ERSS
Well-known member
Drew a muley either sex tag this year in the area I live in. Spent a lot of time scouting and found some great bucks, but was unable to get permission to hunt on some of the ground where the biggest bucks had been hanging out Aug thru Sept. My tag ran early Oct thru mid Nov, and since between the wife and I there were some other tags to try to fill, I let this one go to the end hoping I could catch part of the rut. Went out on Wed AM and got into a lot of deer and a few small bucks but nothing to write home about and nothing within the 100 yard limit I set for myself with a muzzleloader.
Hunt closed Saturday, and I had the whole day to make a go of it. Good friend came with me and provided an excellent second pair of eyes.....and much needed strong back. Friday night the wind was howling, snowing sideways and in the single digits without the wind chill. Had serious thoughts about just staying in bed come morning. When the alarm went off, I channeled my inner Buzz and we hit the hill in the dark. Long story short, we were in deer all day. Most of the morning was spent glassing the sage and trying to stalk big groups of deer with minimal cover. Figuring with the rut starting, if we closed in on the does, the bucks would be there. Did spot two nice bucks, both appeared to be solid 4 points . First was 230 yards away and saw us first. The second was a great buck and as I was trying to close the gap on hands and knees in the sage, there was 3 quick shots below us and the deer blew out of there. We spotted a group of three hunters down at the bottom of the hill hitting the edges of the fields and they were spooking lots of deer in front of them. In trying to get in a position above the deer they spooked, I spooked them back down to them and they dropped a 2 point. We went down and talked with / congratulated them . Great guys who knew the area well. Turns out their first three shots, that spooked the buck I was stalking, were at a coyote that ran in front of them. Just my luck.
We headed back up and around toward the truck, it was now closing in on 1300 and I assumed the majority of deer in the area had been pushed pretty hard, and were on high alert. My buddy spotted a group of does up ahead that were feeding, unaware we were near. Then as they topped a rise and dropped into a bowl, a nice buck skylined himself before going over. The stalk was on. Cedar to Cedar, sage to sage and rock to rock we closed the gap. Some does knew we were there, but the buck could care less as he ran from doe to doe. I had a small window as he cleared some does and was just about to go behind a tree and took the shot off hand at just under a 100 yards. The deer scattered and doe after doe headed up the hill. The buck took a few steps, stopped, and then slowly walked over a small rise. After a few minutes of "where did he go" and a hurried reload , we found him in chest deep sage not far from where he was hit. The snow made the long drag out a little easier. All in all, an awesome day spent with a good friend. He's no monster, but I'm happy with this last day, below zero buck!
Hunt closed Saturday, and I had the whole day to make a go of it. Good friend came with me and provided an excellent second pair of eyes.....and much needed strong back. Friday night the wind was howling, snowing sideways and in the single digits without the wind chill. Had serious thoughts about just staying in bed come morning. When the alarm went off, I channeled my inner Buzz and we hit the hill in the dark. Long story short, we were in deer all day. Most of the morning was spent glassing the sage and trying to stalk big groups of deer with minimal cover. Figuring with the rut starting, if we closed in on the does, the bucks would be there. Did spot two nice bucks, both appeared to be solid 4 points . First was 230 yards away and saw us first. The second was a great buck and as I was trying to close the gap on hands and knees in the sage, there was 3 quick shots below us and the deer blew out of there. We spotted a group of three hunters down at the bottom of the hill hitting the edges of the fields and they were spooking lots of deer in front of them. In trying to get in a position above the deer they spooked, I spooked them back down to them and they dropped a 2 point. We went down and talked with / congratulated them . Great guys who knew the area well. Turns out their first three shots, that spooked the buck I was stalking, were at a coyote that ran in front of them. Just my luck.
We headed back up and around toward the truck, it was now closing in on 1300 and I assumed the majority of deer in the area had been pushed pretty hard, and were on high alert. My buddy spotted a group of does up ahead that were feeding, unaware we were near. Then as they topped a rise and dropped into a bowl, a nice buck skylined himself before going over. The stalk was on. Cedar to Cedar, sage to sage and rock to rock we closed the gap. Some does knew we were there, but the buck could care less as he ran from doe to doe. I had a small window as he cleared some does and was just about to go behind a tree and took the shot off hand at just under a 100 yards. The deer scattered and doe after doe headed up the hill. The buck took a few steps, stopped, and then slowly walked over a small rise. After a few minutes of "where did he go" and a hurried reload , we found him in chest deep sage not far from where he was hit. The snow made the long drag out a little easier. All in all, an awesome day spent with a good friend. He's no monster, but I'm happy with this last day, below zero buck!
