The 2013 Big Game thread

Deer, Elk, Moose, Bears.... etc. Anything big game!

Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby Bulldog0156 » Sun Nov 10, 2013 11:21 am

Here's the story.

I decided at work this week that I wanted to deer hunt a new area. I was not too thrilled about the prospect of watching a bunch of guys dressed in prison style hunters orange jumpsuits drive their trucks all over public land (not on designated roads) for a second Saturday in a row. A spot that I had checked out during antelope hunting was on my mind, and I had seen a nice tall buck right off the road when I was in there a month ago. I was hoping this area wouldn't get hunted too hard since the nearest town (something like 500 people) was over 30 miles away and was known for having good deer hunting anyways. I decided to check it out in the morning and then if it didn't pan out, I would head farther south to another area someone suggested.

I don't remember turning off the alarm set for 4:45 am, but I was up at 5 and out the door by 5:15 or so. I got a later start than planned, but figured it was going to be a good morning when I saw a 140-150" whitetail cruising for does on Fort Peck Dam. :lol:

Shooting light was about 6:30 and I parked the car and started hiking around 7. My plan was to hunt some "badlands" style terrain which rose quickly and topped out with rolling grassy meadows. As soon as I made the top I saw a group of does. I glassed around a little bit and didn't see anything else so I figured I'd check the does to make sure I didn't miss anything. They had dropped behind a ridge, so I made my move and ended up right above them less than 30 yards. No buck with them so I went on my way to find another spot to glass from.

I found my next spot and started looking but not finding so I decided to turn around and look for the group of does. I spent about 10 minutes switching from glassing the hills and watching the does until I finally spotted another deer about a mile and a half away. I could tell instantly it was a buck, it was big and by itself feeding up a draw and I could see antlers. I watched him for a while until I lost him. Next time I spotted him, he was 200 yards from where I had last saw him and on the move. I thought maybe this was a different deer because of the mood change, but I now am pretty sure it was the same deer. He worked his way down a coulee where I lost him behind a ridge, but two does came out lower down in the coulee where I could see. Sure enough, shortly after he appeared where the does were. I gave him a couple more minutes to make sure he wasn't passing through and then decided to get a closer look.
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby Bulldog0156 » Sun Nov 10, 2013 11:48 am

The next time I saw him, I had cut the distance about in half. I had a little better view of the coulee the deer were in and I could see the buck and two does on the far side of the coulee. He had his nose to the ground chasing one of the does. I had heard reports saying the bucks in MT were already chasing and starting to rut, but I didn't really believe it until I saw it. He was definitely fired up and looking for love. I watched for a little while, once again to make sure they weren't going anywhere, but figured they weren't since the does seemed to want to stay in the coulee and it was about time for them to be bedding down for the day. There's no way that buck was going to leave the does either with one of them already hot.

I came up with a plan of attack since this was likely the last time I would see them until I was well within shooting range. I dropped down into the main coulee which led up to the side coulee they were in and made my move up onto the east ridge of the coulee they were in. As I got close to the top I could see the western side of the coulee where I had watched the buck chasing earlier. I dropped my pack and found a slight draw in the ridge which I could hopefully peek out from and get their location without them seeing me.

Sure enough, as I peeked out from the top of the ridge I saw a butt 60 yards away, slightly to my right in the bottom of the coulee. I decided to army crawl into a better position which should let me get a good look at the deer. When I finally got into position, I could only see 3 deer and they were all small does. I knew the buck was there, but could not find him. After looking around for what seemed like eternity without spotting the buck, I decided to make a move. One of the does had caught my movement a couple times while I was getting into position, but she never became really alert. I decided to let her see me, knowing if she stood up at attention, the rest of the deer would probably stand up as well giving me a chance to locate the buck.

I poked up my head just enough for her to see me and she did exactly what I hoped and stood up staring at me. The one next to her did shortly after, and when this doe popped up so did the rest of the deer. The buck was behind a small sage bush on my side of the coulee and he stood broadside looking for the disturbance. Hoping that they would probably move off a little ways and look back to see what had spooked them I took this opportunity to look him over one more time to make sure he was something I wanted to shoot. It had been an awesome morning and a picture perfect stalk and he was a nice mature buck so I decided I'd shoot him. They did exactly as I hoped again and went about 30 yards before they all stopped on the far side of the coulee at 80 yards to see what had spooked the first doe. I put the crosshairs right behind the front arm and low on the body and squeezed the trigger.

The buck went a total of 19 yards from the spot where he was shot before he went down. It was a perfect double lung/heart shot. My plan going in to this fall was to not shoot a small muley since the season is long. I wanted a nice mature buck, and I was hoping to hit the 26" mark. This is the first time I have actively hunted mule deer and so I am not great at judging their size since their antlers are so much taller and longer than a whitetail. He wasn't quite as big as I originally thought, but I wasn't going to pass him up either. I have to say, open country mule deer hunting is a completely different experience from anything else. As the saying goes, 90% of the deer are in 10% of the habitat, and populations around this area have never been great and are still low from the hard winter a few years ago. All in all it was a great season and I'm hoping next year I can get an even bigger one!
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby Bulldog0156 » Sun Nov 10, 2013 11:56 am

DSCF1074b.jpg
DSCF1061b.jpg


The backpack is in front of the sage bush he was bedded behind, photo was taken from where I shot.
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby JGUN » Sun Nov 10, 2013 12:35 pm

Well done Nate. Definitely a shooter.
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby jehler » Sun Nov 10, 2013 12:59 pm

Would have been a beast next year though
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby Bulldog0156 » Sun Nov 10, 2013 1:29 pm

jehler wrote:Would have been a beast next year though

No lies there! That was actually my first thought when I got up to him!
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby 3legged_lab » Sun Nov 10, 2013 2:37 pm

Bulldog0156 wrote:
jehler wrote:Would have been a beast next year though

No lies there! That was actually my first thought when I got up to him!

If the next guy didn't shoot him.

Nothing wrong with that buck at all.
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby OGblackcloud » Sun Nov 10, 2013 7:36 pm

Very nice buck :thumbsup:
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby JGUN » Mon Nov 18, 2013 4:44 pm

Passed on six different bucks and settled on this one.
uploadfromtaptalk1384810998387.jpg

uploadfromtaptalk1384811032929.jpg
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby jehler » Mon Nov 18, 2013 4:57 pm

Would have been a beast next year
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby Flightstopper » Mon Nov 18, 2013 4:59 pm

What you really need is an 18" spread rule so those little guys will always get bigger.
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby AKPirate » Mon Nov 18, 2013 5:03 pm

Good job Jeremy!
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby The Duck Hammer » Mon Nov 18, 2013 5:17 pm

Flightstopper wrote:What you really need is an 18" spread rule so those little guys will always get bigger.


No shit. Hate to see deer that haven't reached their prime downed.




Nice work J.
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby jehler » Mon Nov 18, 2013 5:27 pm

Flightstopper wrote:What you really need is an 18" spread rule so those little guys will always get bigger.
I agree, qdm plus legislation, I'll get started on the paperwork
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby JGUN » Mon Nov 18, 2013 5:28 pm

:lol: I did hesitate and it did cross my mind to let him go but I had my oldest son with me and they are always asking me if the bucks we see are big enough to shoot. I did pass on six other bucks so far.
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby Flightstopper » Mon Nov 18, 2013 5:32 pm

jehler wrote:
Flightstopper wrote:What you really need is an 18" spread rule so those little guys will always get bigger.
I agree, qdm plus legislation, I'll get started on the paperwork


Glad someone is proactive up there. Can't leave it up for those dumbass deer hunters to screw it up themselves.
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby 3legged_lab » Mon Nov 18, 2013 5:57 pm

Here's one of those goofy whitetails a guy I know shot in Idaho. They were calling him 'the trident buck'
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby jehler » Mon Nov 18, 2013 6:19 pm

JGUN wrote::lol: I did hesitate and it did cross my mind to let him go but I had my oldest son with me and they are always asking me if the bucks we see are big enough to shoot. I did pass on six other bucks so far.
i was just giving you shit, nice symmetrical 3x3 with brow tines....yeah, that's easier than saying 8 point lol
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby Flightstopper » Mon Nov 18, 2013 6:26 pm

jehler wrote:
JGUN wrote::lol: I did hesitate and it did cross my mind to let him go but I had my oldest son with me and they are always asking me if the bucks we see are big enough to shoot. I did pass on six other bucks so far.
i was just giving you shit, nice symmetrical 3x3 with brow tines....yeah, that's easier than saying 8 point lol


Lol definitely a good deer. Wanted to see how long it took jehler to chime in. Not long :lol:
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby 3legged_lab » Mon Nov 18, 2013 6:48 pm

What about the "10 pointer" I posted? Does it look like you imagine it would?
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby JGUN » Mon Nov 18, 2013 7:12 pm

uploadfromtaptalk1384819925771.jpg
uploadfromtaptalk1384819960642.jpg
Couple more pics.
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby jehler » Mon Nov 18, 2013 7:18 pm

3legged_lab wrote:What about the "10 pointer" I posted? Does it look like you imagine it would?
yep
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby Bulldog0156 » Mon Nov 18, 2013 8:59 pm

Hell Yeah J! Nice buck! The mini Guns look pretty happy with it!


I saw a pic today of a double dropper someone around here shot this past weekend. It had some gnarly antlers!
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby 3legged_lab » Tue Nov 19, 2013 12:09 am

jehler wrote:
3legged_lab wrote:What about the "10 pointer" I posted? Does it look like you imagine it would?
yep

Smartass.
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby 3legged_lab » Tue Nov 19, 2013 12:24 am

Got this sent to me yesterday. Some lucky kid shot it on a youth hunt.
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby The Duck Hammer » Tue Nov 19, 2013 12:28 am

Would have been a real shooter next year.
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby Tiler_J » Tue Nov 19, 2013 12:28 am

3legged_lab wrote:Got this sent to me yesterday. Some lucky kid shot it on a youth hunt.

I hate that kid! Nice buck though.
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby AKPirate » Tue Nov 19, 2013 12:30 am

Tiler_J wrote:
3legged_lab wrote:Got this sent to me yesterday. Some lucky kid shot it on a youth hunt.

I hate that kid! Nice buck though.


Unfortunately it may all be downhill from now on, he may never shoot one bigger.
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby The Duck Hammer » Tue Nov 19, 2013 12:34 am

AKPirate wrote:
Tiler_J wrote:
3legged_lab wrote:Got this sent to me yesterday. Some lucky kid shot it on a youth hunt.

I hate that kid! Nice buck though.


Unfortunately it may all be downhill from now on, he may never shoot one bigger.


I've never understood that way of looking at it.
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Re: The 2013 Big Game thread

Postby AKPirate » Tue Nov 19, 2013 12:37 am

The Duck Hammer wrote:
AKPirate wrote:
Tiler_J wrote:
3legged_lab wrote:Got this sent to me yesterday. Some lucky kid shot it on a youth hunt.

I hate that kid! Nice buck though.


Unfortunately it may all be downhill from now on, he may never shoot one bigger.


I've never understood that way of looking at it.


Not my way either, just something I heard before.
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