I went into this season with the hopes of harvesting a decent sized buck (150+). I do not have a whole lot of experience hunting mule deer as I have only harvested two previously. When we arrived at our destination, the weather was mild, and the forecast called for warmer temp’s for opening day. We got our camp all setup and met up with my family. The day before the opener my good friend and hunting partner Ryan and I decided to head up around 8000’ and scout out some new country. While taking in the beautiful scenery, we could not help but notice the poor air quality due to fires in surrounding areas. After a few hours of driving around admiring the landscape, we decided to do a little bit of walking and maybe see if could find a shed or some animals to glass up. We started down this beautiful meadow along the edge of a burnt timber patch when suddenly, we heard some sticks break close. I could see movement out of the corner of my eye and realized we had just stumbled upon the biggest mule deer I have ever seen in person. We accidentally jumped him about 30 yards from where he was bedded. We had plenty of time to admire and gawk over him before he slipped into the timber. After getting back to camp and discussing the game plan for opening morning, the obvious move was to go back where we had seen that buck and see if we can track him down. After a sleepless night of strategizing and fantasizing about that deer, we arrived at our destination about 30 minutes before daylight with nobody around but us. As the sun came up, the anticipation was growing, and I was getting very antsy. Finally, as daylight broke, we began our hunt down towards the edge of the timber. As we entered the timber patch, we realized why this buck was able to go so long without being discovered. It was thick with poor visibility. Nevertheless, we did the best we could while taking our time and glassing. About 200 yards in, I glassed up ahead and saw a huge body but no head. I signaled to Ryan and he could see the antlers. Ryan said, “that’s him, take him”. By this time, the buck lifted his head. As I looked in aww through my scope, I tried to calm myself. “You already know he is the biggest deer you’ve ever seen on the hoof, stay calm and ease that trigger back.” After my short mental prep, I put the crosshairs of my 300 WSM right in the middle of his neck and squeezed the trigger. He dropped in his tracks. To our disbelief, “that really just happened!!!” As we gathered ourselves and approached the deer, we realized that he was even bigger than we had originally thought. I couldn’t help but just stare and appreciate his beauty. After taking pictures and gutting him, we managed to drag him out. Dragging a 300lb animal is never an easy task and even though I prepared for this hunt and thought I was in pretty good shape, this drag out reminded me I was indeed NOT! We finally got him back to camp and put the tape on him, he measured out at 187 5/8” gross. He is absolutely everything I ever dreamed of and more.
