Adventurewriter
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Back and happy! The reality...the hype...the research....meeting new friends praying to God for weather...praying for weather and oh yeah praying for weather.....did I say I was praying for weather...
What I had heard is no weather...its tough with weather magic....
I did lots of research and kind of try and leave no stone unturned. A good buddy of mine got me in contact with a local mule deer legend(found that out later from many) but his man cave of gaggers said enough. He told me the reality I was hearing is it simply is not as good as it once was. Still great genetics and some whoppers but not as good as it was. These are people who have lived in the area for decades...many decades, on the ground, not just the optic of the internet which was my case and many others. He said people are unrealistic and "want everything" wide...tall?mass ...trash.... and many many people who have never shot anything over 150 are passing big bucks 180 plus....when they would be wetting themselves any other place. He said depends on what the weather looks like, what you are seeing and to make up your own mind. Sure I would love to shoot the new world record, but I'm also not accused of being stupid too often and wanted a nice buck. I am a full time wildlife artist now and I wanted a big buck. I don't need to shock the hunting world....cause I know that bad boy is going to be looking at me and inspiring me for the rest of my life in my studio. The game warden and others said he had been up there 35 years and saw it come full circle, back in the days people complained about the old tough bucks and they couldn't find a good meat buck to the insanity of some of it is now. I also know five days can go by quick
I arrived a week early. The weather was hot and dry and the third season hunters were all singing the blues. I saw a 185-190 buck in the first hour. Yippy skippy this is going to be fun weeding through these bucks....by far he was the best one I saw other than the buck I killed. But I never did actually see anyone on their feet...everyone seemed to be slow driving up and down some of the main roads, Not really stopping to glass. Mostly slow driving?.. a few 4 wheelers in the distance. There seems to be two versions of 44 tag holders. A few who seemed like serious hunters and most who have just acquired the points and arrive to give it a shot. I saw a few 3rd get smaller medium bucks-150-165ish bucks. Lots of people that seemed to think it was going to be easy and they were sold a bill of goods on this unit cashing in their points.
The area is really thick and apparently LOW numbers of deer. All commented on it and I found it to be true. If I was to be in an area with similar country Rangely-Meeker-Craig I would expect to see 150 deer a day. I was seeing a handful or two and I was glassing hard and moving. Also lots and lots of this country is straight up and down with thick thick Oak Brush?Aspens ( the small dense kinds) and above dark timber and below dense junipers. All hard to see into. It had snowed a bit earlier and some was still left in the shadows up high and that is where the deer tracks seemed to be.
Some people come with small armies, ?Find big deer? bounties, assigned areas of glassing, high tech communications, 10?s of thousands of ?Private Access? dollars hanging out of their pockets, spotting scopes as long as your arm. Had heard of a very ?Well Known? hunter who had offered 30 grand for trespass rights onto a private spot of land that was known to hold a 215 typical. The landowner told him to pound sand. Many times the Guv-ner tag is killed in this unit but from what I hear there is always a small well paid posse out looking fulltime for ?their? buck and sit on it until the ?shooter? arrives?
I knew it was going to be me for the most part and have two days with a young guy I know who could come for the first two days. I talked to many many people on the roads, 4 wheelers, camps, it became kind of a fraternity up there at the hunting for the most part is the in the and met some really nice people. (Oh yeah the father and son who were kind enough to let me borrow your shovel I hope you read this?I spaced it until I was unpacking. And don't have your number)
I met the guy who won the statewide Mule Deer raffle tag and I could see he was serious and successful hunter. We exchanged numbers. He told me he was looking for a 220 plus lived right down the road in New Castle and can hunt any day (but still had to work) through the end of November. He showed me some great picture of some velvet bucks and hard horned bucks he had taken earlier and said he had not tried to use his tag early as he wanted a hard horned buck . He said if he saw a really good one and I don't think it will, go 220 I will give you a call. Sure okay but I just met the guy.
But as MNDEER said in his post, it looked like it was going to be easy passing all the 180?s cause other than the first one I saw wants seeing anything approaching that. As mentioned before there is a great gene in there. Never saw a fork horn their version seems to be a solid basket three point and I saw a dozen of those and some basket 4x4?s I think were the same age class.
So what to do first day. I had a plan to drop a vehicle way down the mountain and start above working down hill. The third season hunters has tried the drive and keep looking technique that everyone said was the way to approach it. From what I could see it hadn't produced much for them. Plus, I had waited a long time for this tag and wanted some adventure win lose or draw. I was with Mark who just got out of the Army as a Ranger and a good guy to have on my team. Mark is not that experienced with judging Deer. We literally moved 70 yards down the hill and Mark signaled he had seen a doe?and she had walked away downhill. We were 10 minutes into the hunt. We moved further downhill and he signaled he had seen a buck. I tried to make may way over and he said it walked away in to the forest not too scared. He said ?Tall?wider than the ears?dark horns?deep forks?.so so mass? So on further integration by me , I was not able to narrow it down closer than it could be a 170-210 typical. It threw a big track and there was 80 percent crunchy snow ground cover in the trees. We followed it here and there and eventually lost it on dry ground and other tracks. I PM?ed MNDEER and he said he deer was in that general area so it might be the same deer and a beautiful bucks it was. Most likely I would have shot it had I saw it even in the first 20 minutes. But I didn't see it.
So moving and glassing. Mark could only stay two days and the promise of weather that was supposed to start the night of day two?varying report of one inch to a foot but everything north and east was going to get pounded. I went to sleep, thinking I have a 44 4th tag and it is going to snow, I had heard the stories of the wonders snow can bring. Well I woke up 3rd morning not only no snow on the ground, but driving rain Are you friggin kidding me I couldn't even open the windows to glass with the rain coming in sideways. This was supposed to be the day the snow magic happened. And instead it was all turning into a muddy mess. Not only it wasn?t snow but I could barely hunt it looked like it might be snowing or at least sleeting higher up. And I could see a little fresh snow up the mountain?.
So I headed up. I was just about to turn the corner into ?no cell coverage? and my phone went off. Hey its Rob the raffle tag guy?.. I saw a buck just at dawn pushing some does in the cedars. Didn?t get a great look at him?. he looks to be a good one?if we can find him again and he doesn't go 220 you might want to look at him. Rob was going to have two more weeks to hunt west of I25 and it JUST HAD to snow by then, pretty much have 44 to himself and had told me before 220 plus or bust. I was down to two and half days and it was raining. I couldn't drive fast enough.
From our phone conversation I thought the deer were within a few hundred yard of him when I arrived I grabbed my gun and little more. But then soon realized we were heading into a steep seas of thick cedars stacked in a series of waves. It was a big area and with thick cedars that you could see maybe 5 percent. After a long time of looking we spotted a doe?and then another. And then ?there??. tucked back into a dark hole just one side of a big antler. But would it or the other side add up to Robs magic 220 he was looking for??? He had first opportunity. We were able to maneuver and see the other side? I knew I was looking at the biggest deer I had ever seen with a tag in my pocket and a gun in my hand and for sure knew I would love to have him looking across my sculpture studio and inspiring me the rest of my life. He looked like an old troll lying there under that bridge of twisted cedar branches. Rob said. ?Well I have two more weeks its bound to snow?.go for it? So he was mine if I wanted him and I wanted him for sure. The only thing showing was his face, neck and a bit of his shoulder. The rut was in full swing and by now he had been down for an hour or so we knew of and it might be time for him to get up and start sniffing around to see if the does were wearing the right perfume, get a snoot full of spicy poontang get rutty and maybe gone forever into the cedars.
I am shooting a ?Best of the West? 7mm with a Huskenmaw 4x16-42mm. That gun has barked seven times this year and seven super precise kill shots out to 460. The buck was 225 away I and felt confident I could put one where it needed to be through the narrow opening. So I set up and that thrill I have been feeling for my whole life was running through my veins, bring my breathing down for the squeeze, seeing the scope make tiny jumps from my pounding heart, scope filled with his square face and bull neck trying not to notice his antlers. I had been waiting for this my whole life for this moment and right then the old toad decided to take a head down nap. Well he had been up all night and fighting?and humping and for an old guy ( his teeth said he was about 7) I guess a nap was understandable. I knew right when he lifted his head that was the moment as he might step right to his feet and be gone wandering off looking for some new action. After several minutes he lifted his head and shook it like. Whoa I must have dozed off?. I touched the trigger, lost the buck in the recoil, heard a ?thwack? and through my ringing ears (love muzzle breaks but they will rock your world with no hearing protection) I heard Rob say ?He?s down? and said at the shot his chin hit the dirt. We made our way over and there he was fat as a swollen tick with a beer keg neck. Rob said ?No ground shrinkage there?? Long points, super knarly bases?good mass? found out later just a smidge over 28 wide. When I picked up his head I could hear a ?crack? That 162 VLD had severed his spine.
I always seem to get more than I anticipate on a hunting trip. It is that series of corners we turn and just don't know how it is all going to play out. Go I got what I was after and made a new great friend in Rob, and just got back from trying to help him fill his deer tag with his 220 plus dream buck. And if he doesn't get it done west of I25 I am working on trying to find spots on the eastern half of the state. I met lots of people along the way, talked to lifelong locals, deer crazy people who live in Eagle just to be close to Mecca and once again got to enjoy the wild places in my beloved Colorado.
There is much to do about ?Long range systems? but not much talk about then in closer than 400, and their highly ethical kill shots.. I have been hunting more than 4 decades and been on hundreds of hunt and if I was to guess taken over 120 animals. I have missed and hit animals poorly, like everyone who has hunted a lot. If you are thinking about these rifle rigs and if they might work for you. I say you owe it to yourself to really have a great gun. Just get one and shoot it forever. My gun is not bigger or fancier looking than a standard rifle rig just super deadly accurate and easy to shoot. I am not changing as a hunter and will never go ?oh I'm 600 yards away?I can shoot from here but will always be thinking if I go down that gully and behind that ridge when I top of by those low bushes. I will be 130 yards away.
What I had heard is no weather...its tough with weather magic....
I did lots of research and kind of try and leave no stone unturned. A good buddy of mine got me in contact with a local mule deer legend(found that out later from many) but his man cave of gaggers said enough. He told me the reality I was hearing is it simply is not as good as it once was. Still great genetics and some whoppers but not as good as it was. These are people who have lived in the area for decades...many decades, on the ground, not just the optic of the internet which was my case and many others. He said people are unrealistic and "want everything" wide...tall?mass ...trash.... and many many people who have never shot anything over 150 are passing big bucks 180 plus....when they would be wetting themselves any other place. He said depends on what the weather looks like, what you are seeing and to make up your own mind. Sure I would love to shoot the new world record, but I'm also not accused of being stupid too often and wanted a nice buck. I am a full time wildlife artist now and I wanted a big buck. I don't need to shock the hunting world....cause I know that bad boy is going to be looking at me and inspiring me for the rest of my life in my studio. The game warden and others said he had been up there 35 years and saw it come full circle, back in the days people complained about the old tough bucks and they couldn't find a good meat buck to the insanity of some of it is now. I also know five days can go by quick
I arrived a week early. The weather was hot and dry and the third season hunters were all singing the blues. I saw a 185-190 buck in the first hour. Yippy skippy this is going to be fun weeding through these bucks....by far he was the best one I saw other than the buck I killed. But I never did actually see anyone on their feet...everyone seemed to be slow driving up and down some of the main roads, Not really stopping to glass. Mostly slow driving?.. a few 4 wheelers in the distance. There seems to be two versions of 44 tag holders. A few who seemed like serious hunters and most who have just acquired the points and arrive to give it a shot. I saw a few 3rd get smaller medium bucks-150-165ish bucks. Lots of people that seemed to think it was going to be easy and they were sold a bill of goods on this unit cashing in their points.
The area is really thick and apparently LOW numbers of deer. All commented on it and I found it to be true. If I was to be in an area with similar country Rangely-Meeker-Craig I would expect to see 150 deer a day. I was seeing a handful or two and I was glassing hard and moving. Also lots and lots of this country is straight up and down with thick thick Oak Brush?Aspens ( the small dense kinds) and above dark timber and below dense junipers. All hard to see into. It had snowed a bit earlier and some was still left in the shadows up high and that is where the deer tracks seemed to be.
Some people come with small armies, ?Find big deer? bounties, assigned areas of glassing, high tech communications, 10?s of thousands of ?Private Access? dollars hanging out of their pockets, spotting scopes as long as your arm. Had heard of a very ?Well Known? hunter who had offered 30 grand for trespass rights onto a private spot of land that was known to hold a 215 typical. The landowner told him to pound sand. Many times the Guv-ner tag is killed in this unit but from what I hear there is always a small well paid posse out looking fulltime for ?their? buck and sit on it until the ?shooter? arrives?
I knew it was going to be me for the most part and have two days with a young guy I know who could come for the first two days. I talked to many many people on the roads, 4 wheelers, camps, it became kind of a fraternity up there at the hunting for the most part is the in the and met some really nice people. (Oh yeah the father and son who were kind enough to let me borrow your shovel I hope you read this?I spaced it until I was unpacking. And don't have your number)
I met the guy who won the statewide Mule Deer raffle tag and I could see he was serious and successful hunter. We exchanged numbers. He told me he was looking for a 220 plus lived right down the road in New Castle and can hunt any day (but still had to work) through the end of November. He showed me some great picture of some velvet bucks and hard horned bucks he had taken earlier and said he had not tried to use his tag early as he wanted a hard horned buck . He said if he saw a really good one and I don't think it will, go 220 I will give you a call. Sure okay but I just met the guy.
But as MNDEER said in his post, it looked like it was going to be easy passing all the 180?s cause other than the first one I saw wants seeing anything approaching that. As mentioned before there is a great gene in there. Never saw a fork horn their version seems to be a solid basket three point and I saw a dozen of those and some basket 4x4?s I think were the same age class.
So what to do first day. I had a plan to drop a vehicle way down the mountain and start above working down hill. The third season hunters has tried the drive and keep looking technique that everyone said was the way to approach it. From what I could see it hadn't produced much for them. Plus, I had waited a long time for this tag and wanted some adventure win lose or draw. I was with Mark who just got out of the Army as a Ranger and a good guy to have on my team. Mark is not that experienced with judging Deer. We literally moved 70 yards down the hill and Mark signaled he had seen a doe?and she had walked away downhill. We were 10 minutes into the hunt. We moved further downhill and he signaled he had seen a buck. I tried to make may way over and he said it walked away in to the forest not too scared. He said ?Tall?wider than the ears?dark horns?deep forks?.so so mass? So on further integration by me , I was not able to narrow it down closer than it could be a 170-210 typical. It threw a big track and there was 80 percent crunchy snow ground cover in the trees. We followed it here and there and eventually lost it on dry ground and other tracks. I PM?ed MNDEER and he said he deer was in that general area so it might be the same deer and a beautiful bucks it was. Most likely I would have shot it had I saw it even in the first 20 minutes. But I didn't see it.
So moving and glassing. Mark could only stay two days and the promise of weather that was supposed to start the night of day two?varying report of one inch to a foot but everything north and east was going to get pounded. I went to sleep, thinking I have a 44 4th tag and it is going to snow, I had heard the stories of the wonders snow can bring. Well I woke up 3rd morning not only no snow on the ground, but driving rain Are you friggin kidding me I couldn't even open the windows to glass with the rain coming in sideways. This was supposed to be the day the snow magic happened. And instead it was all turning into a muddy mess. Not only it wasn?t snow but I could barely hunt it looked like it might be snowing or at least sleeting higher up. And I could see a little fresh snow up the mountain?.
So I headed up. I was just about to turn the corner into ?no cell coverage? and my phone went off. Hey its Rob the raffle tag guy?.. I saw a buck just at dawn pushing some does in the cedars. Didn?t get a great look at him?. he looks to be a good one?if we can find him again and he doesn't go 220 you might want to look at him. Rob was going to have two more weeks to hunt west of I25 and it JUST HAD to snow by then, pretty much have 44 to himself and had told me before 220 plus or bust. I was down to two and half days and it was raining. I couldn't drive fast enough.
From our phone conversation I thought the deer were within a few hundred yard of him when I arrived I grabbed my gun and little more. But then soon realized we were heading into a steep seas of thick cedars stacked in a series of waves. It was a big area and with thick cedars that you could see maybe 5 percent. After a long time of looking we spotted a doe?and then another. And then ?there??. tucked back into a dark hole just one side of a big antler. But would it or the other side add up to Robs magic 220 he was looking for??? He had first opportunity. We were able to maneuver and see the other side? I knew I was looking at the biggest deer I had ever seen with a tag in my pocket and a gun in my hand and for sure knew I would love to have him looking across my sculpture studio and inspiring me the rest of my life. He looked like an old troll lying there under that bridge of twisted cedar branches. Rob said. ?Well I have two more weeks its bound to snow?.go for it? So he was mine if I wanted him and I wanted him for sure. The only thing showing was his face, neck and a bit of his shoulder. The rut was in full swing and by now he had been down for an hour or so we knew of and it might be time for him to get up and start sniffing around to see if the does were wearing the right perfume, get a snoot full of spicy poontang get rutty and maybe gone forever into the cedars.
I am shooting a ?Best of the West? 7mm with a Huskenmaw 4x16-42mm. That gun has barked seven times this year and seven super precise kill shots out to 460. The buck was 225 away I and felt confident I could put one where it needed to be through the narrow opening. So I set up and that thrill I have been feeling for my whole life was running through my veins, bring my breathing down for the squeeze, seeing the scope make tiny jumps from my pounding heart, scope filled with his square face and bull neck trying not to notice his antlers. I had been waiting for this my whole life for this moment and right then the old toad decided to take a head down nap. Well he had been up all night and fighting?and humping and for an old guy ( his teeth said he was about 7) I guess a nap was understandable. I knew right when he lifted his head that was the moment as he might step right to his feet and be gone wandering off looking for some new action. After several minutes he lifted his head and shook it like. Whoa I must have dozed off?. I touched the trigger, lost the buck in the recoil, heard a ?thwack? and through my ringing ears (love muzzle breaks but they will rock your world with no hearing protection) I heard Rob say ?He?s down? and said at the shot his chin hit the dirt. We made our way over and there he was fat as a swollen tick with a beer keg neck. Rob said ?No ground shrinkage there?? Long points, super knarly bases?good mass? found out later just a smidge over 28 wide. When I picked up his head I could hear a ?crack? That 162 VLD had severed his spine.
I always seem to get more than I anticipate on a hunting trip. It is that series of corners we turn and just don't know how it is all going to play out. Go I got what I was after and made a new great friend in Rob, and just got back from trying to help him fill his deer tag with his 220 plus dream buck. And if he doesn't get it done west of I25 I am working on trying to find spots on the eastern half of the state. I met lots of people along the way, talked to lifelong locals, deer crazy people who live in Eagle just to be close to Mecca and once again got to enjoy the wild places in my beloved Colorado.
There is much to do about ?Long range systems? but not much talk about then in closer than 400, and their highly ethical kill shots.. I have been hunting more than 4 decades and been on hundreds of hunt and if I was to guess taken over 120 animals. I have missed and hit animals poorly, like everyone who has hunted a lot. If you are thinking about these rifle rigs and if they might work for you. I say you owe it to yourself to really have a great gun. Just get one and shoot it forever. My gun is not bigger or fancier looking than a standard rifle rig just super deadly accurate and easy to shoot. I am not changing as a hunter and will never go ?oh I'm 600 yards away?I can shoot from here but will always be thinking if I go down that gully and behind that ridge when I top of by those low bushes. I will be 130 yards away.
