Big mule deer taken by BowsnRods

Was able to connect with the biggest buck of the year. He will have to tell the story of how he potlicked this buck and then rubbed it in the faces of all the other lease members who had been hunting daylight till dark for a week and a half and never did end up killing anything.

Pics do not do this deer justice, it is truly a once in a lifetime deer. The frame on this deer is absolutely incredible.

Congrats to BowsnRods on taking a fantastic animal

Great Mulie!!! Congrats to him

Congrats.

great looking mulie

Nice buck!

Great looking buck. Congrats to him.

Needs more pictures. Awesome deer. Double drop tines as well, wow.

Awesome mulie!

Great mulie

Yes its true, I was handed this double drop mulie. I had been tied up with work the first 10 days of season. I headed west with txtrophy85 for the last few days of season. txtrophy85 had already scored on a monster 5X5 mulie but as a true friend he made sure that I didnt bow out as hunting had been very tuff on the other hunters on our West Texas lease with only txtrophy85 scoring.We arrived at our lease just in time to hunt Monday evening, I was greated by another true friend Stxranchman who offered to drive me around in his hunting buggy. We spent several hours glassing flats and draws seeing a few mulies but nothing that would bring out the spotting scope. The sun was going down pretty quick on the western horizon when stxranchman pulled a rabbit from his hat. We were headed back to camp when we crossed into an open grass flat and stxranchman came to a quick stop and watched as 2 mulies were feeding with there heads down in the tall prairie grass. I got my binoculars up to see the back mulie pushing through the grass with his horns. I waited for stxranchman to give me his thoughts on the buck as he watched him through his spotting scope. He immediatly said good buck, we were over 450 yards away from the buck and needed to close the distance with only 15 minutes of shooting light. Stxranchman got me to within 230 yards and as I was settling the cross hairs on his shoulder stxranchman told me he has a droptine. I squeezed off a round and it seemed like it took forever to reach its mark, but it did and the mulie was down. I crossed the grass flat on foot as stxranchman went around to a fence gap in the buggy. I walked up to the monarch and as I lifted his head above the grass I observed double droptines. This was truly the best hunt I had ever been on and it would not have happened if it weren't for two of my best friends txtrophy85 and stxranchman. Thank you guys.

Incredible buck! Score?

Congrats

Definitely don't see those frames every day. Congrats!

Congrats on a awesome trophy

That it is

Wow. Very nice.

Nice One!

Beautiful buck !!!
Congrats !!!

Congrats !!!!

That is a great looking Mule Deer Buck.

Id say easy is 70's to low 80's with that mass and outstanding forks!!

One if not the best looking texas mulies I've seen!!

I ain't going to lie probably taken me 6 shots just to hit that deer.

Wow is best and only way to describe him

WOW what a great Mulie! Congrats!

184 5/8ths if I rember right

I feel you bobo it took me $9.75 to kill my deer he did it with a $1.30

Thank you everyone for the kind comments! I was very close to not going on this hunt. I cant wait for next
year, so I can return the favor to my hunting buddys. Hey stxranchman I hope your not mad at me for swipping your fudge brownies, somehow they were hidding in my ice chest with your cookies. Opps yeah I guess I kept the cookies also. I would buy a different brand they were pretty hard.

great mule deer.

Good one John! I know a good taxidermist that lives across the street from you!

Congratulations Cuz! Great buck with mass and character. While I was raised in South Texas, there is a certain magic to hunting deer in the Trans Pecos. While I may have bigger deer on other ranches, the only place I hunt deer is out west. I finally got over trying to kill a monster and am more into the hunt, scenery and hunting companions. But for predators, there is still no place like South Texas.
Adios,
Gary

Outstanding!

Great Muley, I've never killed a DT Muley. Congrats, Baker

Awesome buck, congratulations!

Congrats, beautiful buck. Thanks for telling the story.

Congrats.....great looking Mulie.

Great Write up and wonderful Buck

nice mulie congrats on a really nice one

That is an awesome buck. Look at the mass.

The mass...look at the mass...

Congrats on your buck BowsnRods. Your first Mule Deer buck is going to be a very hard one to top.
Here are a few more details of the hunt. A good friend of mine had actually seen this buck that morning in the same area when fog had set in the instant he saw the buck. He could see great forks on the buck but not the spread of the buck when the fog literally rolled in and the buck disappeared. He sat and waited but the fog got worse and the buck was gone later on. My friend and had decided to hunt the very south end of the ranch that evening with another friend/hunter on the lease. They were hunting an area they had seen a really large MD buck last year and the friend had missed the buck. I was shocked he did not go back to this area to hunt this buck. I decided to hunt our NE pasture that was 3 miles east of this pasture the buck was seen in. I want BowsnRods to see some deer and be able to see what they looked like in the brush on the ranch. Get his "mule deer eyes on". This pasture had a lot of deer activity this year with several nice bucks had been seen also. BowsnRods and I headed out at 2 pm and I took a road by this area just to see if any deer were up. 3 deer were feeding at that time with one was walking in taller brush way in the backside of this grass area. We drove in and found the deer which was a doe. So we worked our way out of the pasture. We headed to the pasture to the east and drove into the area with a smaller ridge that would give us a little elevation to sit. It was very early and very hot. I told BowsnRods that if no mature bucks got up by 5:30 were leaving to hunt our way back into HQ(40 minutes away). I had also told him that due to him only be able to hunt for 3 days to not get hung up on the score of a deer but rather a deer he liked the look of. I also told him the hunting had been tough with the warm weather and the 3 days he had to hunt was not going to be any different for temps. We saw a few deer and one small buck but nothing mature by 5:15. So I decided to hunt our way back to the area we had seen the does and small buck. It took us 45 minutes of driving, stopping and glassing along the way to get there. It was 6pm when I turned down the road and I told him we are going to drive very slow for the first mile. We had not gone 400 yards when I spotted the doe feeding in the Tobosa Grass flat. I stopped and she had her head down and glassed her. I scanned right very quickly and saw a second deer to our right with its head down feeding. The grass was belly high and the deer looked to be large bodied but took a while to raise his head. He walked forward a bit and I could see tines way you in front of his head. When he lifted his head to take a step I said I need to get a spotter on him. I immediately recognized this buck as a buck from last year I took pics of about 3.5 miles to the west. I had looked for him there earlier with txtrophy85 one day during a late morning. Got the spotter on him and said we need to go shoot this buck. I thought 165 on score. We drove down the road and then turned toward the buck. I have a shooting rest on the Ranger across the front. I ranged the buck at 230 when he looked up at me and then put his head down. I told BowsnRods to shoot the buck. I then saw the droptine and told him he had it. He told me to shoot him and I said "no go ahead". In the back of my mind was him having only 3 days to hunt in a very tough hunting year. He was taking his rifle out of the soft case when the doe decided she had enough and started to trot off. I told him to hurry up cause this buck was not going to stay much longer. He got the rifle on him and I said hurry up as the bucks posture changed instantly to getting ready to leave. He touched off a shot and the buck really did not flinch much when he took the bullet. He lifted his left leg and started to tip toe off like a liver shot. I said "put another bullet in him now". BowsnRods said he was going down as he was tip toeing/walking slowly away about 50 or 75 yards. The buck went down then got back up. I said loudly "PUT ANOTHER BULLET IN HIM NOW!" He said the shot was not there. The buck then turned and he shot but over shot the buck in the excitement. I reiterated to get another bullet him since I did not want to trail that buck at night in that tall grass and thick brush he was heading to. The buck went down in the taller grass. We watched for a few seconds I said take my shooting sticks and turn your scope down. I lined him up with a telephone pole and said stay straight on the the one to the left of the mesquite. I drove down about 1/2 mile to a wire gap and went in. I was shocked at the size of the buck. I jokingly said "you shot my buck", since I like taller, narrow, heavy horned bucks. I thought man did I misjudge this buck then I saw the second droptine. He was very mature and dressed 179 lbs.
Here are a few more pics. With the first one showing the kill location. You can see the telephone pole in the distant background.

Here are a couple of kill pics with a still shocked hunter.


Here a couple of pics of the buck from last year. I estimated this buck put on 20-25 inches from last year to this year. (His score this year was 174 5/8" gross.)




It was a fun hunt even if it was a short hunt. Both you and txtrophy85 were fun to be around and hunt with. You both had enthusiasm that was nice to see.
Congrats on your Mule Deer buck

Thank you Stxranchman for an incredible hunt!

Just be glad that no one shot that buck last year. I had a great time this year also.

I enjoyed the pictures. I do appreciate you(stxranchman) giving up the shot so I could take it. I ate the last of your fudge brownies today! Just Kidding I froze them, so I could return them to you next year.

FANTASTIC!

Great Mulie!
Congrats

He ate my half of an apple fritter so don't feel bad stx

The apple fritter was starting to dry out, so I put it in my mouth to keep it moist and accidently swollowed it.

Sounds like a great camp with great guys!!!

Congrats to all