My First Mule Buck!

[wolftalonID]

Alright..snicker, and giggle, but it was my FIRST one...not going to be my last I am sure.

This is the one in the pics from 09 hunt. I took it with a rifle not a bow and felt guilty the whole time... I actually tossed a coin to decide gun or bow, the gun won the toss and I now know when you cheat on your bow(like a wife) you will never feel happy about the hunt...LOL

Anyway I had to finally defrost the freezer last night and took it out to clean it up. Lesson learned, dont keep a head you intend to euro mount in a canvas bag for two years in the freezer.
It had dried out a bit, so I changed my plans and just going to do a skull plate mount.

First time to clean up one so I cleaned it, boiled it, cleaned it again.
Now ready for a nice band saw and some velvet and a plaque.

 

[twp1224]

Thats a nice buck for your first Mule Deer.

 

[CoHiCntry]

No snickering or giggling here... congratulations on a nice buck! I definately wouldn't "feel guilty" about shooting it with a rifle either. You have to be willing to eat a lot of tags if your bow hunting, escpecially depending on your experience level. You took a nice buck and the experience, or respect for the animal shouldn't be belittled due to the choice of weapon. For the record I hunt with gun, muzzleloader, and bow, so I'm unbiased. Good job! Looking forward to pics of your first archery buck!

 

[Sharpstick]

It took me three years before I took my first buck with an arrow. It was a spike x two point. Nothing is easy with archery equipment and anything...I mean anything is a trophy and an accomplishment with a bow.

 

[sjsmallfield]

No laughing from here either. I've killed smaller. Anyway its about the experience not the horns. You have the rest of your life to kill a monster. Nice buck!

 

[RUTTIN]

The trophy is in the eye of the beholder, nice job. Now you can get one with a bow and make yourself feel better about cheating. Ha Ha

 

[wolftalonID]

RUTTIN it is so true. Being it was my first buck, I kept it to mount the horns. The day I took this one I did not feel well and even got a super late start out that morning. I left home about 8:30 in the morning and had it down by 9:10. I was driving up to an alpine lake I was going to scout that morning and it was just there on the road on my way in. Saw me and walked into the woods about 40 yards or so. I stopped. Watched him. Decided what the heck. Got out of the truck, went to the back, opened it up, got my rifle case. Opened the case, got my rifle, opened a shell box, loaded one shell in it. Took off the scope covers, and walked around the end of the truck to the side of the road to shoot it. It stood there and watched me do all that.
Made it seem it was too easy.
I do love the challenge of bow hunting. I have taken several does and even they can be hard to hunt, but all spot and stalk. No tree stands, no blinds, just hike till you find em and stalk em. Its always so much fun.
It will be even better when I do get a set of horns to keep doing that though.

 

[CrimsonArrow]

I've yet to take a muley buck with my bow, and would be proud to hang a tag on a deer like yours. It's just great to be able to hunt.