My biggest/longest road trip yet.

[4ohSick]

Totally fine at highway speeds? How does it handle rain and snow?

I have a Softopper on my Ram 2500. At 70+ mph, you can definitely see the wind pushing the sides in, but the hardware and fasteners have all held up fine over several years of use. Heavy snow on top will definitely stress the frame - if you park outside with heavy snow regularly, you'll want to brush off the snow if it's more than a few inches. The truck primarily tows a fifth wheel all summer, so the ability to quickly remove it without help is super nice.

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

I’m seeing some deer. I saw eight last night hiking in. One Forky. I’ve seen 49 today. A couple small bucks and one real nice one. Also small saw a small tarantula and a bunch of bear tracks. Also feral horses. Season opens tomorrow. I have some signal up on my glassing ridge.

 

[Valley1320]

I'm ready to see a opening day monster buck hit the ground tomorrow

 

[Keep on]

That big mulie is built like a tank, gonna be some work to haul that one out. Good luck.

 

[mevertsen]

Yeah. That's a good buck

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

Ended up seeing over 80 deer today. Most deer I’ve ever seen in one day on a hunt. I saw a couple of little bucks tonight not shooters. Hopefully a good one filters through sometime in the next five days.

for tomorrow!

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

Signal is terrible. Here’s a teaser.

 

[Valley1320]

Signal is terrible. Here’s a teaser.

View attachment 346379

You just can't keep your finger off the trigger can you

 

[Keep on]

That didn't take long, congrats.

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

I arrived in New Mexico midday on Thursday. Found a good spot to shoot my rifle and began to organize my gear to hike in to my camping spot. I didn’t arrive to my camping spot until after dark and got my tent all set up ready for a day of scouting the next day. I’d seen eight deer on the way in including a forky buck and a handful of does.

The next morning I woke up and looking through my gear and realized I had brought everything that I needed except for my phone cord. I use onX pretty religiously so I knew that I had to go back and get my cord but my plan was to scout and glass that morning then hike out the 4 1/2 miles to the truck get my cord then come back in 4 1/2 miles in time to glass that evening. I set out that morning and after about 20 minutes, I found a rock out cropping that I thought would give me a good viewpoint of the area I was thinking I would hunt. I got up there looking around and deer began to pop out everywhere that morning. I saw close to 50 deer before 9 o’clock, including that nice buck posted a picture of earlier. I headed back to the tent to hike to the truck and get my cord. I took a break at the truck and ate some food rested up and then headed back in arriving at my tent before 5pm and back up on the ridge to glass for the evening. That evening I saw another 30 or 40 deer and a few small bucks but nothing big.

Back at my tent, I got everything organized for opening morning and set my alarm a little bit earlier because once it’s hunting season, I like to get to my spots early to glass so I know everything’s ready to go once the sun comes up. I arrived about 30 minutes before legal shooting time and made some oatmeal while I waited for the sun to come up. Legal shooting time was just before 7 AM according to the chart that I had saved a picture of before heading in. As the sun came up, I started to hear shots and four different times after hearing shots on the road miles away I heard a group of turkeys gobble. This is so crazy to me. Back home I’ve only ever heard turkey gobble in the spring so to hear birds shock gobble in late October is so crazy.

Because of my location and the sun coming up behind the ridge, it was a great spot to glass, but it took an extra few minutes to be able to see after legal light. About 7:15 I saw a group of does walking down the ridge from my right to left, I counted eight. As they worked their way to the bottom, I noticed there were more deer coming behind them. There were a few openings that I had seen a lot of deer go through the day before and I thought there was a good chance that history would repeat itself. I was correct and as the deer started filtering through that opening, I realized it was more than eight. Dear after deer came through when all the sudden I saw a huge body deer with a tall rack. I didn’t know how wide the deer was. I could just tell it was a big body and tall rack. I had already ranged that opening at 300 yards and I quickly dialed my rifle and got set up. The buck walked into the opening. I put my crosshairs on the spot where the neck in the body come together, knowing that his movement would carry the shot right behind the shoulder. The gun recoiled as the bullet zipped perfectly through him. It was 7:22 AM.

Five minutes later, as I was gathering my things I looked down below me and saw another hunter standing on the closed road 100 yards up from where I just shot. I was surprised. I got down to the road and met a super nice guy named Chris who peruses Hunttalk from time to time. My buck was laying on the edge of the closed road. He was a dandy, absolutely massive body with a beautiful rack, a 4x4 with eye guards. The main beam on his right side tips down which I think is really cool. Chris was kind enough to take pictures for me. We stood there and visited for 15 minutes and he offered to help me, but there was no way I was going to let him with so many deer strolling around on opening day. He had hiked in off some private land that he had access to. We exchanged information and he told me if I needed anything to let him know, and I told him to keep me posted on the success of his hunt.

I took my time getting the deer broken down. I really wasn’t in a hurry or anything. I completely boned out the buck and loaded everything except for the cape and antlers on my back. It was heavy. I began working my way back towards the truck. I took a few breaks here and there but eventually I made it back to the truck that’s where I am now. The pack was 101lbs.

I cooked some good food last night. I also got checked by a local game warden who was a really nice guy. He couldn’t believe how far I’d hiked and was very impressed by my dear telling me it was the biggest buck that he’d seen harvested in the unit so far. My plan today is the hike back in and get my camp, the antlers and the cape and come back out. It’ll definitely be lighter than yesterday. I carried extra water in and that’s definitely not coming back out with me, lol.

Leg #1 is complete. Next up to Montana to chase speed goats.

 

[duckhunt]

Thats a great buck.

 

[noharleyyet]

Good buck…

 

[Dsnow9]

Nice work!

 

[F250]

That buck is a tank !! Congratulations !!

 

[Darkside]

AWESOME CONGRATULATIONS

 

[Valley1320]

Great buck!

 

[Wyhunter]

Always making it look easy. Great buck, congrats. Good luck on the rest of your hunts. Ill be following along

 

[ashersdad]

That's a beautiful big buck!

 

[kansasdad]

I’m betting that 9 mile stroll for the charging cable will be the last time you leave it at the truck.

Congratulations, and keep the mojo going

 

[RunNGunSC]

Great job, one down! Following the adventure from SC.