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6:20 back on point. Got thinking that I hadn’t posted any video of bucks. I’m glassing at extreme distances, lIke 1-3 miles so pretty tough to video Mabye tomorrow. I’m squeezing all I can out of the big Swarovski ATS HD 80 and the 15 X Vortexs. But I’ve seen at least one nice buck a day. Just need to see a GOOD buck to make this hunt blow up!

11:00 am.  Slow morning although I saw the best buck yet.  There is some private land around and I saw him on a few hundred acre piece.  He’s well into the 180’s and about 28 wide (still in velvet, too). He was about 1 mile away.  I didn’t get too excited and just kept glassing the places I can hunt.  Around sunrise, I couldn’t see him anymore but noticed 6 of the bucks he was with jumped the fence and went on the public!  I hadn’t been looking at him for about 5 minutes so I’d lost track of him.  Not sure if he went on the public ahead of the other bucks or stayed behind.  Around 8:00 AM, I hadn’t seen much else, so I hiked back to the truck and drove down the canyon to the public ground.  I hiked about a mile to where the bucks crossed.  I could see other bucks in the brush on the private but not him.  I didn’t pressure the bucks that went on the public as they went in the heavy cover and I wasn’t sure where.   I’m pretty sure he stayed behind.  Not sure what to do.  Hate to waste days hoping a smart buck vacates the private but also not sure if he’s on the public or not.  That’s Colorado for you.  I’ll think about it today before heading back out.  

5:00 PM.  I thought about that buck all day.  I decided to pass on trying to hunt him, at least with this many days left.  My gut feeling is that he never leaves the private and I hate to spend a bunch of time on a buck I can’t hunt.  With lots of days, you can sometimes catch a buck like that out of his safety zone but I just don’t have a good feeling about it.  As far as getting permission to hunt, I already know it’s a “no” having hunted around there before.  Oh well, good to see such a great deer.  Sorry I didn’t get any pics/video.  You’ll have to trust me, he’s way nice!  Heading down to the spot where I saw that nice buck yesterday.  Not to hunt him but knowing that he’s there reminded me that a bigger one could show.  Plus it’s a good place for an evening ambush.

Had a request on FB about the Seek Outside tent.  Here’s a video I did today: 

8:20 PM  OK, you guys are going to shoot me.  I headed down to that spot mentioned above.  It’s less than a mile from camp.  It’s a big oakbrush basin so I left my pack so I wouldn’t have to fight the brush (yip, my video camera is in my pack).  I started down in and it was miserably noisy.  I knew if I continued, I’d just spook the bucks.  I hiked back to the top and circled to the other side of the basin which is more clay and juniper so quieter.  That cost me about a half hour.  As I crept down the ridge to my planned ambush point, I saw I saw that same nice buck from yesterday feeding the oaks and sage.  Since he was up, I didn’t want to move closer and risk him hearing me, so I just sat and watched from 200 yards.  He’s probably 170, 24 wide with a cheater on his right G3.  I could have got some good video.  He finally fed off and a few other smaller bucks appeared and disappeared before darkness closed in.  I’ll keep the camera on me now.  First buck I could have taken good video on.  

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Robby Denning
Robby Denning
Robby Denning started hunting mule deer in the late 1970’s, only missing one season in 35 years. At 25, he gave up the pursuit of all other big-game to focus on taking the best bucks possible. He began hunting the West on a DIY budget hunting an average of 30 days a year for mule deer. Robby loves the hunt as much as the kill and the entire process from research to scouting to hunting. He’s killed four bucks over 200 inches in the last 15 seasons, mostly on easily-obtained tags. He owns a public-land scouting service and runs a private-land outfitting business helping other hunters in their pursuit of deer and elk. Robby has scouted and hunted literally thousands of square miles of mule deer country and brings a wealth of knowledge about these experiences with him. To him, the weapon of choice is just a means-to-an-end and will hunt with bow, rifle, or muzzleloader – whatever it takes to create an opportunity to take a great mule deer. He is also the author of "Hunting Big Mule Deer" available on Amazon. Robby believes all of creation is from God for man to manage, respect, and through which to know its Creator

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4 COMMENTS

  1. Are you mainly focused on the transitional areas between feed sources and day beds when glassing at first light or are you all tucked in the heavy oakbrush and finding the small openings where they spend majority of day. In other words do they do most of the traveling under cover of darkness and you find them as they settle in?

  2. Shane I’m focusing on catching them between feeding and bedding. This time of year and with short range weapon I think that is the best chance to kill a big deer. You have to bed them or cut them off headed to or from bed Now if any deer would do, Id be more aggressive as I wouldn’t be concerned which deer I shot, just get in there and shoot. These bachelor herds require lots of patience especially with a muzzle a bow. Make sense?

  3. Yep.. and it’s always nice when the game themselves are the ones moving easier to spot. Another question what is the water sources in that lower country ? Troughs? Seeps?

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