I scouted this area for months on GE and put feet on the ground a few times prior to meeting my buddy from back East to hunt the general rifle season. He has never been one to care much about antler size and generally just enjoys hunting out of state. As we pulled up to the area we were hunting i noticed a small forky making his way down to the bottom land. Jokingly, I said to my buddy, "see hunt with me and you'll see deer before you get out of the truck". We had a good laugh about it, got ready to hike for the morning hunt. As we moved away from the truck i always like to glass the surrounding area, simply because you never know what is there.
I was glassing off into the surrounding ravines when all of the sudden my buddy says, "hey that buck circled back around". I immediately replied he's a 1/4 mile that way, pointing West. Thats when my buddy says, "well then whats that?" That my friends was when my heart started beating slightly faster! I instructed him to slowly take my spotting scope off of my back so i could take a look at this buck. His antlers were camouflaged by the sage brush and cliffy back ground, so it was hard to make him out with just binos. Once i settled the scope on him he starred right at me, turned left, turned right, and then back forward again. Im thinking to myself this deer is either deaf, dumb, or blind!
So, I told my buddy why don't you lay down and get ready to shoot he might be a good deer. I didn't want to get him rattled because he's not used to shooting at any distance over 150yds. He finally gets settled into his rifle and says, "what do you think?" My reply was, "how big of a deer do you want to shoot?" He says, "bigger than last year." PULL THE TRIGGER!!! He did and ended up taking a very respectable muley. All of the sudden a doe bolts out of the sagebrush, and we both looked and laughed. Oh what the ladies will do to man?! Once we made it to the buck, he was so excited it was one of those moments you see a grown man in complete and utter disbelief. That moment made all of the efforts put forth worth it to me.
below is his 2016 Muley
I was glassing off into the surrounding ravines when all of the sudden my buddy says, "hey that buck circled back around". I immediately replied he's a 1/4 mile that way, pointing West. Thats when my buddy says, "well then whats that?" That my friends was when my heart started beating slightly faster! I instructed him to slowly take my spotting scope off of my back so i could take a look at this buck. His antlers were camouflaged by the sage brush and cliffy back ground, so it was hard to make him out with just binos. Once i settled the scope on him he starred right at me, turned left, turned right, and then back forward again. Im thinking to myself this deer is either deaf, dumb, or blind!
So, I told my buddy why don't you lay down and get ready to shoot he might be a good deer. I didn't want to get him rattled because he's not used to shooting at any distance over 150yds. He finally gets settled into his rifle and says, "what do you think?" My reply was, "how big of a deer do you want to shoot?" He says, "bigger than last year." PULL THE TRIGGER!!! He did and ended up taking a very respectable muley. All of the sudden a doe bolts out of the sagebrush, and we both looked and laughed. Oh what the ladies will do to man?! Once we made it to the buck, he was so excited it was one of those moments you see a grown man in complete and utter disbelief. That moment made all of the efforts put forth worth it to me.
below is his 2016 Muley
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