Lucas's '05 Muzzy Buck

L

lucdavis

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LAST EDITED ON Oct-03-05 AT 11:56AM (MST)[p]Well... most of the bucks I had been filming this summer were a little too smart for me. (Big suprise!) So on Friday night, instead of going home empty handed, I shot this decent little 3x4, 21 1/2" with eyeguards.

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-Lucas :)~

http://www.monstermuleys.com/cgi-bin/stories/site.pl?page=lucasdavis10103
 
Nice buck, I miss this year going on the Muzzy hunt. What is the story behind it?

Mark
 
Nice buck man, congrats.

Keep the Sun at Your Back and the Wind in Your Face
 
Ok, so will try to write a short story...

Well, opening night we packed it up and headed out to our new camp for the year. It's about 6 miles in... (according to the pedometer) to our camp and is in the same area we usually hunt. But we thought this a better spot... better cover, shorter hike and better access to the areas we usually see bucks. This summer we had already hauled in about 6+ gallons of water, a 5-gallon bucket full of food and my friend carried in his supply of Mountain Dew. As a few of you remember, I posted some video from this summer of a few nice bucks that I had taped. And I was hoping to get a crack at 2 or 3 of them.

http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/DCForumID6/10490.html

Well, the sun came up Wednesday morning... and before I could even leave camp, I was able to spot the 23ish 5x5 and a smaller buck feeding about a mile from camp. I looked him over again and again, but decided unless he wanders right to the end of my barrel, I'm gonna pass. It's the 1st buck we saw and I think I can find better... so we let him slide.

Well, the day was rather unproductive, and besides a few small pencil heads and forkies... we turned up nothing. At this point, I would have been glad to have shot the 5x5. That evening, we glassed and glassed, and spotted a couple of decent 20ish bucks but nothing more. As we stood up to move to the next basin to glass, I glanced up and there was the 5x5 and his friend, not 50 yards from where we had seen them that morning. I sat down and tried to line up a shot... but he wandered over the ridge before I felt comfortable with my rest. We snuck around the bottom... and he obviously has snuck somewhere too. Never saw him again.

Thursday morning, I spotted the 30"+ 3-pt from the film. He was feeding within 10 yards of where I saw him this summer and I decided under the circumstances, he was a shooter, ugly or not. Our game plan was to wait him out, let him feed into the next basin and hope to catch him there before he dissappeared. We waited patiently for him to feed his way up and over for about 45 minutes. He finally cleared and we scooted across to find him. Well, we found him, along with 3 or 4 smaller bucks and about 15 does. Hardly ideal circumstances... and there in the open on a shady slope surrounded by does he bedded. Which was both good and bad... because the range finder dialed him in at 302 yards. I knew the gun was capable... but after missing a couple at 200 last year, I was nervous to say the least. But after reviewing the situation and knowing I had a good solid rest. I let one fly... and I guess it might still be doing that because it made him slightly nervous, and that was about it. He gathered his crew and dissapeared over the ridge... and that was the last time I saw him. LOL.

We then decided to head the other direction from camp and see what we could stir up that direction. About 1 1/2 miles from camp we were on our way up the trail and looked down just in time to see a deer. Well, at 1st glance... we had neglected to see the paws and the tail. A large cat (the biggest I've seen by far anyway) was taking a little sunbath at about 240 yards below us. He stretched and then he slunk into the trees... that kind of thing can give you the willies. And given the 1 deer a week theory, that might explain the lack of deer in that area compared to usual. Needless to say, we didn't turn much up after that.

Friday morning we were off to our old haunts. We made our way out to the ridge where I had shot my biggest buck 2 years ago. (See link below.) My friend had gone out the dry side to make a full loop and come back through the thick shady Aspens on his way back. I had slithered into the close edge and just enjoyed the canopy and the stillness of the woods. A few does fed within 75 yards of me and I had spotted a forky and a doe feeding 100 yards above me. After about an hour or so... the forrest started to move. Deer were scattering all around me when I spotted a large bodied buck moving below me. He couldn't have been more than 60 yards, but through the thicket at a pace, I couldn't tell you anything more than he was dark horned, pretty heavy and fairly tall. He slipped out the bottom before I could get anything more than that. Just then, my friend showed up... wondering he hadn't heard me shoot. We talked for a few, then found a nice little stand of Aspens on the way back to take a nap in. Soon after the nap we made our way back to the top to glass. After a few short minutes... we turned up very few deer. But 1 in particuliar was the size of a horse, about 2 miles away and I could see antler and lots of it. He was in a very rough cliffy area and the access was pretty much nil. Needless to say, I wasn't up to the challenge... so my buddy bailed and was on his way. I made my way back over the same direction and it was starting get later in the afternoon on Friday. Well, since I had no deer last year I was ready for a meat buck. On my way back up, I encountered a pencil-head at about 100 yards. And while venison veal sounded good, I didn't have the heart to smoke him. So I made my way around one last canyon to await the end of my hunt. I arrived in the next canyon and saw a few smaller forkies a few hundred yards to my side and thought, if they get any closer I'd take one. Meanwhile, I tried to glass down into the cliffs where I had seen the horse. I never could find it, but finally saw my friend atop a ridge, glassing, then sneaking back over. About 10 minutes later... I heard the shot. I glassed and I glassed... but turned up nothing. Meanwhile, deer were coming out of the woodwork. A couple minutes later, still glassing intently, I realized I had been checking the wrong spot and glassed down to where he was. And there, about 400 yards down the mountain was the biggest deer I have ever seen... you wouldn't believe me if I told you. He stood... turned and trotted out of sight.

About that time... a decent buck had wandered into the canyon I was in. Headed right towards me... I figured him to be a 20ish 2x3 and he was all mine. Then, 2 does bounced over the hill and pushed him the wrong direction. He stopped roughly 240 yards downhill from me. But only about 150 yards horizontally. After reviewing the shot for a few minutes, and him not moving. I let it fly... and I must not have been too far off. He stood there, and so I let another fly. And he still hadn't moved. So I gave up... pretty soon, I saw 2 bucks similiar in his size leaving the canyon and he wasn't there. Dissapointed I had decided to focus on a smaller buck... but at this point, my friend had made his way back up the canyon and asked me if I shot one. I told him no... but told him my story and he said that my 1st shot had definately hit something. From where I was I glassed back down and the buck was still in the same spot I had shot at him before. I was like... maybe I did hit him. So I asked him to go down there while I spotted. I directed him close and soon he yelled up that there was a huge foamy blood puddle and that he was hit. 30 yards down the hill, he layed... At this point, it was 7:40ish and I scurried down to see my buck before it got too dark to see. And the picture above is what I saw... a bit bigger than I had originally estimated and my 2nd biggest buck to date. I should give him more credit. We gutted him out and returned the next morning to de-bone him and pack him out.

So much for a short story... thanks to Brian K. for being such a manly man and the best hunter I know. (Even if you did miss the pig!!)

-Lucas :)~

http://www.monstermuleys.com/cgi-bin/stories/site.pl?page=lucasdavis10103
 

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