BH107
FNG
2019 marked the changing of the guard for our hunting group that goes to SW Colorado every 2-3 years. I am originally from SoCal, and my family has been hunting up that way for 50 years, me being the third generation to make the trip ever few years. Even though I now live in Montana, it is a tradition I plan to keep up. My dad and his buddies are all getting older, so I have slowly been introducing a couple of my friends to the group. In 2016 I brought one of my friends for his first deer hunt, in which he blew two opportunities on the last day. For this year I included 2 more, making 4 of us young guys with my dad and one of his buddies also drawing tags. 2 more from the old group who didn't put in still wanted to come along for one last trip, making 8 of us in camp.
We spent the day before the hunt showing the new guys around a little, and did a little glassing which turned up lots of does and one decent buck.
Opening morning we set out to hunt, sending 2 of the new guys to good areas and I brought my last buddy with me. I had killed my first bull elk the weekend before so my freezer was going to be pretty full, so I had decided I was going to work to make sure they all got opportunities. I told him no matter what we found it was his deer and he had first shot. We saw a few deer, but unfortunately more hunters including a pair that saw us glassing from a ridge and decided to cross below us and sit 500 yards directly in front of us. While walking out we bumped a small 3x2 but he chose to pass since it was only a few hours into the first day. The other 2 saw similar, and my dad passed on a bigger 4x3 so his hunt wouldn't end early. The evening brought mostly does, with a few small forkys still hanging with mom.
The second day we went to similar areas, only the one who hunted with me on day 1 wanted to spend the morning glassing another area so I headed out alone. Not long after legal shooting light I glassed up a buck about 700 yards away and instantly knew that I couldn't pass him up. Based on the direction he was going, and the cover he was headed to I knew I didn't have long so I grabbed my rifle and started to close the distance. Because of the terrain and lots of tree lines I didn't want to lose sight of him, but I was able to get to 500 yards and set up for a shot. I was elevated just enough to clear the cover between us, I double checked the distance and dialed the elevation. He stopped about 50' from disappearing into Cypress trees when I squeezed off my shot. I watched a good impact, with the deer kicking high in the air and then bolting off behind him into the trees. I grabbed my gear and headed that way, hoping he hadn't gone far and I was right. I found where he was standing when I shot and then looked up to see him 20 yards away just behind the next tree over. I really didn't know what to expect when I got to him, and there was definitely no ground shrinkage.
After I had been at my deer for a few minutes I heard a pair of shots from the direction my dad and friends were hunting and hoped that we had two deer down. Sure enough when I hiked back to camp to get the UTV to haul mine back I heard that the buddy that had blown his opportunities last year had got redemption and shot a nice 5x3. That left the rest of the day to retrieval of 2 deer and getting them hung to cool in the trees at camp.
That evening I went back out with my first buddy again to glass some clearings. Just before dark we spotted a bigger forky crossing about 400 yards away and he decided to take the shot. I watched through my binos as he made a perfect shot and the deer attempted to run but crashed into the brush. When we got down there and found him in the dark we were both shocked to see that he was still in full velvet! He was stoked for his first deer, the great long shot, and the uniqueness of the velvet, despite the fact that his brother had been watching a bigger deer that would have popped out in front of us just moments after he took the shot.
The next few days were uneventful, with the last of my buddies passing on several smaller bucks. Unfortunately the warming weather and growing moon seemed to be slowing the deer movement even more. We had decided to break camp on Wednesday so I went out with the last guy for one more shot that morning. I caught a glimpse of a good buck about a half mile away but he vanished. We decided to make a move in the direction he was headed, knowing there was another hunter working down below where the buck was headed. As we closed the distance we started glassing and waiting for him to appear. Just as we moved into another clearing he busted from cover less than 40 yards away and was gone... So much for that one. We headed back to get our gear and head back to camp when we spotted a big group of does and a couple of small forkies. He decided he didn't want to go home empty handed so we got in position and he took a good meat buck to fill his tag.
At the end of the trip we had filled 4 of our 6 tags and had a great time. It will probably be the last for half of our group, but we have a great new generation of guys on board to continue the tradition.
I also made the decision to just euro this buck as it was right around the same size as the 5x4 I shot and had mounted from there in 2016, and really just didn't know where I would hang another mule deer shoulder mount. The euro will look great in my office. I put a tape on him today and he grossed 169-4/8 green with only 1-2/8" deduction.
We spent the day before the hunt showing the new guys around a little, and did a little glassing which turned up lots of does and one decent buck.
Opening morning we set out to hunt, sending 2 of the new guys to good areas and I brought my last buddy with me. I had killed my first bull elk the weekend before so my freezer was going to be pretty full, so I had decided I was going to work to make sure they all got opportunities. I told him no matter what we found it was his deer and he had first shot. We saw a few deer, but unfortunately more hunters including a pair that saw us glassing from a ridge and decided to cross below us and sit 500 yards directly in front of us. While walking out we bumped a small 3x2 but he chose to pass since it was only a few hours into the first day. The other 2 saw similar, and my dad passed on a bigger 4x3 so his hunt wouldn't end early. The evening brought mostly does, with a few small forkys still hanging with mom.
The second day we went to similar areas, only the one who hunted with me on day 1 wanted to spend the morning glassing another area so I headed out alone. Not long after legal shooting light I glassed up a buck about 700 yards away and instantly knew that I couldn't pass him up. Based on the direction he was going, and the cover he was headed to I knew I didn't have long so I grabbed my rifle and started to close the distance. Because of the terrain and lots of tree lines I didn't want to lose sight of him, but I was able to get to 500 yards and set up for a shot. I was elevated just enough to clear the cover between us, I double checked the distance and dialed the elevation. He stopped about 50' from disappearing into Cypress trees when I squeezed off my shot. I watched a good impact, with the deer kicking high in the air and then bolting off behind him into the trees. I grabbed my gear and headed that way, hoping he hadn't gone far and I was right. I found where he was standing when I shot and then looked up to see him 20 yards away just behind the next tree over. I really didn't know what to expect when I got to him, and there was definitely no ground shrinkage.
After I had been at my deer for a few minutes I heard a pair of shots from the direction my dad and friends were hunting and hoped that we had two deer down. Sure enough when I hiked back to camp to get the UTV to haul mine back I heard that the buddy that had blown his opportunities last year had got redemption and shot a nice 5x3. That left the rest of the day to retrieval of 2 deer and getting them hung to cool in the trees at camp.
That evening I went back out with my first buddy again to glass some clearings. Just before dark we spotted a bigger forky crossing about 400 yards away and he decided to take the shot. I watched through my binos as he made a perfect shot and the deer attempted to run but crashed into the brush. When we got down there and found him in the dark we were both shocked to see that he was still in full velvet! He was stoked for his first deer, the great long shot, and the uniqueness of the velvet, despite the fact that his brother had been watching a bigger deer that would have popped out in front of us just moments after he took the shot.
The next few days were uneventful, with the last of my buddies passing on several smaller bucks. Unfortunately the warming weather and growing moon seemed to be slowing the deer movement even more. We had decided to break camp on Wednesday so I went out with the last guy for one more shot that morning. I caught a glimpse of a good buck about a half mile away but he vanished. We decided to make a move in the direction he was headed, knowing there was another hunter working down below where the buck was headed. As we closed the distance we started glassing and waiting for him to appear. Just as we moved into another clearing he busted from cover less than 40 yards away and was gone... So much for that one. We headed back to get our gear and head back to camp when we spotted a big group of does and a couple of small forkies. He decided he didn't want to go home empty handed so we got in position and he took a good meat buck to fill his tag.
At the end of the trip we had filled 4 of our 6 tags and had a great time. It will probably be the last for half of our group, but we have a great new generation of guys on board to continue the tradition.
I also made the decision to just euro this buck as it was right around the same size as the 5x4 I shot and had mounted from there in 2016, and really just didn't know where I would hang another mule deer shoulder mount. The euro will look great in my office. I put a tape on him today and he grossed 169-4/8 green with only 1-2/8" deduction.
