Montana'eer
Well-Known Member
Was out hunting since Veterans Day, got back Friday night 11/19. Went out to Westby with a few friends and hunted ditch pigeons from Friday until Sunday. I took my girl Pearl who is either really, really good, or really, really bad. This time she was the latter. My friends GSP's did all the heavy lifting this time.
I broke away and headed west on Monday to solo hunt on a friends ranch, just me and my misbehaving Pearl. I usually hunt deer with an older friend but he's got some cancer and had a bout of tests, so he sat out this year. I miss him but Pearl is good company. Doesn't talk a lot and sleeps while I drive, kinda like my wife.
I got to the ranch after after two failed attempts to take some back roads 75 miles which passed through a ton of BLM and block areas. Rain and snow on Sunday made the roads pretty damned bad. I would go 10 miles off pavement and it just got worse and worse up until the point the stuck trucks 3/4 miles ahead of me was enough warning to turn back and take the long way on pavement. No hunting Monday. Without the long story of the rest of my week I wound up gaining access to another private parcel that was holding a herd of mule deer. The area was in an exceptional drought and another rancher had a parcel that was green with wild oats- that's where the bulk of the deer I saw were holding- I just couldn't get to them or coax them.
Two more days of SUPER high winds- like 50mph sustained on Tuesday and Wednesday pretty much kept things hunkered down even though I did lots of searching, glassing, some attempts at drawing those deer out of that drainage (before I had permission to hunt it), and then some trespassers on Thursday who ruined another guys hunt on that parcel where the deer were... Two knuckleheads blew a wad of 50-75 mule deer out of there. Heck of a deal.. Wound up meeting that property owner at a corner post on a two track after the trespassing duo flew out of there and after about a half hour he offered to let me hunt that section. Super cool guy and I'm totally going to send him a card and a gift for the offer.
ANYWAY... Friday morning I got onto the private parcel up high and parked in a hidey hole I scouted the day before. I was there at 5:00 a.m. well before shooting light. As they day started to rise I was greeted by a welcome group of visitors.
Love is in the air!! Isn't that a cool shot? They had no idea I was there. Pretty soon I could see dozens and dozens more- most 400-500 yards away- all headed towards those oats. Bingo! I waited until the deer activity around me died down then I went out on foot to glass them from the ditches and see if there was a good buck in the group. After about 45 minutes of stalking the drainage and popping my head up and glassing the stubble/oats I managed to see 3 distinct mature bucks, and one I had the crosshairs on one at 250 yards and said to myself- "Oh yeah- you're the bad boy around here right now". He was hot on a doe and I could not make an ethical shot, so I pulled back, went back to the truck grabbed some coffee and hatched another plan. I wanted that old buck.
I made a 1.5 mile stalk following drainages and topography to move west literally 500-600 yards or less. I grabbed a big ball of tumbleweed and pulled up a sage bush and had in my left hand as I hauled my rifle in my right. I moved over and up into a big drainage that cuts two of these fields- I had 2-3 does 400 yards away watching me but not alarmed- yet. I followed the edge of the high field until I began to crest and see a wider view. I could see a dozen or so deer- 500 yards or more out. I was in a crappy place to shoot so I went old school and put my junk in the dirt and dragged my rifle about 75-100 yards to a better vantage. I saw this-
I started seeing more and more running in that drainage- rut was full on and there were bucks running does in circles. I found a comfy spot to get my rifle and myself set.
Where that deer is standing to the far left is where that one big buck I spied ran to (I had ditched the camera at this point and was getting set to shoot). Basically one hill closer. I hit him with the rangefinder- 398yards.
I got comfy, dialed 400yards on the scope of my 7mm-mag.
He's a heavy old troll of a buck. Still shedding some velvet, parts of the main beam are still red- awesome character on the rack.
I loaded him up, went back to the ranch, thanked everyone and told them I'd be back with a friend after thanksgiving to hunt some does. Got home and my neighbor (a biologist and taxidermist) aged him at 7-8 years old. Old man of the prairie, his better days in the rearview. Not a really wide rack, but good character.
I broke away and headed west on Monday to solo hunt on a friends ranch, just me and my misbehaving Pearl. I usually hunt deer with an older friend but he's got some cancer and had a bout of tests, so he sat out this year. I miss him but Pearl is good company. Doesn't talk a lot and sleeps while I drive, kinda like my wife.
I got to the ranch after after two failed attempts to take some back roads 75 miles which passed through a ton of BLM and block areas. Rain and snow on Sunday made the roads pretty damned bad. I would go 10 miles off pavement and it just got worse and worse up until the point the stuck trucks 3/4 miles ahead of me was enough warning to turn back and take the long way on pavement. No hunting Monday. Without the long story of the rest of my week I wound up gaining access to another private parcel that was holding a herd of mule deer. The area was in an exceptional drought and another rancher had a parcel that was green with wild oats- that's where the bulk of the deer I saw were holding- I just couldn't get to them or coax them.
Two more days of SUPER high winds- like 50mph sustained on Tuesday and Wednesday pretty much kept things hunkered down even though I did lots of searching, glassing, some attempts at drawing those deer out of that drainage (before I had permission to hunt it), and then some trespassers on Thursday who ruined another guys hunt on that parcel where the deer were... Two knuckleheads blew a wad of 50-75 mule deer out of there. Heck of a deal.. Wound up meeting that property owner at a corner post on a two track after the trespassing duo flew out of there and after about a half hour he offered to let me hunt that section. Super cool guy and I'm totally going to send him a card and a gift for the offer.
ANYWAY... Friday morning I got onto the private parcel up high and parked in a hidey hole I scouted the day before. I was there at 5:00 a.m. well before shooting light. As they day started to rise I was greeted by a welcome group of visitors.
Love is in the air!! Isn't that a cool shot? They had no idea I was there. Pretty soon I could see dozens and dozens more- most 400-500 yards away- all headed towards those oats. Bingo! I waited until the deer activity around me died down then I went out on foot to glass them from the ditches and see if there was a good buck in the group. After about 45 minutes of stalking the drainage and popping my head up and glassing the stubble/oats I managed to see 3 distinct mature bucks, and one I had the crosshairs on one at 250 yards and said to myself- "Oh yeah- you're the bad boy around here right now". He was hot on a doe and I could not make an ethical shot, so I pulled back, went back to the truck grabbed some coffee and hatched another plan. I wanted that old buck.
I made a 1.5 mile stalk following drainages and topography to move west literally 500-600 yards or less. I grabbed a big ball of tumbleweed and pulled up a sage bush and had in my left hand as I hauled my rifle in my right. I moved over and up into a big drainage that cuts two of these fields- I had 2-3 does 400 yards away watching me but not alarmed- yet. I followed the edge of the high field until I began to crest and see a wider view. I could see a dozen or so deer- 500 yards or more out. I was in a crappy place to shoot so I went old school and put my junk in the dirt and dragged my rifle about 75-100 yards to a better vantage. I saw this-
I started seeing more and more running in that drainage- rut was full on and there were bucks running does in circles. I found a comfy spot to get my rifle and myself set.
Where that deer is standing to the far left is where that one big buck I spied ran to (I had ditched the camera at this point and was getting set to shoot). Basically one hill closer. I hit him with the rangefinder- 398yards.
I got comfy, dialed 400yards on the scope of my 7mm-mag.
He's a heavy old troll of a buck. Still shedding some velvet, parts of the main beam are still red- awesome character on the rack.
I loaded him up, went back to the ranch, thanked everyone and told them I'd be back with a friend after thanksgiving to hunt some does. Got home and my neighbor (a biologist and taxidermist) aged him at 7-8 years old. Old man of the prairie, his better days in the rearview. Not a really wide rack, but good character.
Last edited:
Purely for medicinal purposes.
