Father/Son CO mulie hunt

[PA 5-0]

Father/Son CO mulie hunt-pic heavy

Well boys, here we go. First full hunt story post I've ever done so don't roast me. Also, my first mule deer hunt so all you 180" buck killers keep ur comments to yourselves when I use the words "monster buck". LOL!! It was such an incredible trip. I just wanted to share it. Hope you enjoy it. Dan


OCT 2013:
So June comes around and my dream of killing a Booner whitetail in Iowa with my bow gets squashed for another year. Even with a stack of points, my buddy and I didn’t draw the bow tag so I now had a week’s vacation, an envelope slightly stuffed with cash and nowhere to go. When my Dad suddenly passed a couple years back, my bucket list was put in writing and taking my son Jake out West on a hunt was at the top of that list. As we were already way past all the Colorado draw dates, I started looking into land owner tags and mule deer hunts. I keyed in on the area of Craig, CO in the Northwest corner of the state. I have bow hunted elk out of Craig many times and have been an eye witness to the monster Mulies that inhabit this area.

After making some calls and doing some online searches, I was on the phone with a rancher, the hunt was booked and a deposit was in the mail. Land owner tags are not cheap, and with plane fare, hotel and rental truck, I could only buy one hunt. For this trip, Jake was the shooter and I was gonna be his camera man. I was pumped and this trip would be a great field test for all the gear I had assembled for my upcoming AK sheep hunt in Aug ‘14. Jake’s 13th birthday was in August and I printed a bunch of big buck pics off the outfitter’s website and put them in a Bday card. Jake flipped when he opened that envelope. The hunt was on!!!!!

The third week of October could not come soon enough and before we knew it, we were wheels up and headed to Denver. After leaving Philly sunny and 70, we landed and were met by 30 cold degrees and windy. Luvin’ it!! Couple hours into the nighttime drive, Jake was asleep and I am white knuckling the steering wheel in a monster snow storm. WTF!! Going over that mountain pass into Steamboat was an adventure to say the least. The truck was in 4WD and I was doing 10mph as I could hardly tell where the road was located. Vehicles and 18 wheelers were in the ditches everywhere. Coming down off that pass into Steamboat was a big relief. On the ride into Craig, I woke Jake up several times to show him big bucks chasing does on the side of the road. We rolled into town around 1:00am and hit the sack.

Friday morning we arranged some gear and hit the local range to shoot the rifle. Jake was smacking a 6” plate at 200yds with my good ole Model 70 .300 win mag. He got a kick out of watching his ole man smacking plates at 465. As always, the drive out of town was wildlife’o’plenty and Jake got to see his first Mulies, pronghorn and elk. In one spot, we got out of the truck for a picture. Jake says, “it smells really good out here.” The sage gets them every time. We then met the owner at her beautiful ranch. This is where the story makes a hard right turn.

Long story short, the rancher requests a balance that was hundreds more than it was supposed to be. She went on to explain that there was a charge for me essentially “walking” with Jake on this hunt. This charge was not on the contract and it was the first I was hearing of it. I never would have agreed to that silliness. Now picture this: I was sitting at her kitchen counter in her beautiful home, with my son beside me and other hunters being checked in by her partner. So I gotta bite my tongue right! I briefly state my case and pay her the extra money, thinking I would just address it when I got home. I didn’t want this dream hunt with my son to take a negative turn before we left the house.

So after we checked in and she dealt with some other guys, the owner said lets go to town, have lunch and get to know each other. At this point, I was a little bent and declined lunch. She insisted and off we went to grab lunch and hit Walmart for Jake’s license. The owner was a lovely lady and lunch was going well. Jake was housing some fine BBQ and I was enjoying some equally fine fried catfish. Out of nowhere, she took my hand and explained that she didn’t want any discrepancy with money and was giving me a FREE TAG AND HUNT so I could hunt with Jake!!!!!!! Whaaaaaaaaaat?????? Now the hunt was really on!!!!!

We finished lunch and headed back out to the ranch to drive around our hunting area. After showing some other guys around, the owner showed us where we would be hunting. There were deer everywhere we went. A ton of deer!!! We would have several areas to hunt and the last one was an elevated box blind in an unbelievably beautiful sage brush valley. We were driving up to the blind and I spotted a monster buck bedded 100yds to our right. I got on him with the camera as I thought to myself, “we should not have driven down here this close to the blind.” We spotted 4 shooters in that valley. It was an unbelievable ride around her ranch. When I say deer everywhere, I mean everywhere, like roaches in a New York housing project. We got back to her house an hour before dark and from the truck tailgate, parked at her front door, we were glassing 5 different herds and many impressive shooters. Jake didn’t know which way to turn. This was undoubtedly going to be an awesome hunt. My only concern was the monster full moon that was coming up over the mountain. At dark, we headed back to town, had a nice dinner and got ready for opening day the next morning. It would be an understatement to say we were freakin pumped for the 5 days of hunting ahead.



Jake's first look at a Rocky Mntn




Big boy in front of the blind

 

[PA 5-0]

For the opener, we decided to sit on an observation point in a hay field that would give us views in all directions. When we exited the truck, it was 20 degrees, crystal clear and everything was covered in frost, basically a perfect hunting morning. We hiked in, set up in the field and the moonlight allowed me to instantly start glassing animals. As the sun chased the moon, we were surrounded by deer moving in every direction. Quickly, we glassed 50-60 deer and had a small herd of antelope heading our way. It was one of those really silent mornings when you can hear your ears ringing. The antelope walked right up to us as we laid flat in the hay field. At 30yds, the lead doe started barking at us. Jake couldn’t believe the action. Neither could I !!! Right after the antelope departed, a bunch of sage grouse flew ten feet over our heads. It was like we were laying in a wildlife preserve.

We walked out late in the morning as the skies darkened and a little slushy rain storm blew through. The little storm really turned the deer on. Herds started coming out of the wood work. We glassed a couple hundred more deer before reaching the truck but only saw a couple small bucks. The first morning was unbelievable to say the least.

We rolled back to town for a quick lunch and decided to hit the box blind on the other property for the evening hunt. There were deer already out feeding when we pulled into the valley around 1pm. We snuck into the blind and enjoyed an evening full of deer. A bunch of does and several bucks fed into the hay field in front of us to include a real high 3x2 that had nice chocolate antlers. Jake has always been selective beyond his years when it comes to pulling the trigger. As the sun was disappearing, lighting up the sky with an outrageous sunset, Jake said, “that buck might have a problem on Tuesday”.

Sunday we hunted the box blind for both hunts. Two awesome hunts with deer all over the place but the moon was killing the buck movement. As we drove back to the ranch for the traditional Sunday dinner at the owner’s home, I couldn’t help but think we just hunted hard for two days and had not seen a shooter in the daylight. The 14 other hunters reported the same. In my heart, I knew the hunting would get better as the moon went away. I just hoped we had enough days left. Reinforcing my thoughts, a couple 20yr hunters of this property told me at dinner that the place would break loose with big bucks any day. Little did we know, tomorrow would be the day!!!!!

 

[PA 5-0]

Monday broke clear and crisp with Jake and I watching a big hayfield in the back of the property we hunted opening day. At first light, groups of deer started filtering out of the hayfields, jumping a fence that was the border of our property. As the last group popped out, I could see it was a bunch of bucks!!!! Several 4x4’s were soon joined by a big bodied buck with a tall heavy rack. They were at 425yds in dim light. Jake could not get on them steady. He finally shoved the gun my way and told me to shoot the big one. That was not gonna happen!!! I shoved the rifle back at him and plainly let him know I was not shooting until he had a buck. Jake again shoved the gun over telling me to shoot that big buck. I said no way. I got back in the binos as the big boy jumped over the fence. He was REAL thick. I hoped we would see him again.

As we were watching all those deer filter up into the sage and start bedding down, we spotted three other bucks crossing down the hill behind us. There were two real nice 4x4’s and a third buck we called Big Brown. He was a big horse with dark chocolate antlers. On his left side, his G2 didn’t split which made it like 16” high. Jake instantly stated, “I’ll shoot that one!!” I laughed saying, “I’m sure you will.” We watched as they jumped the fence below us. We had them at 250yds but they moved past quickly, not offering a solid opportunity. They moved out into this field and bedded in some sage brush at like 600. As we watched, I called the owner to see if the field they jumped into was hers. It was not. I was really bummed as they bedded in a spot that was very stalkable. I was itching to put a buck in Jake’s crosshairs.

So we went from no bucks, to having two groups of shooters bedded within 600yds on opposite sides of the ridge we were sitting on. The plan was to wait them out. All these deer were coming and going to a pond in the middle of this property. CO was in a heavy draught so water was a premium attractant. It was sunny and due to hit high 60’s on this day so we knew they would hit the water during midday. As hours pass by, we were out there baking in the sun and its 1130hrs with no deer movement. Nature was calling us both. So we decide to shoot back to town for a quick lunch, a pit stop at the hotel and get back to this ridgeline quickly. It took us about an hour round trip.

As we had to pass within 150yds of Big Brown and his two buddies on the way back in, we used the truck as a mobile blind and just drove into the back field and parked half way up the hill. While Jake was gearing up, I was inching up to the ridgeline to glass the back field and the bedded deer. Unbelievably, I see a group of does and all the bucks heading BACK from the water hole!! In the short time we were gone, they exited the brush, made the long field crossing, hit the pond and were now jumping back over the fence to safety. I swear they saw us leave and followed us out. This is where the high end binos pay for themselves.

At this point, I am just glassing the deer as they filter up into the brush. I notice a couple does bedded on the three strand barbwire fence line. At about 800yds, I pick out the top 5” of a couple tines sticking up out of the hay. I finally make out a nice buck bedded. Slick as hell, he was bedded in a dark shady hole right on the fence. It took me 20 minutes just to figure out if he was on our side of the fence or not. He finally turned his head and I determined he was on our side. Time for a stalk!!! Problem was he was bedded facing the big open field, our only way to approach him. The field went uphill from his position and was shaped like half of a football stadium. He was at the bottom looking up and out at anything that approached. And he had twenty friends behind him bedded in the brush watching his back.

I come back down the hill to Jake and told him what I saw. He was jacked up. As the hay was spotty and only a foot and a half tall due to dry conditions, I explained the only way to get close enough to the buck was to belly crawl a long way. Not crawl, but a belly crawl. You military guys know the difference. It was already hot so we stripped down to minimum clothing. As we did, I am explaining the layout and the approach to Jake. I kidded with him saying “you wanna be a SEAL, this is gonna be your first special OP. No video games here, this is a real “sniper” mission with real guns and we are gonna sweat and hurt.” I told him, “when I move, you move”. He was ear to ear smiles and didn’t say a word. I will never forget the look on his face when I said “let’s roll”. Off we went.

We were only able to walk a couple hundred yards on the back side of the ridgeline and then we had to hit the dirt. We crept over the ridge in the field and started the long crawl. We would go 20yds and stop, 20yds and stop. Half way thru, we were drenched in sweat and covered in dust and dirt but we were loving it. I periodically lifted my head to make sure the buck was still there. The herniated discs in my neck were none too pleased with this death crawl. Muscles we didn’t know we had were hurting all over. At one point, I rolled over to check on Jake and give him an update. Rolled right on to a cactus!!! No BS, I was picking needles out of my back for days. We kept moving and finally reached a ditch in the field that allowed us to rest out of sight of the deer. I had figured this spot was 300yds out. We caught our breath and got a drink. We were forty yards from a shooting position. I couldn’t believe we made it this far without a deer spooking.

Jake said he was ready so we made the final sneak up to the last little hump. I went first and rolled over on my back(driving the cactus needles deeper) so Jake could use me as a shooting rest. We set up with the rifle across my legs. For a bit, Jake was having trouble finding the buck in the scope. We worked thru it using the fence posts as markers. I knew exactly where the buck was and it was hard for me to see him even with the Zeiss glasses. The buck was bedded in that perfect little shady depression that all but hid him. He failed to calculate the “death from above” angle.

After about 10 minutes, Jake got on the buck. I told him to take his time and find the shot. He finally told me he was settled and ready to fire. By the way, I had the video camera on the tripod in my pack but I didn’t want to risk spooking the buck with us out in the wide open. So Jake clicked off the safety. It was now fairly windy and we were at 265yds. Chip shot for the .300win mag. The buck was bedded perfectly, body angled away from us. Jake squeezed one off before I was really ready. The shot almost blew out my right ear drum. Recovering from the blast, I see the buck didn’t even stand up so I think he’s dead. I throw up my glasses and he’s still sitting there pretty as a picture. Jake says he doesn’t know how he missed him. He jacks another round in and fired again. This time the buck stood up but wasn’t hit. Now he’s standing broadside. Jake shot again and the buck hopped the fence with the does. I glassed him for a bit as he was feeding up into the sage hill. Not a mark on him. As I am choking back all this and not hearing so well, I console Jake who was really bumming. We shook it off and I got him smiling by asking how his ears were feeling. His ears were ringing too. I told him “Don’t sweat it, we’ll go set up on Big Brown and his two buddies”. We walked back up to the ridge to glass the other bucks. As we’re walking, I couldn’t help but think we had just blown a prime opportunity.

After a couple hours of talking through 3 missed shots, we watched as Big Brown and his posse rose from their beds and walked away in the opposite direction. That was that, so we decided to go back to the truck and go hunt the spot we had sat opening morning. As Jake was putting his gear in the truck, I quickly ran up the hill to check the back field again. I was thinking a couple hours had passed, who knows what came out. As I peaked over the ridge, I saw the buck Jake just missed out in our field with a bunch of does. We were back on!!!!

I ran down and told Jake to get his gear back on. He couldn’t believe it. The buck was in a different spot where a valley in the field would allow us to cover most of the ground on our feet. My neck thanked him for that. We covered the distance quickly and made our way to the last hump of cover. Down on our bellies again, we crawled the last 50yds up onto the hump. Again, to my surprise, we didn’t spook anything and the buck was feeding broadside at 240, pretty as a picture. Jake set up the gun across my legs and settled in. Quickly, he said he was firing. I covered my ears this time and heard the bullet smack the buck. Jake exclaimed, “I hit’m”. The buck hunched up not taking a step. Jake fired again but missed as the buck fell. It was all hugs and high 5’s and I love you’s after that. We had pulled off our father/son dream hunt out west.







We just laid there on that hill for a bit and soaked up the incredible feelings and the beauty this day. I just kept sayin “we did it boy!!!!!” All you fathers know what I mean when I say it’s hard to explain the feeling of watching your child pull off a harvest like this. My writing skills cannot keep up with the emotions of that moment. Kill or no kill, every hunt is awesome but seeing your kid pull it off, in the heat of the moment, is unreal. After we got our heart rates regular, we walked out to the truck. Jake couldn’t wait to touch his buck. We drove down into the field as the sun was setting up another spectacular show. We shot a bunch of pictures in that amazing sunlight. Don’t know why, but I was the one who gutted the buck, a nice 5x4. We loaded him up as deer were entering the far end of the field and herd of antelope were crossing right in front of us. Don’t know if the day could have gotten any better. But it almost did.

On the ride back to the ranch, deer are everywhere and I see one up on a hill that had a real big body. I pull over and Jake puts the glasses on him. All I hear is “it’s a monster!!” I throw up the glasses and spy a 36”, crazy thick, dark horned Booner. Absolute MONSTER!! I was fumbling for my cell phone to see if this was huntable land for us. By the time I explain to the owner where we are and she tells me to go kill him, the buck was moving away. I threw my gear on, ran like 200yds across a swampy flat and started up the hill. Let me tell ya how Lowa Tibet GTXs are not running boots. I was a minute away from a chest grabber. At one point, I had that monster buck in my scope at 300yds but the gun was jumping with every heartbeat. As I moved up to the field he walked into, I bumped a doe and she ran him right out of there. I will dream about that monster buck for decades. We then hit the ranch and showed Jake’s buck to all the guys. Jake was proud as a new Papa and all the guys in camp made him feel like he just killed the world record. While we hung and skinned the buck, the guys went over every detail of the hunt with Jake. It was pretty awesome. We finished up the buck and headed into town for a nice dinner. It had been quite a day.

 

[PA 5-0]

The next morning I let Jake sleep in and I rolled out and on the rancher’s advice, set up on the dirt road crossing where we saw the Booner the night before. I was set up on a knoll above the road an hour before sun up. It was real cold and real quiet. The ranch house was over a mile away and I could hear the guys talking outside their trucks like they were standing beside me. I saw a ton of deer and had does cross the road and walk by me at like 5ft, but big boy did not show. Around 10am, Jake was texting me for an update. I rode back to town, grabbed something to eat and we were headed out to the water hole spot. I was not gonna miss their lunch time run on this day!!!

We are on the water hole around 11am. For a couple hours, all we saw were does and sheep. Jake made a suggestion that we go and check the back field. It was now getting pretty hot. We drove back, parked and I made my way up and peeked over the ridge. And there they were!!!!! Two big bucks and a group of does were out there feeding in the midday heat at 800yds. I could not believe my eyes. I instantly knew one of the bucks was the big thick one from the day before. I ran back to the truck and geared up for another death crawl. Jake said he was staying behind and I didn’t blame him. It was gonna be sweat, dirt and cactus for the next hour.

This is where the Kuiu Vias camo paid for itself. I made the long crawl in plain view of 15+ deer and came up on the buck at 265. But when I got there, I had no pack or rest and was prone, shooting off my elbows. Being all worked up from the death crawl, I just could not get it together and couldn’t get the rifle to settle right. And I sure was not going to just wing a bullet at this bruiser. There was one more little swale in front of me that would get me 50yds closer. I made the decision to chance another move and get closer. I made it into that little swale and took a short breather to get my heart rate down. When I came up over the top of the last hill, the bucks were feeding and completely unaware of my presence. This time I was ready. I set up and squeezed off a round, hitting the buck and dropping him immediately. A minute passed by and I stood up to see if Jake was watching the action from the hill behind me. When I turned back around, the buck was up on his front legs. I was like holy shit!!!! I threw up the WinMag and put another round in the back of his neck. Game over.





I laid down, rolled over and stared into that amazing blue sky, attempting to grasp the events of the last handful of days. This hunt had far exceeded our wildest dreams. Just being out there in Colorado with my son was a bucket list dream. But to take two bucks in this amazingly beautiful country, was almost too much to ask for. I was actually laying there thinking ‘what the hell did I do to deserve something like this’. I could not believe how this hunt went down.

Soon I was up and hiking back up to the truck. Jake was very comfortable and enjoying the AC. I was drenched and covered in dirt and seeds. When he saw me raise the gun in the air, Charlton Heston style, Jake knew I hammered the big boy. To put a cherry on top of Jake’s hunt, I let him drive the F150 the mile down thru the field to get my buck. We took a bunch of pictures and again, I got stuck gutting the buck. We loaded him up and Jake drove us out, taking the long way of course. A quarter mile down the field, a bunch of deer stood up as the truck approached. Fifty yards into the brush, there stood Big Brown with his buddies. We were eye to eye. He was quite an amazing sight standing there in the bright sun, with his big white face and huge body. It was like he was saying “nice try boys, see ya next year.” It was a perfect ending to an absolutely perfect hunt.

 

[PA 5-0]

Some more photos.




Couple trails coming to the water hole


Glassing up Jake's buck the second time

 

[PA 5-0]

Some more pics








Steamboat

 

[mAv]

Wow, sweet read! Love the pictures and glad it turned out to be a great experience!

 

[Steve O]

That worked out VERY nice!

 

[bbrown]

Congrats to you and your boy. Great story and pictures.

 

[mtnwrunner]

Great read and thanks for the story. I'm 57 years old and still remember my first deer kill with my dad when I was 12. He'll never forget it and he's damn lucky to have a dad such as yourself.

Randy

 

[orionthehunter1]

Great story and cool pics

 

[Highcountry_Hellrazor]

I grew up in Craig America! Great hunt way to get your boy out there. My greatest memories are hunting with my Dad.

 

[60x]

There is nothing greater in this world to me then my kids. Getting to enjoy what we love with those we love is the greatest gift. This is the kind of story that makes a lifetime of memories. My dad is now 71 and my son is 4. God willing I will be blessed to be hunting with both this season. Thanks for sharing PA. I believe this is one of my favorite stories Ive Ever read on any forum!!

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Super cool story! For some reason the pics aren't showing on my phone but with story telling like that who needs pictures. I'll check them out from my desktop later. Truly a great story.

 

[DEW]

Great hunt and story, thanks for taking us along..