.300ultramag
12-13-2012, 10:01 PM
Went to Alberta for a mule deer hunt with my uncle and his best friend. Ended up having a grand time, the mornings were cold, the coffee was hot, the days were quick, many laughs had over a bunch of cold beer to end the nights.
Long story short, we went to an area that my uncle took a decent buck out of 2 years ago, and started spotting from a vantage point. Found a pickle fork buck bedded with a doe about 400 yards away, I decided to pass on that buck.
Kept glassing, found a 2x3 with a doe roughly 2 miles away. Watched them for a bit, nothing to get too excited about. While looking them over we could see 2 more deer in the bush 40 yards away from them. Kept an eye on them, but we continued to look over another large section of the rolling hills. My uncle stayed in the spotter, and continued to look at the deer way off in the distance.
By this time it was getting to be a little later in the afternoon, for hunting anyways, around 2 pm. We started talking about heading to a different area before last light to see if we could find a shooter buck. I took a turn in the spotting scope and one of the deer that was in the bush, 40 yards away from the buck and the doe, came out into the open. My heart skipped a beat when a 160 class 4x4 came out, definitely a shooter in my books. Being from BC, in my area in the last 10 years there hasn't been a buck that I have seen that would honestly go above the 160 mark.
My uncle calmly explained to me that we still had another week of hunting, so that wouldn't be a buck that we would be making a play on. I reluctantly agreed with him, and went about looking for more deer off in the distance. I was picking apart a section of landscape when my uncle told me, "We should probably go take a better look at those deer"
OK, the hunt was on.
We quickly closed the distance to under a mile and started to look the deer over again, and we noticed there was a herd of cattle moving towards them, a couple hundred yards east of them, separated by a fence, but a large distraction no less. As we were waiting, a small Bull Moose stepped out of the brush almost directly between us and the group of deer, only being roughly 150 yards away from the deer. If we wanted to get any closer to the deer we would have to risk spooking the moose.
While talking over the options, a lonely coyote ran towards the moose. The moose ran towards the group of deer. They both stopped, and the moose chased to coyote back towards us. The coyote again chased to moose. As this continued, we convinced ourselves that if we spooked the moose that the deer wouldn't be put on high alert, due to the fact they were paying no attention to the moose right now.
Closing the distance to 300 yards, we pushed the moose past the group of deer, and the deer paid as little attention as possible to it. Looking at the biggest Mule Deer Buck I have had the chance at in an entire career of hunting, I was excited to say the least. Starting to creep closer to the herd, I saw a clear shooting lane with a couple small trees we could use as a rest.
Starting to set up, my uncle whispers to me, "200 yards, just wait till the shooter comes out'
I reply "The shooter is beside the doe"
He says "The shooter is in the bush, don't shoot the buck next to the doe. And you better not get buck fever again"
While anxiously waiting, I remember the last time I flung a shot three feet above a coyotes back, claiming, coyote fever, and my uncle not letting me live it down for years since.
Out steps 'the' buck, my uncle says kill him. One shot from my 270wsm firing a Barnes 110 grain TTSX and the deer was down.
"How big is he?" I ask.
My uncle replies, "Plenty big enough for you"
http://i1355.photobucket.com/albums/q710/danballance18/bigbuck_zpsf9240922.jpg
http://i1355.photobucket.com/albums/q710/danballance18/bigbuck2_zpsae6170af.jpg
He was right, I couldn't believe it when I walked up to him, I was beside myself. For reference in the pictures, I am 6' 3" and about 230. The deer was well outside his ears for width, and if I remember correctly, the inside spread goes over 28' and the from forks are over 14'
A big thanks goes out to my uncle for helping me get the deer and my friend Ray for dragging it out with me. The best part about it is the deer, on the hook at the butchers, with no head, hide, or hoofs weighed 136.5 lbs.
Sorry about the long story
Long story short, we went to an area that my uncle took a decent buck out of 2 years ago, and started spotting from a vantage point. Found a pickle fork buck bedded with a doe about 400 yards away, I decided to pass on that buck.
Kept glassing, found a 2x3 with a doe roughly 2 miles away. Watched them for a bit, nothing to get too excited about. While looking them over we could see 2 more deer in the bush 40 yards away from them. Kept an eye on them, but we continued to look over another large section of the rolling hills. My uncle stayed in the spotter, and continued to look at the deer way off in the distance.
By this time it was getting to be a little later in the afternoon, for hunting anyways, around 2 pm. We started talking about heading to a different area before last light to see if we could find a shooter buck. I took a turn in the spotting scope and one of the deer that was in the bush, 40 yards away from the buck and the doe, came out into the open. My heart skipped a beat when a 160 class 4x4 came out, definitely a shooter in my books. Being from BC, in my area in the last 10 years there hasn't been a buck that I have seen that would honestly go above the 160 mark.
My uncle calmly explained to me that we still had another week of hunting, so that wouldn't be a buck that we would be making a play on. I reluctantly agreed with him, and went about looking for more deer off in the distance. I was picking apart a section of landscape when my uncle told me, "We should probably go take a better look at those deer"
OK, the hunt was on.
We quickly closed the distance to under a mile and started to look the deer over again, and we noticed there was a herd of cattle moving towards them, a couple hundred yards east of them, separated by a fence, but a large distraction no less. As we were waiting, a small Bull Moose stepped out of the brush almost directly between us and the group of deer, only being roughly 150 yards away from the deer. If we wanted to get any closer to the deer we would have to risk spooking the moose.
While talking over the options, a lonely coyote ran towards the moose. The moose ran towards the group of deer. They both stopped, and the moose chased to coyote back towards us. The coyote again chased to moose. As this continued, we convinced ourselves that if we spooked the moose that the deer wouldn't be put on high alert, due to the fact they were paying no attention to the moose right now.
Closing the distance to 300 yards, we pushed the moose past the group of deer, and the deer paid as little attention as possible to it. Looking at the biggest Mule Deer Buck I have had the chance at in an entire career of hunting, I was excited to say the least. Starting to creep closer to the herd, I saw a clear shooting lane with a couple small trees we could use as a rest.
Starting to set up, my uncle whispers to me, "200 yards, just wait till the shooter comes out'
I reply "The shooter is beside the doe"
He says "The shooter is in the bush, don't shoot the buck next to the doe. And you better not get buck fever again"
While anxiously waiting, I remember the last time I flung a shot three feet above a coyotes back, claiming, coyote fever, and my uncle not letting me live it down for years since.
Out steps 'the' buck, my uncle says kill him. One shot from my 270wsm firing a Barnes 110 grain TTSX and the deer was down.
"How big is he?" I ask.
My uncle replies, "Plenty big enough for you"
http://i1355.photobucket.com/albums/q710/danballance18/bigbuck_zpsf9240922.jpg
http://i1355.photobucket.com/albums/q710/danballance18/bigbuck2_zpsae6170af.jpg
He was right, I couldn't believe it when I walked up to him, I was beside myself. For reference in the pictures, I am 6' 3" and about 230. The deer was well outside his ears for width, and if I remember correctly, the inside spread goes over 28' and the from forks are over 14'
A big thanks goes out to my uncle for helping me get the deer and my friend Ray for dragging it out with me. The best part about it is the deer, on the hook at the butchers, with no head, hide, or hoofs weighed 136.5 lbs.
Sorry about the long story