Colorado 2nd & 3rd Season Success

JBahr

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
May 29, 2016
Messages
252
This year I was lucky enough to get permission on a chunk of private in a prime western Colorado unit during 2nd season rifle. Expectations were pretty low from a big buck perspective but very high from a success perspective. I knew based on my brother's intel from the previous year that does and some decent bucks moved though the property regularly on their way to and from some low lying agriculture.

I had limited time to get out due to the impending arrival of a new family member, I was on babysitting duty a lot of the week on top of my normal 8 to 5. I was able to make it out on a Tuesday afternoon around 3pm. I made it to the small glassing knob to look uphill where the deer traveled down from each afternoon and pointed my binos towards the promising country. Literally in my first field of view was this buck. 135007

"Wow" I thought "What a great looking young buck!" I imeadiatley got out the spotter and snapped some phone scope of the buck and sent to my brother to confirm if he was a shooter. This would clearly be larger than my first mule deer, a 2x3 the year prior but I had no idea what to expect from the unit and was looking for confirmation from my brother. He responded quickly "No Doubt!" Location worked in the bucks favor as he was still on the neighboring property, flirting with the line. I waited patiently and picked apart the rest of the hillside finding numerous other does and smaller bucks on and off the property. Night fell without shots fired but I felt positive about a very entertaining evening and future opportunity.

A few days passed before I was able to make it back out, again for another evening. I tried to make it earlier as I felt deer were already moving on Tuesday at 3pm and because we had snow in the forecast for the evening. Made it to the knob and took a look where I had previously glassed the big buck a few days prior and what do you know there he was.
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Watched him feed and mill around again on the adjacent property for hours while looking around for alternatives. He disappeared and bedded most likely and meanwhile the wind started to blow and the sky grew dark. Snow pellets started to intermittently fall and the buck seemed to all of the sudden reappear exactly where I watched him walk out of site an hour before. He was very alert and intently looking downhill across the property line.
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He left his perch in my direction and I knew this was my opportunity, I dropped my glass and started moving to get prone and set up for the shot. In the back of my mind I assumed "Does, he saw does and is following them down..." then I got the feeling "I should really confirm that.." I pulled the binos and glassed in the same direction the buck looked. What I saw got my heart racing! Mass, mass for days, blades, dark horns, huge body coming right at me, fast. It was darker than normal due to the cloud cover and visibility was limited because of the snow that started falling. When I lowered my binos in disbelief, expecting to see the buck right in my lap, all I saw was snow flurries and a wall of sage and oak brush. I quickly put the binos back up and saw nothing. Looked uphill, downhill scanning for anything without luck.

I made a move to put myself in the path of the monster I had just seen. Complete garage sale, left my pack, the tripod rest I built specifically to shoot over the bush, the rangefinder... I panicked, scanning with the rifle scope off a frail tree limb trying to pick up what was clearly the biggest buck I had ever seen with a tag in my pocket. Nothing! my heart sank as I lowered the rifle. "Why didn't I keep my eyes on that buck!" I screamed in my head as I looked toward the direction he was headed. As I prepared to move to higher ground I caught movement less than 100 yards directly in front of me. It was the monster's antler tips headed through the shoulder high sage seemingly on a mission, head down, steady pace. I quickly searched for a stable position as the buck closed the distance quartering towards my left. He made it to about 65 yards and paused broadside, just as I roll my scopes zoom to 4x. "I'm shooting a 300 WSM 190 Berger VLD's, aim dead center lungs" I thought in my head. Boom! squeezed the trigger. Buck lurched forward and jumped in the classic haunched position and hit the ground running to my left.

I watched the buck disappear out of sight, running at full tilt towards the neighboring property. At this point the snow started to fall and I was worried I would lose the trail. I went to the impact site and was greeted by the unsightly mass of digested grass and blood. "Gut shot!" I shuddered in disbelief. I sat there replaying the shot sequence for 30 minutes as darkness came and the snow and wind picked up into a full on blizzard. I took up the trail and followed what I thought to be a huge amount of gut contents and a massive pile of blood where the buck had clearly tumbled through the sage. I made it to the property line and looked across the boundary road to find the buck expired 30 yards on the other side. Instant relief!

After a quick meeting with the neighbors I was able to get close to the biggest buck I've personally had the opportunity to harvest. My shot was true but as you'll see in the below photo the bullet separated inside the cavity into two pieces, one exiting between the shoulders through the right backstrap and the other through the sternum and diaphragm area. I knew this was a common result in high velocity impacts with the Berger VLD, but this was my first personal experience with it.
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I am blown away and realize I am spoiled rotten for this to be my second mule deer. I know I got lucky here and here and can only thank my lucky stars above for this one. This was far from the backcountry hunt I experienced last year and I won't lie, I feel a little dirty taking this buck on private land with very little effort pretty much in bow range. He scores very well considering his width because his mass, length and depth make up for it.
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Got home and patiently waited for 3rd season to roll around with a doe tag in the pocket. Looking to harvest a healthy doe in a less chaotic manner I played hooky from work one morning and drove out from Denver to one of my open units where I have chased pronghorn in the past. Running late as usual I didn't make it to where I wanted to be at first light, so I pulled the truck over in some BLM to drain some morning coffee. Wouldn't you know it deer on the horizon! Check the OnX, they are on public, load up and head uphill to place myself across the canyon looking into the sage flat the 6 deer where feeding in. I make it to the top just in time for the sun to crest the horizon behind me as I settle into the prone position for the shot. 300 yards, dial 3.5 MOA, "too much?" I think, reconfirm, rangefinder says 3.5 MOA, huh? Ok... pick out the largest doe, Boom. Miss! Over her! The deer settle down and I settle back in. "I must have jumped the trigger" I think, so I settle in again pull the zoom out so I can watch my impact, squeeze and hit over her again! Recalculate, reload, aim low, squeeze and drop her.
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I realize I didn't pay much attention to the load selection in the rangefinder when I switched back from archery season... Whoops! Glad it resulted in two cleaned misses here and I learned my lesson. Thanked my lucky stars this was not a factor on the buck shot in 2nd season! Entrance wound was a pencil just like the buck, exit was a golf ball centered through the opposite shoulder.
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Single pack out on this one, probably right at a mile from the truck, again thanking those lucky stars. Back in Denver by noon.
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To sum up the Mule Deer Season, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good..! Hopefully the elk will decide the same thing next year... I have yet to settle that score with archery tackle, so here's hoping...
 
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