Ollin Magnetic Digiscoping System

Colorado plains deer

Mudranger1

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Jun 30, 2010
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Just a quick write up of our deer season. I went out on Sunday Oct 26th for the first time after a late night pre Halloween party the night before.
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About 10 minutes before legal shooting light I notice a line of deer cutting across a flat at a rather quick pace which I thought was odd. I watched them go over a distant ridge about a mile away and kept pressing towards my intended morning glassing spot. A little bit farther and I notice orange up on the skyline and another doe in between us. Being the only truck at the parking lot I knew he had come off the bordering private property but I let it slide and headed off in the direction the other deer had went. Around noon I was freezing as temps were continuously dropping. I decided I was going to head back to where the guy was and see what he had to say. His truck was still parked just on the other side of the fence but he was no longer around and eventually drove off. I had an opportunity on a smaller buck right at last light but decided to pass with nearly 7 days more I could hunt.
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Monday and Tuesday morning were straight up cold and windy with snow. Did manage to see a few does but no bucks. Around noon on Tuesday I met up with my friend and we headed farther east to try and fill his tag. It was more wind snow and freezing cold. Tuesday evening we saw nothing and Wednesday he could of fill his tag with a doe but wanted to try and hold out for a buck. No bucks spotted. Thursday found me back in my area and around 9am I noticed 14 deer headed over to the private side and I watched them for several hours just feed around. They very slowly were making the way farther onto the private but were mingling enough back and forth just enough to give some hope the may come back. The weather had finally broke and I was hopeful for an eventful rest of the day. I headed to my normal glassing spot and decided to wander a little and check some draws the deer like to bed in. after a while of nothing I look back up into a draw and notice what looks like a face in the sage. sure enough 2 bucks. I make the decision to head back a little from where I had come and peak over the top and should be within 150 yards. Now I probably wasn't 300 yards from them where I was but honestly I thought it was 2 small bucks and they were still bedded so they obviously hadn't seen me (1st mistake). I head to where I want to peak over and take a look. both bucks standing alert looking where I was originally at but scanning everything. Of course 1 was not a small buck so I start fumbling to find a clear shooting lane thru the sage and they bust over the ridge. I take off after them hoping they will do the muley stop and look back. as I get to the top of the ridge they are slowing so I get set up prone as they stop and look back around 400 yards away. I get lined and squeeze the trigger. I hear this pop, not like hitting the deer but like a suction cup being popped free. The deer take off again as I rack another round and run for as far as I can see. I'm sitting there thinking about what had just happened I'm like I don't remember the gun going off. I mean its normal not to 'feel" the recoil when shooting at an animal but something was off. My camera had been recording about 5 feet from me and sure enough me racking the bolt is louder than when I shot. Disappointment set in and the next forky that came by was probably going to get shot. He was smart enough to stay about 200 yards on the private side for the last hour of the evening. Friday morning was deer on the private side and then we were off to fill my wife's, son's and friends tag over the weekend. with 3 tags to fill I told them all I didn't care if they wanted to hold out for a buck but if they wanted to fill their tags they better be shooting whatever walked by first. Saturday morning the wife and I went out and around 9am she shot a doe.IMG_5053.JPG

Saturday around noon a older gentleman stops by and says he saw two bedded whitetails and my son decided he wanted to give it a shot. We walked and walked and only saw 1 yearling mule deer so I'm assuming the mans eyesight wasn't as good as he thought. The evening hunt was pretty uneventful but my friend and I did see 1 group of does right at last light but he couldn't ever get on them in the scope. Sunday was more of nothing. I was actually pretty shocked at not seeing any deer movement with rut closing in and the weather cooperating. Monday and Tuesday night I went out but no bucks were spotted. Again very surprising to not even see little bucks hanging around with all the does I was seeing. Pretty slow year for us all around. seems like the only time we made the right decisions was antelope hunting. I knew it was bound to happen its just been a long time since it did.
here is some crappy video of my wife's hunt.
 
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Well, it sounds like you learned a lot, and your wife put some meat in the freezer! It does seem like whitetail hunting would be tough in that terrain.
 
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