“Sym” the whole story of a big typical Alberta Muley.

Rough Country

Member
Messages
42
With the snow finally starting to melt and winter letting go it’s grip the scouting season for mule deer has again begun with shed hunting. On Saturday one of my guides and I completed a 3 year journey with the pickup of a big typical Muley we had called “Sym”

In December of 2017 I had a nice young up and comer feeding on the willows and brush in my yard next to the creek drainage. I took pictures out my wife and I’s bedroom window and dubbed him “Sym” even as a youngish buck he had very symmetrical antlers. I searched in 2018 spring for his antlers but never found them, hunting season 2018 rolled around and in September I spotted “Sym” he had grown to be a solid 165-170 typical buck and was looking like he had a very bright future, on the hunt my client at the time wanted to stalk him, knowing he was still not quite yet the age class we were looking for we made the call to pass. We never again seen him in 2018, and again never found his sheds.

In the summer of 2019 we had come to an agreement to bring in a TV hunting show called Canada In The Rough, with high excitement for the hunt my guides and I set out to get some scouting pics of the big bucks in the area. The first evening I went out, there in all his glory was “Sym” feeding in the fading sunlight looking large and in charge and in beautiful full velvet. That day was August 3rd. For the remainder of the month and leading up to the September 1st hunt opener I kept track of “Sym” learning his feeding routine and his summer habits.

The day came, September 1st with Canada In The Rough Tv. We knew where we were headed opening morning. Glassing from a high vantage point we spotted “Sym” unfortunately after watching him for quite some time he went into a spot where there was no good way to stalk him, rather then potentially push him out we decided to set up for the evening in a spot where he may come to us. That didn’t happen, and we didn’t spot him again until Day 5 if the hunt.

Day 5 started with spotting “Sym” right at day break, 2.5 hours of watching went by before he decided to bed down. A plan was made, with little wind and marginal terrain I knew it was going to be tough, but I felt confident regardless that could get my hunter there. After a long very meticulous stalk, about 2 hours, we were in position. The anticipation was high, but “Sym” was in no hurry, and he made us wait on our hands and knees for a further 2 hours before he would finally get restless and stand up.

He stood, And then turned face on, with no shot we waited, 7 minutes went by before “Sym” turned broadside and presented a shot. The arrow was released and sailed 2” over his back, a heartbreaking moment. “Sym” busted out and wasn’t seen or heard from again the rest of the season.

Saturday. Having spotted a carcass previous down the creek drainage previously, my guide and I went down with hopes that it wasn’t him. As we walked up, I was fairly certain that the deadhead was him. As we chipped away the ice around the antlers our suspicions were confirmed. This was “Sym”, a total of 2 hours of work and we had him out of the ice. It was a bittersweet moment, sad he put this way, but happy at least that we knew what happened to him. After a day of letting the remainder of ice melt off we put a tape to him and came up with 193.5” an impressive score for a deer only 18.5” wide.

Thanks for reading Monster Muley members. Hope you enjoyed it.

Jesse.

2AF5D604-8634-44C7-AD78-7BFFF06BBA42.jpeg


F1A20EBC-0191-43A0-90C1-BC74AF9D9916.jpeg


ABD97B4B-3B3C-4BD3-80F4-46F56F120ED8.png


AEDFCCE9-D5E6-4FCE-BCE1-5E810E76A2B4.jpeg


FBCEA1DD-13FC-4762-93CD-C438D83458D7.jpeg


B70C8FE9-4E84-4AAA-920E-A60097E06E08.jpeg


59A30748-E38F-4E64-B0F2-0508C5D38AEB.jpeg


9EB2173E-3130-41A0-ADB5-79EF74779579.jpeg


B3803740-7903-48F1-8988-1E5861C784B9.jpeg


6F244270-0E92-4B74-8CD8-F2A56F245CB6.jpeg
 
Rough Country
What a beautiful typical he is.
Glad you were able to recover the antlers before they got destroyed.

I’ve noticed that when you mention a bucks width you are obviously talking about the inside spread?
 
Cool story. Many more bucks die from injuries sustained while fighting other bucks during the rut than what one would think. Maybe that was his demise. Nice memento to remember him with.
 

Click-a-Pic ... Details & Bigger Photos
Back
Top Bottom