Third times a charm!

R

ridgetop

Guest
I've been wanting a good mulie buck ever since I was a kid in Jr. high, it was great to finally put it all together and tag my first muley with horns. Kind of like the old saying goes, you want what you cant have the worst, and believe me, its bad having the muley bug and living in Midwestern, mule-deerless country. My brother and I did trip to Nebraska several years ago that ended with a doe, and then againg we did a trip to Idaho for mulies that only netted a glimpse of a good one and passed up a few not worth dragging home on the Idaho trip. This year was going to be different, I just had a feeling...

Enough background? plainly put, this years muley hunt was short and sweet. It was a great hunt and I got to spend some time with Deerking. I cannot thank him enough for helping get me on this buck. We first spotted the buck hanging with a group of 5-6 does and a couple of smaller bucks at about 200 yards not quite an hour after sunrise. The wind was blowing steady and crosswise from the deer past us, and there was a nice rise between us that allowed us to get within 80 yards of them. We got set up on this little rise and took our sweet time looking the bucks over.

After a few minutes of looking at him at 10x through my scope, and Jeff through the binos, I knew it was up to me if I wanted to take him or keep looking for a better one. They were starting to feed away so a decision had to be made. We could tell he wasn?t real wide, but his rack had great backs and nice fronts, very symmetrical, decent mass and eyguards to boot. He was just too good of a buck for me to pass up, especially for my first muley buck, even with the muleymaster along. I only had a couple of days to hunt, and it was time to end the drought. It was just about as much of a slam dunk shot opportunity as you can get. His rack looked stunning in the fading shadows, and as big as a horse in my Leuopold?s crosshairs, broadside at 80 yards. I told Jeff to get ready... I was going to shoot him.

I made sure the other deer were clear, and there was not any doubt he was going down as I steadied the crosshairs with my bipod on him. At the shot the sound was a satisfying BOOOOM..twop. The 180 grain nosler partition caught him square in the center, directly behind the crease of his left front leg. He buckled, spun 180 degrees and stumbled a step or two, then dropped like a big gray bag of bricks. A few puffs of steam rose from the cold morning air in the sage as he breathed a last couple of breaths, and it was over.

?Note to self? half of a skinned big muley buck, its head, gun, backpack,and other gear, weigh a LOT more than you think. The pack out was a bit of a chore, but it was great to have Mr. Mountain Goat there to shoulder an unboned half of this 280 lb. (est. live weight) beast. Good thing it was just a short skip and a hop back to the truck. :) You might know how much DK likes to keep it easy walking and close to the road... :) Thanks again Jeff! I had a great time, and couldnt be happier with my first muley buck!

Good to see everyone elses success so far this year, and good luck to you still holding a tag for later!

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Great Buck Ridgetop! Gotta love those tall bucks. Which state did you get him in? Yeah those mature bucks arent exactly light are they......lol I dang near killed myself(and my mother god bless her soul) last sunday dragging my deer out of very steep area. Getting a quality pack frame for next year!
 
Ridge
Congrats on a fine trophy. Thanks for sharing the story with us here. The chance to hike with DK was probably worth the price of admission.

Yelum
 
Congrats Burt! Wish I could see the photo but my work internet service filters it out. I guess I'll have to wait until tommorow.
 
Bert
Congrats on a great buck, you deserved it, we had a nice early morning walk:). Thanks for letting me tag along and be a small part of your hunt, I had a great time.
 
Thanks for the kudos. Thanks for taking the great pics too, Jeff. Definately better than any I have taken. They turned out great!

It was a good feeling to get the 1,000 lb. muley gorilla off my back, for sure. And nice to get the pack off my back and into my truck too.. :) Its a good pain though... The ride homes a lot shorter with a nice rack sticking up above the truck bed. Time to start thinking about next year already!

Where? I got him in the Middle Fork of the Notellum basin, in Colorado, on public land, right in the lungs. Sorry, thats about all I remember. :) I think the dehydration I was feeling towards the end of the pack out gave me amesia...
 
LAST EDITED ON Oct-26-05 AT 02:03PM (MST)[p]Way to go, Ridgetop!!! That's one heck of a first mule deer for sure! And hunting or hanging with a class act like Deerking just adds to the enjoyment of a good fair chase on public land taboot! I'm glad you guys did well on a fine deer! Now you're hooked for certain.....

P.S. I just noticed something in your pic I thought you might want to consider for next year. You might want to use your orange vest or pack another piece of blaze orange to put between the antlers. The little back of the cap might not be enough coverage with those big ol antlers sticking up like that; with your back to another hunter in the rifle season, well, you just can't be too careful.
 
That's a great buck Ridge. Especially for a first!

Congrats to you, you're hooked now for sure.
 
LAST EDITED ON Oct-27-05 AT 07:01AM (MST)[p]Thanks again fellas! Definately hooked for life now!

Freedivr-
Congrats on your buck as well. Point taken on the orange on the rack. Not likely to ever be an issue, but it only takes one trigger happy brush shooting idiot shooting at a 7 foot tall moonwalking buck to ruin your whole weekend...
 
Great story and pictures. I am truly happy for you! What a feeling that must have been. Glad you finally put it together.

Steve
 
Congrats on a very respecatable buck. The only thing that would make the story better is if DK would of packed the buck out for you!:)
 
Prism~ I tried to use the old three-wheeler injury excuse and the doc says I cant carry more than 20 lbs. to get him to go ahead and pack out the other half, but that didnt work. LOL
 

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