Wife's Mule Deer

[sagebrush]

My wife is an accomplished hunter, having harvested many animals from NM to AK. This hunt had some twists I never thought we would encounter after all we have learned. Since she also had an elk tag in a different unit, we elected to hunt the last week of her deer season, then move camp to her elk unit to hunt the following week. I know the elk unit pretty well but had never set foot in her deer unit until we arrived to hunt. I spent weeks on Google Earth and had pages of notes with latitude and longitude included. The first five days of her deer hunt we were seeing tons of does but no bucks. I mean zero bucks. No little forkies sniffing around the does, nothing. We knew it was just a matter of time before the big boys started showing and we hoped it would be before the end of the season. We hiked into the wilderness area on the third day thinking the bucks might be higher and further back in. We actually saw fewer does and no bucks that day as well. We saw our first buck on the sixth day about an hour before dark, a little spike. We had two days left to hunt and my wife wanted to stay in the area with all the does hoping a buck would show. On the seventh morning, we were driving to our favorite glassing spot and about a quarter mile before we reached the wilderness area boundary, we spotted a group of deer less than 200 yards away that included a 4X4 my wife was happy to take. The temperature was 6 degrees that morning and we were riding in our Rhino, so my wife had an extra layer of clothing on. She looked like the kid in the Christmas Story. She hops out of the Rhino, pulls her rifle out of the scabbord and sits in the snow to set up for the shot. I range the buck at 184 yards. She fired and missed 3 feet to the right. The deer trot off and the buck stops broadside at 384 yards. She has made many shots longer than that, but missed again low. I asked her what in the world just happened and she said she couldn't shoulder her rifle properly because of all the clothes but after 6 days, she didn't want to miss out on the shot opportunity while she peeled off a layer. In the 14 years we have been hunting, she has never shot and animal next to a vehicle. It has always been after hiking and glassing and she was really disappointed in herself.

Here's a picture with the extra layer off as we were making a firewood run.

 

[sagebrush]

We finished our drive, donned our backpacks and hiked into the wilderness area in the direction the deer headed. The deer stopped in the first canyon and I easily spotted the does against the snow. We watched them for 15 minutes and the buck never showed. She moved down the ridge to get a different angle and set up to glass. In about five minutes, she whistled to let me know she had a buck spotted. I moved down to her location and she had the same buck bedded at 394 yards just over the next ridge with just his head showing.

A view through the spotting scope.

 

[sagebrush]

She stripped off a layer and set up for a shot. She couldn't get comfortable in a position she could hold while we waited for him to stand, so I grabbed a couple of mahogany deadfalls and set up a rest for her.

 

[sagebrush]

Some of you may remember, the rifle she is shooting was a surprise anniversary present she had never seen until she pulled it out of the case when we arrived in camp. The first time she fired this rifle was when she missed the buck earlier this morning. With her old rifle, she had to hold over and had done so successfully out to 463 yards on game and out to 700 yards at the range. This rifle I equipped with a Leupold VX3 with the CDS so we could just dial up for the range and she can always hold dead on. We had plenty of time waiting for the buck to stand. I pulled out the range guide I made up after setting up the rifle and shooting it out to 400 yards at the range. I told her to dial up 26 clicks and that would be two clicks past the 6. She did and I verified it. I ranged the buck 4 times over the next hour and a half while we were waiting for him to stand. Each reading came back at 394 yards. I was very proud that she stayed behind the scope that long and asked me to watch him in the spotting scope when she took a couple of breaks to rest her eyes and stretch her legs. Finally, the buck stands and she takes her shot. It's a clean miss but I don't see where she hit. The second shot, I can see the vapor trail of the bullet and the hit in the snow two feet too high. The buck moved a little and the third shot is also a clean miss. She tells me, "I want my old rifle back". I can't believe we blew a second chance on this buck. I check the range where he was bedded and it comes back the same. The only thing I can figure is maybe I held the range finder too high and caught the snow behind him, but 4 times? As we are packing up, I think there is no way the range would come back far enough to miss that high even if I hit the snow behind the buck with the range finder. I pull out my cheat sheet to show my wife, put on my glasses and find the number of clicks for 400 yards is SIXTEEEN, not 26. Should've put my glasses on the first time I looked. Now I am disappointed I blew her shot at this buck.

I glass the ridge one more time before we start hiking and the buck is back. He is with a hot doe and she isn't leaving. We watch them for a half hour at 313 yards before they drop out of sight behind the ridge line. We watch another hour to see if we can catch them leaving without spotting them again. The only option left is to hike up the mountain and come in from above as the wind is now uphill. After two hours of hiking up the mountain in 12 inches of snow that sometimes drifts up to 24 inches, we come to the wind blown ridge above where I think the deer are located. We inch down into the canyon revealing a couple feet at a time. There is one rock ledge I can't see over and we keep moving closer until I spot antlers at 25 yards. I motion my wife over so she can get a bead on his location and she is looking 200 yards down the canyon until I point him out. She took a step back with wide eyes. I told her there is no way this buck can get out of his bed without giving her a shot at 100 yards or less. The waiting game begins again. His hot doe is feeding between him and us and unbeknownst to me, beds down. I get up on my knees to check on the buck just as she stood up and we are eyeball to eyeball at 10 yards. She blows out, runs up the far ridge and stops at 108 yards. Surprisingly, the buck did not follow. He is still bedded at 25 yards. Then the doe started bleating and that was it for the buck. He jumped up, ran over to join her and my wife put him down.

 

[sagebrush]

I really felt like we were a couple of rookies on this hunt until it finally played out the way it did.

 

[fowladdict]

Great write up and photos! Funny how many chances one can get on a rutting buck! Great cape BTW! Somebody here I know might want that cape if you still have it!

 

[MKotur325]

This rifle I equipped with a Leupold VX3 with the CDS so we could just dial up for the range and she can always hold dead on. We had plenty of time waiting for the buck to stand. I pulled out the range guide I made up after setting up the rifle and shooting it out to 400 yards at the range. I told her to dial up 26 clicks... I pull out my cheat sheet to show my wife, put on my glasses and find the number of clicks for 400 yards is SIXTEEEN, not 26. Should've put my glasses on the first time I looked. Now I am disappointed I blew her shot at this buck.

No need to feel like Rookies on this one!! We have all done this at some point. My first time shooting at 600yds... I dialed my scope the wrong way. Couldn't figure out for the life of me where I was hitting...

And the first time shooting my .308 past 1000. I transitioned from 660yds to 1186. Ballistic solver said 48.5 MOA drop, I had 18 on the gun from 660, so I dedicded the scope needed another 40.5. Math under Stress is not as easy as it sounds. By the way... 10MOA difference at 1186 yds... is just under 10.5 feet. Took three rounds to figure that one out... Later that day... I noticed that in reseting my turrets from 1186, I went the wrong way back on my wind dial... Last time I dial for wind...

Glad you guys connected on that Buck!! Well Done!

 

[noharleyyet]

Super story and results. Well told and shown. Congrats to the wife.

 

[Duck-Slayer]

That's hunting..... Glad you kept at it and persevered.... Congrats too both of you,
Matt

 

[1_pointer]

Congrats on having your wife as your hunting partner! Nice buck too!