New Mexico Mule Deer Hunt

[7mmRemMag]

Well, I just got back from Silver City, New Mexico. I'm happy to say that I killed the biggest Mule Deer I have ever killed on the 3rd morning of the hunt. What really made it special is that the shot was 500 yards and my Remington Model 7 270wsm with hand loaded 140 Grain Nosler Accubond dropped him in his tracks. Bullet went completely through both shoulders and couldnt have asked for better performance. This animal Field Dressed at 200lbs no ground shrinkage, I hadnt experienced the no ground shrinkage before. LOL. I wish that I had gotten it all on video, unfortunately I forgot my camera tripod back home here in Texas. He's ready to be mounted. Its the biggest deer I've ever killed so I'm very happy with him. I've made longer shots, but 500 yards is by far the longest shot I've ever attempted on a Trophy animal. Here are a few pictures of the Deer. Enjoy

 

[7mmRemMag]

Here's a picture of the shoulder entrance wound where the 140 Grain Nosler Accubond punched through.

 

[1CouesHunter]

Very Nice Buck there. Horns sorta have whitetail configuration. Symetrical and Wide. 500 Yards is a respectable shot. How do you adjust for Longer shots?

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Very Nice Buck there. Horns sorta have whitetail configuration. Symetrical and Wide. 500 Yards is a respectable shot. How do you adjust for Longer shots?

I was thinking the same thing. The antlers are very typical for a whitetail deer rather than a mule deer. Have you mule deer hunters seen this before?

7mmMag - Congrats on a very nice buck. 500 yards is longrange under most field conditions. Good job.

 

[Slopeshunter]

Congrats on a fine buck! Funny, me to. As I was reading I was sneaking peaks down below, all I could see was the antlers and I was wondering why you had a pic of a whitetail there. Good goin!

 

[liltank]

The grin says it all. As far as the symmetry, my brother-in-law just got back from Idaho. Both his Mulies were fairly symmetrical. Don't know, never hunted them before.

Tank

 

[1984nitro]

Congrads on the great buck.
As for the antlers I have been hunting in Idaho for mulies for 14 years now and have only seen one deer with similar antlers. My first deer ever had a whitetail like antler and a mule deer antler on the others side.
Not really sure but it may be some cross breeding (just me thought)

 

[Derek M.]

Referencing above, the rack is definitely 100% whitetail configuration. Nice deer! and nice shot!

 

[jeff 300]

Very nice deer and shot. I have seen this mule deer / whitetail look a lot in west Texas and south east new Mexico. I was out side of Carlsbad,NM mule deer hunting and saw 4 mule deer that looked like white tail all in one morning.

 

[7mmRemMag]

Very Nice Buck there. Horns sorta have whitetail configuration. Symetrical and Wide. 500 Yards is a respectable shot. How do you adjust for Longer shots?

I thought the same thing, it is in southern New Mexico so maybe they cross. I just have a lower end Leupold scope 4x12x40 rifleman. But I zeroed at 200 yards. Adjustments were 1/2MOA at 300, 2MOA at 400, and 5MOA at 500 yards. I did my home work and shot clays at those distances and made myself a cheat sheet you could see it on my scope. When I first spotted him he was 675 yards so I made my way around the mountain to get right at 500 since I had practiced out to that distance. I shot from one mountain to the next but the shot was straight across, I'm sure that helped a lot.

 

[7mmRemMag]

Very nice deer and shot. I have seen this mule deer / whitetail look a lot in west Texas and south east new Mexico. I was out side of Carlsbad,NM mule deer hunting and saw 4 mule deer that looked like white tail all in one morning.

That's interesting. This is the second mule deer I've seen with this type of rack on this ranch. The last one was killed about 3 years ago. If I find a picture I'll post it.

 

[7mmRemMag]

Congrads on the great buck.
As for the antlers I have been hunting in Idaho for mulies for 14 years now and have only seen one deer with similar antlers. My first deer ever had a whitetail like antler and a mule deer antler on the others side.
Not really sure but it may be some cross breeding (just me thought)

I was speaking to someone i know. They said that mule deer cross with white tail in this area. How true it is i'm unsure, but you may be right. maybe a hybrid? like a horse and donkey make a mule? I dont know. lol could be

 

[7mmRemMag]

Thanks for all the comments so far guys. I'm still excited over the whole experience! LOL

 

[kcebcj]

Nice buck 7mmRemMag unique set of horns. Myself and a couple good hunting buddies hunted south east Idaho west of Afton Wyoming in the 80's and took two similar bucks there with the same configuration. They were both 3 pointers one being 26 ½" wide and the last one was 28" taken about 4 years apart. We kinda thought it might be a gene thing but there is whitetail all over Idaho so it may have been some kind of cross. From what I understand when mule deer and whitetail cross the mule deer loses eventually.

Any way good shot and your dope was right on…. haha. You will probably remember that day your whole life.