Well my mom finally got her first mule deer ever. She's only ever killed a 300" bull elk and a low 70's pronghorn before. She drew a sweet tag with dates from nov 5- nov 30. She has a bad knee and doesn't like to hike so we had to find a buck that would push the 180" mark yet still be in sight of the road.
First 2 weeks we got a snow storm at the beginning of each week. Deer were pushed low and I looked over a ton of bucks but nothing that would break 160". She was sick through the first 2.5 weeks so it was mainly scouting. Here's a couple pics of non shooters
After she got feeling better we were hunting. Found lots of not shooter bucks the 21-22. Went out the evening of the 23rd in a snow storm and only found a small 3. The next day I only could turn up smaller bucks. Was starting to get frustrated because I knew we could kill a big buck, but next to a road with not a lot of uphill/downhill hiking was constricting where I could look.
My mom wanted to take a break from the cold from thanksgiving day until Saturday. That gave us one last day on Sunday the 29th to get it done. Thankfully great friends of mine found a buck last night near an accessible area that would allow for a shot under 200 yards.
On Sunday morning we were setup on the vantage point glassing. We turned up 10 bucks which ranged from a 4 point to spikes for a span of 4-5 hours. We moved to glass another side of the canyon and still couldn't find him. It was 3:15 and pressure was on. We couldn't believe after him being watched the whole previous evening we couldn't find him! And just like that, he popped out with 5 does cruising up a little ravine. We had to wait for them to cross over a Ridge before we could make a move. They did make it over and at 4:15 I had her setup on the buck at 100 yards broadside. She smoked him and he was dead and down within 10 feet of where he was hit. He should break the 170" easy and she is happy with him. He broke off what would've been a several inch long cheater rutting though.
Glad we got it done.
First 2 weeks we got a snow storm at the beginning of each week. Deer were pushed low and I looked over a ton of bucks but nothing that would break 160". She was sick through the first 2.5 weeks so it was mainly scouting. Here's a couple pics of non shooters
After she got feeling better we were hunting. Found lots of not shooter bucks the 21-22. Went out the evening of the 23rd in a snow storm and only found a small 3. The next day I only could turn up smaller bucks. Was starting to get frustrated because I knew we could kill a big buck, but next to a road with not a lot of uphill/downhill hiking was constricting where I could look.
My mom wanted to take a break from the cold from thanksgiving day until Saturday. That gave us one last day on Sunday the 29th to get it done. Thankfully great friends of mine found a buck last night near an accessible area that would allow for a shot under 200 yards.
On Sunday morning we were setup on the vantage point glassing. We turned up 10 bucks which ranged from a 4 point to spikes for a span of 4-5 hours. We moved to glass another side of the canyon and still couldn't find him. It was 3:15 and pressure was on. We couldn't believe after him being watched the whole previous evening we couldn't find him! And just like that, he popped out with 5 does cruising up a little ravine. We had to wait for them to cross over a Ridge before we could make a move. They did make it over and at 4:15 I had her setup on the buck at 100 yards broadside. She smoked him and he was dead and down within 10 feet of where he was hit. He should break the 170" easy and she is happy with him. He broke off what would've been a several inch long cheater rutting though.
Glad we got it done.
