This season was a success for me, however, I did not tag an animal, personally. My long-time hunting buddy, Jason Maxwell, and I spent quite a bit of time looking for a mule deer buck in an area in which I had drawn a permit–however, I never saw anything more than little muley bucks. We did, however, see a decent whitetail buck a couple of times. If I didn’t have my mule deer permit, I would have shot him, myself! So, the last time I had this particular permit a couple of years ago, Jason tagged his biggest whitetail he had ever shot (at that time) in the area that I had my mule deer buck permit in. It happened on Thanksgiving morning this year. I couldn’t even be mad or disappointed, because that buck is a beauty, and I was hungry for some venison…but what are the odds that the next time I’m drawn for this particular permit, he gets another decent whitetail again? lol. Hey, I’m happy we have meat in the freezer, so you won’t hear me complaining. It’s just funny how that works.
One thing I do believe, now, is that if we want a whitetail deer, I just need to draw a permit for that antlered mule deer area. lol.
Three things I, personally, will remember for next season:
- Shooting uphill with a visual of a road nearby is way easier than shooting downhill into a draw nowhere near a road. But, I understand it is worth packing out your critter if you need the meat or you have a coveted permit or have a dream critter you have been chasing for some time.
- GPS’s with accurate and up-to-date chips are AMAZING. I knew this, but it was reinforced this season.
- A tow strap around our waists is what we dragged the buck to the truck with. Definitely want to get a winch on the truck before next year.
It was a great season, and we filled the freezer, I got to experience a new hunting area in central Montana–an area I would love to move to–and I am hoping to find some water trapping areas, locally. It isn’t always about tagging something for me, however, I do prefer it. lol Congrats to all the hunters who made it out there and tagged a critter, and good luck to all of the trappers out there and to all of the hunters who still have hunting opportunities!
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Wow, that is steep – and this was my idea for him to shoot it down there–I said, “No problem–I’m here to help!” lol! You can see Jason in the orange down there–and I was about half way to him already from where he shot.
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Gutted.
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Picture time.
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We hiked back up to the truck and were praying there was an old road somewhere below that we had never seen. GPS time! (We were hopeful…lol)
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WE FOUND AN OLD KELLY-HUMPED ROAD! It was a quick drag down and out. Just 100 yards to the truck once he was at the bottom!
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Here it is in the back all loaded – the kelly-hump helped in getting him in the truck.
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Kevlar, our dog, was not sure what to think of his first dead deer — he was used to seeing them eat our apples in the yard. lol Off to H&H Meats!
Here’s a recap of the day Jason got his buck:
We headed on out after my muley buck
We ran into some deer, but imagine the luck;
When we ended up finding a nice whitey here,
Where I had my permit for an antlered mule deer.
But we needed some meat, so I hoped he would shoot,
He took a shot downhill, and I tightened my boots;
One perfect shot, and it dropped fairly quick,
Slumped into a ball and fell like a brick;
We wandered on down, Jason gutted his prize,
The slope of the hill, widened our eyes;
We hiked way back up and left the deer down below,
While we looked for a place easier to go;
As our luck would have it, we found a lower road,
100 yards in, and we dragged out the toad;
I didn’t tag a muley, but the season was still great,
80 pounds of hamburger–and I cannot wait;
H&H Meats is processing the deer,
We have the skull being beetled in Superior over here;
It’s about the experience and doing our part,
Hopefully next year, I will need my game cart!