This Summer I was giving an offer to join a Mule Deer lease that a couple of other forum members have been on for awhile. Needless to say, I jumped at the offer and greatly appreciated the chance. I have only been on a couple of Mule Deer hunts and always enjoyed them even though the places I hunted before weren't that great, so I was excited at the opportunity.

While the lease is for the Mule Deer season, I wasn't going to be able to spend as much time down there as I would like, maybe 4-5 days at most. STX told me that if I was going to be limited, go when the cold weather moved in or the last week as it was closer to rut.

Well, the season opened and I wasn't there...and I am pretty sure he got tired of me texting asking how it was going

I was finally able to cut out late Tuesday night and head to our place in San Angelo to pick up the remaining few items that I was going to need and the 4-wheeler. I was planning on hunting by 11:00 Wednesday morning and that is pretty much how it worked out. I pulled into camp, sent Stx a text and filled out the ranch paperwork.

Stx was kind enough to take time out of his hunt to take me around the place. Now, this place is big and when I say big...it is big. I don't think I saw half of it. Anyway, we headed out and he showed me some of the places that have produced in the past. We drove into one of the West pastures and he took me up on a point where you could see some nice draws and a few ridges. We set there talking about hunting, the ranch, what they had been seeing, etc. and were glassing.

As we were glassing, I spotted a couple of doe down in the bottom of a draw and they were feeding up. Pretty soon 2 turned to 4 and 4 turned to 8, so we just sat and waited to see if there was a buck with them. After watching for awhile, a big bodied buck stood up out of what seemed like the wide open. We both saw him at about the same time. Good buck, big bodied and no doubt mature.

We looked him over through the spotting scope and pretty much came to the same conclusion, he was a good looking older buck. He asked me if I wanted to go after him and I declined (keep in mind, I haven't been on the ranch over an hour and this was my first place to actually sit for a second). Some of the these guys had been there for 7-10 days already so I said let one of them take him. Stx called one of the other guys that was leaving the next morning and he came over, looked through the scope, and said he was going to pass. Since he decided to pass, stx decided to stalk down and get a better look.

By the time he decided to start his stalk, the buck had bedded back down and the does were starting too. We had a good mark on him and stx took off. At one point, the buck passed completely out and was laid out flat on the ground. As he got closer to the buck, one of the does finally caught his wind and stood up, which got the buck up so stx could get a good look at him. He had him dead to rights and let him walk.

So, here I am...haven't been on the ranch much more than an hour, I have seen 8 doe and a 160" animal and two guys just turned him down. All I could think was "what kind of bucks are on this place?"

We finished out that day and saw a few more deer but nothing mature.

The next day, I was on my own. Day started off pretty rough with some minor truck problems, but was still able to get it handled and out to the property before it was very light. This was the day the weather hit and it hit. Snow, wind, 20 degrees...it was cold. I went to one of the bigger mountains on the place and sat on a point until it got light. Saw mature 3x3 with a good frame early and then nothing for a bit. I decided to drive up the mountain. I would park in the saddles and walk the draws on the "blocked" side. If I couldn't find a deer, I would toss a few rocks down the side and see if I could get them to stand up. Had really good luck with this, and saw nine different bucks and a few mature deer, just nothing I was looking for. I spent the rest of the day traveling and glassing, and walked a long draw after it warmed up a little. Think I ended the day with around 30 deer or so and some audoud.

Friday would be my last day there. I decided to hunt the pipeline that morning and travel from East to West so the sun was at my back. Turned out to be a good choice, as I started seeing deer pretty early. As I would find a group, I would watch them and see if a buck was with them. I had worked my way across the ranch and back to where we were the first day. I parked on the same point and started glassing. I had been there for awhile and was about to move on when I caught movement on a ridge well past where we saw him the first day. I only had binoculars, but could make out 2 good bucks and about 8-10 doe. One looked like the buck that we had seen the first day and the other one looked wider, so I headed that way.

I couldn't get the truck much closer, so I pulled down to the pipeline and started walking. By the time that I had gotten up to them, they had already fed off the top and down into the bottom which was thick. I kept seeing movement but could just make out a tail, or an ear, and sometimes just a grey blur. I sat on the ridge and watched but couldn't find either buck that I had seen. I had about decided to circle around and see if I could push them uphill as a last resort when a helicopter came by, I am assuming to check the pipelines. Couldn't have been better timing or worked out better.

Problem was, there were alot more deer in that bottom than I expected. I think I counted around 18 and both bucks were there along with a couple of younger ones. The wider one, which I originally thought was bigger, wasn't as heavy or as tall or as old...so I chose the narrow heavy one to go after.

They were working their way up the side of a "bowl" about 500 yards away. I had two smaller bowls to work around to get to them and the vegetation didn't give me very many things to hide behind. I slowly worked my way to the bowl that they were in. The buck I was after always seemed to have deer above him and below him, cutting off either access to him that I had. I couldn't go over the top and drop in on him and I couldn't go down and come up...so I waited.

They finally fed up the mountain and the groups split putting him in the back, the stalk was on. I was able to close the gap by getting below them and crossing from draw to draw. Once I figured out he was bedded back down, I just had to watch the young buck and 5 doe feeding close to him. They fed about 100 yards away and once I was on top, there was a taller bush that I was able to use to keep between me and them.

I located him and all I could see was his antlers sticking up out of the low brush. I slowly worked my way around the bush and got in position...where I just sat and sat and sat, waiting for him to stand up. It was probably 45 minutes or so and I was about to try to get his attention and he finally stood up and stretched.

I raised the gun, propped my elbow on my knee, picked my spot and pulled the trigger...nothing First thought was the safety. Checked it and the gun was hot. Of course second thought was that something was wrong with my gun, so I raised it again and pulled the trigger harder (like that was going to work) and nothing. I lowered the gun and checked to make sure I had engaged a bullet and that is when I figured it out. I was shooting a semi-automatic. I would clear the gun when I was around camp or moving across the highway, so while I was hunting, I would occasionally double check the chamber to make sure that I was loaded out of habit. It seemed the last time, I hadn't fully engaged the bolt back in place. I pulled the action about halfway back and jammed it forward. That is the first time the deer knew I was there. I quickly raised the rifle, picked my spot and Boom...he dropped. 5.5 hours and over a mile from where I started, I had my animal.

Stx knew where I was, so he came and got me. Took some pictures, loaded the deer up and headed to camp for the real work or skinning and quartering him. I can't thank him enough for all the help and taking the time for me.

For those of you that made it this far, thanks for letting me share. For those of you that skipped the reading, I don't blame you so here are some pictures

Stx letting him walk...

I didn't...

Great read and great buck!

He is awesome! Congrats man

Dammit! Great story and what a great buck. Love the height and mass

Congrats on the Buck and getting to hunt new country.

Read it all of the way through also
Great write up and buck, congratulations

congrats again brother

Congrats Dave....Outstanding! (and a kool read).

Awesome story, hunt, and deer! Congratulations!

Great buck man. Thanks for sharing the pics and story.

Congrats

I wish I could say it was beginners luck or cheery picking a spot, but you hunted hard and we are all jealous


Congrats on a great buck

That is a great buck. What a great write up too. That pic of STX is worth framing. I think that's the most of him that's ever been exposed on the THF. He's like "Wilson", on the old show, 'Home improvement'....Anyhoo, congratulations, David. Heckuva buck.

Congratulations. Beautiful Texas mulie.

There was some luck involved and some direction for sure. Sure felt like I hunted hard and covered some terrain, and enjoyed every minute of it. Wish I had stuck around another day and got to hunt with y'all more.

Truly enjoyed it

Great write up and buck !!!
Congrats !!!
I bet that was a blast !!!

Great write up and Awesome buck!! Congrats

awesome write up David, and great buck

Great read. I was actually getting antsy. lol
I wouldn't have passed that buck either but I've never hunted mule deer. That's a big animal either way.

What gun and caliber?

Good read and cool buck. Congrats.

Well done sir. Heck of a buck!

Great Mulie and a Beautiful Ranch.