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'06 mulie

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supertool73 View Drop Down
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    Posted: January/25/2008 at 12:24


I shot this during the '06 muzzeloader hunt in Utah.  He was a 29" wide 4 point





Edited by supertool73 - September/24/2008 at 21:01
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bigdaddy0381 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/25/2008 at 12:27
Man that thing is nice. Give us the story behind it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote supertool73 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/25/2008 at 14:46
Well it took me four seasons to find him.  That hill you can see in the background, it goes on for a good 8-10 miles getting a lot higher and turns into pines on top.  There used to be a stag herd that would all run up there together up on the northern end of the ridge in the pines.  There was 4 or 5 of them that would run together and they would only be up there after the bow hunt started.  We scouted it a lot and that was the only time that we could seen them.  So we started getting a muzzle loader tag each year and began hunting them.  The only day that they could be found was the opening day of the hunt.  Once they got spooked they just disappeared into the pines and were gone for the remainder of the muzzle loader and rifle hunt. 

There was my dad and I and about 6 other hunters from my home town that new about them, we would all be up there on the opening day trying to get them.  First day of the 1st year we really went after them the other six guys all got to do some shooting but none of them connected.  I just had to sit back and watch from about 400 yards away.  We hunted it for 3 more days and never seen them again.

2nd year I happened to jump them in the pines but they never let me get close enough to get a shot and I chased them right to the other hunters and they got to do some shooting again.  I was again watching from a distance of about 300 yards this time and they wounded  two of them but did not get them and never did find them.  That was very up setting to me, they were all shooting way to far for a muzzleloader and just completely ruined and wasted two bucks around 30".  One of them was gut shot and shot in the butt, the other looked like he was hit in the hind quarter as well.  They all gave up the tracking after about an hour and just did not care.  I spent 2 more days in there looking for them not wanting them to be wasted and never found but to no avail.

Season 3 all of us was up there again and we did not see any of them that year, I did see two really good bucks before the hunt started but was not able to find them during the hunt.

Season 4 the only people on the hill that day was my dad and I.  We done the usual one person get out ahead in an opening and the other do a drive through the pines where they seemed to like to hang out.  But we never saw anything.  I decided to head down off the west side into some thick pines and see if I could get lucky and find them.  I went about 300 yards into the trees and came to an opening and there he stood about 90 to 100 yards from me facing south feeding.  He saw me the same time I saw him.  As soon as I saw him my gun was automatically moving up to the firing position and my thumb automatically cocked the hammer.  (thank goodness for all my tactical rifle classes and my practicing presentations)  I immediately centered the cross hairs right to his front shoulders and pressed the trigger (good old muscle memory, my cross hairs can up right where the should be).  He immediately dropped to his front knees and and started to stumble around a bit, I was already in the process of beginning my reload and he got up whirled around and headed north out of the opening.  I am guessing the whole seeing him and shooting him took maybe 3 seconds, and 10 to 15 seconds before he had gotten up and ran out of the little opening.  I almost drew my .45 and shot him again as he ran out of the opening, as it was killing me watching him run away and not being able to do anything about it.  But I though better of that as I knew I had made a good hit as I knew were my cross hair was when the trigger broke.  So I hurried and finished my reload and was after him within a minute and followed the trail about 50 yards and there he laid completely dead. 

I called my dad and on the radio and he got to me and then we cleaned him out and lucky for us there was snow on the ground and it was all down hill.   We had to drag him for about 2 miles to the four wheelers.

I took him up to the game processor and he caped him out for me that night so I could get the cape and head to the taxidermist.  He showed me the bullet I used (which was a 265 grain PowerBelt, great bullets by the way) and it went in and broke the left shoulder and into the chest threw the chest cavity into the right shoulder breaking the bone and stopped just short of the hide.  He gave me the bullet and it had expanded to the size of a quarter.  I weighed it and it had retained 90% of it weight.  The internal damage was amazing as I was cleaning him.  I have never seen a muzzleloader round do that much damage before and between my dad and me we have killed quite a few deer with the muzzleloaders.  Power Belts are sweet bullets.

So that is pretty much the story.  I scouted and hunted it again this last year with my cousin and dad and we did not seen and big bucks.  Several small ones, so I am afraid they may be no more.  To bad as I enjoyed be able to see them as much as hunting them.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bigdaddy0381 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/25/2008 at 14:52
great story..... Thanks for sharing.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cheaptrick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/25/2008 at 15:45
Nice buck!!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lucznik Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/25/2008 at 16:21
What is your muzzleloader setup?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote supertool73 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/25/2008 at 16:22
T/C Omega .50 cal.  1x simmons scope
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chris Farris Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/25/2008 at 16:23
Great story.  I can imagine how sick you felt over the two wounded bucks.  They often go to water to die and many times you can find them dead on the bank.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote supertool73 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/25/2008 at 16:51
Originally posted by Chris Farris Chris Farris wrote:

They often go to water to die and many times you can find them dead on the bank.


Ya, there is a creek down off the west side of the ridge where they water.  I have walked it a couple times since then but didn't find anything.  It was a good couple miles from them though and it is so thick and steep on the West side of the ridge it is tough to even walk through it.  They probably just went and laid down in that thick stuff and died. 

To bad too, they were both great bucks.  I watched them running across the flat in my glasses and they were probably bigger than the one I got.  One of the guys that wounded one of them said he figured he would go 34".  It's just another example of hunters negligence not knowing what they or their weapons are capable of and what their limits are.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tahqua Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/26/2008 at 06:02
Nice buck and a good story, I enjoyed reading it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote martin3175 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/26/2008 at 07:46
Interesting stuff--thanks and congrats on a great buck
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ed Connelly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/27/2008 at 08:39
Very nice muley! "The stuff that dreams are made of." One's hunting trip certainly is enhanced or ruined with who you are hunting with.
 
That buck is the Holy Grail of Mule Deer hunting.  Good one, Supertool! (Now I need to find one that is big like that....or even his baby brother!)  Wink      --Ed
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RONK Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/02/2008 at 20:36

 When I encountered the biggest mule deer of my life, I had been riding alone for most of the day on a huge tract of public ground in Montana. I was on a somewhat skittish, but otherwise VERY good little mare. We were miles from camp, it was already mid-afternoon and it was right around 35 degrees below zero. (Temperature, not windchill factor!) He was bedded in a little patch of sage, and stood up and stared at us out in the open less than 150 yards, broadside. He was around thirty inches wide or maybe just a bit wider, but unbelievably tall and as thick as my forearms. He would have dressed over 300 pounds, easily.

 I was hunting elk, but had a deer "A " tag in my pocket also, so he was as good as dead.
 The problem was that I was nowhere near anything to tie the horse to!  If I had just dismounted and shot the deer, the mare would have spooked at the shot and I might never have seen her again. If I had shot from her back, I would probably never have been seen again!
 That buck looked at us the whole time I was debating what to do, but finally ambled away.
 To this day I regret not taking the shot. I probably would have survived the night even if the horse had run off! I was well-equipped and clothed, and there was plenty of snow for a snow cave, and firewood nearby. Plus, I would have had fresh meat and a big deer hide!
 After we came out of the mountains a week later, we found out that two guys from Livingston had frozen to death a few valleys over from our camp. Apparently they had killed a yearling elk and tried to drag it out, got overheated and sweaty, couldn't get a fire going and died of hypothermia.


Edited by RONK - February/02/2008 at 20:43
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tip69 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/03/2008 at 08:23
RONK,
 
I'd say you made the right decision.  Getting as close as 125 to that kind of a deer is a "trophy" to me!  I'll probably never get in the same state as one.....at least not with a rifle in my hand.
take em!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RONK Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/03/2008 at 14:55
 I guess I'll never know for sure, but I think of that evening's ride back to camp as my "Trail Of Tears"!  Dear Lord, that deer was BIG!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ed Connelly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/03/2008 at 22:56
That was quite a dilemma. And those two guys dying out there...Good Lord. I guess this just illustrates that it is absolutely essential that one knows how to get a fire going...and: is a game animal that important?... considering that kind of weather? At 35 Below you had better seriously be thinking about survival, even if you are not lost, or wet, or hurt. It doesn't take long to kill yourself outside at those temperatures.                         --Ed
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 8shots Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/04/2008 at 08:10
There is also a saying that goes: You are often sorry about the girls you turned down, but hardly ever sorry about those you did not!
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tahqua Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/04/2008 at 18:03
Originally posted by 8shots 8shots wrote:

There is also a saying that goes: You are often sorry about the girls you turned down, but hardly ever sorry about those you did not!
 
 
 
How true that is with trophy animals


Edited by tahqua - February/04/2008 at 19:09
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RONK Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/04/2008 at 18:50
 Yeah, you guys are right, it was a memorable adventure at any rate. 
 Now that I think about it, I kind of regret not buying that  little mare, too.
 I could tell right away that she had a sweet disposition , but she was very "headshy" (didn't want to take bit or bridle.) I think a previous owner was too rough with her at one time, and that time and patience would have cured her. She wasn't very big, but she could just eat up the miles.  You felt like you were riding a bird more than a horse!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Steelbenz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/04/2008 at 19:24
Y'all are killin' me, my brother is in Guffy Colorado, he tells me allthe time to come up and hunt with him but for some reason or another I can never get out there during hunting season.  That things a monster supertool.
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