This was the one hunt out of the whole year we were looking forward to. We had 6 months to wait for this hunt and we were getting anxious to get out there and chase those big muleys in the rut. Saint drew this tag with 1.7% draw odds.The odds were against him but we figured that they had to give the tags to someone and put him in anyway. We are glad that we did.
We scouted the unit a week and a half before the opener and found a real nice buck. He was a 165-170in buck and he was on our hit list. We saw other bucks that day, but he stood out the most. He did have some broken points on his left antler that you cant see that well in these pics.
The evening before the hunt we went for a ride to scout out some good bucks. Right away we found 2 bucks fighting. They were not big but "basket" type 3x3s. They had about 4 does between them and were fighting pretty aggressively. We went on by and found 2 more bucks. It was a 3x4 and a 4x4. The 4x4 was around the 160 mark. We asked Saint if he liked the buck and he said yes. We were not going on score as much as we were going on appearance. We were going to trophy hunt but not too much considering the lack of weather we had gotten. A lot of the big bucks had not moved into the unit yet.
A sleepless night went by and we jumped in the truck to find some good bucks. It wasn?t long before we spotted a small 3x3 that was with one doe. We passed him up and kept on going. Soon after we found the 3x4 from the night before that was with the 160 4x4. Man he looked nice! The 4x4 was nowhere to be seen. We looked around for a little bit and moved on to look for more bucks.
We decided to go into an area that looked real promising from the scouting trip. We went in about a mile or so and we immediately spotted a buck. Oddly he was alone. I could tell he was a buck because of the white face. I put my binos up and saw that he had a great spread with long tines. He was frosted over and almost looked entirely white in color. He was a shooter for sure. The big buck went behind a tree. Saint put the rifle on the sticks and waited for him to come out. As we were waiting for him to come out I saw a flash of white rump to the right of the tree. It was him! He ran into the timber without giving us a shot. I don't know how we did not see him.
We followed him into the brush, hot on his trail, a buck appeared on the ridge above us. Not knowing it was him, the wide rack and tine length of the muley stood out and that was enough for Saint to take a shot. The buck kicked and piled up on the ridge. We noticed the buck had really light antlers. Almost a white color to them. When we put our hands on him we found out that it was frost. The buck?s back and antlers were covered with frost from the cold night before (12 degrees). The hunt we waited for so long was over. Saint had killed his first deer and it was a great first buck that will be hard to beat.
Few bucks that we passed up. On any other average unit they would be shooters.
On the way up
My new screen savers
Saint with his first muley
Saint and Me
My dad and Saint
Ready for the pack out.
Back at camp
On the way back home
Another youth hunter was successful in harvesting the other big muley with the kicker pictured above in the scouting trip. The buck turned out to be smaller than we originally thought and the broken points stood out. Still he was a great buck for anyone. It was a great hunt. I hope my little bro draws this tag again sometime soon. Or my little sister who will start hunting in a couple years. I'm afraid it's too late for me to put in for this tag next year.
ElkSniper
We scouted the unit a week and a half before the opener and found a real nice buck. He was a 165-170in buck and he was on our hit list. We saw other bucks that day, but he stood out the most. He did have some broken points on his left antler that you cant see that well in these pics.
The evening before the hunt we went for a ride to scout out some good bucks. Right away we found 2 bucks fighting. They were not big but "basket" type 3x3s. They had about 4 does between them and were fighting pretty aggressively. We went on by and found 2 more bucks. It was a 3x4 and a 4x4. The 4x4 was around the 160 mark. We asked Saint if he liked the buck and he said yes. We were not going on score as much as we were going on appearance. We were going to trophy hunt but not too much considering the lack of weather we had gotten. A lot of the big bucks had not moved into the unit yet.
A sleepless night went by and we jumped in the truck to find some good bucks. It wasn?t long before we spotted a small 3x3 that was with one doe. We passed him up and kept on going. Soon after we found the 3x4 from the night before that was with the 160 4x4. Man he looked nice! The 4x4 was nowhere to be seen. We looked around for a little bit and moved on to look for more bucks.
We decided to go into an area that looked real promising from the scouting trip. We went in about a mile or so and we immediately spotted a buck. Oddly he was alone. I could tell he was a buck because of the white face. I put my binos up and saw that he had a great spread with long tines. He was frosted over and almost looked entirely white in color. He was a shooter for sure. The big buck went behind a tree. Saint put the rifle on the sticks and waited for him to come out. As we were waiting for him to come out I saw a flash of white rump to the right of the tree. It was him! He ran into the timber without giving us a shot. I don't know how we did not see him.
We followed him into the brush, hot on his trail, a buck appeared on the ridge above us. Not knowing it was him, the wide rack and tine length of the muley stood out and that was enough for Saint to take a shot. The buck kicked and piled up on the ridge. We noticed the buck had really light antlers. Almost a white color to them. When we put our hands on him we found out that it was frost. The buck?s back and antlers were covered with frost from the cold night before (12 degrees). The hunt we waited for so long was over. Saint had killed his first deer and it was a great first buck that will be hard to beat.
Few bucks that we passed up. On any other average unit they would be shooters.
On the way up
My new screen savers
Saint with his first muley
Saint and Me
My dad and Saint
Ready for the pack out.
Back at camp
On the way back home
Another youth hunter was successful in harvesting the other big muley with the kicker pictured above in the scouting trip. The buck turned out to be smaller than we originally thought and the broken points stood out. Still he was a great buck for anyone. It was a great hunt. I hope my little bro draws this tag again sometime soon. Or my little sister who will start hunting in a couple years. I'm afraid it's too late for me to put in for this tag next year.
ElkSniper
