My buddy and I were able to get into our hunting unit early and scout out some deer. We found 13 bucks in the two days before season some dinky, some decent, and one really good buck (on private). Unfortunately these deer were all feeding low and could be spotted by roads, but they were bedding mid slope and we were the ones who knew were the beds were.
So opening morning roles around and we decide that our best bet is to get up by the beds of these bucks and catch them after the road hunter madness has taken place. With the sunshine starting to poke through we spot the bucks grazing and slowly working to the bed. Just like we imagined two vehicles stop at the same time seeing the bachelor group. One buck is shot from the group,y and the rest are coming right towards us. The 5 bucks in the group come right in at 200yds and my buddy misses. Now it's a fair time to tell you that this is his first mule deer hunt and he was beating himself up a bit, but I kept him in high spirits and told him we have other bucks to chase. So mid afternoon still on the opener we head out to sit for the evening in an old burn scar where we had seen bucks feeding the night before. Now it's 2pm and we are hiking up the mountain to the one lone tree in the ditch running down the center of the burn. One so we can have shade and two it was fairly close to where the bucks were seen feeding just before dark the night before. We get 10yds from the tree and the buck I harvested (4x4) stands up and looks at me. I wait for him to step out behind the tree and shoot him at 20yds. Once my buck hit the ground my buddy said "hey look another buck" and I quickly replied after looking at it "we'll shoot him!". So my friend dropped him at 50yds. Our bucks were harvested 100yds apart within 10seconds of each other on opening day at 2pm. The buck my friend shot was a heck of a first buck and I can say that he'll never shoot another one like it in his life. It was a great hunt with a friend and I'm happy to have been there to help him harvest his first mule deer.
So opening morning roles around and we decide that our best bet is to get up by the beds of these bucks and catch them after the road hunter madness has taken place. With the sunshine starting to poke through we spot the bucks grazing and slowly working to the bed. Just like we imagined two vehicles stop at the same time seeing the bachelor group. One buck is shot from the group,y and the rest are coming right towards us. The 5 bucks in the group come right in at 200yds and my buddy misses. Now it's a fair time to tell you that this is his first mule deer hunt and he was beating himself up a bit, but I kept him in high spirits and told him we have other bucks to chase. So mid afternoon still on the opener we head out to sit for the evening in an old burn scar where we had seen bucks feeding the night before. Now it's 2pm and we are hiking up the mountain to the one lone tree in the ditch running down the center of the burn. One so we can have shade and two it was fairly close to where the bucks were seen feeding just before dark the night before. We get 10yds from the tree and the buck I harvested (4x4) stands up and looks at me. I wait for him to step out behind the tree and shoot him at 20yds. Once my buck hit the ground my buddy said "hey look another buck" and I quickly replied after looking at it "we'll shoot him!". So my friend dropped him at 50yds. Our bucks were harvested 100yds apart within 10seconds of each other on opening day at 2pm. The buck my friend shot was a heck of a first buck and I can say that he'll never shoot another one like it in his life. It was a great hunt with a friend and I'm happy to have been there to help him harvest his first mule deer.
