My first Muley Buck (2010)
jayb22
3/23/11 9:32pm
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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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





9,712
you'll do good, you have the right attitude and motivation.
thats a dandy of a first buck. :thumb
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.
oakbrush
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.