bassman31783 Posted October 7, 2011 Posted October 7, 2011 Just got back from my first mule deer hunt. Every other year my dad goes on a mule deer hunt on a friends property up in Gillet Wy. For years he's been trying to get me up there and for whatever reason, his schedule or mine, it just hasn't worked out. Finally this year it did. It was my dad, brother-in-law, his brother, and me. The pictures will tell the story better than I could to here. These are pics when we were driving into the property. This is where our cabin was. Literally I opened the door and took this pic. Beautiful campground. On to hunting. Days 1 we split in to two groups of two. One group to hike the canyons and the other to site at the end of the canyon if anything got flushed out. These were the types of canyons my dad & I were walking. The first day we glasses 3 bucks bedded down with 2 of them being shooters but I just didn't want to shoot one on the first day knowing there where bigger bucks to be seen. Day two, when dad & I were hiking to a spot we spooked up a giant mule deer. I never got a chance to get a shot off at it. It has a funny marking on its rear that gave it away as a buck my dad has been hunting on that property for the last 3 yrs. I did shoot a pretty nice coyote though. We ended up hunting that deer for the next 2 days seeing it 2 more times just out of range. I was hunting with my late grandfathers 30-40 Krag. Last day we decided to go back to the spot were we first saw the big buck and sit and see what would pass by. When we walked over the hill my dad spoted a nice buck bedded down staring right at us. After 5min of not moving I finally got a chance to crawl 15yrds to a rock to get a shot off. It ended up being right at 170yrds away. First shot was a little low and in the gut. My fault on that one. It stood up and acted as if it was going to run away. It was facing us a little so I put the second shot in the best place I could with it facing the way it was. That shot was right on the money and dropped it. You can see where the shot entered the neck in the pic. It exited right behind the left shoulder. Not a giant but a really nice mule deer especially for my first. All of us shot our tags so it was a great trip. However the big one is still out there waiting for us the next time. Oh yeah they had a nice little pond there as well and there were bass in it. Nothing picture worthy though. Quote
SDoolittle Posted October 9, 2011 Posted October 9, 2011 Looks like you had a great hunt. Mule deer have always been my favorite big game animal. Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted October 11, 2011 Global Moderator Posted October 11, 2011 Nice shooting at that distance with open sights, I'd have a rough time even seeing a deer that far away without binoculars or a scope Quote
bassman31783 Posted October 12, 2011 Author Posted October 12, 2011 Nice shooting at that distance with open sights, I'd have a rough time even seeing a deer that far away without binoculars or a scope HAHA. Thanks. Yeah it's a little intimidating looking down the barrel at a deer that far away without the help of a scope. I've gotten to where i'm comfortable at anything 225yrds and closer. The bullet starts to drop like crazy after that. I've got it zeroed in at 100yrds which makes it drop 6" at 200yrds and a massive 25" at 300yrds. Quote
Mattlures Posted October 19, 2011 Posted October 19, 2011 i am jelous! Mule deer are my #1 favorite game animal. i have yet to kill a trophy. That one you got there is a nice buck, congrats Quote
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