Brian in Montana
Well-known member
I spent 3 solid days in pretty bad weather - rain, snow, single-digit temperatures - without seeing a single solitary deer. The elk were thick in my usual deer places, which was really unusual. I must have seen about 100 between Friday and Saturday including a huge 6-point missing an antler and a nice 5X5 with a big wad of plastic green mesh tangled up in his antlers. Couldn't shoot elk in that area, though.
Yesterday I decided to try something different, so I hiked into a new area, an old burn. Climbed to the top of a hill and started seeing deer moving around. I spotted this guy tailing a doe. When I was getting set up, he actually mounted and bred her right there while I ranged him and steadied up for a shot. I felt a little like a peeping-tom. But once he was done, he turned broadside and I shot him with my .308 at 330yds. I punched a 165 Accubond right behind his shoulder; he was dead in about 10 seconds. I hunt alone most of the time, so I then had a pretty significant pile of mule deer to move about 2.5 miles back down to camp. Got it all in 2 trips.
I usually feel like I write too much when I post about a successful hunt, so I tried to abridge this story a bit. Overall it was a hard hunt with the weather and the deer being scarce until the last day, but I'm sure glad I hung in there. It was certainly difficult to crawl out of bed that last morning. My resolve was tested pretty much the whole time.
Sorry for the bloody, lolling tongue. I really hate that in trophy pictures, but I really didn't notice until I looked at the camera afterward.
Yesterday I decided to try something different, so I hiked into a new area, an old burn. Climbed to the top of a hill and started seeing deer moving around. I spotted this guy tailing a doe. When I was getting set up, he actually mounted and bred her right there while I ranged him and steadied up for a shot. I felt a little like a peeping-tom. But once he was done, he turned broadside and I shot him with my .308 at 330yds. I punched a 165 Accubond right behind his shoulder; he was dead in about 10 seconds. I hunt alone most of the time, so I then had a pretty significant pile of mule deer to move about 2.5 miles back down to camp. Got it all in 2 trips.
I usually feel like I write too much when I post about a successful hunt, so I tried to abridge this story a bit. Overall it was a hard hunt with the weather and the deer being scarce until the last day, but I'm sure glad I hung in there. It was certainly difficult to crawl out of bed that last morning. My resolve was tested pretty much the whole time.
Sorry for the bloody, lolling tongue. I really hate that in trophy pictures, but I really didn't notice until I looked at the camera afterward.
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