mcelweed
Member
Ok, before I get started don't slam me because it isn't a bruiser deer. This is only my second year hunting muleys and my first success.
Went out Saturday morning and glassed, no luck. As I started to move to new location I bumped about a dozen cow elk. Five minutes later I spot two deer moving through the trees. I slipped to the ground, dropped the back, and spent the next half hour watching the browse and bed down (and trying to make them grow antlers, no luck). Didn't see anything else that day.
Had to take off Sunday to work on Master's class (warped priorities, right?)
I started considering checking with local outfitters to see if anyone had a client tag out early and might be willing to take me out, but decided against it.
This morning I was on the mountain by sun-up and worked into my spotting location. Saw one cow elk slip over a saddle and nothing else. As I worked back to the truck to relocate, I spot some deer over the hill in the brush. One was a nice 4x4 but couldn't get a shot through the brush before they disappeared (grey ghost, indeed). I started to parallel the path I thought they took trying to get another look and possibly a shot on the 4x4.
When I reached the head of the canyon, they were still no where in sight. Now what to do? I could sit and see if they would eventually pass, give up, or work back the way I came to see if they had bedded. I made it about 50 yds back along a bench when I spotted antlers bedded in the brush on a bench below me. I could make out a spike, a 2x2, and a big body (maybe the 4x4?). I eventually decided to try for a neck shot on the 2x2 I could see. Yes, I missed. To my good fortune, they ran about 15 yds and stopped. I relocated the 2x2 and followed his neck down to shoulders then the chest and let fly with another round. Disappointedly, I watched 3 deer disappear into the brush. A few seconds later the spike came back, milled around for about 30 seconds and left.
I couldn't believe I missed twice at 75 yds. I went to check to see if there was any blood. Found their bedding site, no blood. I started working toward where I had made the second shot, still no blood. Then I look up to my right and see legs in the air. Holy crap I got him!
Turns out there were four deer bedded there.
So, he isn't the biggest, but for my first muley, I'll take it. I hunted whitetails as a kid, man these muleys put them to shame. It was a job getting him off the mountain.
Thanks to Randy and On Your Own Adventures for the inspiration to take on the challenge of a self-guided hunt on public land in the Gila National Forest for an animal I had only hunted once before. It was incredible. Needless to say, I'M HOOKED!
Next year is cow elk in the same unit. I must have seen 100 elk between Friday and Monday.
Went out Saturday morning and glassed, no luck. As I started to move to new location I bumped about a dozen cow elk. Five minutes later I spot two deer moving through the trees. I slipped to the ground, dropped the back, and spent the next half hour watching the browse and bed down (and trying to make them grow antlers, no luck). Didn't see anything else that day.
Had to take off Sunday to work on Master's class (warped priorities, right?)
I started considering checking with local outfitters to see if anyone had a client tag out early and might be willing to take me out, but decided against it.
This morning I was on the mountain by sun-up and worked into my spotting location. Saw one cow elk slip over a saddle and nothing else. As I worked back to the truck to relocate, I spot some deer over the hill in the brush. One was a nice 4x4 but couldn't get a shot through the brush before they disappeared (grey ghost, indeed). I started to parallel the path I thought they took trying to get another look and possibly a shot on the 4x4.
When I reached the head of the canyon, they were still no where in sight. Now what to do? I could sit and see if they would eventually pass, give up, or work back the way I came to see if they had bedded. I made it about 50 yds back along a bench when I spotted antlers bedded in the brush on a bench below me. I could make out a spike, a 2x2, and a big body (maybe the 4x4?). I eventually decided to try for a neck shot on the 2x2 I could see. Yes, I missed. To my good fortune, they ran about 15 yds and stopped. I relocated the 2x2 and followed his neck down to shoulders then the chest and let fly with another round. Disappointedly, I watched 3 deer disappear into the brush. A few seconds later the spike came back, milled around for about 30 seconds and left.
I couldn't believe I missed twice at 75 yds. I went to check to see if there was any blood. Found their bedding site, no blood. I started working toward where I had made the second shot, still no blood. Then I look up to my right and see legs in the air. Holy crap I got him!
Turns out there were four deer bedded there.So, he isn't the biggest, but for my first muley, I'll take it. I hunted whitetails as a kid, man these muleys put them to shame. It was a job getting him off the mountain.
Thanks to Randy and On Your Own Adventures for the inspiration to take on the challenge of a self-guided hunt on public land in the Gila National Forest for an animal I had only hunted once before. It was incredible. Needless to say, I'M HOOKED!
Next year is cow elk in the same unit. I must have seen 100 elk between Friday and Monday.
