My first Muley Buck (2010)

Hey everyone, I'm new here and thought I would share my hunting story with you of my first ever Muley Buck. It took me 2 seasons of chasing Mule deer around to finally get myself a buck. With me being relatively new to hunting I told myself that I would take any decent buck I got a clean shot at. Anyway here is my story.

My deer hunting land is 2 hours away from home and I have always just driven down for morning/day hunts. I finally decided to bring my trailer down and camp out there. After having a very slow morning hunt we ended up getting some permission on a neighboring piece of land and decided to hunt it later that night. We took a afternoon nap and slept in a little late. We rushed over to the neighboring property and glassed a lower valley floor and saw a bunch of deer down there. I ended up seeing a big thick 3 point buck bedded down in a little opening so I decided to make my stalk on him. I had to run across a big farmers field staying away from the edge of the hill to try and save some time as I knew it was getting late. I found my way to a path that looked like it was caused from water running down the hill. It gave me good cover to make my way down to the bottom of the valley. Once reaching the bottom I started to pick my path to the big buck when I had a small spiker come around a mound and stare me down at 20 yards. I froze and stood still trying not to spook him and ruin my stalk. After staring him down for what seemed like 20min (probably only 2 min) he finally turned and walked away. Just as he did that I heard a rock fall behind me. I slowly turned and saw a decent buck standing there staring at me at about 30 yards. I slowly turned back, knocked my arrow, turned back again and drew on him. He trotted off and stopped at just over 40 yards so I took the shot. I made a good clean double lung quartering away shot and he only made it about 60-80 yards. We ended up having to pack him up a massive hill which took me and a buddy almost 3 hours to get him out in two trips after cutting him in half. Here are some pictures from my hunting area and of my buck. Thanks for reading - Jay

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Congrats!!
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Hiker
Jay, Thanks for sharing your hunt with us. Great job and ::wel to Muley Madness. :thumb
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killerbee
cool post jay! thanks for sharing- i wish we could read more like this during the off season. it sure helps pass the time till next fall
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Very nice! Congrats!
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dahlmer
Congrats! That is a great 1st buck...especially with a bow.
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Great story and photos. When I saw the first picture of your buck I was shocked because that buck looks nearly identical to one that my dad got on the 2010 rifle hunt. Your mount turned out great too. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks for the compliments everyone. This buck has and always will mean a lot to me. My family has hunted my whole life and I never thought I would want to be the one to pull the trigger despite being on several hunting trips. Hunting Mule deer is what has triggered my hunting addiction and got me a lot more involved with Archery. Despite him not being my first animal ever he is still my most memorable one. He is a fairly young buck as you can see by the mass on him, probably around 2.5 years old but the genetics in my area are really good (rough scored 137"). We have one buck around 220" in the area that I've seen a few times (80-100 yards away) and a few close to the 180" mark so I have left myself some good room for improvement. I am slowly getting more gear for hunting and hope to put some good scouting into the area this off season and set up some stands/ground blinds. If anyone has any tips/suggestions on signs to look for please let me know. I'm looking forward to being a member on this site. Thanks again everyone.
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killerbee
as far as tips- judging by the pictures of the country, it looks like A DREAM to glass! get yourself some good optics, the best your budget allows, and glass!

you'll do good, you have the right attitude and motivation.

thats a dandy of a first buck. :thumb
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Killerbee you are right, the land is awesome for glassing. I actually just sent in my payment for a vortex skyline 20-60x80 ED spotting scope and am trying to convince myself to pull the trigger on some new vortex binos. Worst case I think I'm going to buy the vortex diamondback binos. I have tried cutting the deer off in the valleys on their way from food sources and bedding areas but have always had some bad luck when it comes to big bucks. I had a group of 3 does and a spiker come by at 15 yards. I'm hoping to get some more patterns figured out and get some nice setups. But as you can tell by the pictures the landscape is amazing and keeps me dreaming all off season of hunting out there.
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MuleyMadness
Thanks for the story/photos. Great buck and Welcome! :thumb
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ARCHER11
Thanks for the story and awesome first buck! Sounds like you learned how to make it happen pretty quick. This will be my 6th year bowhunting and I have yet to seal the deal on a buck. Its stories like yours that give me the kick in the butt I need to stick with it! ::wel This forum is amazing, im sure youll love it!
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sneekeepete
Dandy first buck! As killer has said it looks like a glassing heaven! Good luck in all futre endeavors and look forward to hearing about them!
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Great 1st Buck! Congrats, looks like you have a nice chunk of earth to stalk. Good luck on the coming season!
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Good choice on the Vortex spotting scope. I recently bought some Vortex Diamondbacks (all I could afford) and absolutely love them. I compared them and the Nikon Monarchs for a couple months and decided the Vortex were better. They've got a better warranty too :thumb .
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Thanks for all the kind words. I've really enjoyed this forum and have been given a warm welcome. Thanks again.

Archer11 - most of this hunt was luck. I think that if you just keep putting yourself where the deer are you will get your opportunity. Stick with it and good luck.

Linder - I think I'm sold on the diamondbacks. I'm tough on binos so don't want to spend a lot but love the idea of their warranty.
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oakbrush
Great looking first buck. Congrats

oakbrush
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NotEnufTags
Congrats on a great first mulie. From the sounds of it, your hooked like the rest of us.
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waynedevore
Good story, Congrats on a fine Muley Buck.
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Thanks again everyone. I figure I won't start any new threads but wanted to share my other 2 kills that I got. The first one is my first ever kill that I shot at 15 yards from a tree stand. I had a big learning curve my first year and learned a lot through mistakes but finally was able to get a whitetail deer.
My moose I shot this past season a month before my mule deer. He walked in on me and came to 8 yards. I was ground hunting and had myself hidden in a little corner of trees and had him stare me down and snort at me. It was a little scary until he turned and I was able to take my shot. He only went 25 yards and fell over. He isn't big by any means but was my first ever moose and tastes delicious.

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Muleyfanatic
Congrats on your kills. I have shot 3 mule deer, 2 does, and a forken horn. But I'm also only 15 so I have a lot of hunting. So looks like a GREAT first mule deer to me.
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waynedevore
Thanks for sharing the pics. Good Job!
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