blipelt
Well-Known Member
With not much planned for the weekend. A friend, Wade called and asked what I was doing this evening. I replied nothing. He mentioned he was going out west to do some bow hunting. After talking with my wife I replied when did he want me to pick him up. Now I know out west is the ND Badlands where we have private and public lands to hunt the infamous mulie, who has eluded me for many years now. This is my favorite place to be, I am sure you can see why:
With a two to two and a half hour trip to the area. We devised a plan to sit and patten and see the available bucks in the area. I went to one of the southern most draws while Wade sat at the draw just to the north. With a south southwest wind the deer that might smell me would hopefully use the backdoor where Wade was waiting.
I slipped into the end of the draw spotting a whitetail fawn browsing. I waited for about 20mins before the fawn went into the large erosion cut at the bottom of the draw before getting settled in for the evening. About 20mins later the fawn returned bringing it's two siblings and mother. A fifth doe accompanied them. For 2.5hours I had whitetail does and fawns within 60yards of me browsing and bedding. The oldest doe would sound the alarm once in a while and flag for a few seconds and go back to browsing. When they finally moved off into the alfalfa fields above my nerves were about shot. Now it was time for the bachelor group of whitetail bucks to show themselves. I had about 20mins left of hunting when a spike, a fork and a 5X5 about 18" came within 56yards before moving above. To say the least it was a exciting and memorable evening.
Now Wade's evening went alittle more slowly than mine. He said after a couple of naps in the 90degree weather he figured for a slow evening. Well he was far from correct. His plan of playing the wind worked perfectly, with little hunting light left he spotted three mulies working their way towards him. A nice 5X5(eye guards) was in the bunch. With alot of distance for them to cover and little time he wasn't to optimistic. A nice whitetail buck helped with his quest. The whitetail buck came running up his draw and stopped on the opposite side at 30yards. To his astonishment the largest mulie came running after him. They were looking at each other when Wade drew his bow and released his arrow for the whitetail. The arrow missed it's mark, right in front of him. The whitetail ran off, I guess 30yards is just to close for my friend
. He grabbed his second arrow resting beside him and knocked and drew aiming at the mulie still 50yards away. The arrow found it's mark and the mulie jumped and fled. With one wheel flat he questioned his shot placement. We choose to wait until morning to retrieve the deer. The shot penetrated the right lung and exited cutting the left rear tendons causing the limp.
23" outside spread, not a bad day for a spur of the moment thing. He never did tell me how big the whitetail was.
Brent
With a two to two and a half hour trip to the area. We devised a plan to sit and patten and see the available bucks in the area. I went to one of the southern most draws while Wade sat at the draw just to the north. With a south southwest wind the deer that might smell me would hopefully use the backdoor where Wade was waiting.
I slipped into the end of the draw spotting a whitetail fawn browsing. I waited for about 20mins before the fawn went into the large erosion cut at the bottom of the draw before getting settled in for the evening. About 20mins later the fawn returned bringing it's two siblings and mother. A fifth doe accompanied them. For 2.5hours I had whitetail does and fawns within 60yards of me browsing and bedding. The oldest doe would sound the alarm once in a while and flag for a few seconds and go back to browsing. When they finally moved off into the alfalfa fields above my nerves were about shot. Now it was time for the bachelor group of whitetail bucks to show themselves. I had about 20mins left of hunting when a spike, a fork and a 5X5 about 18" came within 56yards before moving above. To say the least it was a exciting and memorable evening.
Now Wade's evening went alittle more slowly than mine. He said after a couple of naps in the 90degree weather he figured for a slow evening. Well he was far from correct. His plan of playing the wind worked perfectly, with little hunting light left he spotted three mulies working their way towards him. A nice 5X5(eye guards) was in the bunch. With alot of distance for them to cover and little time he wasn't to optimistic. A nice whitetail buck helped with his quest. The whitetail buck came running up his draw and stopped on the opposite side at 30yards. To his astonishment the largest mulie came running after him. They were looking at each other when Wade drew his bow and released his arrow for the whitetail. The arrow missed it's mark, right in front of him. The whitetail ran off, I guess 30yards is just to close for my friend
. He grabbed his second arrow resting beside him and knocked and drew aiming at the mulie still 50yards away. The arrow found it's mark and the mulie jumped and fled. With one wheel flat he questioned his shot placement. We choose to wait until morning to retrieve the deer. The shot penetrated the right lung and exited cutting the left rear tendons causing the limp.
23" outside spread, not a bad day for a spur of the moment thing. He never did tell me how big the whitetail was
.Brent
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