Out of our family I was the only one that drew a deer tag. In this unit there is a decent amount of deer but the bucks are hard to come by. We were scouting this area out back in Aug and spotted a real nice tall buck in a hard to reach area. He had to be pushing 170 inches with one crab claw bottom fork. Well they ended up killing him on the first hunt, but that's the way it goes on public land.
The first day we found our selves in an area where we knew held a lot of deer. We walked and walked for about 4-5 miles in and saw a good amount of does. NO BUCKS ANYWHERE!!! While walking back about 1 mile from the truck we spot another group of deer and this time there was a buck. It was a small 2x3. Pretty much a fork with a crab claw 3 on the left horn. I passed him up to search for a bigger one.
That evening we headed toward another area where the deer have been known to be in the past. There were people everywhere there. It seemed that all of the 100 tag holders were in that area. We had a change of plans at the last minute and hunted elsewhere. Again, we again saw lots of deer but still no bucks.
The next morning we decided to hunt a little lower in elevation away from the crowds to see if the deer have started to migrate. Down low we didn't see but one lone little fork buck that we barley got a look at. We hunted hard the rest of the day. Seeing nothing but does. Where are the bucks?
Monday was the last day we had to be out there. We decided to go back to where we saw that little 2x3 on Saturday. Not with intentions of killing him but because we saw the most deer there and the least amount of people. But if that little 2x3 showed himself again I was going to take him. Sure enough he showed himself. You know that rule that people always say ?Don?t pass something up on the first day that you will be happy with on the last day? Ya?.. that rule don't apply to me too good. Made a great shot at 286 yards at an uphill quartering shot.
It was a very fun hunt. Saw tons of deer a day. Hunted real hard for a good buck but we could not find one. Even though my buck was a little guy I'm happy and he will make a great 3rd mule deer for me.
Some pics of the hunt
Few does
Looking for the deer
Beautiful country
Here he is
Special thanks goes out to My Uncle Brian (hunter3380) for coming along with us and my Dad (crazyelk) for taking my little bro and me out.
The first day we found our selves in an area where we knew held a lot of deer. We walked and walked for about 4-5 miles in and saw a good amount of does. NO BUCKS ANYWHERE!!! While walking back about 1 mile from the truck we spot another group of deer and this time there was a buck. It was a small 2x3. Pretty much a fork with a crab claw 3 on the left horn. I passed him up to search for a bigger one.
That evening we headed toward another area where the deer have been known to be in the past. There were people everywhere there. It seemed that all of the 100 tag holders were in that area. We had a change of plans at the last minute and hunted elsewhere. Again, we again saw lots of deer but still no bucks.
The next morning we decided to hunt a little lower in elevation away from the crowds to see if the deer have started to migrate. Down low we didn't see but one lone little fork buck that we barley got a look at. We hunted hard the rest of the day. Seeing nothing but does. Where are the bucks?
Monday was the last day we had to be out there. We decided to go back to where we saw that little 2x3 on Saturday. Not with intentions of killing him but because we saw the most deer there and the least amount of people. But if that little 2x3 showed himself again I was going to take him. Sure enough he showed himself. You know that rule that people always say ?Don?t pass something up on the first day that you will be happy with on the last day? Ya?.. that rule don't apply to me too good. Made a great shot at 286 yards at an uphill quartering shot.
It was a very fun hunt. Saw tons of deer a day. Hunted real hard for a good buck but we could not find one. Even though my buck was a little guy I'm happy and he will make a great 3rd mule deer for me.
Some pics of the hunt
Few does
Looking for the deer
Beautiful country
Here he is
Special thanks goes out to My Uncle Brian (hunter3380) for coming along with us and my Dad (crazyelk) for taking my little bro and me out.
