My 2019 Montana deer hunt

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I don’t get time to read much on here much anymore let alone post but I have a bit of time to fill you in. I had 5 hunting days and 2 travel days before I had to be back home to coach middle school wrestling. I Saturday and was hunting at daybreak Sunday for mule deer on the east side of Montana. It was crowded with hunters but they seemed to be getting quality mule deer.
Snow and cold weather made glassing hard on Sunday and Monday. I never even had an opportunity on the public land those 2 days. Tuesday I moved 60 miles and was only offered a spike and a fork horn mule deer which I passed on. I decided to try an area a couple hours away that I was more familiar with that held a lot of deer 3 years ago but came up empty again without a shot opportunity. By noon on Wednesday I decided to travel again in search of a new area.

 

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Seen some deer but on private just along the road while driving to new spots

 

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Covered some bottom lands

 

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I let another spike walk that morning and kept hunting. While checking out a smaller section of state land I noticed some deer but they were whitetail and out in the wide open about 800 yards away. As I looked I saw a real nice buck by my standards and decided to pursue him. I was able to use the little bit of cover I had and got a range of 431 yards. I dialed my scope up on my 7mm-08 up to 7.3moa and squeezed one off. I knew I had connected with a solid hit to the chest within an inch or two of my crosshairs.

 

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Hunting solo again this year and my phone battery was about dead so photos are not the greatest,sorry

 

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Back home with my buck and I rough scored him out at 141” net and 145” gross. Wasn’t a mule deer but I am super happy with a whitetail of this size and only 1 day left to hunt

 

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Sorry if my story and pics are all over the place hope everyone has an idea of what I am sharing, like I say I don’t have much time to get on the forums anymore

 

[Deleted member 20812]

If I’m shooting whitetails like that I’m not really sure I give a shot about mulies, unless it’s a buck like Oak’s

 

[homers]

Great buck and great write up! What bullet is that?

 

[174in]

If I’m shooting whitetails like that I’m not really sure I give a shot about mulies, unless it’s a buck like Oak’s

They taste better also

 

[174in]

Great buck and great write up! What bullet is that?

.284 cal 140gr Sierra gameking hollowpoint

 

[174in]

I had the rifle built several years ago and have took a few animals with it but never had the right choice of scope for it until this summer. I ended up getting a great deal on a vortex 4-16 hst and worked a good load up for the rifle. Normally I am a leupold fan but I couldn’t pass the price up on this scope. I had it shooting great out to 300 yards at the range. This was the first time I shot this rifle/scope combination past 300 yards. Very happy with the performance

 

[BestDeerHunterEver]

Nice Whitetail. I shot this Mulie on public last week in MT. Caught him in his bed, stalked to a range of 250 and finished it. Best Mulie to date. 5x4 with solid mass, not real wide. Saw an absolute beast of a Mulie on public 2 days later (diff spot) but was tagged out obviously and my dad only had a doe tag. Needless to say my dad was a bit pissed he only got a doe tag this year after that. Congrat’s on your hunt!

 

[Stretcher_Jockey]

Hell of a deer. Congratulations!