This October I went out on our mule deer muzzleloader hunt in New Mexico. The hunt started Saturday. I took my 7 year-old daughter and my buddy (TH) took is 7 year-old son down to our spot on Friday and hunted with them on Saturday. I'll let TH tell you about that day, but the short of it is he bagged a deer that evening with both kids present so we were really happy that they got to be there and have a deer taken on their first hunt. I did not get a deer, so we brought the kids back home Saturday night, stayed with the family and went to church on Sunday and then headed back Sunday night. Monday we did some hard hunting and A LOT of hiking up and down mountains. First thing in the morning as we hiked to the area we concentrated in, we ran into a couple of groups of elk that were bugling to each other. It was very exciting sitting in the middle of the bulls as they screamed at each other. Later, I ran into a group of does in some thick pines on my way up one peak and got to watch them walk by me, but no buck in the group. I climbed back down to the bottom of the bowl and was climbing through a smaller foothill when I had stopped to get my bearings and decide where to go next. After I was stopped for a few minutes, I heard a crash to my right and looked over to see the behind of two nice bucks bounding away from me as fast as they could down the mountain. They were gone before I had a chance to even raise my rifle. I just stood there with a sick feeling in my stomach thinking I had just lost my chance at a nice buck. I looked around desperately for a sign of them and stalked after them for a bit, but no luck. TH and I met up and decided to climb another peak. We didn't see any deer but got into an elk bedding area and saw 9 bulls between us and picked up a few sheds. The day ended with no more deer sightings. The next day we decided to hit a different area where we had hunted last year. It was a beautiful bowl with a couple of water tanks in the bottom and a big oak/aspen grove on one hillside where TH took a deer last year. I hiked up the side of the bowl with the oaks while TH sat in the bottom and glassed the side I was working. I ran into another group of does on the way up, but did not see antlers among them. The area is thick with trees, so you can't see more than 50-60 yards into them and it is difficult to see deer before they see you. As I kept hiking I noticed a black figure coming down the mountain about 20 yards from me. Turned out to be a black bear! I sat down and watched it go by and radioed to TH that I had just seen a bear. Over the next 30 minutes he spotted another two bears in the same bowl, all within 1/2 mile of each other! One walked across the valley about 100 yards in front of where he was sitting and the other walked over by the water tanks. It was exciting, but a bit nerve racking as I was stalking through dense trees. (As a side not, TH took his wife down there the following week and bagged one of those bears) I continued my way across the mountain side seeing only a few more does when Taylorhaught radioed to me that there was a buck feeding on the mountain. The next hour or so proved to be a frustrating experience of him trying to direct me to the deer when he could see the big picture ("It's in the clearing!") and me only being able to see dense trees around me ("What clearing?!"). I finally descended to the edge of the trees so we could see each other and I could get an idea of where the heck I was supposed to go to. We finally got on the same page (kind of) and I started the climb back up the mountain (because, of course, the deer was near the top). Fortunately for us, the deer had decided to bed down and was still in the same spot through all of this. I worked my way up the mountain but ended up overshooting where the buck was by about 200 yards to the East. This turned out to be quite fortunate for me because the buck was bedded down in the oaks and it would have been impossible for me to spot him or to make a stalk due to all of the dry leaves on the ground. Instead, I had stayed in the pines. I was even with the deer in elevation so I started to very slowly work my way back towards the deer, still trying to find this "clearing" TH was talking about. It is notable that TH could not see me anymore after this and didn't know where I was as he was watching the deer. After about 100 yards, I break into the oaks and am anxiously looking around for any sign of a deer and not seeing anything. There was a line of pines that continued out into the oaks for another 30 yards that I followed along as quietly and slowly as I could. Just as I got to the last of the pine trees TH radios to me "Stop!, he's getting up!" He can't see me and is agonizing that the deer is going to be gone without me ever seeing him. I immediately drop to a crouch and out of the corner of my right eye see some movement about 50 yards away. I bring up my gun and find the deer through the scope. I can only see body and briefly debate pulling the trigger but stop since I really didn't know if it was the buck I was stalking. The deer was gracious enough to turn his head just enough for me to get a brief sense of an antler before he started to move. As soon as I spotted the antler, I put my crosshairs behind his shoulder (I could still only see half of his body) and squeezed the trigger just as he started to take off. The gun roared and I saw the deer falter and then fall to the ground. He was frantically pawing the ground with his front legs but his back legs were splayed out and not moving. He struggled for a minute more before stopping. Knowing that TH was dying at the bottom, I radioed to him ?Buck down!". I hear him whoop from 600 yards away. I reloaded my gun and put in a round to finish the deer off since the first had just parylzed him. Up to this point, I never got a look at his rack and Taylorhaught was far enough away that he only knew that he was wide. To my surprise, I come up on the buck to find that he was a two-pointer! Our best guess is that the deer is 6-7 years old and losing points because he was so wide and thick. This was my first deer by a muzzleloader and by far the most difficult and rewarding hunt I've been on! There was so much going against us from TH spotting him from 600 yards away to the very difficult stalk that I was amazed that I even got to see him. Actually, if TH hadn't radioed to me to "stop" and if I hadn't dropped to a crouch, I would never have seen the deer nor had a clear shooting lane through the pine. It was a fantastic hunt in a beautiful area with lots of animals seen and a one-in-a-lifetime finish. Thanks so much to TH! (especially for helping to drag the guy back to the truck).
Our kids and TH's buck:
My wide two-point:
The three deer taken by TH and me with muzzleloaders a.k.a "the progression of muzzleloader two-points". The two bigger deer seem to be related!
