TX Panhandle Mulie 2003

[Woodrow]

Well here he is. I rough scored him last night at 161 2/8 gross and 153 3/8 net (he scored better than I thought, I guess b/c he has real good forks, mass, and tine length). This was an absolute adventure b.c we found out about the trip a week before hand and had a semi-map (meaning, not a very good one!). The place was 10,000 acres and beautiful. Northwest of Matatdor in Motley Co, off Hwy 94. We didn't see much game, but I saw this one and then another shooter on Sun morning. All in all I saw 9 mule deer (this buck, the other shooter, a 4 or 6 pt., a little 4 pt, and 5 doe) and 8 whitetail (all doe)......and a lot of pigs, one huge one. It was a great weekend and a trip I will never forget! I would love to know what this dude weighed........well over 200 field dressed, but after that we have no idea.......250 wouldn't surprise me. If you notice the blood just to the right of his nose and below his eye......that is where I shot him.......it's a crazy story! He is just over 17" inside, bases are nearly 6", and I am extremely proud!

 

[OSOK]

Congrats,

That's a great first mulie.

 

[berto]

w,

looks wider than 17-inches to me...

great buck!

berto

 

[supersider34]

Very nice buck.
Berto he said inside spread was 17".

 

[Elkhunter]

Congrats on a fine mulie and thanks for the picture.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

That's a really nice buck. So tell us the crazy story about the shot...

 

[Woodrow]

Well here goes the story: My buddy Shawn and I dropped my brother off at this windmill down in the bottom of a canyon where a bunch of draws came together……we told him we would pick him up at 11am that morning. Well Shawn and I went to a different canyon and stayed out till 10:30ish. I saw 2 mulie does and a bunch of pigs…..one really big one, and I think Shawn saw 3 mulies (2 does and a spike). We headed back to the windmill and got there about 5 minutes early w/ no sign of brother……no big deal, “he’ll be here shortly” I hoped. A little side note, he has diabetes (and can have seizures), so I worry about complications when out in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, I decide I didn’t want to waste time, so I climbed to the top of the windmill to scan the area for movement (both deer and brother, but mostly deer). After 10-15 minutes up there I told Shawn to honk the horn, maybe little brother needs some direction. He honks the horn and it wasn’t 2-3 minutes later that I spot a mulie doe kinda headed our way down the side of one of the draws. “Shawn, there’s a doe.” He immediately grabs his rifle, just in case. Then there is another doe. “Shawn, there’s another one, they are headed this way kinda.” Shawn now wants some better directions. Keep in mind, I am about 25 foot up in this thing, so I didn’t want to talk too loud. Oh, and the wind was blowing pretty good from the deer to us, so we did have the wind in our favor, I really don’t think they heard the horn by the path the took. But at the same time, when Shawn hunted west Texas for mulies he said those suckers came to the horn like cattle cause that was the signal that the windmill was getting turned on. So who knows? Well, after another 30 seconds or so I see another deer, “It’s a buck.” “How big.” “Can’t tell.” I got another look as he went into the brush, “I think he’s a shooter!” So I climb down in record time, and since Shawn already had his gun in his hand I panicked. I thought since I spotted him I should get the first shot, but didn’t know what Shawn was thinking, so I was in a rush…….I figured the best chance to get the shot off first was up the windmill. Shawn was like, “hey, let’s go around the side of this ridge and pop over the top of it.” “Good idea.” As we work our way around, selfishly all I can think of is who is going to take the shot. We get to where we want to be, creep up, and there they are about 125 yards out looking at us. We both get our guns up and I see good forks on one side, that is what I wanted……….I still didn’t know if Shawn was about to shoot, so I made a big mistake, I rushed the shot and just threw it up at the base of his neck, boom. He took several steps down hill and Shawn says, “If I get a shot do you want me to take it?” I said “Yea!”……but as soon as I said it I regretted it b/c I didn’t know if I had hit or missed him……I wanted to take the next shot too! So at this point he is looking at us from behind a cedar tree, all I can see is his head. Since I didn’t know if he was fixing to bolt or if Shawn was about to shoot, I took the shot, aiming this time! I put on the base of his head, boom…….down he goes.

After several seconds, we looked at each other shocked at what had just taken place. After several minutes, I was like, “Where in the heck is my brother!?” We waited another 10 minutes and went to take a look at him.

He was much bigger than we had realized……both in body and in rack! It had happened so fast. His body, especially his neck, was huge! And his rack had great mass and height. The first shot had hit him in the neck, but was not fatal at all, went through his wind pipe. I was very fortunate to get a second shot! The kill shot entered between the eye and nose, broke his jaw and came to rest in his spinal area. No exit, but a ton of thick blood coming out of his mouth (and some serious damage as we boiled the skull last night). I can’t believe how bad the first shot was, but I guess that is one of the reasons it is hunting and not shooting. Come to find out Shawn never had his gun off fire for the first shot! Just like I would have been in his situation…….. I shouldn’t have rushed!

To be honest, I couldn’t totally enjoy the moment as much as I would have liked because my little brother was still missing……now about 30 minutes late. We drug the buck back to the truck……only 150 yards, and we were whipped! So we did the picture thing, filled out the tag, and discussed what had just happened. Then we field dressed him and loaded him up……still no brother, an hour later. We decided to go back to camp and see if my father in law had picked him up and not bothered to tell us. Got back to camp……no father in law, no brother. The rest is of no consequence to the story I guess, so I will just say that my brother was real turned around and was in fine health when we found him at 2!……I was mad b/c he hadn’t paid attention to the time or direction (especially in a completely foreign area to us, but since he was okay, I didn’t say anything.


Once things got settled down I could take it all in………this was a dream hunt for me with a great trophy. It is crazy how things can happen in the woods, that is why my eyes are always scanning………

Turns out if I scored him accurately the buck should easily qualify for the Texas Big Game Awards! This has been a banner year for me: My biggest speckled trout, my biggest whitetail, and now my biggest mulie! I love the outdoors! And still a lot of hunting yet to be done this year……..

 

[mtmiller]

That is a great story and very nice buck Woodrow. Congrats on the banner season and I hope it continues. What is next, biggest pig ever.

 

[Elkhunter]

Thanks for the story Woodrow. Noce going on the buck. Maybe you little brother could use a GPS for Christmas from his big brother.

 

[ELKCHSR]

Great Pics!!!
Great Story!!!
Great animals..
Way to go and major congrats!!!

 

[Woodrow]

Thanks for the nice words, I have been crazy busy lately. They are actually making me work at work....

I have atleast 3 deer hunts left this year and one buck tag to work with....

MTMILLER, I would love to shoot a big ole pig. I have killed a few smaller ones, but never a biggun...though I got one on film in the panhandle that was huge.

Good Hunting.......

 

[chambero]

Texas has some great mulies. Here is mine I took in 2001 near Pampa.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 12-19-2003 12:29: Message edited by: chambero ]</font>