Matthew and Marcus also spent a ton of time with Aiden. Marcus shot some great video with him and we will do a shout out to his YouTube channel when we air this on YT. For Aiden stayed out as long as he did in that wind and temps of 25F, took serous determination. His Dad is a super accomplished hunter that owns a mule deer collection that is museum-worthy. We enjoyed their time with us.
As for the hunt, it was obvious when we got there that this was going to be a tough one. I've had my share of "Glory Tags" and about half of them end up with some less than ideal conditions.
Fortunately, we spent days working on the this story line, making the results of the hunt rather secondary. We interviewed folks involved in the Wyoming Migration Initiative to get the points they think might be overlooked by hunters. We interviewed NGO folks to get information about what amazing work has been done by private landowners and industry partners to make the 100 fence crossings easier on wildlife. The local biologist spent an hour explaining to us the dynamics of this herd what risks they face and what causes fluctuations.
If we need a huge buck to tell a compelling story about a landscape that can sustain 100+ mile migrations, then we are doing something wrong. We spent as much time gathering footage about the landscape, the accommodations made for these deer, and discussing the risks and future of the herd, as we did actually hunting.
But, it wouldn't be a hunting story, without a story. So, here goes, bypassing the first four days that were a parade of does and younger bucks.
While at dinner on Saturday night, I told Aiden of Marcus' vision that Marcus had explained just before we left the field that evening. Marcus had drawn out how things were going to unfold the next morning, with Matthew shooting a good buck, explaining how it would show up, where the shot would happen, etc. I told Marcus if it happened like that, I'd give him $200.
With Aiden's encouragement and confidence that things would go our way, we headed out Sunday morning. We went out way before daylight, with Aiden and his Dad coming out a bit after us.
As the sun was rising Sunday morning, we were seeing many deer. A couple bucks that were an upgrade from days before, but no real big ones. We watched another hunter stalk this buck at first light. The buck was too far for us to know what he was for sure, other than he had a good frame and his body looked like a horse among the does. It looked like they were hidden in the rocks and the hunter had a tough shot to try make without being seen, especially at low light. He shot and the group ran off, the buck looking unscathed.
After the shot, we thought the buck headed more north and west, the direction the group was going when they went out of our sight. A big surprise when he popped up underneath us at 330 yards, by himself, while his does continued a different direction.
The buck stood there looking to his left, showing us his nice driver's side 4-point frame. That was far better than anything we had seen. Time to get more serious about this situation. The buck stood there for almost six minutes while we filmed him. He stood in a little depression about 400 yards from a main road, listening as cars drove by, though the cars could not see him on this bench that had a small cut paralleling the road.
The buck did finally move around some, giving us a view from all sides, and showing to be a good framed 4x3. Matthew did some contemplation about shooting the buck, but he's not too much into scores. Matthew started rattling off all the boxes this buck checked that were points he had told me and Marcus were his goals; mature buck, good frame, healthy and fat, good filming situation, getting to hunt for five or six days, and the clincher may have been how warmer temps were coming for the last day of season.
The buck stood there longer at 300+ yards, trying to figure out what he should do. The, for some unknown reason, he started coming our way, at which time Matthew stated, "That'll do."
The buck closed to 260 yards, stood broadside in a sliver of sunlight, as if he knew it would make epic footage. But, he had stepped up a bit higher on the bench and now the road was about 700 yards out, making this an unsafe shot. Matthew and Marcus moved to a different position, staying just below the ridge line. I stayed put and kept filming with my spotter. The buck could not make us out, as he was looking directly into the morning sun.
He dropped into the cut and disappeared for a couple minutes. When he emerged, he was now 20 yards and had put a hill behind him, giving Matthew a perfectly safe shot. It though it took forever, but the footage says it was only 1:06 minutes until Matthew pulled the trigger. The buck jumped high, struggling to get back down in the cut. It was a good hit.
With all the other traffic and hunters, we moved toward the buck very quickly. On our way, we saw another hunter slowly moving out direction. I think it was
@chriswy.
I think he saw Matthew was sighted on the buck waiting for it to expire. We weren't sure if the hunter saw us or the buck staggering to stand, (I suspect he did) so Matthew decided to take a finishing shot. I thought that hunter might come over to see us. We knew of a nice 4x4 that had been in the hills above us the day before and was a buck we had hoped to relocate when this situation happened. We would have gladly shared that location if the hunter had come over. If it was Chris, he obviously didn't need any intel from us, given the buck he found today.
This angle was his best, for sure; the angle we got when he first emerged below us and looked for his escape route. Easy to get excited about this side when there aren't a lot of bucks moving around.
The other side, not as exciting.
Not sure of his BMI, but he surely met Matthew's requirement for fat and healthy.
When the buck was down for good, I texted Aiden, "I owe Marcus $200." He knew exactly what I meant and told me they would be there soon. Yup, it had worked out precisely as if the buck had read Marcus's script. With the buck popping out only a few hundred yards from our glassing location, it wasn't much of a packout.
Aiden and his Dad were at the truck to meet us. Not sure if Aiden got a cut of Marcus' $200 prize, but he should have asked for some of that. We sat around giving Aiden the play-by-play, taking pictures and shooting some video with him.
Even without snow and cold for a migration, the bright side was that we were provided some of the fairest weather I've ever had on a Wyoming hunt.
A lot of lessons learned, as with every hunt. I'm glad we hunted away from the boundary where most everyone else was hunting. We probably saw fewer deer and I am sure any good bucks that crossed into the unit in daylight were tagged before they would have gotten to us. Yet, bucks that crossed at night were out in front of us at daylight and we didn't have nearly the hunting pressure near the boundary. With 15 tag holders and three Governor-type tag holders with a posse of 4-6 rigs, it seemed a lot more crowded than when I had the tag in 2019. I suspect a few good bucks were taken, but that kind of chaos is not our style. We were glad to leave that to others as we watched from glassing locations above.
Everyone was all smiles. It was a great day to be hunting for fun...... and for smiles.
