I managed to draw a pretty decent mulie tag in the north central part of the state this year. The only problem with the unit is that it is probably 95% private land. I managed to get permission to hunt a couple really good pieces though so I wasn't too concerned for access. I hunted the piece this deer came off of two years ago (for whitetails) and saw two mulies I honestly think were in the high 180's. Scouting this year revealed some really nice deer on this piece as well, but I was careful to not bump them off as it is a small parcel and I didn't have permission to hunt the neighboring pieces. As yesterday started my cousin and I started down into the canyon (we drew together on a group hunt) and watched lots of deer moving right off the bat and then a bachelor herd of six bucks came over from a grass field about 600 yards away. They spent alot of time eating rose hips and grass and then started bedding. The best was a real nice 4x4 that is probably a 170 or so buck. With the way there were deer all over the hillside we couldn't really make a move on them without getting busted and the big guy had bedded in a thick brush patch where we couldn't see him. We finally decided we were going to try and get into a side draw and then try to some in above and from the backside of them and see if we could find the big guy. We just barely made it into the side draw when my cousin stopped me just as a buck got out of his bed at maybe 80 yards. He was a really cool 3x4, super tall, probably 17-20 inch G2's and maybe 19 inches wide. I passed and my cousin thought about it but did as well. He was a cool buck and I tried convincing him to shoot him if we got another chance. Anways we snuck around on the brush where the big guy was and just coulnd't see. They were in kind of a bowl on the hillside and with our location there was nothing we could do. We bailed off into the main canyon and decided to walk down the creek to the border with the neighbors just to kill some time until the bucks got back up in the evening. We made it to within sight of the neighbors fence when I looked across into the timber and there was this buck laying there at about 80 yards watching us. I saw his width, took a look with the the binos to confirm 4 points and thought "He's good enough". I just whispered to my cousin "Buck and I'm gonna kill him". I got my bipod down and proceeded to miss a bedded deer at close range with a rest. He whorled and started into the trees when shot two caught the back of one lung, and most of the liver. He got out of sight so I moved and saw him going uphill acting sick. One more shot through the neck put him down hard and then it was a matter of watching him roll about 50 yards down the hill. He isn't quite as big as I intially thought, but he has way more character than I thought also. He's been rubbing on green T posts as some of his bases are marred a bit and have green on them. Looking at him I think he is an older buck which also pleases me. Hunted a total of five days this year for this buck and my bull combined. The last few I've been averaging close to 50 a year. I get to play pack mule/guide now for family and friends which should be a lot of fun. Sorry for the novel but I had to share.
Congrats on a nice buck- like the doubles of the eyeguard/heavy bases.
