2022 MULE DEER MEAT POLE

Traindriver

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 5, 2018
Messages
120
Location
Central Mi
After a couple years of heartbreak with a bow I was lucky enough to draw a Mule deer Tag in Arizona. My best friend and I flew out there thinking this was going to be like shooting fish in a barrel. The deer are plentiful and easy to get within 100 yard with a bow, So how could it be different with a rifle? Needless to say we were humbled by the amount of hunting pressure and the ease of how these deer just vanish into canyons and juniper flats. After two attempts to locate the buck we took a fifteen mile detour with the truck just to simply go 800 yards west on the other side of the canyon. We parked the truck and hiked due east so we could glass the N.W. facing slope of a canyon we were sure theses deer were dropping into. Not Five minutes into glassing my friend spots the deer, the funny thing is they were only 500 Yards from where we started our 15 mile journey, however we simply couldn't have seen them from there. Im no gym buff, and not a triathlete either. We decided with the wind in my favor, Id just have to go down the canyon and back up the other side and make the 400yard shot. Well lets just say an hour later completely out of water I finally reached the bottom of the canyon. The little rocks from up top turned out to be boulders the size of trucks, with crevices and cracks that you don't want to fall in. After finally getting back up the canyon wall on the other side, completely out of breath, heart racing and no water, I was finally able to see the Juniper the buck was laying under. The story is longer but needless to say, after a long wait and not knowing if we even connected after the shot. We had him. We had an absolute blast and will never forget the struggles.5EE42CF5-40A6-4AF7-B5D4-2B1EF0F47D74.jpegIMG_4507.jpegIMG_4466.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Joined
May 17, 2015
Messages
905
After a couple years of heartbreak with a bow I was lucky enough to draw a Mule deer Tag in Arizona. My best friend and I flew out there thinking this was going to be like shooting fish in a barrel. The deer are plentiful and easy to get within 100 yard with a bow, So how could it be different with a rifle? Needless to say we were humbled by the amount of hunting pressure and the ease of how these deer just vanish into canyons and juniper flats. After two attempts to locate the buck we took a fifteen mile detour with the truck just to simply go 800 yards west on the other side of the canyon. We parked the truck and hiked due east so we could glass the N.W. facing slope of a canyon we were sure theses deer were dropping into. Not Five minutes into glassing my friend spots the deer, the funny thing is they were only 500 Yards from where we started our 15 mile journey, however we simply couldn't have seen them from there. Im no gym buff, and not a triathlete either. We decided with the wind in my favor, Id just have to go down the canyon and back up the other side and make the 400yard shot. Well lets just say an hour later completely out of water I finally reached the bottom of the canyon. The little rocks from up top turned out to be boulders the size of trucks, with crevices and cracks that you don't want to fall in. After finally getting back up the canyon wall on the other side, completely out of breath, heart racing and no water, I was finally able to see the Juniper the buck was laying under. The story is longer but needless to say, after a long wait and not knowing if we even connected after the shot. We had him. We had an absolute blast and will never forget the struggles.

Pic?


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Joined
Dec 28, 2022
Messages
10
Location
Bend, OR
Just gonna go ahead and reserve my spot here for the first dink that is dumb enough to come within a couple hundred yards of me :D

EDIT: Here he is! First legal one we found in 5 days of hunting. Saw 300+ does and handful of smaller bucks before finding him. Even had a 3x3 bull elk at 38 yards before we found this guy.

View attachment 459928
Awesome buck!!!
 
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