twodot
New member
After watching more does and small bucks on Fri, and Sat, I got to admit that I was wondering if I should just forget the mulie and go down here on the river and hang my tag on one of the many whitetails that I see everytime I head out to hunt mule deer. After coming in Sat after dark I made the crazy decision to load everybody in the truck and head over to the Little Belts for a change of scenery. Sunday morning at 3;30 found us heading down the road west. Went to some old haunts of mine that always held deer and elk, but it wasn't happening. This was the last day of gun season and the highly visible game had long ago been shot or pushed into deeper country. Finally after a lunch in the truck trying to hide from the wind, I thought of a mountian that had a burn that would be out of the wind and I have never not seen several mule deer there. Let's go for it. We parked and I just began walking and glassing and very soon was seeing deer. Finally way up the mountian we spotted a buck pestering a doe in the burn. Then another buck showed up and they began posturing and got quite busy with one another. Now both these bucks were considerably smaller than the smallest buck I would have considered around home. Question was, would I if given the chance, shoot one of them on the last afternoon of season? While we were glassing and discussing possible stalk routes, I realized that the only thing that would keep me from it was pride. Did I want to hold out for some silly chance at a wall hanger, or go try to kill a buck with my kids and wife watching. I told everyone that ole dad was gonna try to climb up there and kill one of those bucks. Anybody want to go along? The boys did paper scissors rock to decide who got to climb up with me. Eleven year old Nash won, so he and I headed up as Sarah and Ben watched thru their binos. I had picked a large rock formation that should keep us hidden from view as we climbed into range, and told Sarah to be watching I would be shooting from there if things went well. It was a tougher climb than I had thought being one of those "gotta use all fours" to keep from falling over backwards, About 40 minutes later Nash and I peeked over our rock hoping that the bucks were still there. Sure enough the bigger of the two was standing about 200 yds up from us. One shot from the 06, and he was sliding downhill. One of the most satisfiying hunts I have ever had, just ended. Got to do the whole nasty climb, final stalk, and make a very dramatic put down all in plain view of my favorite hunting partners, my wife and both boys. We waved Sarah and Ben back when they tried to come up to help, and Nash and I quartered and took the head off the buck. We had left the camera back at the bottom with Sarah and that was the only downside to the hunt. Back down the mountian was a bit slow being I had the backstraps in my vest and carried/drug the four quarters tied together while Nash carried the head. I can't even start to describe what a fun hunt it had been, and I now have my first mule deer. Not nearly as big as I would have thought, but rates as one of my favorite hunts of all time. Well worth the wait and the effort.
