Foldem
WKR
I usually hunt CO muzzleloader season for bucks but this year I wanted to take advantage of the later season dates to try to hunt a big bull with the muzzleloader. I couldn't stand the though of not chasing muley bucks in the high country so I decided to get an easy to get archery muley tag. I've archery hunted on an off over the years, but never really took it seriously and put a huge amount of effort into a hunt.
My tag was not a coveted one, and my expecations were to be able to get some good stalks in and hopefully end up with any 4x4. I put in a couple of scouting trips and didn't see much for bucks. There was a basin that I had been eyeing on Google Earth, but I ran out of time before the season arrived to physically lay eyes on it. My buddy Scott (Ponohunt) and I slept at the trailhead the night before the opener and packed in the dark for opening morning. Upon arriving in the basins we quickly saw that the country was just as beautiful as we thought it would be from our digital scouting. Within 45 minutes of legal shooting time I spotted two deer way above timberline 1,300' vertical above us, well above timberline. They were feeding out in the open and looking to bed near some large scree fields. I could tell both bucks were 4 points and one of the two had a huge body with a wide, tall frame. After confirming where they bedded for the morning I was off on a 3 mile stalk that took me about 400' above the bucks to reach the ridgeline so I could approach from above. During my long trip around to get above the bucks they moved about 60 yards downhill from their original beds 25 yards below a rock pile. I was able to get to 83 yards above the buck before running out of topography to cover my approach. I tried to close the distance for 2 more hours as they would get up to feed and rebed, but eventually they hear me make a noise and locked onto me, then some hikers crossed the ridgeline 400' above having a nice loud conversation. This was all of the convincing the bucks needed to vacate the basin. We stayed through Sunday without relocating the bucks when family commitments had us both heading home, but I couldn't stop thinking about the huge framed buck. They hadn't smelled me and didn't seem too spooked when they busted, so I hoped they would still be in a similar pattern somewhere nearby. I was able to take Thursday and Friday off from work, and after a long, tired, dark drive to the trailhead I was again headlamping it up the steep approach to the timberline basin. This time I was solo and ready to hunt 3 more days before heading back home to Utah.
The first couple of hours of glassing didn't yield much, but I was prepared to patiently cover this entire mountain over the next few days until I located the bucks. By 10:30 I had moved about a miile to the west which was the direction the bucks had headed after my failed stalk five days earlier. I found a great rock outcropping that would give me the opportunity to glass in nearly all directions. I was really excited to put some glass on the steep avalanche chutes and cliffs to the west about 800 feet below. It looked like a great secondary living area for some bucks to move to after they felt the first pressure of the long hunting season. After about 10 minutes of glassing I glanced up the hill and could make out two bucks well above timberline feeding out in the open. I quickly confirmed that they were the same two bucks from Saturday, and decided to watch to see if I could put together a stalk. After 15 minutes of feeding I watched the bucks bed behind a small rise about 600 yards above me. I had a good idea of exactly where they were bedded and felt that I could get within 50 yards for a shot if everything worke right, however much to my surprise the wind was still coming downhill fairly hard even though the sun was starting to peek out of the clouds. I himhawed on what to do and decided to play it safe and see if they put themselves in a better position and to wait for the wind to change so I could get above them. As the downhill wind kept smacking me in the face I kept thinking about all of the articles and books I've read touting the benefits of approaching from above. Finally I couldn't take it anymore and decided to get agressive while I had this perfect opportunity. I left my pack and approached quickly and quietly from below the rise. At about 100 yards out I could see the big buck's antler tips through the binos. I ranged him and then ranged a rockpile inbetween us and confirmed that I could get to 50 yards undetected. As I settled in prepared for a long wait I knocked an arrow and attached my release. After less than 10 minutes of waiting I saw the bucks head quickly turn and knew he must have caught a slight bit of scent or just sensed that something wasn't right. With the strong crosswind I ended up hitting the buck further back than I wanted to and I watched him slowly crest the hill with his buddy. I quickly ran back down to my glassing point to watch where the injured buck would bed down. He kept moving downhill and I repositioned to try to get a good vantage of where he was headed. As I snuck into position the bucks headed over a small ridge acoss a small side basin. I moved over above the bucks and relocated them just in time to see a coyote charge at the two bucks. The small buck headed back up out of the side basin and the large buck gave all of his remaining energy fighting off the circling coyote. As this was occuring I approached to 28 yards. After the coyote saw me and took off, the buck had nothing left. He stood broadside and one more arrow put him down for good. It was a huge load off my shoulders to watch the buck go down after the nerve racking minutes of second guessing my first shot and my decision to follow the buck to watch where he bedded. My decisions may be second guessed, but in the end I feel like I made the right ones.
It wasn't how I envisioned my first bowkill, but I am very proud of this buck and the work we put into getting him. He is an old beast of a buck and neither pictures nor score can do him justice. He's 30.5" wide and very tall. As you can see in the pictures and videos he had a massive body. I was able to get half the meat, the head and cape out in the first load and then my great friend PONOHUNT came with me to get the final load of meat off the mountain this morning.
Here are the pictures and video (sorry it's shaky, need a digiscoping adapter) of the bucks from just before the stalk:
My tag was not a coveted one, and my expecations were to be able to get some good stalks in and hopefully end up with any 4x4. I put in a couple of scouting trips and didn't see much for bucks. There was a basin that I had been eyeing on Google Earth, but I ran out of time before the season arrived to physically lay eyes on it. My buddy Scott (Ponohunt) and I slept at the trailhead the night before the opener and packed in the dark for opening morning. Upon arriving in the basins we quickly saw that the country was just as beautiful as we thought it would be from our digital scouting. Within 45 minutes of legal shooting time I spotted two deer way above timberline 1,300' vertical above us, well above timberline. They were feeding out in the open and looking to bed near some large scree fields. I could tell both bucks were 4 points and one of the two had a huge body with a wide, tall frame. After confirming where they bedded for the morning I was off on a 3 mile stalk that took me about 400' above the bucks to reach the ridgeline so I could approach from above. During my long trip around to get above the bucks they moved about 60 yards downhill from their original beds 25 yards below a rock pile. I was able to get to 83 yards above the buck before running out of topography to cover my approach. I tried to close the distance for 2 more hours as they would get up to feed and rebed, but eventually they hear me make a noise and locked onto me, then some hikers crossed the ridgeline 400' above having a nice loud conversation. This was all of the convincing the bucks needed to vacate the basin. We stayed through Sunday without relocating the bucks when family commitments had us both heading home, but I couldn't stop thinking about the huge framed buck. They hadn't smelled me and didn't seem too spooked when they busted, so I hoped they would still be in a similar pattern somewhere nearby. I was able to take Thursday and Friday off from work, and after a long, tired, dark drive to the trailhead I was again headlamping it up the steep approach to the timberline basin. This time I was solo and ready to hunt 3 more days before heading back home to Utah.
The first couple of hours of glassing didn't yield much, but I was prepared to patiently cover this entire mountain over the next few days until I located the bucks. By 10:30 I had moved about a miile to the west which was the direction the bucks had headed after my failed stalk five days earlier. I found a great rock outcropping that would give me the opportunity to glass in nearly all directions. I was really excited to put some glass on the steep avalanche chutes and cliffs to the west about 800 feet below. It looked like a great secondary living area for some bucks to move to after they felt the first pressure of the long hunting season. After about 10 minutes of glassing I glanced up the hill and could make out two bucks well above timberline feeding out in the open. I quickly confirmed that they were the same two bucks from Saturday, and decided to watch to see if I could put together a stalk. After 15 minutes of feeding I watched the bucks bed behind a small rise about 600 yards above me. I had a good idea of exactly where they were bedded and felt that I could get within 50 yards for a shot if everything worke right, however much to my surprise the wind was still coming downhill fairly hard even though the sun was starting to peek out of the clouds. I himhawed on what to do and decided to play it safe and see if they put themselves in a better position and to wait for the wind to change so I could get above them. As the downhill wind kept smacking me in the face I kept thinking about all of the articles and books I've read touting the benefits of approaching from above. Finally I couldn't take it anymore and decided to get agressive while I had this perfect opportunity. I left my pack and approached quickly and quietly from below the rise. At about 100 yards out I could see the big buck's antler tips through the binos. I ranged him and then ranged a rockpile inbetween us and confirmed that I could get to 50 yards undetected. As I settled in prepared for a long wait I knocked an arrow and attached my release. After less than 10 minutes of waiting I saw the bucks head quickly turn and knew he must have caught a slight bit of scent or just sensed that something wasn't right. With the strong crosswind I ended up hitting the buck further back than I wanted to and I watched him slowly crest the hill with his buddy. I quickly ran back down to my glassing point to watch where the injured buck would bed down. He kept moving downhill and I repositioned to try to get a good vantage of where he was headed. As I snuck into position the bucks headed over a small ridge acoss a small side basin. I moved over above the bucks and relocated them just in time to see a coyote charge at the two bucks. The small buck headed back up out of the side basin and the large buck gave all of his remaining energy fighting off the circling coyote. As this was occuring I approached to 28 yards. After the coyote saw me and took off, the buck had nothing left. He stood broadside and one more arrow put him down for good. It was a huge load off my shoulders to watch the buck go down after the nerve racking minutes of second guessing my first shot and my decision to follow the buck to watch where he bedded. My decisions may be second guessed, but in the end I feel like I made the right ones.
It wasn't how I envisioned my first bowkill, but I am very proud of this buck and the work we put into getting him. He is an old beast of a buck and neither pictures nor score can do him justice. He's 30.5" wide and very tall. As you can see in the pictures and videos he had a massive body. I was able to get half the meat, the head and cape out in the first load and then my great friend PONOHUNT came with me to get the final load of meat off the mountain this morning.
Here are the pictures and video (sorry it's shaky, need a digiscoping adapter) of the bucks from just before the stalk:
