LAST EDITED ON Nov-12-11 AT 03:21PM (MST)[p]I finally get to post a success story 
So we decided to get a "one-way" mule to drop us at camp in the Blue Range Wilderness. I will NEVER do this again, I will ALWAYS pay for the return trip (more on that later). Saturday morning we hiked in about 7 miles from the trailhead. The hike was hike was pretty easy, we saw a few cow elk and some very fresh deer sign.
Once we got camp set up we headed up the mountain. It was covered with fresh sign. Strange thing is we saw very few deer. We kicked up deer down most heavily covered draws but nothing while sitting and glassing. My friend saw a real nice buck at 30 yards, it was staring right at us as we walked up the hill. The deer was way faster than the friend.
Sunday morning we decided to check out a different ridge. Walked about 50 yards from my friend and saw a nice buck looking back at me. Set up on a tree limb and missed. Deer ran up the along the ridge and picked up another buck. They stopped to look back and a got off a second shot. It was perfect, the deer jumped 5 feet off the ground (using a 338 ultra mag) and ran off. My friend was like WTF are you shooting at? Marked where the deer were and walked over. I was not 100% sure I hit it. I thought with the 338 that it would have been DRT.
Once we get over to where the deer were, there was blood everywhere. It was a complete pass through, which I would have expected. Not wanting to push the deer, we sat down and waited for 20 minutes. I was too damn excited about possibly having my first deer down. Following the blood trail was easy. About 75 yards from where I shot it I found the deer. A nice 5x5 with a kicker in the back.
Now back to the mule. So if I hadn't shot a deer it would have been an easy 7.5 mile pack out. However, shooting the deer tripled that number to over 22 miles, with some pretty good elevation changes. Since we didn't want to pack out a second deer we broke camp Monday at 9 AM. We weren't done at the truck until 8 PM and that's without lunch. Luckily the Carmen's in Reserve was open for some much needed food.
Here is a pic of the blood trail.
Here is me with the deer:
Here is me in camp with a cigar and a beer:
Here is my friend in camp. He worked is ass off packing everything out.
So we decided to get a "one-way" mule to drop us at camp in the Blue Range Wilderness. I will NEVER do this again, I will ALWAYS pay for the return trip (more on that later). Saturday morning we hiked in about 7 miles from the trailhead. The hike was hike was pretty easy, we saw a few cow elk and some very fresh deer sign.
Once we got camp set up we headed up the mountain. It was covered with fresh sign. Strange thing is we saw very few deer. We kicked up deer down most heavily covered draws but nothing while sitting and glassing. My friend saw a real nice buck at 30 yards, it was staring right at us as we walked up the hill. The deer was way faster than the friend.
Sunday morning we decided to check out a different ridge. Walked about 50 yards from my friend and saw a nice buck looking back at me. Set up on a tree limb and missed. Deer ran up the along the ridge and picked up another buck. They stopped to look back and a got off a second shot. It was perfect, the deer jumped 5 feet off the ground (using a 338 ultra mag) and ran off. My friend was like WTF are you shooting at? Marked where the deer were and walked over. I was not 100% sure I hit it. I thought with the 338 that it would have been DRT.
Once we get over to where the deer were, there was blood everywhere. It was a complete pass through, which I would have expected. Not wanting to push the deer, we sat down and waited for 20 minutes. I was too damn excited about possibly having my first deer down. Following the blood trail was easy. About 75 yards from where I shot it I found the deer. A nice 5x5 with a kicker in the back.
Now back to the mule. So if I hadn't shot a deer it would have been an easy 7.5 mile pack out. However, shooting the deer tripled that number to over 22 miles, with some pretty good elevation changes. Since we didn't want to pack out a second deer we broke camp Monday at 9 AM. We weren't done at the truck until 8 PM and that's without lunch. Luckily the Carmen's in Reserve was open for some much needed food.
Here is a pic of the blood trail.
Here is me with the deer:
Here is me in camp with a cigar and a beer:
Here is my friend in camp. He worked is ass off packing everything out.
