A
ADDICT
Guest
I just got home from a hunt in South Dakota. I laughed when they said backpacking for mule deer?in SD! Man was I misinformed! You?ll see from the video that t=it is as rugged as any high alpine basin, and has the similar timberline characteristic buck brush and scrub pines.
We hiked in Friday night a couple of miles to camp. Early Saturday we hauled to the ridge-line and then started glassing each of those drainages. They went for miles. Every single hole had deer in it. The full moon had them bedded early but we picked deer up no problem.
Around 10:00 AM I found this buck in my Kaibab 15s. He was out cold! Face on the ground, bedded in a steep chute at the top of one of the drainages. I saw he was only a 2x2 but he looked really wide and heavy. He had the fattest head/roman nose I'd ever seen and judging by his big body I figured he was really old.
Since I've gotten in to archery hunting, I have gotten away from score so much as just hunting the best buck in the situation. It is so exciting to stalk these deer that I couldn't pass up the situation!
I dropped down and out of sight. Hauled across the bottom of the gorge and then climbed the rocky outcropping that shielded the cove he was in. As I took my big Kuiu Icon 6000 frame pack off, I peaked to see if he was still bedded?Nope! Up, alert and very aware of my presence. I ranged, ducked down, nocked my arrow, clipped the release and slowly stood up. I had to get my level straight and aimed to slip it right into the crease as he quartered away. The shot screamed across the sleepy basin and entered just in front of his femur and exited his opposite ribs! A little left of planned but devastating. He only lasted 15 seconds or so.
We were so fortunate to capture all of it on video. Dave Chapman was there to help de-bone, cape and carry that old beast 4.5 miles back to the truck. His body was enormous! Missing teeth and his molars were ground and cracked to the gum line. I think he was a downhill warrior?which made me even prouder to have been able to harvest him!
VIDEO LINK:
https://vimeo.com/50509315
"You skin grizz?"