.
The problem with this section of the back country is that the prime-time deer areas offer no real place to glass them before you are right on top of them and need to be ready to shoot. There isn't much time for real observation of the deer, just an ok he's big enough moment. I didn't want ground shrinkage, but the situation dictated that it was likely.
To make observation of deer even harder 6 inches of snow poured in on the first night as I slept in the truck at the trail head. Hiking the 2.5 miles that morning in the residual fog from the snow fall, there couldn't have been harder conditions. I blew two chances at bucks that I estimated to be over 160 B&C.
Frustration set in as I set up camp and the snow continued to fall. Two blown chances at what would have been far and away my best deer to date. A new challenge was starting, and I wanted a big deer. I wanted better than what I had ever put on the ground before.
I never got to really leave that tent as the snow kept falling and the hunt slipped away, but I had my map and a plan for 2011 started taking shape. 5 separate locations started to take shape as places that could eliminate a few of the challenges that I had encountered that season.
All of them had limited access from trails, and weren't on the beaten paths. All of them offered places where glassing was possible for long distances, and they were different than the elk country I was used to. They were higher, and often more rugged. They all offered feeding areas that bucks prefer as well as places to bed.
The end of Summer 2011 brought about scouting season and several pack ins to the area my buddy and I had determined to be the best. This hunting buddy is somewhat of a pro in my mind when it comes to big mule deer. He has several on his wall that many would consider top notch trophies, and learned from some of the best in our area. This was a chance to learn more, and a chance to grow as a deer hunter.
We quickly found that our area had some of the best hunting we could ask for. 2 days of glassing had produced several shooter bucks by my standards. All I had left was the wait.
2010 had been a particularly frustrating season in pursuit of the wapiti. Blown stalk, after blown stalk. Wind change after wind change. Not filling my cow tag because in the rain I had put my rangefinder in my pocket, and was too noisy to get out 20 yards from the elk. I guessed 30, and you guessed it, right over her back. Entering the pack in, there was hope for a change of luck, but it came in the form of grey ghosts of the high country.
The evening of the 26th didn't produce any monster bulls, but it put me in some new country that held some good deer. No elk were in store with a bow that year but much had been learned, including where I would be spending some time chasing Mulies when it opened the first week of October.
On the 6th of October I found myself back in the same country, solo, with a rifle. The back story is that two of my hunting partners had killed really good deer and I was just a little bit jealous. Ok, really jealous.
The problem with this section of the back country is that the prime-time deer areas offer no real place to glass them before you are right on top of them and need to be ready to shoot. There isn't much time for real observation of the deer, just an ok he's big enough moment. I didn't want ground shrinkage, but the situation dictated that it was likely.
To make observation of deer even harder 6 inches of snow poured in on the first night as I slept in the truck at the trail head. Hiking the 2.5 miles that morning in the residual fog from the snow fall, there couldn't have been harder conditions. I blew two chances at bucks that I estimated to be over 160 B&C.
Frustration set in as I set up camp and the snow continued to fall. Two blown chances at what would have been far and away my best deer to date. A new challenge was starting, and I wanted a big deer. I wanted better than what I had ever put on the ground before.
I never got to really leave that tent as the snow kept falling and the hunt slipped away, but I had my map and a plan for 2011 started taking shape. 5 separate locations started to take shape as places that could eliminate a few of the challenges that I had encountered that season.
All of them had limited access from trails, and weren't on the beaten paths. All of them offered places where glassing was possible for long distances, and they were different than the elk country I was used to. They were higher, and often more rugged. They all offered feeding areas that bucks prefer as well as places to bed.
The end of Summer 2011 brought about scouting season and several pack ins to the area my buddy and I had determined to be the best. This hunting buddy is somewhat of a pro in my mind when it comes to big mule deer. He has several on his wall that many would consider top notch trophies, and learned from some of the best in our area. This was a chance to learn more, and a chance to grow as a deer hunter.
We quickly found that our area had some of the best hunting we could ask for. 2 days of glassing had produced several shooter bucks by my standards. All I had left was the wait.
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