MThunter10
New member
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2016
- Messages
- 10
I've lived in Montana for just over 2 years now, I hunted a good friends private land last year and shot a whitetail 4 x 4. It was an awesome time. But, coming from Minnesota, I have never shot a mule deer before, so this year I was determined to shoot one and I was doing it on public land.
I did little scouting for deer this year, because some of my buddies and I wanted to try our hand at Elk hunting first. Although we didn't tag out, we still had an awesome time in the mountains. About a week after our elk trip, I was out with one of my friends in a spot we've hunted before and he shot an awesome 4 x 4 muley. I could have easily taken the shot on him, but I decided I wanted my friend to shoot him. We put a great stalk on and he made a great shot. After the shot, I found I was just as excited as if I actually shot it, it was quite surprising. So now it was my turn... Over the next few weeks of the season, I was going out every few days, checking out new areas I have never hunted before, and I was still seeing a lot of deer, just not a buck I wanted to shoot. With about 10 days left of hunting, I felt the pressure of the end of the season so my friend and I (the one who I was out with early) set out on a Thursday and I was feeling great about seeing a good buck that day. We went to the first spot, a spot I have hunted and walked twice now, and as we are pulling up, we see a couple of guys pulling out a nice mule deer. I was a little disappointed but I knew there were more spots. Checked another spot, no deer. Another spot, no deer. So with about an hour left of light, we headed to where my buddy shot his buck, hoping another buck would have moved back in. Well, as we are pulling into the spot, we see a truck pulling out, it passes us, and it has another nice 4 x 4 in the back... I was crushed and almost felt sick... Two spots I've hunted so hard, and just had no luck.
Well, it was crunch time and it was the week of Thanksgiving. I checked out a new spot, saw some deer, and saw a decent sized buck, but it was just off public land. So I was feeling good about this spot. So black Friday comes around, my wife dragged me out to do some shopping in the morning, so I had a Scheels gift card burning a whole in my wallet since last Christmas, so I snuck off to Scheels and got myself a nicer hunting jacket, because I had just been wearing flannels before. About noon, I set out with another friend who had never hunted before, but he wanted to tag along, so I was excited to show someone a little bit of the ins and outs of hunting. We got to our spot about 1:00, and I knew where the deer always are, so we crested a hill and I glassed the spot. I saw one deer and all of the sudden my friend goes.. "Whoa, look at all of those deer!". Little did I know, I crested this hill and without even knowing it, I spooked about 10 deer about 400 yards away. Well, they ran about 2000 yds, to where I had always seen them. So we put about a 2 hour stalk on them, walking all the way around them so we had favorable wind. While working our way around them, we spooked one lone bedded doe, which then spooked the other 10-15 deer. I just couldn't do anything right that day... So we walked in the direction we saw them run, and thinking they were long gone, we get to the top of this hill, and they only ran about 200 yds! So we got within about 150 yds of them, I saw a decent looking buck and I pulled the trigger. He kicked and I knew I had put a good shot on him and he ran about 60 yds.
It was a long grueling season with a lot of walking but it will be one of my most memorable seasons. I had always hunted private land, so putting in all of the work to finally kill my first mule deer was one of the most rewarding hunting experiences I have had. I also found this year, that it's not always about shooting a deer, but sharing these hunting experiences with friends.
I did little scouting for deer this year, because some of my buddies and I wanted to try our hand at Elk hunting first. Although we didn't tag out, we still had an awesome time in the mountains. About a week after our elk trip, I was out with one of my friends in a spot we've hunted before and he shot an awesome 4 x 4 muley. I could have easily taken the shot on him, but I decided I wanted my friend to shoot him. We put a great stalk on and he made a great shot. After the shot, I found I was just as excited as if I actually shot it, it was quite surprising. So now it was my turn... Over the next few weeks of the season, I was going out every few days, checking out new areas I have never hunted before, and I was still seeing a lot of deer, just not a buck I wanted to shoot. With about 10 days left of hunting, I felt the pressure of the end of the season so my friend and I (the one who I was out with early) set out on a Thursday and I was feeling great about seeing a good buck that day. We went to the first spot, a spot I have hunted and walked twice now, and as we are pulling up, we see a couple of guys pulling out a nice mule deer. I was a little disappointed but I knew there were more spots. Checked another spot, no deer. Another spot, no deer. So with about an hour left of light, we headed to where my buddy shot his buck, hoping another buck would have moved back in. Well, as we are pulling into the spot, we see a truck pulling out, it passes us, and it has another nice 4 x 4 in the back... I was crushed and almost felt sick... Two spots I've hunted so hard, and just had no luck.
Well, it was crunch time and it was the week of Thanksgiving. I checked out a new spot, saw some deer, and saw a decent sized buck, but it was just off public land. So I was feeling good about this spot. So black Friday comes around, my wife dragged me out to do some shopping in the morning, so I had a Scheels gift card burning a whole in my wallet since last Christmas, so I snuck off to Scheels and got myself a nicer hunting jacket, because I had just been wearing flannels before. About noon, I set out with another friend who had never hunted before, but he wanted to tag along, so I was excited to show someone a little bit of the ins and outs of hunting. We got to our spot about 1:00, and I knew where the deer always are, so we crested a hill and I glassed the spot. I saw one deer and all of the sudden my friend goes.. "Whoa, look at all of those deer!". Little did I know, I crested this hill and without even knowing it, I spooked about 10 deer about 400 yards away. Well, they ran about 2000 yds, to where I had always seen them. So we put about a 2 hour stalk on them, walking all the way around them so we had favorable wind. While working our way around them, we spooked one lone bedded doe, which then spooked the other 10-15 deer. I just couldn't do anything right that day... So we walked in the direction we saw them run, and thinking they were long gone, we get to the top of this hill, and they only ran about 200 yds! So we got within about 150 yds of them, I saw a decent looking buck and I pulled the trigger. He kicked and I knew I had put a good shot on him and he ran about 60 yds.
It was a long grueling season with a lot of walking but it will be one of my most memorable seasons. I had always hunted private land, so putting in all of the work to finally kill my first mule deer was one of the most rewarding hunting experiences I have had. I also found this year, that it's not always about shooting a deer, but sharing these hunting experiences with friends.
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