Back from Wyoming and Colorado
Back from Wyoming and Colorado
I spent the last weekend of the season(Sept 21-23), in Colorado trying to fill my OTC elk tag with no luck. Ended up taking a bad fall in some downed timber that put a big hurt in my back. On to Wyoming for mule deer after that.
My wife was on her first hunt ever, and she wanted to take a muley with her bow. She decided she would rather take a doe with her bow that wait for the rifle season to take a buck, so we knew she really was committed to getting a deer with her bow.
I on the other hand just wanted to get a good buck, so didn't mind waiting for rifle season or taking a meat buck at the end of my hunt if I had to.
The biggest thrill I had was when my wife spotted a big buck feeding 155 yards downhill near some aspens. The hillside had a few trees that allowed us to get within 75 yards and we decided to wait as it was only about 5pm and we had almost 2 hours of daylight left. After watching him a little while he bedded facing away from us. That was exactly what we needed, so I told her to go get him!
This shocked her pretty good, but away she went. On an open sagebrush hillside she was able to close to 28 yards before the buck turned his head and looked at her. As the buck stood my wife drew her bow, with the buck broadside and a clear shot her nerves got the best of her and she missed high. The buck bolted away unharmed but definitely not happy!
Just the scene of watching her put the stalk on the animal had me excited for days.
After 5 days of hunting she had a great shot opportunity on a small spike buck and took him at 3:30pm. The buck went down within sight of her so no tracking was needed.
This left me three days of archery hunting and one day of rifle season before we had to leave. The rifle hunters arrived for the weekend even though the season didn't open until Monday, this ruined a lot of the hunting for me and made me real glad that my wife had taken her buck already. I hunted hard but always saw the big ones when they were about a mile away and couldn't get one withing shooting distance. On the last evening, I shot the smallest buck of my life during the last 10 minutes of the last night just to get the meat, since he was so young I know he will taste good!
The little forkie had quite a bit of fat on him which surpirsed me.
We had snow three times with it dumping as much as 6"-8" just above camp. Storms were frequent and the weather changes quickly. After butchering my deer it started to snow and we knew we had to break camp and get out before being snowed in.
We started breaking camp at 10:30pm and by 11:30pm we had 3"-4" of snow on the ground. After getting hooked up to my travel trailer I started out of camp. We did some spinning but were getting traction as we started up the hill out of the canyon. The traction went away quickly and we almost ended up going off the road that would have rolled us into a a canyon. I stopped and put snow chains on and then we spent a couple hours getting down to town. Got to sleep at about 3am and I had been up since 5am the previous morning, had hiked over 6 miles throughout the day and then shot and butchered a deer before packing up camp. A long day that took a lot out of me! Wyoming definitely has some beautiful country though and I will be back next year.
My wife was on her first hunt ever, and she wanted to take a muley with her bow. She decided she would rather take a doe with her bow that wait for the rifle season to take a buck, so we knew she really was committed to getting a deer with her bow.
I on the other hand just wanted to get a good buck, so didn't mind waiting for rifle season or taking a meat buck at the end of my hunt if I had to.
The biggest thrill I had was when my wife spotted a big buck feeding 155 yards downhill near some aspens. The hillside had a few trees that allowed us to get within 75 yards and we decided to wait as it was only about 5pm and we had almost 2 hours of daylight left. After watching him a little while he bedded facing away from us. That was exactly what we needed, so I told her to go get him!
This shocked her pretty good, but away she went. On an open sagebrush hillside she was able to close to 28 yards before the buck turned his head and looked at her. As the buck stood my wife drew her bow, with the buck broadside and a clear shot her nerves got the best of her and she missed high. The buck bolted away unharmed but definitely not happy!
Just the scene of watching her put the stalk on the animal had me excited for days.
After 5 days of hunting she had a great shot opportunity on a small spike buck and took him at 3:30pm. The buck went down within sight of her so no tracking was needed.
This left me three days of archery hunting and one day of rifle season before we had to leave. The rifle hunters arrived for the weekend even though the season didn't open until Monday, this ruined a lot of the hunting for me and made me real glad that my wife had taken her buck already. I hunted hard but always saw the big ones when they were about a mile away and couldn't get one withing shooting distance. On the last evening, I shot the smallest buck of my life during the last 10 minutes of the last night just to get the meat, since he was so young I know he will taste good!
The little forkie had quite a bit of fat on him which surpirsed me.We had snow three times with it dumping as much as 6"-8" just above camp. Storms were frequent and the weather changes quickly. After butchering my deer it started to snow and we knew we had to break camp and get out before being snowed in.
We started breaking camp at 10:30pm and by 11:30pm we had 3"-4" of snow on the ground. After getting hooked up to my travel trailer I started out of camp. We did some spinning but were getting traction as we started up the hill out of the canyon. The traction went away quickly and we almost ended up going off the road that would have rolled us into a a canyon. I stopped and put snow chains on and then we spent a couple hours getting down to town. Got to sleep at about 3am and I had been up since 5am the previous morning, had hiked over 6 miles throughout the day and then shot and butchered a deer before packing up camp. A long day that took a lot out of me! Wyoming definitely has some beautiful country though and I will be back next year.
a3dhunter
I'm glad you both connected on bucks, Good job. Tell your wife Congrats on her first mulie bow kill. 
That's looks like some nice country.
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MuleyMadness
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I spend thousands on a hunt out of state and expect to get meat, then someone on their high horse thinks they can tell me to let all the little ones grow up???? I don't think so!
I like taking a big buck just as much as anyone else, but I will not eat my tag just to let the little forkie #55 go by on the last evening of the hunt.
We saw somewhere around 20-30 deer per day with almost half of them being bucks, there are plenty of bucks in this unit, but I feel better letting a bigger three point or small four point go by and taking the smaller buck.
I don't just hunt for the antlers, and if you do then you shouldn't be hunting!
I like taking a big buck just as much as anyone else, but I will not eat my tag just to let the little forkie #55 go by on the last evening of the hunt.
We saw somewhere around 20-30 deer per day with almost half of them being bucks, there are plenty of bucks in this unit, but I feel better letting a bigger three point or small four point go by and taking the smaller buck.
I don't just hunt for the antlers, and if you do then you shouldn't be hunting!
a3dhunter
a3dhunter wrote:I spend thousands on a hunt out of state and expect to get meat, then someone on their high horse thinks they can tell me to let all the little ones grow up???? I don't think so!
I like taking a big buck just as much as anyone else, but I will not eat my tag just to let the little forkie #55 go by on the last evening of the hunt.
We saw somewhere around 20-30 deer per day with almost half of them being bucks, there are plenty of bucks in this unit, but I feel better letting a bigger three point or small four point go by and taking the smaller buck.
I don't just hunt for the antlers, and if you do then you shouldn't be hunting!
Well said. totally agree with ya
Cody
Old hunters NEVER die,they just have better camo.
a3dhunter,
If you're happy with him then that's what matters, not what we think.
Myself, during my last three Muley hunts I've passed up the small ones in hopes of connecting on something bigger....and have been eating my tag for the last three years. In fact, I've already thought about trying not to be so picky this year...we'll see how it goes (7 more days!).
In other words, we all have choices to make. I'm as happy with mine as I am sure you are with yours.
Again, CONGRATS my friend on fillin' the freezer. Here's to hopein' I do the same!
If you're happy with him then that's what matters, not what we think.
Myself, during my last three Muley hunts I've passed up the small ones in hopes of connecting on something bigger....and have been eating my tag for the last three years. In fact, I've already thought about trying not to be so picky this year...we'll see how it goes (7 more days!).
In other words, we all have choices to make. I'm as happy with mine as I am sure you are with yours.
Again, CONGRATS my friend on fillin' the freezer. Here's to hopein' I do the same!
