I'm from the East, and I get it!!I love elk hunting with my bow,but have just started hunting muleys.Last year was my first real attempt and loved every minute of it.Hope to draw a decent Wy. tag this year.I also keep building Co. points for a true trophy hunt.after last year, I get the obsession.Muleys will be on my list every year to hunt along with elk
MULEY Obsession
- Thread starter Craig S.
- Start date
LuckyMike
Member
I am haunted by my thoughts of big mule deer bucks!
In my twenties I went from being a mule deer nut to an elk fanatic. With mule deer it was the antlers. Their meat was secondary. It was 1965 when I first hunted mule deer in Montana. In those days you could shoot two bucks (A and B tags) each year. I did for a while. Then, in 1968 when I stumbled onto three bull elk, one was huge, one was a mature looking five-point and the third a raghorn, I changed. The big bull escaped me, but I got the five-point. For the next 40-years elk were way more important to me than deer. In addition, I was introduced to sheep hunting in the early 1970’s. I was most fanatical about sheep. I couldn’t really afford sheep hunting even though I paid only $1750 for a Stone Sheep hunt in northern British Columbia in 1973. Elk took a backseat to the sheep. This disease lasted for over 20-years. I was never completely cured, since I’ve never had opportunity to hunt desert sheep. Time and discouraging drawing odds have taken the edge off of my sheep fever. A tag in the mail would change that!
Anyway, back to mule deer. The reason I am haunted is that for a significant period of my hunting life I did not fully respect the trophy quality of mulies, nor did I appreciate the privilege of having nearly unlimited opportunity to hunt them in my home state of Montana. Instead, time and again I passed on wonderful trophy bucks within very reasonable shooting range. Usually this was because it was prime-time in the early morning and I was just about to reach the spot where I knew there might be a bull elk. Really, any legal bull elk would suffice for me in those days, since I was almost as interested in the meat to feed my growing family as I was the elusive trophy bull. I also passed on mule deer bucks because they were not wide enough. I was naïve to the trophy quality of bucks with narrow, tall, deeply forked, heavy antlers. Sometimes I wake up in the night and think about these missed (passed) opportunities. In addition, there are a few memories of bucks I was aware were outstanding, but failed to harvest. A couple of these stir me more today than any. An example is the huge non-typical that I blundered, in Colorado in 1964, as I tromped down the trail in the bottom of a canyon on the Uncompahgre Plateau in mid-afternoon. I was simply making tracks back to the truck when out of the corner of my eye I saw him stand up from his bed up near the rim of the canyon wall. I only had a pair of beat-up old binoculars. But, there was no mistaking this buck with heavy antlers spreading 6-inches beyond his ears on both sides, squared off, with a thickness to the array of points on both sides that I had never seen before or since. He was up and over the rim, melted into the thick cover before I could shoot. Then there was the buck that came trolling out on November 20, 1979 at 12:37pm into the saddle 170-yards below me and my young brother-in-law, who I was taking into my favorite hunting area near home to hopefully get his first deer. We were eating lunch. I grabbed for my rifle without even putting my binos on him and said my famous quote, “If you aren’t going to shoot, I am!” He shot. I don’t really consider this a failed attempt. However, I do a lot of thinking about how much I needed a buck like that rather than he did at that time. See pictures below of this 31 ½” spread, 188” mainframe plus extras. I mounted it for him and its still in the family.
Now, as I plan my hunting strategies for the remainder of my physically active hunting life, “Mule Deer” are at the top of my list. I hunt in Montana and put in for other states, such as Nevada (which I drew in 2011), Colorado, Wyoming and occasionally Idaho and Utah. I have used some of my limited financial resources to hire a guide and hunt in both Alberta and British Columbia for big mulies. I am now seriously after the big mule deer buck and intend to have a great time pursuing him!
In my twenties I went from being a mule deer nut to an elk fanatic. With mule deer it was the antlers. Their meat was secondary. It was 1965 when I first hunted mule deer in Montana. In those days you could shoot two bucks (A and B tags) each year. I did for a while. Then, in 1968 when I stumbled onto three bull elk, one was huge, one was a mature looking five-point and the third a raghorn, I changed. The big bull escaped me, but I got the five-point. For the next 40-years elk were way more important to me than deer. In addition, I was introduced to sheep hunting in the early 1970’s. I was most fanatical about sheep. I couldn’t really afford sheep hunting even though I paid only $1750 for a Stone Sheep hunt in northern British Columbia in 1973. Elk took a backseat to the sheep. This disease lasted for over 20-years. I was never completely cured, since I’ve never had opportunity to hunt desert sheep. Time and discouraging drawing odds have taken the edge off of my sheep fever. A tag in the mail would change that!
Anyway, back to mule deer. The reason I am haunted is that for a significant period of my hunting life I did not fully respect the trophy quality of mulies, nor did I appreciate the privilege of having nearly unlimited opportunity to hunt them in my home state of Montana. Instead, time and again I passed on wonderful trophy bucks within very reasonable shooting range. Usually this was because it was prime-time in the early morning and I was just about to reach the spot where I knew there might be a bull elk. Really, any legal bull elk would suffice for me in those days, since I was almost as interested in the meat to feed my growing family as I was the elusive trophy bull. I also passed on mule deer bucks because they were not wide enough. I was naïve to the trophy quality of bucks with narrow, tall, deeply forked, heavy antlers. Sometimes I wake up in the night and think about these missed (passed) opportunities. In addition, there are a few memories of bucks I was aware were outstanding, but failed to harvest. A couple of these stir me more today than any. An example is the huge non-typical that I blundered, in Colorado in 1964, as I tromped down the trail in the bottom of a canyon on the Uncompahgre Plateau in mid-afternoon. I was simply making tracks back to the truck when out of the corner of my eye I saw him stand up from his bed up near the rim of the canyon wall. I only had a pair of beat-up old binoculars. But, there was no mistaking this buck with heavy antlers spreading 6-inches beyond his ears on both sides, squared off, with a thickness to the array of points on both sides that I had never seen before or since. He was up and over the rim, melted into the thick cover before I could shoot. Then there was the buck that came trolling out on November 20, 1979 at 12:37pm into the saddle 170-yards below me and my young brother-in-law, who I was taking into my favorite hunting area near home to hopefully get his first deer. We were eating lunch. I grabbed for my rifle without even putting my binos on him and said my famous quote, “If you aren’t going to shoot, I am!” He shot. I don’t really consider this a failed attempt. However, I do a lot of thinking about how much I needed a buck like that rather than he did at that time. See pictures below of this 31 ½” spread, 188” mainframe plus extras. I mounted it for him and its still in the family.
Now, as I plan my hunting strategies for the remainder of my physically active hunting life, “Mule Deer” are at the top of my list. I hunt in Montana and put in for other states, such as Nevada (which I drew in 2011), Colorado, Wyoming and occasionally Idaho and Utah. I have used some of my limited financial resources to hire a guide and hunt in both Alberta and British Columbia for big mulies. I am now seriously after the big mule deer buck and intend to have a great time pursuing him!
Attachments
Jon Boy
Active member
Mike those are some freaking toads! What I would do to have hunted mule deer in the 60s
silverado11
New member
Guilty as charged for being a muley fanatic, especially since my brother has lived in Montana for the past couple years.....I cant get enough.
rk_az
Member
I hunted mule deer on and off for 25 years before dropping my first buck. Now I doubt I will ever top it.
Arizona 37B desert muley:
Arizona 37B desert muley:
Duck-Slayer
Well-known member
I think i'm more of a antelope fanatic than a mule deer, but muley's for sure are number 2 as you can see from the pics, I have not had the chance too harvest a big deer but both my Dad and Wife have.....
Matt
last couple of years worth of the mule deer itch....
Matt
last couple of years worth of the mule deer itch....
Elkmagnet
Well-known member
nice! Hey are you the same Matt from bigfishtackle who won the ice fishing tourney?I think i'm more of a antelope fanatic than a mule deer, but muley's for sure are number 2 as you can see from the pics, I have not had the chance too harvest a big deer but both my Dad and Wife have.....
Matt
last couple of years worth of the mule deer itch....
Breaks Runner
New member
Mule deer are tops for me. It started in the 60's and hasn't subsided yet.
Duck-Slayer
Well-known member
the one in cascade? than Yes that's me, I go on Iceshanty.com and a few others by the same name....
Matt
Elkmagnet
Well-known member
yeah I was getting my forums mixed up. Congrats on the tourney I'm heading up there this weekend.
Art Vandeley
Well-known member
They are by far my favorite animal to hunt. Still trying to break that 170" mark, but I have a blast trying. I fear that my short hunting career is going to be the "good old days" in my hunting life... but hopefully I am wrong.
Mitch
Mitch
