Late Nevada muley hunt.

[T Bone]

I have a new crush on Nevada. I lived there for 5 years and failed to draw a single big game tag while a resident. I moved out of Nevada and this year finally pulled my first NV tag with 10 points. A late season muzzy hunt. I'll never be the same. I've never looked at so many big mule deer.

Friday the 9th

I drove from CO to Eastern NV and made it half way before hitting a blizzard. I plowed through it and finally made it to my destination and set up my wall tent in the dark, in a blizzard. Not fun. But once it was up, stoke that fire baby!

Saturday the 10th
It's chilly, but perfect weather! 6 inches at camp, a foot or more up high. I spent most of Saturday morning getting familiar with the drainage. It's on the border of Great Basin National Park, so I have to know exactly where the boundaries are. The boundary markers are white, which I find very difficult to see in the snow.

To put more emphasis on the knowledge of the borders, the National Park Service Law Enforcement make their presence known. Nice people.

Here are some pics of the country.

BLM land about a mile from the park border. Lots of deer in here.

BLM land in the lower country. Some deer here, but thick PJ cover.

This pic shows some of the higher border country. Mind your P's and Q's of where the borders are. Bucks chasing does all over the bare hill sides and the burn area. Burn is in the park. The open hill sides are bisected by the park border with the white markers.

 

[T Bone]

Satisfied that I'm familiar enough with the area and the boundaries I start glassing.

Many mature bucks. Saturday afternoon I glassed from a windy ridge, freezing, but excited as I counted 13 mature bucks, one worth thinking about. A 3 point at about 33" wide. Tall points and decent mass. This a long distance picture of him. I have better video.

About 3 PM I hear a gunshot further down the canyon in the thick PJ cover. I come off the hill at dark, excited. Driving back to camp I come upon 3 guys in a white Ford from Reno, very, very very excited. They just shot a monster 8x9 right off the road. What a toad. I'm sure it will be on a magazine cover soon.

I'll pick up the story later. I need to spend some time with the wife and see if she still likes me. She says we're going to see the James Bond movie. Daniel Craig does it for her, even if I don't. How can I compete with a fictional guy like that?

 

[DonDusart]

Nice pictures. How did you take that picture of the buck? Was it through a spotting scope with an attachment to your camera? Good luck. Don

 

[Elkmagnet]

More please!

 

[Big Fin]

I really like that spot. Something about big three point Muleys in that location. Snow makes that hunt great. Hope you have a good ending to this story.

 

[justdada]

Dont tease us tbone...

 

[Summitthunting]

Damn you Bond, James Bond.

 

[pointingdogsrule]

We want more!!!!!

good luck to all
the dog

 

[wingman1]

Great pics and story. Can we hear the the rest of it?

Please

 

[konasage]

Can't wait to hear the rest, just talked to my buddy down there today, says he has some spots so when I draw I might pick your brain too if thats ok.

 

[AZ402]

Love that country in there, can't wait to hear the rest of it!

 

[NVLongbow]

Fin drew that area a few years ago. We chased a big one for several days. Nick named that buck Elvis; because he was "THE KING".

More weather headed your way. Good luck.

 

[havgunwilltravel]

Great looking country and ideal weather for that type of hunt..im eagerly buidling points in Nevada but i think i still have a way to go before i am a chance with drawing a hunt like that..look forward to the update..

 

[T Bone]

James Bond doesn't know the difference between a shotgun and a rifle. Jason Bourne could take him any day.


Anyhow....

Sunday

Sunrise finds me glassing new bucks in the same canyon. They are really moving! Mid-morning a truck load of 3 Utah guys show up. None have tags, they just like looking at mule deer. Great group, and a lot of help, as they have hunted the area for years.

Mid-morning I cut out of glassing to go down and attend church in a small branch in Garrison UT. All are cattle ranchers that live in the middle of no-where UT and NV. Many are 3rd and 4th generation ranchers. Salt of the earth type people that are tough as nails. After church I drive out another 15 miles to where I have cell reception and check in at home. Wife is OK. 2 of the 4 kids have been to the E.R. in the past 24 hours....Sam my 14 year old was playing basketball and jumped into a chain net and his finger hung up and it is now peeled like a banana. 15 stitches and hopefully the nerve will regenerate...The daughter smashed her foot. Nothing is broken. Other than that life is good and my lovely spouse is really glad that I'm hunting and seeing some great deer!

It's my story, and that's the way it was.

I agree to call in another 2 days and race back to my canyon. As I'm driving up the canyon, my camp comes in sight and there is a truck parked there. I watch this fella walking around my camp and he even opens the cooler, gear box, and pokes his head in the tent. This guy is giving me the creeps. I pull up and he acts real non-chalant, chit-chats and goes to leave. I let him know what I saw and he gets in his truck without a word and leaves. Bad vibes from this guy. From that point on, I had a handgun in my vehicle or near my cot at all times.

I glassed Sunday afternoon until dark in another canyon with a lot of cover and saw 25 or so total deer. One was an old buck, with a horse of a body, big deep 5 on one side and the other was broken off at the main beam. Too bad, as he would have been on the short list.

Sunday was the coldest day as it was clear. Highs were in the teens and the camera and video camera batteries took a dump, so not much for pics that day.

 

[T Bone]

Monday

Dawn found me watching the 333 buck (33" wide 3 point). Cool buck.

I switched to glassing the burn and pooped my pants a little bit when I saw a bomber. He was waaaay out there, but with my spotter on 40x, I lost count at 6 points to each side. He was about 26" wide, and 24" tall and had serious mass. I watched him all morning, the only problem was inside the park at least 3/4 of a mile and heading deeper into the park at last sight.

I went back to the tent for lunch to make sure Kreeper didn't clean me out and while warming up some elk stew, a couple stopped by. She had a tag, and they were just not seeing much.....Years past were so much better...blah, blah, blah. I suggested that they get off their fat asses and use mister binoculars. I didn't say it, but I thought it.

Afternoon found me climbing up on the hills where the snow was disappearing quickly to the boundary on the bare hill and glassing back toward the BLM. Lot's of deer. Average bucks were plentiful. I picked up a big boy as followed a doe out of the timber.

The pics don't show it very well, but he's wide and tall. 3-4" past his ears on each side. I guessed him at 31"ish wide, 25"ish tall. Decent forks and mass. A very good buck, in my opinion. I had only seen a handful of 4x4's and this was by far the largest, cleanest, and most symmetrical. I guesstimated him in the high 180's to mid 190's.

I looked to my right and there is 333 at 75 yards. I wasn't even tempted to kill him.!

 

[T Bone]

I watched this big 4 until dark, looked him over from all angles, and went back to camp excited. Big 4 was at the top of the list (on huntable land), and 333 was #2 on the hitlist.

Going back to an empty dark camp in the evening when hunting solo is sometimes a bummer for me, but not tonight. I got the stove red hot, cleaned up, was in pajamas and a t-shirt, finished off the last of the elk stew, had oreos for dessert and was reading a Tom Clancy book until I got tired. Absolutely love the wall tent in cold temps.

I layed in bed thinking of the big 4. I was needing a sanity check from someone and wished someone was with me to bounce that off of. He was big. By far the biggest of any buck I've tagged. I thought of how he compared to the pig 8x9 killed by the Reno guys. No comparison honestly. That buck is in a different class all together. That was a once in a lifetime buck.

But the big 4 was strong in all areas. I did mental gymnastics all night on whether I ought to hunt him if I see him again in the morning.

 

[huntbux]

Ok come on I am loving the pics and the story here, being that I am in Nevada so I am stoked to see the end of this.

 

[T Bone]

Tuesday

I head up to the same spot as the night before and starting doing inventory on the bucks on legal hunting ground. I found 333 immediately. He desperately wanted me to kill him as he came charging by me at 80 yards trying to herd a doe.

I spotted all the usual big 3's and average 4's, doing their best to chase does.

I spotted the Big 4 that I had been thinking about all night.

He was stuck on one doe in particular. Where ever she went, he followed.

I watched them intently through mid morning until they made there way into the top end of a strip of timber and bedded.

It was the perfect place for a stalk. I decided to hunt this buck, and if given a good shot, kill it.

The stalk took a little longer than expected as I had to circle wide to avoid other deer that were potential spoilers.

I eased into the strip of timber with all my senses on alert. On the stealth scale, I was somewhere between jungle cat and ninja.

The strip of timber was only about 100 yards wide, but much thicker once you were in it. Once in the edge of timber and doing some close range glassing I spotted deer. It took a good 45 minutes of sorting out parts and pieces, watching deer get up, poke around and re-bed until I saw the buck. A mere 60 yards away, bedded, facing head on, but his head was turned watching his girlfriend just below him.

I slowly repositioned until I had a grapefruit sized opening at the front of his chest. 60 yards, complicated by the hole-shot at a weird angle. I glassed again. Yup, clean 4 point. I cocked the rifle, held the breath and dropped the hammer.

White smoke blocked all view. I saw flashes of deer running away and that was it.

I ate lunch.

I went to where the buck was bedded and found sign of a hit.

 

[Festus]

You're killing me!
Great story and pics, but..............

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Must be at Church.....................................John