My dad, brother, uncle and myself had a great mule deer hunt. We were all able to notch our tags.
My brother was the first to draw blood. The biggest buck he had killed before this trip was a decent 2-point blacktail. I spotted this buck bedded around 11:00 and gave him the go ahead. We made a great stalk to 250 yards and waited for the buck to stand. Like it always seems to happen the buck got up and walked straight away with no shot opportunity. After about 5 minutes the buck fed into an opening and the shot found it's mark.
Next to draw blood was my uncle. We spotted this buck right at first light. We made the decision to watch him through the spotter until he bedded down. An hour later once we were confident he wouldn't move we started the stalk. After 1.5 hours of trying to avoid being spotted we were in position. Once again the buck was bedded with no shot opportunity. I ranged the buck multiple times and dialed the scope in and we got the RBros 7 mag ready to do it's job. During the wait we were able to see a droptine off of the bucks left side. My uncle laughed and said let's not talk about it until after I shoot. After an hour of waiting the buck got up and the 180 Berger put him right back into his bed. This buck had no ground shrinkage and the mass was impressive (over 40").
We moved to a new area and after many miles hiked we were able to spot a good buck bedded by himself. We spent over 20 minutes planning our stalk and picking out landmarks on where we needed to be and end up. Over half of this stalk we would be in the bucks view. We meticulously picked our way through and after 2 hours we were within 330 yards with no where else to go. During the stalk the buck re-bedded and we knew he would be harder to spot. Finally after 2 hours the buck got up and fed out into an opening (thank god!!! My neck couldn't handle much more of being prone behind the gun). My dad didn't have a shot and he told me to take him. The 180 Berger once again found it's mark and the buck started barreling down the hill towards us. I reloaded and put another through the front shoulder and he was finished. I always expect these "big" bucks to shrink the closer I get. To my surprise the forks were as deep as they looked in the spotter.
I hate being 6'5" and 255 (I make him look smaller
)
My dad was now the only one left with a tag. My dad and I hiked into a basin where I had seen a GiANT the night before but couldn't get a shot. We snuck in with deer already feeding and waited. We spotted a group of small bucks and a bunch of does feeding down. After sitting there for 2 hours we picked up some more deer feeding but nothing he wanted to shoot. Right before we were getting ready to leave I spotted a big frames buck but could only tell he had big back forks and was 27-28" wide. My dad decided he wanted to take him. We were too far away and quickly circled around the ridge. We popped over and relocated the buck. I ranged the buck and made a small adjustment to the scope and then we got my gun all ready for the shot (dad wasn't confident in his "brush" gun). My dad got behind my RBros 7RM and slowly squeezed the trigger and buck hunched up. Watching through the binos I could tell he was mortally wounded and had fell within 6 or 7 seconds of the shot. Hi-5s were flying and we couldn't wait to get to the buck. He was a 28.5" wide back forked 3. The bullet hit perfect right behind the front shoulder. We packed that buck for a couple hours in the dark to get back to the truck.
This hunt would have been a trip of a lifetime without the bucks but they are definitely icing on the cake. Nothing like sharing these moments with my family!!!
