BuzzH
Well-known member
Just got back from my Brother Matts Montana mule deer hunt.
This hunt was fun for many reasons, but a couple of the high-lights of the trip was not even the fine deer that Matt took.
For starters when Matt drew the tag, Greenhorn was nice enough to put me in touch with a friend of his who has spent lots of time hunting in the unit that Matt drew. Matt, my Dad, and I met Greenhorns friend and he showed us some quality areas and was very generous with his knowledge of the area. More on this later.
Anyway, my good friend Brian heard about the good news that Matt had drawn a good tag and wanted to come along to lend a hand. Brian and I have been friends for many years, since grade-school. But, because of several different things have not hunted together a lot over the last 10 years.
The first day out, though, Brian, Matt, and I hunted together like we'd never missed a beat. I glassed up a herd of elk right off the bat and Brian was able to fill his freezer with a nice 410 yard shot on a cow elk.
Brian took care of his elk and Matt and I continued on looking for deer. We found some decent bucks and a few other critters.
Finally after several days of seeing some good solid bucks, Matt decided to take a buck we'd seen 3 days in a row. It was with another buck that would have scored about the same or maybe a touch better two of the days we saw him. The other buck was also very good, but just wasnt as pretty a buck as this one.
Heres Matt and I glassing up his buck. We watched it for several hours until it bedded down in a very stalkable location. The buck was bedded on the far ridge just to the right of the green trees.
Matt and I crossed the draw and headed up the hill while Brian waited on the other side of the draw to make sure the buck didnt move. Brian gave us some hand signals and literally got us right on top of the buck.
Matt and I slowly worked into the draw until we found his buck standing next to a doe. The doe started to move off and the buck followed. Matt took his time and made a nice shot at 94 yards.
Just a pretty buck, really even, nice eye-guards and a really beautiful cape.
Another look:
Now for the rest of the story. While driving back to town today, we called Greenhorns friend and he wanted to see the buck. He thought it was a "very handsome deer" and was truly excited to see that Matt was happy with his buck. He then invited us to his house to check out some of his animals. MY GOODNESS that guy has a very impressive collection of animals he's taken in a life-time of hunting. He's extremely humble about his accomplishments when he has every right not to be.
Matt and I both agreed that meeting Greenhorns friend, sharing a hunt with our Dad, hunting with Brian again, and just having the opportunity to chase bucks in this area was just as important, if not more-so, than getting lucky on a fine mule deer.
One of the best all-around hunting experiences I've had in a long, long, time.
This hunt was fun for many reasons, but a couple of the high-lights of the trip was not even the fine deer that Matt took.
For starters when Matt drew the tag, Greenhorn was nice enough to put me in touch with a friend of his who has spent lots of time hunting in the unit that Matt drew. Matt, my Dad, and I met Greenhorns friend and he showed us some quality areas and was very generous with his knowledge of the area. More on this later.
Anyway, my good friend Brian heard about the good news that Matt had drawn a good tag and wanted to come along to lend a hand. Brian and I have been friends for many years, since grade-school. But, because of several different things have not hunted together a lot over the last 10 years.
The first day out, though, Brian, Matt, and I hunted together like we'd never missed a beat. I glassed up a herd of elk right off the bat and Brian was able to fill his freezer with a nice 410 yard shot on a cow elk.
Brian took care of his elk and Matt and I continued on looking for deer. We found some decent bucks and a few other critters.
Finally after several days of seeing some good solid bucks, Matt decided to take a buck we'd seen 3 days in a row. It was with another buck that would have scored about the same or maybe a touch better two of the days we saw him. The other buck was also very good, but just wasnt as pretty a buck as this one.
Heres Matt and I glassing up his buck. We watched it for several hours until it bedded down in a very stalkable location. The buck was bedded on the far ridge just to the right of the green trees.
Matt and I crossed the draw and headed up the hill while Brian waited on the other side of the draw to make sure the buck didnt move. Brian gave us some hand signals and literally got us right on top of the buck.
Matt and I slowly worked into the draw until we found his buck standing next to a doe. The doe started to move off and the buck followed. Matt took his time and made a nice shot at 94 yards.
Just a pretty buck, really even, nice eye-guards and a really beautiful cape.
Another look:
Now for the rest of the story. While driving back to town today, we called Greenhorns friend and he wanted to see the buck. He thought it was a "very handsome deer" and was truly excited to see that Matt was happy with his buck. He then invited us to his house to check out some of his animals. MY GOODNESS that guy has a very impressive collection of animals he's taken in a life-time of hunting. He's extremely humble about his accomplishments when he has every right not to be.
Matt and I both agreed that meeting Greenhorns friend, sharing a hunt with our Dad, hunting with Brian again, and just having the opportunity to chase bucks in this area was just as important, if not more-so, than getting lucky on a fine mule deer.
One of the best all-around hunting experiences I've had in a long, long, time.
