Alright, it’s time for the obligatory post-hunt recap. WARNING: it’s a pretty short hunting story.
First, I want to thank the contributors to this thread as well as the people who PM’d me and were willing to discuss their experience in the unit and provide some general deer tips to a novice muley hunter from the East. I hardly got GPS coordinates from anyone, however, I considered all information provided in an effort to ensure I was on the right track as far as unit expectations, weather, etc.
My plan was to drive out solo starting after work and arrive by the evening two full days later, hunt 4 solid days, then return home in time for a family vacation. Total drive time one way is 25 hours and I wanted to allocate plenty of time for stops. However, in the pre hunt excitement, I crushed the drive and got to the unit after only 29 hours on the road. The first thing I found out is that the terrain changes were much larger than they appeared on both Google earth and HuntStand app mapping. This was just due to my inexperience with that kind of open terrain. What I thought were small rolling drainages sometimes ended up having vertical walls the I couldn’t get up and over. Not exactly the best to find that out in the dark of a morning hunt, but it happens. So, I had to detour numerous times to cross the terrain.
The morning I got my buck, the wind was ripping so I was hunkered down behind a rock to break the wind and allow me to be steady while glassing. After a couple hours, the only activity I saw were cows down on the sage flats. Also, the views I had weren’t exactly what I had envisioned so I got up and planned to walk a quarter mile or so and get a better angle into some draws I couldn’t see into. I had made it a couple hundred yards when I happened to spot what appeared to be white specks in a draw a pretty good ways off. After confirming they were deer with my binos I set up my spotter and took a look. Where I was, the wind made it impossible to get a steady look but I could see at least 2 bucks with solid frames but couldn’t see any detail beyond that. My rangefinder tops out at 1000 yards and it wasn’t picking them up. So I ranged some rock about halfway between us and it read 780. So I figured I could close the distance without too much trouble and began to quickly move in by using the terrain for cover.
I finally got good eyes on them at about 450 yards. However, while they were feeding they were heading toward the top of a drainage and I figured if I didn’t hurry they might go over the and then I’d need to figure out something else…if I could even find them again. I know some people may think 450 is a chip shot, but for this Eastern whitetail hunter out there is the whipping wind, I would have just been lobbing rounds. So I dropped back down and was able to work toward them so more. Next time I saw them I was within 100 yards. 1 doe, a 3x4, and a 4x5. The 3x4 was a beauty, big boxy frame with tips a couple inches past his ears, but his rack was a bit thin. Then there was the 3x5. A bit narrower but lots of mass and that 5th point was really cool. After a couple minutes I got a clean shot on the 3x5. Turns out he had a little bit of leftover velvet which I also thought was cool. Then came the work of getting him cut up and back to my vehicle about 3 miles away. I’m a young guy but I am still feeling it a few days later.
Even with the low deer density and having long periods of not much to look at, I walked away with a good buck so I couldn’t be happier with how things turned out.
