Where are all the Mule deer stories?

[Bluefinn]

This was the hardest year of mule deer hunting for me in 35 years.I would like to hear how the rest of the state did.

[OR_Bo_Huntr]

Nothin huge, 36 yards 60 yard recovery,

almost got on this buck too


My buddy got this buck with his boomstick

[Mr. BrownTrout]

So far for the Idaho general season its been very tough, have not seen a deer yet, seen a nice herd of 10 antelope with 4 very nice bucks. It did not help that openning day we were hunting in 6 inches of snow and then the second day we were hunting in a foot of snow.

[SImudBogger]

probably in idaho, montana, and wyoming. Oregon is forked horn country!

[hobbsp]

I shot this mule deer in Idaho this year in unit 39.

[woodsy188]

Attachment 11687

I got this guy last Sunday morning. He was about 300 yards away. When I got to him, (about 5 feet away) he was still breathing, so I shot him in the neck. Still Breathing. Another shot. On the second shot, he decides to get up. When he sees me, his eyes got about as big as silver dollars! I gave him another neck shot as he got up. Still alive. He ran about 10 yards and I finally got him in the back of the neck and he went down.

So that adds up to one body shot and 4 neck shots - what a TUFF guy!

What a Rush!!

He was a 2x3 or 2x4 but one of my bullets turned him into a Fork.

Our group was lucky enough to fill 6/9 tags.

[saman]

Originally Posted by SImudBogger

Oregon is forked horn country!

A couple buddies got these "Forkies" over east.


http://oregonshedhunters.forumup.org...edhunters.html

[woodsy188]

Of our 6 tags filled, 4 were forkies.

[SImudBogger]

woodsy that is a big body fork!

[outdoor.spec.ops]

Originally Posted by woodsy188

Attachment 11687

I got this guy last Sunday morning. He was about 300 yards away. When I got to him, (about 5 feet away) he was still breathing, so I shot him in the neck. Still Breathing. Another shot. On the second shot, he decides to get up. When he sees me, his eyes got about as big as silver dollars! I gave him another neck shot as he got up. Still alive. He ran about 10 yards and I finally got him in the back of the neck and he went down.

So that adds up to one body shot and 4 neck shots - what a TUFF guy!

What a Rush!!

He was a 2x3 or 2x4 but one of my bullets turned him into a Fork.

Our group was lucky enough to fill 6/9 tags.

After the first the two or three shots....you may want to shoot for the head

[woodsy188]

It was surely my personal best. I just got done turning it into a Euro Mount (my first attempt at a mount).

I thought mine was big bodied, until I saw this post:

http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=218944

[woodsy188]

Originally Posted by outdoor.spec.ops

After the first the two or three shots....you may want to shoot for the head

Yeah, the excitement of the moment took my common sense away I suppose! That was mentioned by my buddies later.

[ehunter]

We were zero for 6 in Fort Rock nobody fired a shot the year before in the same area we tagged out. We only were able to hunt for 4 days I had to be home for my daughters wedding. We saw a couple of bucks at warp speed but in all honesty I did not see a buck hanging any where I am sure there was some killed but not a good year for us. We saw lots of does but not even any little bucks it was kind of strange. I walked around 30 miles in 4 days of hunting we were not road hunting.

[Bluefinn]

Originally Posted by hobbsp

I shot this mule deer in Idaho this year in unit 39.

Wow that guy is a Toad!

[JDarr]

We had a much larger than normal party hunting with us this year, somewhere around 22 people including about 5 tags of boys and girls under 20 years old. We ended up killing 10 bucks. 8 little guys, a 3x4 and a monster fork about 20" wide. I personally let 4 little buck walk and never took a shot and one of out other guys let a few walk too. I think we missed 3 different deer too. There were bucks around every tree this year in NE Oregon, but none were the one I was looking for

JD

[Lik2f&h]

We had six tags in camp this year and we shot the only two bucks that we saw this year, both 4x4's. We saw alot of twin fawns with the doe's this year. We were hunting the high desert region. We hunted in rain,sun, and then snow and heavy winds this year. A good time was had by all.

[jnicholson]

We found a few nice bucks in Oregon over the last few days. Pics are on another thread.

[gweedo#1]

Originally Posted by woodsy188

It was surely my personal best. I just got done turning it into a Euro Mount (my first attempt at a mount).

I thought mine was big bodied, until I saw this post:

http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=218944

And those were blacktails....

[kass3818]

Got this guy in the Maury unit, outside Prineville, last wednesday. Tough hunting, very few deer spotted or hanging in other camps. We went 1 for 4 in our group...

[Weather or Knot]

It was tough for us for sure but my bro in law was fine with a fork and my buddy got this nice 3x4. my neighbor and I were holding out for Mr. TOAD, and he never showed his face....... we hunted hard and long so our lack of success was not without effort.
I did find some sheds and this nice skull. A trophy for me for sure.



Brandon

[No Fences]

I'd be careful if I were you. I'm sure you only put that skull on the trailer for the pic and didn't bring it home.. That'd be illegal.

[BlacktailBowhunter]

Ask the cougars.

It seems the mumbers are way, way down.

[jmg]

Our larger than normal party of 13 put 6 bucks (2-4 pt, 2-3x4, a fork and a spike) on the ground in Grizzly. Twitch tried like crazy to make it 7 but couldn't find it within himself to pull the trigger. Our camp looked like a full on butcher shop with all the carcasses hanging. All the bucks were killed in the first 3 days.

[cooky]

Got into camp with a couple buddies and was in high spirits as it wasn't just any camp... it was DEER camp! We set up our camp and then spent the rest of the evening sipping whiskey under a couple of tarps with total disregard of the squall that poured rain upon us. I hit the rack after imbibing a little more than my share. I awoke to my alarm and made my way to the already percolating coffee. Off to my right I heard a shrill cry of self contempt and remorse as my hunting partner came to the realization that he had forgotten to buy his tag. I sipped my coffee in disbelief as I didn't think such a thing was possible. Feeling sorry for him I did my best to console him by stating that I wouldn't remind him of it till we had left camp though I ended my statement with the caveat that I would not let him soon forget this after the weekend had ended. He was too distraught to hunt with me so I was joined by another friend and after a couple of cups of Joe we started climbing the hills. We hunted along some hill tops under rimrocks for several hours without seeing anything more than a few skinny does though we did mark a fair amount of sign. In the early afternoon we came around a rimrock overlooking a table top hill and sat down to glass. Immediately out of the corner of my eyes I saw movement as two deer ran down the hill. I picked them up in my binos and could see that the leader was a 3point or better with a rack <20" in width. My heart began to race as my adrenaline pumped. Unfortunately, I had made the mistake- as I often do when I'm full of **** and vinegar on opening morning- of moving too fast as the bucks were clearly aware of our presence. The deer bolted down the hill at best possible speed towards the bottom of the canyon. I was able to pick the bigger one up in my scope as he paused for a moment before leaving my line of sight but the shot was far beyond the range this boy and his .270 were comfortable with. Thinking the deer would try to get out of the canyon I moved quickly and purposely around the draws spine to try to intercept him as he egressed the canyon. i set up on some rimrocks and waited... After 30 minutes of seeing nothing I broke my silence and chatted my buddy up for a plan of action. It was well into the afternoon and we both decided ham sandwhiches were sounding pretty good so we policed up our gear and prepared to call it a morning. Just before we stood up I noticed 7 white specks in the draw I had set up on. Glassing the curiosity below I picked out 7 deer one of which was a little forked horn. Having only gotten 1 day off work I figured it best to try to punch my card ASAP so I tried to close the ~700m or so seperating me and the deer so I could get within a ballistic envelope in which I felt I could ethically shoot. Unfortunately the deer were slowly moving away from us and got out of sight before I could get a shot. I looked for them for another 45min but after not seeing them I gave up the prospect of venison for the prospect of ham and cheese that I had back at camp. I rested the rest of the evening and figured I'd hunt in the morning. The next AM rolled around quickly and I awoke to find my alarm had not gone off. I rushed into the kitchen grabbed a cup of joe and headed towards the hallowed grounds upset with myself for wasting the mornings darkness. I moved with my buddy up a draw ~200m when we spotted 7 does and fawns peering back at us with their black eyes and oblong muley ears akimbo. They seemed none to concerned with us and after watching them for 20min we began moving further up the draw. We moved our way up the draw at a much more appropriate "hunting" pace only to have another forked horn erupt from concealment about 50m below us at the bottom of the draw. The small fork casually trotted directly away from us as I chambered a round ( as I've gotten older I've decided the peace of mind and safety of hunting with an empty chamber out weighs the risk of missing a quick shot). I found the buck in my scope but he was trotting strait away from me. Though he was on the move I felt I could get a good shot should he quarter away from me some but I wasn't about to pull the trigger as all I had was a "texas heart shot". The deer never altered his angle such that I could shoot so I resigned myself to the reality that I would have to let him go and try and set up on him again if I got the chance. Just as I resigned myself to letting this one go my buddy whispered my name with excitement. I looked up at the top of the draws spine and saw a large bodied 3point silhouetted against the grey sky of the morning. In one of these hunting moments that I will never forget or will likely never experience again the little forked horn trotted right past the 3 point buck as this larger buck began to make his way towards my position. I flicked the safety off and drew a bead on the buck as he moved toward me. He was moving but quartered to me and i prepared myself for the shot. He was coming for all intents and purposes right to me. I was sitting out in the open and figured I'd shoot if he saw us and changed direction. He didn;t see us and kept coming towards me so I decided then that I'd shoot just before he got to the bottom of the draw. BOOM. My shot entered in the front of his chest missed the vitals and smashed his far front sholder. The deer took two more steps with a busted leg and that all the time it took me to correct my lead... BOOM. Dead Buck. After some Hootin', hollerin' and high Fivin' me and my buddy dragged the buck to the bottom of the draw, dressed him and got him hangin in less than 2 hrs. I was psyched and was sippin whiskey before noon. To add insult to injury I was hunting that morning with my buddy who forgot to buy his tag and as we were draggin the buck out we looked up the hill only to see 2 spikes and a forked horn staring at us only 150m away. I'll never let him forget that either. Anyway, he's not the biggest muley in the world but its my fourth deer and my personal best. He had 3-points with eye guards and a pretty decent sized body so I was elated. I've never had more than a few days to deer hunt so I don't pass much up but I had been telling folks this years I was going to be a 3-point or better hunter so I was happy.

[Bluefinn]

Originally Posted by cooky

Got into camp with a couple buddies and was in high spirits as it wasn't just any camp... it was DEER camp! We set up our camp and then spent the rest of the evening sipping whiskey under a couple of tarps with total disregard of the squall that poured rain upon us. I hit the rack after imbibing a little more than my share. I awoke to my alarm and made my way to the already percolating coffee. Off to my right I heard a shrill cry of self contempt and remorse as my hunting partner came to the realization that he had forgotten to buy his tag. I sipped my coffee in disbelief as I didn't think such a thing was possible. Feeling sorry for him I did my best to console him by stating that I wouldn't remind him of it till we had left camp though I ended my statement with the caveat that I would not let him soon forget this after the weekend had ended. He was too distraught to hunt with me so I was joined by another friend and after a couple of cups of Joe we started climbing the hills. We hunted along some hill tops under rimrocks for several hours without seeing anything more than a few skinny does though we did mark a fair amount of sign. In the early afternoon we came around a rimrock overlooking a table top hill and sat down to glass. Immediately out of the corner of my eyes I saw movement as two deer ran down the hill. I picked them up in my binos and could see that the leader was a 3point or better with a rack <20" in width. My heart began to race as my adrenaline pumped. Unfortunately, I had made the mistake- as I often do when I'm full of **** and vinegar on opening morning- of moving too fast as the bucks were clearly aware of our presence. The deer bolted down the hill at best possible speed towards the bottom of the canyon. I was able to pick the bigger one up in my scope as he paused for a moment before leaving my line of sight but the shot was far beyond the range this boy and his .270 were comfortable with. Thinking the deer would try to get out of the canyon I moved quickly and purposely around the draws spine to try to intercept him as he egressed the canyon. i set up on some rimrocks and waited... After 30 minutes of seeing nothing I broke my silence and chatted my buddy up for a plan of action. It was well into the afternoon and we both decided ham sandwhiches were sounding pretty good so we policed up our gear and prepared to call it a morning. Just before we stood up I noticed 7 white specks in the draw I had set up on. Glassing the curiosity below I picked out 7 deer one of which was a little forked horn. Having only gotten 1 day off work I figured it best to try to punch my card ASAP so I tried to close the ~700m or so seperating me and the deer so I could get within a ballistic envelope in which I felt I could ethically shoot. Unfortunately the deer were slowly moving away from us and got out of sight before I could get a shot. I looked for them for another 45min but after not seeing them I gave up the prospect of venison for the prospect of ham and cheese that I had back at camp. I rested the rest of the evening and figured I'd hunt in the morning. The next AM rolled around quickly and I awoke to find my alarm had not gone off. I rushed into the kitchen grabbed a cup of joe and headed towards the hallowed grounds upset with myself for wasting the mornings darkness. I moved with my buddy up a draw ~200m when we spotted 7 does and fawns peering back at us with their black eyes and oblong muley ears akimbo. They seemed none to concerned with us and after watching them for 20min we began moving further up the draw. We moved our way up the draw at a much more appropriate "hunting" pace only to have another forked horn erupt from concealment about 50m below us at the bottom of the draw. The small fork casually trotted directly away from us as I chambered a round ( as I've gotten older I've decided the peace of mind and safety of hunting with an empty chamber out weighs the risk of missing a quick shot). I found the buck in my scope but he was trotting strait away from me. Though he was on the move I felt I could get a good shot should he quarter away from me some but I wasn't about to pull the trigger as all I had was a "texas heart shot". The deer never altered his angle such that I could shoot so I resigned myself to the reality that I would have to let him go and try and set up on him again if I got the chance. Just as I resigned myself to letting this one go my buddy whispered my name with excitement. I looked up at the top of the draws spine and saw a large bodied 3point silhouetted against the grey sky of the morning. In one of these hunting moments that I will never forget or will likely never experience again the little forked horn trotted right past the 3 point buck as this larger buck began to make his way towards my position. I flicked the safety off and drew a bead on the buck as he moved toward me. He was moving but quartered to me and i prepared myself for the shot. He was coming for all intents and purposes right to me. I was sitting out in the open and figured I'd shoot if he saw us and changed direction. He didn;t see us and kept coming towards me so I decided then that I'd shoot just before he got to the bottom of the draw. BOOM. My shot entered in the front of his chest missed the vitals and smashed his far front sholder. The deer took two more steps with a busted leg and that all the time it took me to correct my lead... BOOM. Dead Buck. After some Hootin', hollerin' and high Fivin' me and my buddy dragged the buck to the bottom of the draw, dressed him and got him hangin in less than 2 hrs. I was psyched and was sippin whiskey before noon. To add insult to injury I was hunting that morning with my buddy who forgot to buy his tag and as we were draggin the buck out we looked up the hill only to see 2 spikes and a forked horn staring at us only 150m away. I'll never let him forget that either. Anyway, he's not the biggest muley in the world but its my fourth deer and my personal best. He had 3-points with eye guards and a pretty decent sized body so I was elated. I've never had more than a few days to deer hunt so I don't pass much up but I had been telling folks this years I was going to be a 3-point or better hunter so I was happy.

Great story and a nice buck!

[Walleyed]

Ok hope I'm not in trouble here. This picture is on another thread but the guy is really proud of this. last year he didn't even see a deer and this one him and my son tracked from the day befor opening and then for another four days. My son had a shot but his scope messed up on him and then Mr. AJ put him down in his tracks. The only problem I see is he's going to have to work hard at beating this one next year.

[ehunter]

That is a great buck good for him. What unit?

[Rank Amateur]

We went 1 out of 6 in Desolation unit. Not a good year for us, but if a couple of people would have shot a little straighter (me included) we would have been calling it a good season. Oh well, had a good time, some interesting weather and good company in camp. We arrived in camp on Wednesday of the first week (snowed hard the next day) and stayed the rest of the season.

Seemed to be a lack of bucks in general (winter kill I was told) and it was interesting to note the coyote population was way down, there were some, but it took several days before dog tracks were seen in the snow. Nephew had a nice bear cross the ridge in front of him at 75 yards, but had no tag.

My son did a good job of tracking down a forky in the snow that we had seen early in the morning but passed on shooting at because of the distance and circumstances. I will be darned if the Does, spike and forky didn't double back right by camp and then holed up in some thick stuff. The son booted them out of the thick stuff and right across a large opening and across a road, but the little forky messed around too long on a bench above the forest service road and took a .270 round to the ribs. I passed on the suitcase spike, just can't bring myself to do that.

It looked like the harvest might have been off a little, but most of the bucks were gone by the time we got there. The most we saw anybody had hanging was 2.

[Walleyed]

East Mt Emily. I would like to say more but my kids are at the age that I really need to stay on their good side so they take me

[BeaverBoy]

Hunted NE Oregon this year and covered alot of territory, 6 to 8 miles a day. We went 1 for 2, Pop's shot a younger deer that was probably the biggest forked horn I had ever seen. It was pretty close to a 20 inch spread. On average I was seeing 20 doe's a day. I think the key to seeing deer this year was getting away from people, the further away from the roads the more deer I was seeing. We hunted the last week of the season. It was a great trip.

[Twitchs_Tackle]

Nothing exciting from me. Stuck to my rule of 'large 3 pt or better' and passed on a few bucks opening morning. Sun, covered a lot of ground, but saw nothing to shoot. Mon, Covered even more ground, saw one HUGE buck that was pushed towards me (at mach 3, going downhill and away on an opposite ridge) no shot, then see one smaller 4X3 that I couldn't get a shot on before it bailed into some lodgepole blowdown. Then back to work...

All told, gps'ed at 21 miles hiked through the wilderness area in 3 days, no shot, and no filled tag for the first time in my hunting carreer (15 yrs). Guess I'll have to keep looking at last years...


Or maybe this one


Or the one before him...

[elkthumper]

nice bucks! so what is everyones view on the "best hunt" now. With reports of steens and trout creeks going to the dump?

[Jeremy]

we ended up going 64% in the paulina unit, about half and half between 3 point plus and fork/spikes

[Two Fister]

Man, we had an awful year in the Paulina unit. 1 dandy 4x5 out of 6 guys. I only saw small two small bucks running 100 MPH through the trees for 9 days of hard hunting. A couple in our group who always do well didn't see a single horn. Even the does were jumpy. Seemed like way more camps than in the past. I couldn't stand hunting the Potholes where it seemed like there was a guy behind every tree.

[traks44]

Originally Posted by elkthumper

nice bucks! so what is everyones view on the "best hunt" now. With reports of steens and trout creeks going to the dump?

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