Just got back and had a great trip! My grandfather killed his first mule deer and I tagged out on a nice buck too. The weather was brutal and we got hit with snow in Mitchell, SD on I-90 and had to travel 400 miles West in those conditions. The weather really made for a true adventure and added to the great memories I made with my grandfather.
The ranchers of the property we hunted were as nice as anyone could be, they put Southern hospitality to shame. They went out of there way to make sure we stayed warm, let us use one of their barns so we could process our deer and shared their hot coffee with us, extremely nice folks!
Here is his first muley, we were able to put a 200 yard stalk on him and my granddad made a perfect shot (75 yards) to drop him in his tracks. This day temps were in the single digits with 40 mph wind gust with blowing snow.
Here is my buck. I spotted a buck and doe bedded on the East slope of a deep draw about a 1/2 mile away, stalked until I could get a good look him and decided he was too small. The doe got up and ran down into the draw and the buck followed, I decided to get up higher to watch them. Glad I did because a 1/4 mile away they disappeared into a small finger draw and reappeared with another deer that had a noticeably larger body. I decided to work my way down the draw to them, the buck I ended up shooting ran the smaller buck off and I found him pushing the doe in the draw.
We actually spotted a 160" buck the first day but him and the herd he was with made their way over a rise before I could do anything. I looked hard for him the next day but I didnt want to push my granddad any harder, besides this hunt came with more memories than shooting a big buck could ever provide.
Thanks to everyone that gave me advice on the rut and weather. We had an absolute blast. Rutting mule deer are something to see in action, I never once seen a solo buck and every buck we did see was chasing. The real big boys were still holed up but the weather was really nasty as well, I think the end of this week would have been fantastic if the weather let up a bit.
Here are a few other pics of the trip;
My buck a few minutes after I killed him, the snow started coming down quickly again. Everytime the weather would break another round of nasty weather would follow minutes later. He had a neck measurement behind the ears of 28", swollen neck for sure!
Here is my granddads deer, he killed it with a Browning lever action 30/06.
The ranchers of the property we hunted were as nice as anyone could be, they put Southern hospitality to shame. They went out of there way to make sure we stayed warm, let us use one of their barns so we could process our deer and shared their hot coffee with us, extremely nice folks!
Here is his first muley, we were able to put a 200 yard stalk on him and my granddad made a perfect shot (75 yards) to drop him in his tracks. This day temps were in the single digits with 40 mph wind gust with blowing snow.
Here is my buck. I spotted a buck and doe bedded on the East slope of a deep draw about a 1/2 mile away, stalked until I could get a good look him and decided he was too small. The doe got up and ran down into the draw and the buck followed, I decided to get up higher to watch them. Glad I did because a 1/4 mile away they disappeared into a small finger draw and reappeared with another deer that had a noticeably larger body. I decided to work my way down the draw to them, the buck I ended up shooting ran the smaller buck off and I found him pushing the doe in the draw.
We actually spotted a 160" buck the first day but him and the herd he was with made their way over a rise before I could do anything. I looked hard for him the next day but I didnt want to push my granddad any harder, besides this hunt came with more memories than shooting a big buck could ever provide.
Thanks to everyone that gave me advice on the rut and weather. We had an absolute blast. Rutting mule deer are something to see in action, I never once seen a solo buck and every buck we did see was chasing. The real big boys were still holed up but the weather was really nasty as well, I think the end of this week would have been fantastic if the weather let up a bit.
Here are a few other pics of the trip;
My buck a few minutes after I killed him, the snow started coming down quickly again. Everytime the weather would break another round of nasty weather would follow minutes later. He had a neck measurement behind the ears of 28", swollen neck for sure!
Here is my granddads deer, he killed it with a Browning lever action 30/06.
