Bambistew
Well-known member
The CO muzzy hunt was a bust. The hunting was pretty good, but the killing was not so good. The trip started off with hitting the ‘low country’. I spent a couple days glassing up small deer and not seeing to much. I did find what I thought was a great deer, He had huge back forks and looked quite heavy, I looked him over for all of about 3 seconds and decided he was more than good enough for me, and was in a spot that I had a decent chance of putting a stalk on him. I put on a quick stalk but was caught by a small group of does, they really didn’t spook but I figured it was better to back off and try him again later. The spot he was in was far enough from the roads and in an out of the way spot, and by the amount of pressure in this area I didn’t think anyone would bother him. That evening I met up with OSOK and we tried to locate him to see just how good he was but had no success. We saw a couple dinks and that was it. The morning of Day three was pretty uneventful, didn’t see any deer at all. That evening I did manage to find the ‘big buck’ again. Upon looking him over for half an hour I determined that I had ‘jumped the gun’ in the size department. He was very heavy, had awesome back forks, but was just a 25” 3 point with no eye guards. I felt that I could do better, but wasn’t sure how much better I could do, since I hadn’t seen more than a handful of deer in 3 days. I knew that I would be happy with killing that deer, but I had packed along all my camping stuff, so I figured I might as well hit the high country since the weather was going to break.
On day 4 I packed my stuff and headed up. I was feeling pretty good about hitting the high country, I figured I’d find a deer or two up there, but didn’t want to get my hopes up and think that I’d see a bunch. By the morning of the third day in the high country and not seeing a single deer, nor any sign that was newer than a week to 10 days, I decided I’d better pack up and head out, there was a storm rolling in again and I decided that sitting in a tent in BFE in an area void of life, sans elk, would be about as much fun as sitting here at work. So I packed up and headed off the mountain. I figured I’d have an evening and 3 days to get that big 3 point killed. Sorry the elk picture sucks, it was about half a mile away or farther taken through the spotter. He was at a min 325, probaly closer to mid 330's. He had about a 5-6" fork coming off one of his eye guards.
So that night I waited on the thermals to switch and made a quick hike to the little basin that I’d seen the big 3. I never saw him, but think that he probably heard me hiking up the hill as there were so many pine cones and needles on the ground, that I’m sure sounded like I was takeing Snap, Crackle and Pop for a walk.
With three days left, and the big three living on the edge of a cellophane wrapper, I thought I would try to find one of the other 2 bucks that I had seen opening day. So I hiked to the top of a little ridge where I could glass an opposing hillside, hoping to locate the two bucks from opening day. There were not monsters but one was a decent 22-23” 4 point with good forks and decent mass, and his buddy was a 27-28” crab claw 4 point. I figured at this point in the game I’d take what I can get… Didn’t see a deer.
From previous experience in this area
, I knew that the deer ‘should’ be bedding on the top of this ridge and then coming out by these big rocks to feed in the evening. So my plan was to slip around below the bedding area, and get to the rocks and wait for them to come out.
On the slow stalk/hike through the ‘rice crispys' I happened to walk right up on a really nice buck. I have no idea how I did it, but I had him broadside at about 35-40 yards, down side, there was a small pine tree between him and I. I also had a small lodge pole directly in front of me. I could see that he was a solid deer, about 1.5-2” past his ears on the inside spread, but with him staring directly at me, it was impossible to tell what he was carrying. I thought to myself, this is a good deer, big forks or not, he’s got decent mass and a good spread. I slowly raised up my muzzy, flipped the safety off quietly and my plan was to slowly side step the small lodge pole directly in front of me and the angle should allow for me to take a shot missing both tree’s.. I no sooner moved my leg to make the side step and he bolted. That’s when I saw his forks… He was a great deer, easily in the 170 range probably closer to 180… I had a shot as his azz as he ran quartering away through the lodge pole, but I thought, I have 2 more days and there is no one else up here hunting these deer, so I passed on the iffy shot.
I hunted that deer 3 mornings and 2 evenings… never saw hide nor hair of him or his buddy again. I could have killed a 20-22ish 4pt or a dink 18” three point the last morning, but I didn’t go to CO to kill dink deer. I live in the land of dinks and if I want to shoot them I have an unlimited supply.
I can’t really complain about the hunting. Had great time, caught a few fish in the mountain lakes I was camped near, saw a nice CO bull that would have been a piece of cake to get as well as numerous other bulls. Now the waiting game begins to return to CO and then on to MT for deer and elk combo hunts in the back yard.
Fall is here FINALLY!!!
On day 4 I packed my stuff and headed up. I was feeling pretty good about hitting the high country, I figured I’d find a deer or two up there, but didn’t want to get my hopes up and think that I’d see a bunch. By the morning of the third day in the high country and not seeing a single deer, nor any sign that was newer than a week to 10 days, I decided I’d better pack up and head out, there was a storm rolling in again and I decided that sitting in a tent in BFE in an area void of life, sans elk, would be about as much fun as sitting here at work. So I packed up and headed off the mountain. I figured I’d have an evening and 3 days to get that big 3 point killed. Sorry the elk picture sucks, it was about half a mile away or farther taken through the spotter. He was at a min 325, probaly closer to mid 330's. He had about a 5-6" fork coming off one of his eye guards.
So that night I waited on the thermals to switch and made a quick hike to the little basin that I’d seen the big 3. I never saw him, but think that he probably heard me hiking up the hill as there were so many pine cones and needles on the ground, that I’m sure sounded like I was takeing Snap, Crackle and Pop for a walk.
With three days left, and the big three living on the edge of a cellophane wrapper, I thought I would try to find one of the other 2 bucks that I had seen opening day. So I hiked to the top of a little ridge where I could glass an opposing hillside, hoping to locate the two bucks from opening day. There were not monsters but one was a decent 22-23” 4 point with good forks and decent mass, and his buddy was a 27-28” crab claw 4 point. I figured at this point in the game I’d take what I can get… Didn’t see a deer.
From previous experience in this area
, I knew that the deer ‘should’ be bedding on the top of this ridge and then coming out by these big rocks to feed in the evening. So my plan was to slip around below the bedding area, and get to the rocks and wait for them to come out.
On the slow stalk/hike through the ‘rice crispys' I happened to walk right up on a really nice buck. I have no idea how I did it, but I had him broadside at about 35-40 yards, down side, there was a small pine tree between him and I. I also had a small lodge pole directly in front of me. I could see that he was a solid deer, about 1.5-2” past his ears on the inside spread, but with him staring directly at me, it was impossible to tell what he was carrying. I thought to myself, this is a good deer, big forks or not, he’s got decent mass and a good spread. I slowly raised up my muzzy, flipped the safety off quietly and my plan was to slowly side step the small lodge pole directly in front of me and the angle should allow for me to take a shot missing both tree’s.. I no sooner moved my leg to make the side step and he bolted. That’s when I saw his forks… He was a great deer, easily in the 170 range probably closer to 180… I had a shot as his azz as he ran quartering away through the lodge pole, but I thought, I have 2 more days and there is no one else up here hunting these deer, so I passed on the iffy shot.
I hunted that deer 3 mornings and 2 evenings… never saw hide nor hair of him or his buddy again. I could have killed a 20-22ish 4pt or a dink 18” three point the last morning, but I didn’t go to CO to kill dink deer. I live in the land of dinks and if I want to shoot them I have an unlimited supply.
I can’t really complain about the hunting. Had great time, caught a few fish in the mountain lakes I was camped near, saw a nice CO bull that would have been a piece of cake to get as well as numerous other bulls. Now the waiting game begins to return to CO and then on to MT for deer and elk combo hunts in the back yard.
Fall is here FINALLY!!!
