deer_shooter
Well-known member
I just got back from Colorado last night after an uneventful 28 hour drive. I got out there early last Friday and coming through Craig, the number of trucks pulling campers, fifth wheels and toy haulers was amazing. I stopped in the Walmart there and the line of folks at the sporting goods counter was 25 deep. Murdoch's was the same. I did not expect there to be this many hunters, silly me.
I got to Maybell, set up camp and went out to do some scouting. I found a few spots that looked promising and settled on a spot for the next morning.
Saturday, I was up at 4am and a mile or so deep in to public just before first light. As it became light enough to see, the trucks and ATV's started to pour in and pretty soon I was surrounded so I packed up and went on a walkabout. Five and a half miles and not a deer to be seen but if there were a season on lifted dodge trucks, I could have tagged out very quickly.
Fortunately, I had spent the time to find some spots on the map with no roads although these were few and far between. One spot was a little sliver of BLM that a road crossed and opened up into about a mile square of BLM. Where the road crossed, access was very steep and rocky so Im pretty sure i was the only one around who would give it a go. After a grunt to get up to the top it was perfect country, rolling hills and small drainages. It didn't take long to glass up a few does but no bucks so i kept walking. The does saw me and trotted off towards a hill and stopped to look at me before starting over. I glassed them as they went and low and behold, there a was a buck! Not sure where he came from but no opportunity at a shot as they disappeared. I went in that general direction and didn't see anything. I kept going and went over another rise and spotted a couple deer. I dropped down and crawled to where I could glass. There were about 6 or 8 does, one of which was locked on me. With them was a bigger bodied deer and when he looked up, I could see he was big. Real big. I tried getting in to a position for a shot but he was busy rounding up his does and pushing them towards private. He stopped broadside at 300 yards behind a sage brush that covered his vitals and he paused briefly before jumping the fence on to private but I didn't feel good about the shot so I didn't take it. It was a fun encounter and was awesome to see a deer like that on public. From what I could see he was a 4x4 with eye guards, tall and around 26" wide. Since they were only nervous and not spooked, I backed out and planned to let the area rest a day or two.
Sunday I tried another location and put in several miles and turned up a lot of antelope, enough rabbits and hares to make me wish I'd brought a 22 and a young badger that waddled past me. On to another patch of BLM and soon glassed up a deer rump about a mile and a half away. I took off in that direction and finally caught up only to find it was a spike traveling with a forky. Another piece of BLM I wanted to check out that day had 4 campers parked in the middle of it. The last spot I checked out Sunday was a large basin that lots of trucks stopped to glass but no one got out. I figured it wouldn't hurt to go for a walk down in and didn't take long to glass up a group of does about a 1000 yards away and another group about a mile away. I also spotted a flock of turkeys feeding along. I was losing light fast so I tried to get closer to the deer nearest to me. I got busted of course and never did get to see if there was a buck with them.
Monday morning I went back to the area i saw the big deer on Saturday and could not find him. I did glass up three does and had great time working my way close enough to see what was doing. Sure enough, there was a decent buck with them. By now the does were getting a bit nervous and trying to get the buck to move but he seemed content feeding. I had run out of good cover and still too far for a shot so ended up belly crawling about 150 yards to a better position, and I am still digging cactus out of me. By the time I got to where I wanted to be, the does had moved and were almost over a rise with the buck trailing behind. I had to quickly get on him and settle in. He stopped broadside and I let one fly. I heard the hit and saw him stumble but make it out of sight before I could shoot again. I later ranged the shot at 340 yards. I went to where I last saw him and found blood which dried up after about 50 yards. I walked in that general direction and over another small rise and saw the 3 does looking back at me. I dropped down scanning for the buck and found a buck trotting towards the does. It didn't seem right that he was moving so well so I scanned the area some more and found another buck about 100 yards behind the others, moving much slower and wobbly. I was able to put a finishing shot on him and down he went. Very fun hunt and glad to get what is to me a nice 4x4. Despite seeing dozens and dozens of trucks and side by sides, according to my GPS, I logged in just over 32 miles on foot in 3 days and never saw another hunter in the field.
This is the area I got him, I shot from the top of the hill on the left of center
Had to stop for a dilly bar on the way home.
I got to Maybell, set up camp and went out to do some scouting. I found a few spots that looked promising and settled on a spot for the next morning.
Saturday, I was up at 4am and a mile or so deep in to public just before first light. As it became light enough to see, the trucks and ATV's started to pour in and pretty soon I was surrounded so I packed up and went on a walkabout. Five and a half miles and not a deer to be seen but if there were a season on lifted dodge trucks, I could have tagged out very quickly.
Fortunately, I had spent the time to find some spots on the map with no roads although these were few and far between. One spot was a little sliver of BLM that a road crossed and opened up into about a mile square of BLM. Where the road crossed, access was very steep and rocky so Im pretty sure i was the only one around who would give it a go. After a grunt to get up to the top it was perfect country, rolling hills and small drainages. It didn't take long to glass up a few does but no bucks so i kept walking. The does saw me and trotted off towards a hill and stopped to look at me before starting over. I glassed them as they went and low and behold, there a was a buck! Not sure where he came from but no opportunity at a shot as they disappeared. I went in that general direction and didn't see anything. I kept going and went over another rise and spotted a couple deer. I dropped down and crawled to where I could glass. There were about 6 or 8 does, one of which was locked on me. With them was a bigger bodied deer and when he looked up, I could see he was big. Real big. I tried getting in to a position for a shot but he was busy rounding up his does and pushing them towards private. He stopped broadside at 300 yards behind a sage brush that covered his vitals and he paused briefly before jumping the fence on to private but I didn't feel good about the shot so I didn't take it. It was a fun encounter and was awesome to see a deer like that on public. From what I could see he was a 4x4 with eye guards, tall and around 26" wide. Since they were only nervous and not spooked, I backed out and planned to let the area rest a day or two.
Sunday I tried another location and put in several miles and turned up a lot of antelope, enough rabbits and hares to make me wish I'd brought a 22 and a young badger that waddled past me. On to another patch of BLM and soon glassed up a deer rump about a mile and a half away. I took off in that direction and finally caught up only to find it was a spike traveling with a forky. Another piece of BLM I wanted to check out that day had 4 campers parked in the middle of it. The last spot I checked out Sunday was a large basin that lots of trucks stopped to glass but no one got out. I figured it wouldn't hurt to go for a walk down in and didn't take long to glass up a group of does about a 1000 yards away and another group about a mile away. I also spotted a flock of turkeys feeding along. I was losing light fast so I tried to get closer to the deer nearest to me. I got busted of course and never did get to see if there was a buck with them.
Monday morning I went back to the area i saw the big deer on Saturday and could not find him. I did glass up three does and had great time working my way close enough to see what was doing. Sure enough, there was a decent buck with them. By now the does were getting a bit nervous and trying to get the buck to move but he seemed content feeding. I had run out of good cover and still too far for a shot so ended up belly crawling about 150 yards to a better position, and I am still digging cactus out of me. By the time I got to where I wanted to be, the does had moved and were almost over a rise with the buck trailing behind. I had to quickly get on him and settle in. He stopped broadside and I let one fly. I heard the hit and saw him stumble but make it out of sight before I could shoot again. I later ranged the shot at 340 yards. I went to where I last saw him and found blood which dried up after about 50 yards. I walked in that general direction and over another small rise and saw the 3 does looking back at me. I dropped down scanning for the buck and found a buck trotting towards the does. It didn't seem right that he was moving so well so I scanned the area some more and found another buck about 100 yards behind the others, moving much slower and wobbly. I was able to put a finishing shot on him and down he went. Very fun hunt and glad to get what is to me a nice 4x4. Despite seeing dozens and dozens of trucks and side by sides, according to my GPS, I logged in just over 32 miles on foot in 3 days and never saw another hunter in the field.
This is the area I got him, I shot from the top of the hill on the left of center
Had to stop for a dilly bar on the way home.
