DANGLER
Well-known member
Had an account postpone the sales call I was supposed to make today....... So with the mule deer rut in full swing, and a pile of unused vacation days left, I decided to head for the hill this morning.
The bucks were chasing the girls hard this morning and even befor legal shooting time, I had looked over 8 different bucks. One looked pretty interesting but was a long way off, but it just wasn't light enough to tell for sure. I watched him take his does up and over a hill toward a spot I knew very well, as I killed my 2007 buck in that same spot. I had a pretty good idea where those deer were going to end up, so I decided to file them away and keep them as a back up plan.
I headed further down the road to a private ranch I have access to, and decided to put some miles on the ol' Danners. I took a nice long walk and covered a bunch of ground, including the draw that I took my best muley in in 2006. After about 3 miles I was only able to turn up one doe and her forked horn suiter. So much for that plan.
I stopped and visited some friends in the area for a bit, and my good friend John told me he had been seeing quite a few deer in his back hay field. I checked it out, and had some fun watching 3 good bucks chase does arround for about 20 minutes. One was a pretty nice buck but lacked a front fork on one side. Another was a really young buck with 4 on each side plus about a 4" drop tine. Pretty cool looking buck, but just to young to consider seriously. I was reallllllly tempted to put my new Sako TRG .338 Lapua to work in that back field, but managed to resist. This gun is something else. I have it all set up with a Leupold Mark 4 6.5-20x50mm scope with a custom ballistic dial on it. I took my antelope at about 500 yards and can knock over bowling pins at 650. I have been just itching to reach out there and touch something, but just haven't been able to find the right buck. As much as I enjoy slipping in close and putting an arrow where it counts, there is something satisfying about knowing you can cover most of a square mile from a decent shooting position.
So after checking out a few other spots, and seeing a couple more young bucks, I decided to tighten up the laces and make the almost 2 mile trek back into the big CRP bowl I new the buck from first light had gone.
I left the truck at about 12:30 with the hope that I could peak over into each draw and find the big boy bedded with his does. In my head I envisioned a nice long shot from the prone position across a valley at a completely oblivious target. Draw after draw I turned up nothing, but as I neared the spot I figured they had ended up, I spotted a small buck and three does bedded on the face of a very steep flat top bute. They were at about 800 yards.... which even for my super tricked out sniper rifle, is pretty far so I made a big loop to come in above them and see if the big guy was near by.
As I topped the last ridge between me and the deer I had spotted, I immediatly picked up three does at about 350 yards and a small buck bedded at the base of the bute at 125 yards. I had it in my head that the big guy must be bedded just below the does. The only way to get a look at where I thought he would be was to expose myself to the little 3 point below me, but I was sure he would run the other way and not ruin my stalk. As soon as I made my move all heck broke loose. Deer were jumping up everywhere. One doe was actually bedded only 20 yards below me, and surprised the heck out of me. Well the big boy jumped up from just behind the little guy and I saw just enough to know he was a shooter before he got arround the left side of the bute. I hustled my tubby little self around right side of the bute to see if I couldn't salvage the situation and ran smack dab into the herd coming arround the far side. They were only at about 125 yards. They slammed on the breaks when they saw me, and I quickly picked up the buck in the rear of the pack. Now this is the point where I explain that a 15 pound "sniper rifle" with a very sensitive trigger is not the ideal tool for close in.... off hand... moving animal work.
Did I mention that my super high tech, does everything but pull the trigger for you scope, was set at 20X magnification...... At that distance the darn buck took up the majority of my field of view in the scope. I was quickly trying to evaluate him and decide if he was a shooter, while centering the cross hairs on his chest. As the does began to trot off, I began to take up slack on the trigger, still not completely decided on if this was the buck to wear my tag or not.... BOOOOOOOM! OUCH! The gun made the decision for me. Apparently I had more of the slack taken up on the trigger than I realized. So at this point, I was bleeding from the sudden impact of scope to my forehead.... and the buck was bleeding from a 250 grain Sierra Match King directly through the heart.
So there I sit.... wiping the blood from my brown (first time by the way)..... just shy of 2 miles from the county road and my truck. Time to start thinking about boning this bad boy out and spending the better part of 4-5 hours packing meat. After surveying the situation, I decided it wouldn't hurt to check in with the land owner (Block Management Land) to find out if there was a way he would let me get my truck closer. The guy couldn't have been nicer. Not only did he let me drive right up to the deer, he even helped me load it in the back of my pickup. It's good to live in Montana............... people here don't suck!
I'm sure there might be bigger bucks running arround but this one will do just fine for this year, and it completes my Montana trifecta (Deer, Elk, Antelope). My wallet is suddenly a little light of tags. Guess I'll have to see about getting my fall turkey, maybe even a mountain lion and hopefully a few ducks and geese. Never a dull moment here in the Big Sky State!
Good Hunting!
Elkwhisper
The bucks were chasing the girls hard this morning and even befor legal shooting time, I had looked over 8 different bucks. One looked pretty interesting but was a long way off, but it just wasn't light enough to tell for sure. I watched him take his does up and over a hill toward a spot I knew very well, as I killed my 2007 buck in that same spot. I had a pretty good idea where those deer were going to end up, so I decided to file them away and keep them as a back up plan.
I headed further down the road to a private ranch I have access to, and decided to put some miles on the ol' Danners. I took a nice long walk and covered a bunch of ground, including the draw that I took my best muley in in 2006. After about 3 miles I was only able to turn up one doe and her forked horn suiter. So much for that plan.
I stopped and visited some friends in the area for a bit, and my good friend John told me he had been seeing quite a few deer in his back hay field. I checked it out, and had some fun watching 3 good bucks chase does arround for about 20 minutes. One was a pretty nice buck but lacked a front fork on one side. Another was a really young buck with 4 on each side plus about a 4" drop tine. Pretty cool looking buck, but just to young to consider seriously. I was reallllllly tempted to put my new Sako TRG .338 Lapua to work in that back field, but managed to resist. This gun is something else. I have it all set up with a Leupold Mark 4 6.5-20x50mm scope with a custom ballistic dial on it. I took my antelope at about 500 yards and can knock over bowling pins at 650. I have been just itching to reach out there and touch something, but just haven't been able to find the right buck. As much as I enjoy slipping in close and putting an arrow where it counts, there is something satisfying about knowing you can cover most of a square mile from a decent shooting position.
So after checking out a few other spots, and seeing a couple more young bucks, I decided to tighten up the laces and make the almost 2 mile trek back into the big CRP bowl I new the buck from first light had gone.
I left the truck at about 12:30 with the hope that I could peak over into each draw and find the big boy bedded with his does. In my head I envisioned a nice long shot from the prone position across a valley at a completely oblivious target. Draw after draw I turned up nothing, but as I neared the spot I figured they had ended up, I spotted a small buck and three does bedded on the face of a very steep flat top bute. They were at about 800 yards.... which even for my super tricked out sniper rifle, is pretty far so I made a big loop to come in above them and see if the big guy was near by.
As I topped the last ridge between me and the deer I had spotted, I immediatly picked up three does at about 350 yards and a small buck bedded at the base of the bute at 125 yards. I had it in my head that the big guy must be bedded just below the does. The only way to get a look at where I thought he would be was to expose myself to the little 3 point below me, but I was sure he would run the other way and not ruin my stalk. As soon as I made my move all heck broke loose. Deer were jumping up everywhere. One doe was actually bedded only 20 yards below me, and surprised the heck out of me. Well the big boy jumped up from just behind the little guy and I saw just enough to know he was a shooter before he got arround the left side of the bute. I hustled my tubby little self around right side of the bute to see if I couldn't salvage the situation and ran smack dab into the herd coming arround the far side. They were only at about 125 yards. They slammed on the breaks when they saw me, and I quickly picked up the buck in the rear of the pack. Now this is the point where I explain that a 15 pound "sniper rifle" with a very sensitive trigger is not the ideal tool for close in.... off hand... moving animal work.
Did I mention that my super high tech, does everything but pull the trigger for you scope, was set at 20X magnification...... At that distance the darn buck took up the majority of my field of view in the scope. I was quickly trying to evaluate him and decide if he was a shooter, while centering the cross hairs on his chest. As the does began to trot off, I began to take up slack on the trigger, still not completely decided on if this was the buck to wear my tag or not.... BOOOOOOOM! OUCH! The gun made the decision for me. Apparently I had more of the slack taken up on the trigger than I realized. So at this point, I was bleeding from the sudden impact of scope to my forehead.... and the buck was bleeding from a 250 grain Sierra Match King directly through the heart.
So there I sit.... wiping the blood from my brown (first time by the way)..... just shy of 2 miles from the county road and my truck. Time to start thinking about boning this bad boy out and spending the better part of 4-5 hours packing meat. After surveying the situation, I decided it wouldn't hurt to check in with the land owner (Block Management Land) to find out if there was a way he would let me get my truck closer. The guy couldn't have been nicer. Not only did he let me drive right up to the deer, he even helped me load it in the back of my pickup. It's good to live in Montana............... people here don't suck!
I'm sure there might be bigger bucks running arround but this one will do just fine for this year, and it completes my Montana trifecta (Deer, Elk, Antelope). My wallet is suddenly a little light of tags. Guess I'll have to see about getting my fall turkey, maybe even a mountain lion and hopefully a few ducks and geese. Never a dull moment here in the Big Sky State!
Good Hunting!
Elkwhisper
