alinrut
Active Member
- Messages
- 211
So, 2021 is a bit of a redemption hunt for me as last year, my house was hammered with COVID during the hunting season. This year I drew the 2nd rifle tag and began my planning and preparations. As I had hunted the area a few times over the last several years, I was already familiar with what produced in the past. This year, I wanted to be different and get out and away from the orange army that ascends into the area opening weekend.
I found plenty of deer and passed on multiple bucks opening morning, that evening I found myself on a hike while a friend of mine did some road scouting to see what he could turn up. My other friend and I set up on a ridge line overlooking the valley below and soon enough we glassed up some deer, eventually we turned up a big bodied mature buck that is pictured here, he has that big belly and his body flat out dwarfed the others around him. It was about a 530 yard shot with multiple crosswinds and I chose not to take the shot and instead we put him to bed and hiked down off the ridge line.
The next morning we were 3 ridges over and hiking in at daybreak, we knew about where he should be. Off the bat, we were pinned by a doe and small buck, and we had to wait for them to move along. We get to the ridge he was on the night before and began the sneaky sneak as best we could. But as can be expected, in those ridges, draws and hills, there are lots of angles preventing clear line of site down into where we thought he should be. I creep up a little, glass ahead a little, creep a little more, glass a little more and sure enough, we see a group of deer another ridge over and decided he must be over in that area... I took 1 step and the sage brush exploded 25 yards away with assholes and antlers bounding away!!
As he crests the ridge 125 yrds or so away, I was praying for him to stop and he absolutely didn't... I run down to the last point I saw him and watch him and the other buck go over the next ridge... I run down to that one and it's a valley of private land with no deer in sight!! We nestled up into some rocks and glassed every where until finally about 800 yrds away on the other hillside we see him and a few does with a spike in the mix feeding on the far fence line. and sure enough he hops the fence onto public!!!
My friend and I look at each other and try to put together a plan, and look back to see nothing but does!! he just simply vanished in the moments we took our eyes off of him. The does busted away from a clump of trees and on down the hill towards the private.
My friend went to get the truck, the other moved to somewhere he could have a different view and I stayed in place to watch the last known location and when my friends had eyes on the trees, I came down off the ridge and joined them. We eventually got into a great location that allowed us to watch up the valley, down the draw and keep eyes on the clump of trees... I eventually spotted the spike buck bedded down, all the does were waaaay down in the bottom and we decided that the spike would not be alone and we just had to wait it out for the deer to get up and stretch a little... sure enough, the spike eventually stood up after about 3 hours... and shazam!! the big guy appeared out of nowhere...
I make the move down to a knoll and get into about 310 yrds of him, he has me pegged and is watching but doesn't take off... I was able to get a shot off and he headed for the fence line, he turned at the fence and went up the hill without crossing onto private, I was able to get a second shot off and hit him where it counted. Shot him at 320 yrds, he didn't go 20!! lol... the video is from about 800 yards away, so my friend commentating is just a bit behind the action.. was he a 200 inch buck? nope, and I'm sure if I had waited the season out completely, I would have had some chances at maybe bigger... but this one was what I wanted, .... a mature Colorado Muley with a unique set of antlers and I had my good friends right there with me to get it done. Good luck to ya'll still out there, I got 3rd rifle elk to get ready for. Some rutting activity was observed, (just seeing bucks sparring and some checking does),... I don't think the rut was on, as if any of the does that bounced out of the trees were "in" then he would have followed them down onto the private. Snow was up high, but not alot where I was... but cold nights and weather pattern coming in may change that. again, good luck to ya'll
I found plenty of deer and passed on multiple bucks opening morning, that evening I found myself on a hike while a friend of mine did some road scouting to see what he could turn up. My other friend and I set up on a ridge line overlooking the valley below and soon enough we glassed up some deer, eventually we turned up a big bodied mature buck that is pictured here, he has that big belly and his body flat out dwarfed the others around him. It was about a 530 yard shot with multiple crosswinds and I chose not to take the shot and instead we put him to bed and hiked down off the ridge line.
The next morning we were 3 ridges over and hiking in at daybreak, we knew about where he should be. Off the bat, we were pinned by a doe and small buck, and we had to wait for them to move along. We get to the ridge he was on the night before and began the sneaky sneak as best we could. But as can be expected, in those ridges, draws and hills, there are lots of angles preventing clear line of site down into where we thought he should be. I creep up a little, glass ahead a little, creep a little more, glass a little more and sure enough, we see a group of deer another ridge over and decided he must be over in that area... I took 1 step and the sage brush exploded 25 yards away with assholes and antlers bounding away!!
As he crests the ridge 125 yrds or so away, I was praying for him to stop and he absolutely didn't... I run down to the last point I saw him and watch him and the other buck go over the next ridge... I run down to that one and it's a valley of private land with no deer in sight!! We nestled up into some rocks and glassed every where until finally about 800 yrds away on the other hillside we see him and a few does with a spike in the mix feeding on the far fence line. and sure enough he hops the fence onto public!!!
My friend and I look at each other and try to put together a plan, and look back to see nothing but does!! he just simply vanished in the moments we took our eyes off of him. The does busted away from a clump of trees and on down the hill towards the private.
My friend went to get the truck, the other moved to somewhere he could have a different view and I stayed in place to watch the last known location and when my friends had eyes on the trees, I came down off the ridge and joined them. We eventually got into a great location that allowed us to watch up the valley, down the draw and keep eyes on the clump of trees... I eventually spotted the spike buck bedded down, all the does were waaaay down in the bottom and we decided that the spike would not be alone and we just had to wait it out for the deer to get up and stretch a little... sure enough, the spike eventually stood up after about 3 hours... and shazam!! the big guy appeared out of nowhere...
I make the move down to a knoll and get into about 310 yrds of him, he has me pegged and is watching but doesn't take off... I was able to get a shot off and he headed for the fence line, he turned at the fence and went up the hill without crossing onto private, I was able to get a second shot off and hit him where it counted. Shot him at 320 yrds, he didn't go 20!! lol... the video is from about 800 yards away, so my friend commentating is just a bit behind the action.. was he a 200 inch buck? nope, and I'm sure if I had waited the season out completely, I would have had some chances at maybe bigger... but this one was what I wanted, .... a mature Colorado Muley with a unique set of antlers and I had my good friends right there with me to get it done. Good luck to ya'll still out there, I got 3rd rifle elk to get ready for. Some rutting activity was observed, (just seeing bucks sparring and some checking does),... I don't think the rut was on, as if any of the does that bounced out of the trees were "in" then he would have followed them down onto the private. Snow was up high, but not alot where I was... but cold nights and weather pattern coming in may change that. again, good luck to ya'll
