Since MT treated us well last year for antelope, we decided to give the deer a try this year.
Grizzly and I headed to a big chunk of public land in central MT for a little late season mulie action over a long weekend. We were lucky and got about four inches of fresh snow right before we showed up. The bucks were fairly active and there was some good rutting activity going on.
The first day we got familiar with the area. It was some beautiful country to poke around in. We both saw a few small bucks and enough deer to pique our interest. The next morning I located a buck with a nice frame a long ways off. He was very preoccupied with a dozen does. I couldn’t tell how many points he had, just that he looked like he was worth following up on. Between the wind, terrain, and private property boundary headaches, it took me five hours to move in on this buck. I finally located him and his pile of does below me on a VERY steep bank soaking up the afternoon sun. As the does started to bail, he followed. He stopped at about 80 yards and took a round through the front shoulder breaking a leg. He was still on his feet and got a second round for his troubles. I generally keep shooting until they hit the ground. It happened pretty fast and when I got down to him I was very pleased.
The third day Grizzly looked over more bucks and does without firing a shot. I guess he was feeling generous because he was seeing some better bucks. The last morning of our hunt, I just slowing down the vehicle to let Grizzly out in the same spot he had been seeing deer for three days when he said “There’s a buck!!”. I thought he was full of crap because we had not been seeing ANY deer near the roads. A person had to get in and earn them in this area. Well the buck was chasing a single doe across a flat on public land about 100 yards out. Grizzly bailed out, got over the fence, and with a little fancy shooting put his MT buck quickly down.
This was a fun hunt that we will probably do again in the near future. This post is a little thin on pictures, but I know Grizzly has a few more to add. Thanks again MT for allowing a couple of Nodaks in to cull a few mentally challenged mulies from the herd! It was a great time.
Grizzly and I headed to a big chunk of public land in central MT for a little late season mulie action over a long weekend. We were lucky and got about four inches of fresh snow right before we showed up. The bucks were fairly active and there was some good rutting activity going on.
The first day we got familiar with the area. It was some beautiful country to poke around in. We both saw a few small bucks and enough deer to pique our interest. The next morning I located a buck with a nice frame a long ways off. He was very preoccupied with a dozen does. I couldn’t tell how many points he had, just that he looked like he was worth following up on. Between the wind, terrain, and private property boundary headaches, it took me five hours to move in on this buck. I finally located him and his pile of does below me on a VERY steep bank soaking up the afternoon sun. As the does started to bail, he followed. He stopped at about 80 yards and took a round through the front shoulder breaking a leg. He was still on his feet and got a second round for his troubles. I generally keep shooting until they hit the ground. It happened pretty fast and when I got down to him I was very pleased.
The third day Grizzly looked over more bucks and does without firing a shot. I guess he was feeling generous because he was seeing some better bucks. The last morning of our hunt, I just slowing down the vehicle to let Grizzly out in the same spot he had been seeing deer for three days when he said “There’s a buck!!”. I thought he was full of crap because we had not been seeing ANY deer near the roads. A person had to get in and earn them in this area. Well the buck was chasing a single doe across a flat on public land about 100 yards out. Grizzly bailed out, got over the fence, and with a little fancy shooting put his MT buck quickly down.
This was a fun hunt that we will probably do again in the near future. This post is a little thin on pictures, but I know Grizzly has a few more to add. Thanks again MT for allowing a couple of Nodaks in to cull a few mentally challenged mulies from the herd! It was a great time.
