Post by Fowler on Nov 13, 2014 23:06:49 GMT -5
I just got back from 5 days of chasing Mule Deer in a very limited draw area here in Colorado, the sort of unit that allows a guy to be selective and not take the first legal animal they see. I wasn't looking for a record book deer, just a mature, quality buck, preferably with my handgun.
My father tagged along and we set up a comfortable camp in some very pretty country. This fall has been very warm and dry and I wasnt really sure what to expect, there was certainly no snow up high to push the larger bucks down but the rut had kicked into action and that just might. The area is criss-crossed with oil patch roads, every valley had one and most of these went up to the ridge tops and intersected with other roads in a endless array of roads to look at. Drive a ways, walk out to the point of a ridge, glass for a while and move and repeat. Not too physically demanding really as my hunts go, the ridge tops had very scattered groups of deer and the numbers of deer seemed to be down in the valley bottoms. With the rut on I figured follow the does and I would find the bucks.
We looked over hundreds of deer a day looking for good bucks.
On the second afternoon of the hunt I spotted the first good deer of the hunt, a nice 4x4 with what I was figuring to be 26" spread and would score 155-160ish, I good buck but not a super buck for this area that produces 200" bucks every year. I decided to sneak in on him and got to 35 yards and he just looked at me broadside, I was torn, my handgun was in my hand, he was in very comfortable range, and he was certainly within the size range I was really hoping I could get with a pistol but he wasn't a huge buck and I wasn't sure I wanted to end my hunt so soon. About then I decided that I needed to quit being greedy, he was a fine buck, especially with a revolver and I dropped my binocs and cocked my #5 and leveled the sights on his chest. Just then he decided he needed to be elsewhere and bolted not giving me another good shot. I didnt push him hoping he would spook too much, I returned that evening hoping the does would hold him in the area.
As shooting light was expiring I found this
He had crossed the road but was still there and I would have another chance to chase him. So over the next 3 days I kept tabs on him, he was living on the other side of a dry creek bed in a brushy flat, at any given time if you looked close you could always find him there. Always 150-250 yards from a reasonable stalking spot but he would come out to where I could go after him with my handgun. So I searched for other bucks but I wasnt finding anything better, good numbers of 23"-25" 4x4 bucks but not the 27"+ that I was hoping to find. That first buck wasnt going anywhere and I could take him whenever I wanted with the rifle right? I thought a smaller buck with my handgun would be just fine if I could pull it off but I attempted a couple of stalks on medium sized 4x4 and 4x5 bucks, each time getting into handgun range but not having a clear shot, or a steady one when I needed it. I was having fun though, I got in on a 4x5 3 times, each time with 75 yards, but each time he was screened by brush or ridge lined with the sun directly behind him.
Well finally we were down to the last full day of hunting and I was going to shoot something today as we needed to pull out the next day, sunrise found us looking at what was becoming my old friend. He was staying in a place that I couldnt get to with a pistol, I could get to 125 yards maybe and I am not taking that shot. The rifle was right there next to me but I just couldnt think of how shooting him with the rifle was going to make him a trophy for me. When a 24" 3x4 came through sniffing his does I decided I would try for him with pistol after the first buck ran him off. But he did what bucks so often do and vanished, I dont know where he slipped away at but he did.
I decided to look elsewhere for a different deer, while heading out to another valley I passed these ancient pictographs from other hunters.
I took it to be a good sign and started looking up the creek bottoms, We saw lots of small bucks and does but nothing to decide to just fill a tag with. I decided I was going for a 4x4 with the handgun until the last hour of the day when any buck would do. I was going to leave the first buck alone to grow up if it meant taking him would have to be done with a rifle. In the third valley I spotted two does and a fair sized buck bedded up the draw. A short stalk found me sitting across the valley 48 yards from the bedded buck waiting for him to stand, a 3x4 buck that was 24-25 wide, pretty thin, but a good buck for this point of the hunt. He eventually stood up and wandered around, each time being blocked by a bush or a doe, 5 times he moved and stopped without giving me a shot. It was board line funny how he just moved perfect each time but I knew I would get may chance. Finally he cleared the does and brush and he standing exactly 50 yards out, I alined the sights and boom the #5 44sp sent a 255gr Keith on its way hitting about 3" above the center line of the chest tight behind the shoulder. Amazingly he dropped as if I had broken his neck, I have never had a deer drop so hard in my life, and all I did was get the tops of both lungs, when I reached him he wasn't gone yet but a quick shot through the neck finished him.
That evening I had some time so I went back over to that first bucks haunt just to watch him, I saw two hunters standing in his meadow and I knew instantly they had him. The hunter was a 73 year old guy from here in Colorado who had been trying for this area for 12 years and finally drew. He had passed on a similar buck on opening morning and here 8 days later this was only the second quality buck he had spotted all week and he wasn't passing the chance this time. I ended up dragging the buck out for them, they were struggling with age and altitude something fierce so I ended up getting my hands on the deer in the end anyways.
A really nice buck but one that needed another year to really be something, where he chose to live was too accessible for his long term survival and instead becomes a great trophy for a nice guy on what he says is probably his last quality draw tag, he is too old to have the 10 years it would take to build up his points again for the hunt. He had earned that buck more than I had.
Anyways in the end it was a great hunt and I am really pleased it all worked out as it did and I took a quality buck with my revolver on my terms.
He is a fine buck, taken on my terms, with a special revolver that has some seriously good juju in it, I am pretty happy.
My father tagged along and we set up a comfortable camp in some very pretty country. This fall has been very warm and dry and I wasnt really sure what to expect, there was certainly no snow up high to push the larger bucks down but the rut had kicked into action and that just might. The area is criss-crossed with oil patch roads, every valley had one and most of these went up to the ridge tops and intersected with other roads in a endless array of roads to look at. Drive a ways, walk out to the point of a ridge, glass for a while and move and repeat. Not too physically demanding really as my hunts go, the ridge tops had very scattered groups of deer and the numbers of deer seemed to be down in the valley bottoms. With the rut on I figured follow the does and I would find the bucks.
We looked over hundreds of deer a day looking for good bucks.
On the second afternoon of the hunt I spotted the first good deer of the hunt, a nice 4x4 with what I was figuring to be 26" spread and would score 155-160ish, I good buck but not a super buck for this area that produces 200" bucks every year. I decided to sneak in on him and got to 35 yards and he just looked at me broadside, I was torn, my handgun was in my hand, he was in very comfortable range, and he was certainly within the size range I was really hoping I could get with a pistol but he wasn't a huge buck and I wasn't sure I wanted to end my hunt so soon. About then I decided that I needed to quit being greedy, he was a fine buck, especially with a revolver and I dropped my binocs and cocked my #5 and leveled the sights on his chest. Just then he decided he needed to be elsewhere and bolted not giving me another good shot. I didnt push him hoping he would spook too much, I returned that evening hoping the does would hold him in the area.
As shooting light was expiring I found this
He had crossed the road but was still there and I would have another chance to chase him. So over the next 3 days I kept tabs on him, he was living on the other side of a dry creek bed in a brushy flat, at any given time if you looked close you could always find him there. Always 150-250 yards from a reasonable stalking spot but he would come out to where I could go after him with my handgun. So I searched for other bucks but I wasnt finding anything better, good numbers of 23"-25" 4x4 bucks but not the 27"+ that I was hoping to find. That first buck wasnt going anywhere and I could take him whenever I wanted with the rifle right? I thought a smaller buck with my handgun would be just fine if I could pull it off but I attempted a couple of stalks on medium sized 4x4 and 4x5 bucks, each time getting into handgun range but not having a clear shot, or a steady one when I needed it. I was having fun though, I got in on a 4x5 3 times, each time with 75 yards, but each time he was screened by brush or ridge lined with the sun directly behind him.
Well finally we were down to the last full day of hunting and I was going to shoot something today as we needed to pull out the next day, sunrise found us looking at what was becoming my old friend. He was staying in a place that I couldnt get to with a pistol, I could get to 125 yards maybe and I am not taking that shot. The rifle was right there next to me but I just couldnt think of how shooting him with the rifle was going to make him a trophy for me. When a 24" 3x4 came through sniffing his does I decided I would try for him with pistol after the first buck ran him off. But he did what bucks so often do and vanished, I dont know where he slipped away at but he did.
I decided to look elsewhere for a different deer, while heading out to another valley I passed these ancient pictographs from other hunters.
I took it to be a good sign and started looking up the creek bottoms, We saw lots of small bucks and does but nothing to decide to just fill a tag with. I decided I was going for a 4x4 with the handgun until the last hour of the day when any buck would do. I was going to leave the first buck alone to grow up if it meant taking him would have to be done with a rifle. In the third valley I spotted two does and a fair sized buck bedded up the draw. A short stalk found me sitting across the valley 48 yards from the bedded buck waiting for him to stand, a 3x4 buck that was 24-25 wide, pretty thin, but a good buck for this point of the hunt. He eventually stood up and wandered around, each time being blocked by a bush or a doe, 5 times he moved and stopped without giving me a shot. It was board line funny how he just moved perfect each time but I knew I would get may chance. Finally he cleared the does and brush and he standing exactly 50 yards out, I alined the sights and boom the #5 44sp sent a 255gr Keith on its way hitting about 3" above the center line of the chest tight behind the shoulder. Amazingly he dropped as if I had broken his neck, I have never had a deer drop so hard in my life, and all I did was get the tops of both lungs, when I reached him he wasn't gone yet but a quick shot through the neck finished him.
That evening I had some time so I went back over to that first bucks haunt just to watch him, I saw two hunters standing in his meadow and I knew instantly they had him. The hunter was a 73 year old guy from here in Colorado who had been trying for this area for 12 years and finally drew. He had passed on a similar buck on opening morning and here 8 days later this was only the second quality buck he had spotted all week and he wasn't passing the chance this time. I ended up dragging the buck out for them, they were struggling with age and altitude something fierce so I ended up getting my hands on the deer in the end anyways.
A really nice buck but one that needed another year to really be something, where he chose to live was too accessible for his long term survival and instead becomes a great trophy for a nice guy on what he says is probably his last quality draw tag, he is too old to have the 10 years it would take to build up his points again for the hunt. He had earned that buck more than I had.
Anyways in the end it was a great hunt and I am really pleased it all worked out as it did and I took a quality buck with my revolver on my terms.
He is a fine buck, taken on my terms, with a special revolver that has some seriously good juju in it, I am pretty happy.
