Frequently Banned Troll
Well-known member
My sister and her husband flew to MT from TX this past weekend to spend time with my parents and shoot pheasants on my Dad's place. My wife and I met them over there on Thursday. It was nice to hunt some of the stuff again where I grew up. We shot over 40 roosters in 4 days, so the bird hunting was nothing short of great.
I took my rifle out Friday afternoon looking for deer. In MT, our deer-A tag can be used on a whitetail or muley. Since I really enjoy muley hunting, I was hoping to only shoot a whitetail if it was really an exceptional buck. This particular area doesn't have much for muleys, mostly whitetails. I saw a buck I would have been very happy to take just at sundown. I made a go at him and screwed it up. I should have had him. I got a pretty good look at him through my spotting scope. At first look, I figured as a 4X4, he'd of scored high 140s. When he turned his head I saw that he had 5 on his left, all very long. I knew he was in the 150s at least, so I quit looking and started after him.. If he was 5 on both sides, he was a real whopper. After blowing my chance at him that evening, I tracked him the next AM into a 640 acre piece of CRP... then gave up.
I decided to check another place that I hunted often while growing up, but a place that I had never killed a deer at. It was an area you have to hike into. Anyhow, I spotted a buck in some bitterbrush. He was bedded and looking at me, about 50 yards away. I didn't think he was that great, but he was a nice one. Then he jumped and started to run away. I sized him some more through my rifle scope (stupid idea!). In any event, there is a reason why I try to never carry a round in the chamber or size them running away through a rifle scope.
A few minutes later I was putting my tag on a nice 5X5 MT public land whitetail. Hopefully the pictures turn out good. He's around 15 points smaller than I was expecting. But as soon as I shot, I figured that was going to be the case. No regrets though. He's a nice buck and will eat well. He also had a recently broken back hock. He wouldn't have escaped the mobs of coyotes and certainly wasn't going to grow any bigger or breed any more does.
I should have some pictures back to scan in tonight.
I took my rifle out Friday afternoon looking for deer. In MT, our deer-A tag can be used on a whitetail or muley. Since I really enjoy muley hunting, I was hoping to only shoot a whitetail if it was really an exceptional buck. This particular area doesn't have much for muleys, mostly whitetails. I saw a buck I would have been very happy to take just at sundown. I made a go at him and screwed it up. I should have had him. I got a pretty good look at him through my spotting scope. At first look, I figured as a 4X4, he'd of scored high 140s. When he turned his head I saw that he had 5 on his left, all very long. I knew he was in the 150s at least, so I quit looking and started after him.. If he was 5 on both sides, he was a real whopper. After blowing my chance at him that evening, I tracked him the next AM into a 640 acre piece of CRP... then gave up.
I decided to check another place that I hunted often while growing up, but a place that I had never killed a deer at. It was an area you have to hike into. Anyhow, I spotted a buck in some bitterbrush. He was bedded and looking at me, about 50 yards away. I didn't think he was that great, but he was a nice one. Then he jumped and started to run away. I sized him some more through my rifle scope (stupid idea!). In any event, there is a reason why I try to never carry a round in the chamber or size them running away through a rifle scope.
A few minutes later I was putting my tag on a nice 5X5 MT public land whitetail. Hopefully the pictures turn out good. He's around 15 points smaller than I was expecting. But as soon as I shot, I figured that was going to be the case. No regrets though. He's a nice buck and will eat well. He also had a recently broken back hock. He wouldn't have escaped the mobs of coyotes and certainly wasn't going to grow any bigger or breed any more does.
I should have some pictures back to scan in tonight.
Sounds like you had a blast in your own stomping grounds.
