2024 OFFICIAL Mule deer meat pole thread

[bpitcher]

My son took his first ever deer (doe) and first ever buck this year in the Texas Panhandle. Super proud of him. He made two excellent shots. He as worked hard all year in school and at the range.

 

[jpmulk]

Montana

 

[MNGrouser]

We had a fun little trip out to Montana this year. My dad and I drew tags and my nephew still qualified for the youth sponsor hunt. My brother was not successful in the draw but I got him registered for the alternate list and he started out with number 314. We wore out the FWP webpage refreshing his status to see if the number changed and he actually got the e-mail while my dad and I were already out there.

The plan was to have my dad take first dibs as mobility issues are slowing him down. Any decent buck he had the ability to take, I wanted him to take. Things ended up progressing not quite according to plan. Things happened a little faster than we planned and I had the opportunity to take this guy. I decided not to pass.



At that point my brother and nephew hadn't arrived from Wisconsin yet and we were able to find this buck for my dad the next day. He was a little bummed that it wasn't as big as he'd hoped or what the rest of us got but I was happy to see him punch his tag and make a clean, one-shot, kill.



We got our deer skinned out and hanging in the cooler when the rest of the crew arrived. They also brought a little bit of weather with them.


We did a little more hiking and took this pic right after my brother made a heckuva shot on his best mule deer to date. The plan was actually to let my nephew go first but our hunts don't often go according to plan. Similar to my buck, my brother had to make a quick decision and he decided not to let this one walk.




That left only my nephew to go. I was able to spot him cruising across the sage flats towards a brush choked coulee. We came up with a plan and after a LONG time on the glass I was able to find where he'd hung up. It was a long shot, with a killer cross wind and my nephew was having a hard time picking him out of the brush where he hid. Not the kind of low percentage shot we wanted him to take. So we regrouped and came up with a plan to approach from the other side of the canyon. Cross wind would still be in our favor and, if we made it work, we would be right on top of him. For once things went according to plan. We belly crawled inside 100 yards before he was visible and the kid made quick work of the chip-shot.


I'm thinking between draw odds, health, finances, going off to college, etc that the four of us probably are not going to manage a trip like this again. So we packed a lifetime of memories into this one!

 

[Juan_ID]

My wife and I went out opening weekend of the general Idaho deer season and she managed to harvest this pretty buck with some unseasonably warm weather.

 

[Juan_ID]

Already shared these pics in the photo contest thread but here they are again. Was a great year for us, already day-dreaming and planning 2025.

 

[Duckmam208]

My boy did well in the draw his first time around and we were able to turn this buck up after covering a bunch of ground for a few days. We had a ball. Probably be a minute before he tops this one. Not a filter guy but the light was pretty low when I jumped in front of the camera.

 

[Snow Hunter]

I had a great couple of hunts during the North Dakota Rifle Season! A couple days into my rifle hunt I managed to get this nice buck!

I had a couple buddies with me who had bore tags, so I also switched to my bow and two days later, managed to get a second mule deer with my bow!

These two are my biggest rifle and bow mule deer respectively!

 

[lak2004]

I had a great couple of hunts during the North Dakota Rifle Season! A couple days into my rifle hunt I managed to get this nice buck!
View attachment 804193
I had a couple buddies with me who had bore tags, so I also switched to my bow and two days later, managed to get a second mule deer with my bow!
View attachment 804194
These two are my biggest rifle and bow mule deer respectively!

ND resident? Those are damn good deer!

 

[Snow Hunter]

ND resident? Those are damn good deer!

Yes, I am an ND resident and hunt the badlands every year with a bow. This was only my second mule deer with a bow. This was my first ND rifle tag in 7 years.

 

[JRay]

Looks like it was worth the wait. Love the character on that rifle buck!

 

[silasbowhunter]

Muley I helped get my sister in law on for her first. She was pretty excited haha
185”.
I passed him 4 times with my bow so she could get a chance at him!
Tikka Rokslide special with 73gr eldm (lungs were gone)

 

[Snow Hunter]

Muley I helped get my sister in law on for her first. She was pretty excited haha
185”.
I passed him 4 times with my bow so she could get a chance at him!
Tikka Rokslide special with 73gr eldm (lungs were gone)

Very nice buck! Incredible self control to pass on him with a rifle or a bow!

 

[LostWapiti]

Muley I helped get my sister in law on for her first. She was pretty excited haha
185”.
I passed him 4 times with my bow so she could get a chance at him!
Tikka Rokslide special with 73gr eldm (lungs were gone)

You PASSED him?! Do you have pictures of a bigger one you were after or you just wanted to leave the biggest for her?

 

[silasbowhunter]

You PASSED him?! Do you have pictures of a bigger one you were after or you just wanted to leave the biggest for her?

I passed him haha one time he was within 40 yards of me for over 45 minutes, watched him snort wheeze and bristle down a smaller buck and all that.
We like to be pretty selective on the muleys and I am kind of eyeing a couple nice whitetails. Just know it would be a good buck for her!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mish-pop]

I had a great couple of hunts during the North Dakota Rifle Season! A couple days into my rifle hunt I managed to get this nice buck!
View attachment 804193
I had a couple buddies with me who had bore tags, so I also switched to my bow and two days later, managed to get a second mule deer with my bow!
View attachment 804194
These two are my biggest rifle and bow mule deer respectively!

That is quite an impressive few days! Congrats!