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My biggest mule deer ever
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<blockquote data-quote="D.Camilleri" data-source="post: 2540430" data-attributes="member: 2567"><p>As an update to my 2020 hunt, the deer head is on the wall in my living room where I look at him each day. I went back to the same area again last year 2021 and fought my way up a trail that hasn't been cleared in a long time. Wildfires and dead falls made the trail a challenge as well as not being on this trail for 15+ years. You ask why I would go to the trouble of riding in on this trail instead of my normal trail and let's just say that in my mind this was an easier trail without as much steep climbing, if follows a creek up to where I would make my camp. I was alone on this hunt, just me and two horses. I got to my camp site with tired horses and set up camp. This time I set up an electric fence around my tent for peace of mind. I saw a small herd of elk the first evening several hundred yards from my tent, but they must not have liked sharing there pasture with my horses as I didn't see them again. I set up my chair and started glassing and saw a few bucks, all very high up on the mountain. I saw 4 bucks, probably all decent 4 points high above where I killed my buck in 2020 and made the decision to hike to that point on opening morning. They were probably close to a mile above my camp, straight up!</p><p></p><p>Opening morning came and the weather was clear and cool. I started my ascent up the mountain and took a similar route as I used when I killed my buck in 2020. I went through the areas that held lots of deer beds in 2020, but I didn't notice any. I walked through the place where I quartered my buck in 2020 and found the remains of his spine, with little else there. I continued to make my way up the steep rocky canyon heading to where I saw the 4 bucks the night before. When I was almost to the top of my hike, I had two choices, right or left, they appeared to be equally steep, but wouldn't you know it I picked the route that was the steepest. I was literally on all 4's for 10 yards to make it up the worst part and it had a spring running through it too! I finally reached the top where I could glass and check things out. It was gorgeous! I found a nice rock and took a nap. When I woke up, I thought about how hard of a climb this was to get here and how miserable it would be to pack out a deer that most certainly would take me two trips. The country is way to steep to get a horse into and even though I was within 200 yards of where I watched 4 mature 4 point bucks walk out the night before, I decided to let them and me live another year. Down the mountain I went. I felt my hunt had already been a success, I didn't need to kill. When I got back to camp, I broke camp down and started down the trail. Immediately I met up with the local game warden whom I had messaged where I would be camping, so I had a companion to accompany me down the trail and wouldn't you know it, it was almost as hard to find the trail going down as it was going up. When I got back to the truck, I moved base camp over to where some friends were hunting and continued to have a great time and got to be part of a buddy shooting a very nice 180 inch buck. As I type this I am getting excited for 2022 deer hunting season!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="D.Camilleri, post: 2540430, member: 2567"] As an update to my 2020 hunt, the deer head is on the wall in my living room where I look at him each day. I went back to the same area again last year 2021 and fought my way up a trail that hasn't been cleared in a long time. Wildfires and dead falls made the trail a challenge as well as not being on this trail for 15+ years. You ask why I would go to the trouble of riding in on this trail instead of my normal trail and let's just say that in my mind this was an easier trail without as much steep climbing, if follows a creek up to where I would make my camp. I was alone on this hunt, just me and two horses. I got to my camp site with tired horses and set up camp. This time I set up an electric fence around my tent for peace of mind. I saw a small herd of elk the first evening several hundred yards from my tent, but they must not have liked sharing there pasture with my horses as I didn't see them again. I set up my chair and started glassing and saw a few bucks, all very high up on the mountain. I saw 4 bucks, probably all decent 4 points high above where I killed my buck in 2020 and made the decision to hike to that point on opening morning. They were probably close to a mile above my camp, straight up! Opening morning came and the weather was clear and cool. I started my ascent up the mountain and took a similar route as I used when I killed my buck in 2020. I went through the areas that held lots of deer beds in 2020, but I didn't notice any. I walked through the place where I quartered my buck in 2020 and found the remains of his spine, with little else there. I continued to make my way up the steep rocky canyon heading to where I saw the 4 bucks the night before. When I was almost to the top of my hike, I had two choices, right or left, they appeared to be equally steep, but wouldn't you know it I picked the route that was the steepest. I was literally on all 4's for 10 yards to make it up the worst part and it had a spring running through it too! I finally reached the top where I could glass and check things out. It was gorgeous! I found a nice rock and took a nap. When I woke up, I thought about how hard of a climb this was to get here and how miserable it would be to pack out a deer that most certainly would take me two trips. The country is way to steep to get a horse into and even though I was within 200 yards of where I watched 4 mature 4 point bucks walk out the night before, I decided to let them and me live another year. Down the mountain I went. I felt my hunt had already been a success, I didn't need to kill. When I got back to camp, I broke camp down and started down the trail. Immediately I met up with the local game warden whom I had messaged where I would be camping, so I had a companion to accompany me down the trail and wouldn't you know it, it was almost as hard to find the trail going down as it was going up. When I got back to the truck, I moved base camp over to where some friends were hunting and continued to have a great time and got to be part of a buddy shooting a very nice 180 inch buck. As I type this I am getting excited for 2022 deer hunting season! [/QUOTE]
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