Dwreckers
Well-known member
Since May after figuring out we drew Montana deer tags I’ve been giddy as ever waiting for November to finally roll around. As the trip neared I got ahold of my good buddy who was coming on the trip that I wanted to propose to my girlfriend finally.
Day 1: Showed up to town and got gas before heading out to the hunting grounds. Spent the next few hours setting up the wall tent gathering fire wood and checking to make sure our rifles were zero’d. When we finally headed out for the last evening we went right behind camp and found about 20 does and 1 spike.
Day 2: The next morning we decided to split up my buddy going solo and me and the gf going down a different ravine. We spent the first morning passing on small bucks and glassing up does with no bucks tending yet. We were only gone from the truck less than an hour before we heard a gunshot but thought nothing of it. We made a 5 mile loop stopping and glassing ravines before I finally got ahold of my buddy who said he had shot a tall 4x4 and already packed it back to the truck solo. Once we met up with him at the truck we ran back to camp to drop his meat in the cooler and headed back out to a new area. Within an hour across the basin my buddy glasses up 6 deer way off in the distance. We could tell it was a big buck tending some does but they were moving fast so we knew we had to too. We moved as fast as possible down in the ravines to try and cut him off to no avail. He just disappeared! We found his does but no sign of him. Shooting light ended so we decided to head back to camp the long way as to not bump any deer.
Day 3: The morning started off with about 3” of snow on the ground (finally! Always wanted to deer hunt in the snow). We started the morning off heading down farther in the ravine than where we saw the buck. It was cold with wind chill being about 0 degrees. Slow start with just 2 small groups of does and a spike. We decided to head North and get closer to where we saw the buck last night. When we decided to head north there were a few smaller ravines I knew we just couldn’t walk by without checking them. As we were walking we stopped to talk about our game plan and about 300 yards away I catch a buck crossing this small ravine. I could tell it was a decent buck so we decided to make a move on it to get a better look. We started to make our stalk to where we last saw him and a few does came up out of the ravine. We got ready to shoot in case he followed. The does made their way slowly out and away from us but no buck following. We continued to push closer to the edge of the ravine and about 150 yards out from the ravine I turned to my left and just laugh cuz the truck was right there. I was like “hey, easy pack out if we get him”.
We finally edge up to the ravine slowly pushing forward with Abbie on the shooting sticks ready for a close shot. My buddy stayed back and after a minute he waves his hands that he sees the buck. He made his way towards where we initially saw him. We made a quick push to the edge of a knoll where we caught up with him. Abbie was standing there on the shooting sticks and the deer turns to look at us at a very hard quartering away angle. We told her she had time and to wait for him to take a few steps forward for a better shot. After about a minute he turns closer to us and I have the binos on him and I’m like I can’t even tell what he is. Soon as I said that Abbie steadied herself and let the 7mm ring out! The buck jolted and only went about 15 yards downhill as he crashed. After some quick celebration we made our way to the buck. After confirming he was out we proceeded to take pictures. He was a beautiful little 5x4 with some cool characteristics. I finally took my place next to her and my buddy said “I’m recording”. Abbie then turned to me as I knelt down to propose. She was completely overwhelmed with shooting her first mule deer buck and then getting a ring. After some emotional few minutes we took a few more pictures. While not the biggest buck in the unit by far it was the most memorable deer I’ll remember it forever like it just happened yesterday...
Day 1: Showed up to town and got gas before heading out to the hunting grounds. Spent the next few hours setting up the wall tent gathering fire wood and checking to make sure our rifles were zero’d. When we finally headed out for the last evening we went right behind camp and found about 20 does and 1 spike.
Day 2: The next morning we decided to split up my buddy going solo and me and the gf going down a different ravine. We spent the first morning passing on small bucks and glassing up does with no bucks tending yet. We were only gone from the truck less than an hour before we heard a gunshot but thought nothing of it. We made a 5 mile loop stopping and glassing ravines before I finally got ahold of my buddy who said he had shot a tall 4x4 and already packed it back to the truck solo. Once we met up with him at the truck we ran back to camp to drop his meat in the cooler and headed back out to a new area. Within an hour across the basin my buddy glasses up 6 deer way off in the distance. We could tell it was a big buck tending some does but they were moving fast so we knew we had to too. We moved as fast as possible down in the ravines to try and cut him off to no avail. He just disappeared! We found his does but no sign of him. Shooting light ended so we decided to head back to camp the long way as to not bump any deer.
Day 3: The morning started off with about 3” of snow on the ground (finally! Always wanted to deer hunt in the snow). We started the morning off heading down farther in the ravine than where we saw the buck. It was cold with wind chill being about 0 degrees. Slow start with just 2 small groups of does and a spike. We decided to head North and get closer to where we saw the buck last night. When we decided to head north there were a few smaller ravines I knew we just couldn’t walk by without checking them. As we were walking we stopped to talk about our game plan and about 300 yards away I catch a buck crossing this small ravine. I could tell it was a decent buck so we decided to make a move on it to get a better look. We started to make our stalk to where we last saw him and a few does came up out of the ravine. We got ready to shoot in case he followed. The does made their way slowly out and away from us but no buck following. We continued to push closer to the edge of the ravine and about 150 yards out from the ravine I turned to my left and just laugh cuz the truck was right there. I was like “hey, easy pack out if we get him”.
We finally edge up to the ravine slowly pushing forward with Abbie on the shooting sticks ready for a close shot. My buddy stayed back and after a minute he waves his hands that he sees the buck. He made his way towards where we initially saw him. We made a quick push to the edge of a knoll where we caught up with him. Abbie was standing there on the shooting sticks and the deer turns to look at us at a very hard quartering away angle. We told her she had time and to wait for him to take a few steps forward for a better shot. After about a minute he turns closer to us and I have the binos on him and I’m like I can’t even tell what he is. Soon as I said that Abbie steadied herself and let the 7mm ring out! The buck jolted and only went about 15 yards downhill as he crashed. After some quick celebration we made our way to the buck. After confirming he was out we proceeded to take pictures. He was a beautiful little 5x4 with some cool characteristics. I finally took my place next to her and my buddy said “I’m recording”. Abbie then turned to me as I knelt down to propose. She was completely overwhelmed with shooting her first mule deer buck and then getting a ring. After some emotional few minutes we took a few more pictures. While not the biggest buck in the unit by far it was the most memorable deer I’ll remember it forever like it just happened yesterday...
