marley
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LAST EDITED ON Nov-12-11 AT 08:16PM (MST)[p]I had my brother put in for a 0 point unit this year just to get him out here to hunt with me. It is a unit that I know really well and have had great success in it every year but this was my brother's first time out to hunt in CO. He has never taken a "nice" muley so I was hoping to find him a 160+ type buck. He could only come for the last 3 days. On Thursday we passed three smallish 4 points. Yesterday we decided to go try another area that always has a ton of deer in there but it is a LONG way in so we planned to stay all day. We made it to my favorite glassing spot and sat down with the spotter and began picking a part the several basins in the distance. I kept saying, "Where are all the deer, this is nuts." I couldn't turn up a deer to save my life. After about an hour of glassing I finally turned up 4 does and a nice buck about 2 miles away as the crow flies but probably a 3 mile hike. I couldn't tell how many points he had but from that distance I could tell that he had a really nice frame. I felt like he would probably stay where he was and even if he didn't we would just stay there in range for the evening. We got all the way up there, peaked over where I thought we would be in range just in time to see the deer running full on in the opposite direction. I said, "there is no way we spooked them." The wind was strong in our face and we just peaked over from 650 yards. I began scanning the hill looking for another hunter and turned up a HUGE black bear that had just strolled over the hill into the deer. What timing. 5 more minutes and we would have had a dead buck. With this canyon blown out with our hike in and the bear, we decided to hike all the way out and head to another area with just enough energy to just make it to the glassing point and try to find something for Saturday. We hike to the top of the next glassing point and just as we round the rock cropping that I like to sit in, we busted a bunch of does that run left which jumps a nice buck to the right. He has no clue what is going on so it is just trotting through the trees and then stops at 200 yards. My brother frantically is trying to find him in the scope to no avail and the buck slowly walked over the ridge. We pick up our crap and sprinted to look down into the next basin in hopes of another shot at this buck. When we crest the ridge I see him and now another even better buck with him that he bumped on his way down running up the next ridge at 400 yards. When they hit the top of the ridge they stopped again broadside but my brother couldn't see them. They again walk over the ridge and we are again on the run. As we crest the next ridge, we are just standing there trying to figure out which way they went when all of a sudden they both jump out of a little depression at 30 yards and run up the hill. My brother got off one quick shot as they hit the next crest with a clean miss. Now we are close so the sprint up the NEXT ridge begins. When we crest, they are no where to be seen. I figured they would've taken the path of least resistance and we headed that way. We crested the next ridge completely worn out, no water left and we have about 20 mins. of light left. We stood there dumbfounded looking for the lost bucks when all of a sudden I caught movement out of the corner of my eye across the basin. The bucks were standing broadside together right at the tree line at 486 yards. I laid my pack down, my brother laid down, dialed the scope and FINALLY dropped him in his tracks with a perfect bullet through the front shoulders. It turns out that his quick shot through the trees had shot off his G3 on his right side. According to google earth we hiked 13 miles yesterday and it was the WORST pack out I've ever had. We hiked out in the dark, no water, a dead flashlight and headlamp, and a dim headlamp. My brother kept saying, "I'm never hunting again," "Hunters are the stupidest people on this planet." Do you really believe him with a grin like that? It's why we love it right? Awesome hunt, awesome memories with my brother.
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....If you find a message from myself offensive, inappropriate or disruptive, please ignore it. If you don't know how to ignore a posting, complain to me and I will demonstrate.....
