First Mule Deer

[gspn]

I spent last week in Montana, camping and hiking public land in search of my first mule deer. Below is a picture and attached is a link to the story of how it happened.

The short version is lots of hiking, long stalk, closed within 60 yards and shot him with 140 grain accubond (handload) from my 7 mag. Ive been wanting to hunt mule deer with this rifle for 20 years...finally got the chance.

http://southernoutdoorsman.blogspot.com/2014/10/im-done.html



IMG_3265 by scarfam, on Flickr

 

[ChefJeff1]

That's a great deer, nice character. Looks like some nice hiking over there.

 

[wankerjake]

Cool, nice buck!

 

[blueridgeMTNs]

You should put the caliber/rifle and yards to shoot this Mule Deer. That way I will not have to read all through your post when I am in a hurry to go fix my darn truck for inspection. Looks like good country to hunt too!

 

[red rick]

Nice buck and a great job . You just made a hunt that is on my bucket list .

That is not an easy hunt . You deserve a big pat on the back , great good .

 

[herkyguy]

Big congrats on a nice looking deer.

That sounds like a cool trip as well. I know the feeling of wanting hunting success with a particular firearm.

 

[oneounceload]

Good job!
Able to get within 60 yards is no easy feat normally

 

[gspn]

Good job!
Able to get within 60 yards is no easy feat normally

Funny how it worked out. All week I thought I'd be eventually taking a 300 yard shot. Then I closed half a mile on them by stalking, and flanked them from a high spot at only 60 yards. Couldn't be happier with the hunt. It was every bit as challenging as I was hoping for.

And the scenery was terrific...that pic was taken right where the deer dropped.

 

[cammogunner]

awesome deer that will no doubt be proudly hung in a place of honor on your wall for years to come

 

[BP Hunter]

Good job! There is no greatest satisfaction in hiking, stalking and succesfully harvesting the kill!

 

[MCMXI]

gspn, congratulations on your mulie and a very well written and interesting article. I was north of you and had a similar stalk to within 75 yards of some nice bucks but finally stalked to within 200 yards of the buck I shot.

 

[gspn]

Thanks 1858. Where did you hunt? I imagine the topography was similar to the area I was in. Beautiful country...even if nothing is moving you can hike around for a while and just look at the scenery.

 

[MCMXI]

gspn, I was near Great Falls. I've already hogged some bandwidth in my thread and if you don't mind I'll hog some more here. MT is ridiculously beautiful.

 

[gspn]

Man...I miss that place! I'm just sitting at my desk, staring at a computer now....no more waking up at 0500 and hiking, no more hiking around all day and seeing wildlife, no more hiking out in the dark. Back to reality.

Beautiful pics.

 

[MCMXI]

I'll be back down there in a couple of weeks to pick up some meat from the butcher, plus I live near Glacier National Park so I'm surrounded by MT beauty. It's a tough life but someone has to do it.

 

[sage5907]

You guys need to quit that danged mule deer hunting. It'll get under your skin and screw you up the rest of your life, like me. Whitetail hunting is fun but those mule deer are a horse of a different color. It never ceases to amaze me that a whitetail will skirt a ridge to stay hidden while a mule deer will go right over the top of the highest ridge. Miles don't mean anything to a mule deer. When you shoot a whitetail you know instantly whether you hit him or not, while a mule deer when hit may stand there unconcerned and then fall over a few seconds later.

 

[gspn]

You guys need to quit that danged mule deer hunting. It'll get under your skin and screw you up the rest of your life, like me. Whitetail hunting is fun but those mule deer are a horse of a different color. It never ceases to amaze me that a whitetail will skirt a ridge to stay hidden while a mule deer will go right over the top of the highest ridge. Miles don't mean anything to a mule deer. When you shoot a whitetail you know instantly whether you hit him or not, while a mule deer when hit may stand there unconcerned and then fall over a few seconds later.

Yeah dude they do some crazy stuff. I found deer poop on the very top of some ridges that I never would've guessed a deer would climb. Some of these hills would be very easy to go around, and were very steep with nothing on top but a sharp V shaped ridge and a million broken rocks. But still...a deer had been up there and pooped. The only reason I crested them was to get in position to recon the area...maybe that's what they were doing too.

I also noticed that mule deer have a very low tolerance for noise. On the days when it wasn't windy (which wasn't very often) I got busted whispering to my partner by a deer 250 yards away! Another time we were on a 100 foot cliff looking at deer 200 yards away...same result when I whispered...they looked RIGHT up at me. Whitetail never do that, I can whisper with a whitetail 20 yards away.

The flip side is whitetail will not tolerate scent...if they smell something they are gone. The mule deer didn't seem to care as much. That's just my observation from 1 week of hunting them...I'm a rookie.

They are a tremendously fun animal to hunt. I love the openness, the opportunity, and the challenges presented by their environment. It's a blast to be able to see miles in every direction and just go after an animal when you see it.

 

[gamestalker]

Wonderful looking mule deer there, congratulations!

I've chased mule deer my whole life, and let me tell you, they are in my opinion the hardest deer to hunt. They smell you a mile away, they hear you when you breath, they will bust you trying get out in front of them, and they will also double back on you when dropping into finger canyons. I love to hate hunting them, and hate to love hunting them!

I've also hunted our famous couse white tail deer in New Mexico and Arizona for the last 35 yrs., and they are yet another challenging, yet very different chase in comparison.

GS