King’s Outdoor World Blog

2007 Mule Deer Hunt Success Story

September 27th, 2007 David King - King's Outdoor World

Jason Jensen and his trophy Wyoming Mule Deer from 2007. This trophy buck green scores 188 7/8 net non-typical

2007 Mule Deer Hunt
by Jason Jensen

Justin and I entered the parking lot at the base of the trail with four horses. We had anticipated seeing at least four other horse trailers, but to our amazement we were the only ones in the lot. This was a first. We rode the seven miles to camp without a single rodeo, another first. We were feeling pretty good about our odds of shooting two nice bucks as Justin had spotted 15 bucks two weeks earlier and four were shooters. After setting camp we climbed up the valley wall and spotted three bucks with the largest a possible shooter. At this point we saw an outfitter bringing his hunters up the canyon. The guide stopped and glassed a deer in the draw just up from our camp which was hidden from our current view. We finished glassing and decided to see if the deer the guide was looking over was still there. He was a nice buck with three back points and heavy.

That night over dinner I decided to go after the buck with the three back points and Justin would go higher on the mountain where he shot his 195 inch buck last year. 4 AM rolled around to quickly and we were strapping up and hitting the trail. I was in position for my hunt by 5:30 AM, but I wanted to sit and let the area settle down. At 6:50 AM it was light enough to see clearly and I realized the three horned buck was not on the same hill side I saw him last night - wishful thinking on my part. I started to climb the hill to meet up with Justin as we had prearranged. With my first few steps I heard two different deer crash through the brush during my ascent; I was hoping they were not my buck. While climbing I stayed close to the tree line so I could get a glimpses of the open hill face on the other side of the step draw.

Then without a noise I saw the three horned buck in the exact spot I saw him the night before. I got my shooting stick ready and leveled my 270 just in time for him to walk behind a large pine tree. I could see he would have to come out the other side if he stayed on the same line of travel, but I would only have a 10 yard opening before he would be in thick timber. The seconds dragged on for ages, and then there he was. He stood perfectly still giving me a broad side shot for one second then I squeezed the trigger. He ran back to the other side of the tree and I shot again. The 150 yard shots had thumping reports letting me know they had both hit. Less than one minute later I heard him crash and roll down the hill.

I checked my watch to see it was 7:21 AM. Now the work begins.

At the end of the day we had counted 15 other hunters in this valley, so much for having the valley to our selves, and yes the nine hunters we talked to were all from Utah. The valley produced two other small bucks that should have been left for next year. Justin saw nine other deer over the next three days, but none were worth taking as we were hunting for mature deer.

While stalking five bucks on the second morning we walked past an active wasp hive. Justin walked past with no incident, but I got swarmed and stung five times. Apparently I was not very quiet while getting stung and when we checked where the deer should have been bedded they were no were to be found.

Entry Filed under: News and Stuff, Buck Alert!