I made it back! Went across the scales with a gvw of 27,080 lbs. Now for the fun details. I met a good friend at a trailhead in Bondurant, Wyoming, about 30 miles from Jackson Hole. I set up my 5er and made a base camp and then the next day we set out with my two horses and his 3 mules. His wife was also in camp with another mule and a 2 year old horse. But since she just had back surgery two months ago, she wasn't able to ride much.
We loaded up our pack horses and mules and headed into the Gros Vente Wilderness about 10 miles in. We set up a spike camp complete with a 6 person Cabelas Alaskan Guide tent that is just right for two hunters. We scouted for two days without seeing much in the way of deer. We got dumped on by thunderstorms numerous times and it made me glad to have good rain gear. On opening day, Sunday the 15th, my partner spotted a bunch of Mule deer bucks coming over a far ridge just after first light. I ranged them at 454 yards but they started trotting across the open ridge and I wasn't in a good spot for a shot. Since I was trophy hunting I wanted to make sure my target was worthy. The lead buck was a good buck. I got up to a rock for a rest and lined up on the biggest buck at 254 yards and squeezed the trigger on my 338 Remington ultra magnum. Click, *** I jacked the shell out and saw a small indent on the primer, the deer was gone. Some leaves and some lint from my scabbard had made its way into my bolt face and softened the firing pin. Oh well. Deer 1 me 0. On the next day I walked about 6 miles up to over 11,000 feet and made a full perimeter of the mountains around our camp. I did spot one bunch of 5 bucks with one pretty good one but I decided to pass on him. He was a heavy 4x4 that was about 20 inches tall and about 23 wide. More rain and thunderstorms pounded us. On Tues. we decided to move camp and after we were all packed up and had moved about 1/4 mile, the mother of all thunder storms got unleased. We got pelted with 3/8 inch hail for over 30 minutes, a flash flood came down the mountain and freaked out the horses and mules. At that time I decide to move back to base camp and it continued to pound us with rain and hail all the way back to the trail head. A warm bed after a few adult beverages felt real good. The next morning I got up at 4:00 am and saddled my mustang mare and rode back up the mountain about 6 1/2 miles to one of my favorite spots. I tied up my horse and started hiking up a steep ridge still hunting. I topped the ridge and didn't see any deer in the spot I expected to see some in. It started snowing and the fog was coming in and I looked off to my right down a slope covered with sage brush and I spotted something that didn't look quite right.(I am in denial and think I don't need my glasses) I put up my rifle scope and saw big antlers, I was so out of breath that I couldn't hold the gun steady. I shot and oh ****, I missed, the deer didn't move, I racked another shell and this time the shot hit the mark. The 300 grain Berger bullet did it's job and the deer never moved. In case anyone is wondering, the shot was only about 80 yards, and the bullet didn't exit. It did impart massive tissue damage with no meat damaged. I got to the deer to find a perfectly symmetrical 5x5 26 inches wide (pictures to follow) I quartered the deer packed it on my horse and walked the 7 miles back to camp. My back has a kink now but my face has a smile on it. I dropped the cape and head off at the taxidermist this morning.
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