I’m back. I arrived at the trailhead at the end of my high country hunt earlier this month and set my Athens Convixtion bow on the hood of my truck so I could unsaddle the horses. It started to slide off the hood, so I leaned it against the tire (you know what’s coming) and threw my leather gloves on the hood so I’d have a reminder about my bow. Well, in the meantime, the wind blew the gloves off the hood where I couldn’t see them. With 10 days of hunting behind me, I was eager to get on the road for home, momma, and the kids and quickly ran over my bow equipped with a Black Gold Ascent sight, Ripcord rest and Tight Spot Quiver. After a few choice words, I composed myself and accepted what happened.
I still had 20 days of bow season left so upon my return home, I dusted off my old Martin Phantom II. I’ve killed all my big deer with that old bow so I trust it immensely. A hundred arrows later, she was shooting great and the hunt was back on. In the meantime, I sent what was left of my bow back to Athens, Black Gold and Ripcord, and Tight Spot Quiver. I”ll let you know how all that works out.
Getting back to the hunt, I decided to focus on a buck I’d found earlier this summer. He’s a private land buck and a good one. If you read my book “Hunting Big Mule Deer”, you’ll remember the story about the Brokenheart Buck. This buck, which I found last summer and again in August, is certainly his off-spring. He’s nearly a mirror image. He’s very strong in the back and weak in the front. He’s around 27″ to 28″ wide and I estimate he’s in the four to five year old range (the Brokenheart buck lab-aged at six years old when I killed him, and was heavier-antlered). You can see this year’s buck in the photo at the top of the blog. He’s the second buck from the right (sorry for the quality, he’s very hard to catch out after sun-up.) You can click on the photo for a larger view in most browsers (Photo taken at 800 yards with a Swarovski ATS 25-50 x 80mm paired with an Olympus OMD).
Unfortunately, he lives in very brushy country and like his predecessor, is very hard to find on a regular basis. However, with my vacation for September tapped out, this buck is my best choice to focus on as I can hunt him a few hours each day before work.
I’ve learned the only way to consistently kill big mule deer is to never give up. Most of the time they win, but when it comes together, it’s so indescribably sweet. So here I go…
Be sure and “Subscribe to blog, upper right under Fitness/Other” so you don’t miss the rest of my archery season… You never know the outcome or how long it will go, just like real hunting for big mule deer.
Here’s a video wrap-up of days 11-12:
If you really like hunting big mule deer, check out my new book by clicking on the cover sample below (also available full-color in Kindle)
