I had a ton of fun hunting in MT this year. I think I experienced every type of weather possible from t shirt hunting to surviving around zero and every type of precipitation. I passed on some small Muleys early in my favorite spot and just didn't see the quality bucks that I have seen there in past years so I decided to explore some other areas that I thought looked decent in the past. At one point, I even spotted a steep, rocky ridge that resembled a dream I once had(yes, I dream about hunting) so I decided to climb it to see if the world record buck I shot in my dreams was really up there in a cleft in the rocks up on top! It was a grueling climb up to over 7000 ft and the adrenaline was flowing when I finally peered into the cleft and discovered.....
Nothing:-(.
Oh well, it made for an exciting couple of hours. On the way down, I jumped a huge whitetail that I probably should have shot but I'm kind of a Muley fanatic so I let him wander off into some thick timber.
I next tried another spot with my dad and got within a 100 yds of a crab clawed 22 ish 4x4 running with a 24ish 4x3. I looked them over good and again decided to pass. I did, however, learn something about MT law on this occasion as my dad radioed and asked if I was seeing anything. We had been separated for about 2 hrs and were about a mile apart so I gave him a brief description of the bucks I saw, told him I decided to pass, and mentioned they headed off into the draw I thought he was in. About a half hour later my dad radios and says a warden is with him and I need to work my way to his location. I, of course, comply and am wondering what the heck we have done! A short while later, I make it to the rendezvous point where I am informed by the warden that it is against Montana law to discuss wildlife over a radio. He told me that not only could I not mention where I saw wildlife and what way they were heading, but I also could not give any description of the animals or how many I had seen. Fortunately, the warden was friendly and just educated us about the law and then went on his merry way.
The weather took a nasty turn on my next trip out but bad weather has been good to me over the years so I was excited. My dad and step brother both couldn't go so I was rolling solo on this hunt. My dad was worried when I told him I was headed up high because the wind chill was brutal and he feared I might encounter a number of downed trees. I grabbed a saw, told him what gate I was going to walk from, and headed up the mountain anyway. The snow was swirling in the morning and the temp was in the single digits but I knew this was going to be my day as I'd shot two nice bucks in previous years in this area and both on days with similar weather conditions. I walked in 8 miles behind the gate on a logging rd and cut a few sets of tracks crossing the rd headed up into steep drainages. As I was walking along the rd, I saw a group of does and a small buck but never any shooters. At about 8 miles, I decided to leave the rd and head to the top of the ridge so I could drop into a drainage I saw tracks going into earlier in the day. This proved to be a wise strategy as I jumped two decent Muleys in the drainage and dropped a 4x4 plus eye guards. The ridge was steep and covered with snow so he slid about 40 yds and hung up under a log. I was excited to get to him as I had to shoot him on the run so I didn't get a chance to really analyze just how big he was. He turned out not to be a whopper but he's a beautiful buck and I'm darn grateful for him!
Since I rolled solo, I earned my trophy on the long pack out but it was worth it! Special thanks to my Dad, step mom, Michael, and MLB for the good times in MT this year:-)
