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Montana High Country Mule Deer |
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Bitterroot Bulls
Optics Master Extraordinaire Joined: May/07/2009 Location: Montana Status: Offline Points: 3416 |
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Posted: September/17/2011 at 21:39 |
Well, my buddy and I backpacked nine miles deep into the Montana high alpine backcountry for the opener of early rifle. This is a public land, OTC hunt for mule deer. Deer numbers are not high in this area, but if you find a lone buck, he is often an old one. That is the case with this deer. He only had a few teeth left. He was in full, beautiful, untouched velvet with a 4 inch horizontal kicker on his driver's side ... before the shot(s). I kept putting shots on him to try to keep him on the ribbon cliff he was on, but of course he rolled right off. The velvet was shredded, and the kicker was MIA. My buddy and I searched the path of the fall, and through some miracle, my buddy found it in the rocks. My taxi should be able to fix the kicker and put some synthetic velvet on.
The pack-out was brutal, but worth it! |
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-Matt
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ckk1106
Optics Master Joined: December/14/2007 Location: Arizona Status: Offline Points: 1439 |
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Awesome. What gun/caliber?
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grizbacker
Optics Apprentice Joined: September/09/2011 Location: Montana Status: Offline Points: 70 |
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Nice buck!!! I have always wanted to hunt this unit and have done a few scouting trips in it. As soon as I graduate and have more time I plan to give it a try.
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grizbacker
Optics Apprentice Joined: September/09/2011 Location: Montana Status: Offline Points: 70 |
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Bitteroot, About what elevation were you hunting? looks pretty high
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jselsor
Optics Journeyman Joined: August/01/2011 Location: MO Status: Offline Points: 328 |
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That is one extreme hunt! Congrats Man. Next Fall I hope to do somthing similar
J Selsor
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Dont take yourself to seriously
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jonoMT
Optics Master Extraordinaire Joined: November/13/2008 Location: Montana Status: Offline Points: 4853 |
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That's a stunning shot and a good story. Glad you had such a rewarding trip.
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Reaction time is a factor...
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Bitterroot Bulls
Optics Master Extraordinaire Joined: May/07/2009 Location: Montana Status: Offline Points: 3416 |
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It was my backpacking setup: Remington Model 7 Douglas barrel stainless 22' 7mm-08 Leupold PRW bases Leupold PRW rings Vortex Viper 2-7X32 BDC Handloaded Barnes 140 TTSX. |
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-Matt
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Claus
Optics Professional Joined: August/05/2010 Location: Denmark Status: Offline Points: 817 |
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!!!!!
That is REALLY a nice buck you got yourself there Matt. Looks like a lot of work to get him out of there. What was the elevation there? How heavy is a beast like that? |
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Savage 93 17.HMR. Tikka Tac A1 308 Blaser R8 6,5-55 / 30-06. Beretta Silver Pigeon. Comming up-TIKKATAC A1 22LR
Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what the hell happened |
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Bitterroot Bulls
Optics Master Extraordinaire Joined: May/07/2009 Location: Montana Status: Offline Points: 3416 |
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The elevation was over 8000 feet. That buck led to 113 pounds of boned out meat. So using the "thirds" rule-of-thumb, he should have been around 300 pounds live weight.
Edit: Just noticed the error on the meat poundage. Edited by Bitterroot Bulls - September/19/2011 at 10:55 |
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-Matt
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jonoMT
Optics Master Extraordinaire Joined: November/13/2008 Location: Montana Status: Offline Points: 4853 |
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That's about the altitude you need to be hunting at with the temperatures we've been having. I'm glad it's finally cooling down.
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Reaction time is a factor...
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billyburl2
Optics Master Extraordinaire Joined: January/08/2009 Location: Cottonwood, AZ Status: Offline Points: 4015 |
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Jealous...Very Jealous
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If it is tourist season, why can't we shoot them?
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Claus
Optics Professional Joined: August/05/2010 Location: Denmark Status: Offline Points: 817 |
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If you weren't in good shape before, i bet you are now.
That's a lot of heavy work man. Is that a normal weight for a muledeer buck? Please let us see how you mount it. Thanks
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Savage 93 17.HMR. Tikka Tac A1 308 Blaser R8 6,5-55 / 30-06. Beretta Silver Pigeon. Comming up-TIKKATAC A1 22LR
Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what the hell happened |
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Bitterroot Bulls
Optics Master Extraordinaire Joined: May/07/2009 Location: Montana Status: Offline Points: 3416 |
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Most I have taken have been in the 200-250 range. In my experience, it takes a really old buck to get into 300 pound territory. This guy had a 2 inch cover of fat over the rib meat. |
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-Matt
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lucytuma
Optics Jedi Knight Joined: November/25/2007 Location: Wisconsin Status: Offline Points: 5389 |
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Beautiful, plain and simple. Congratulations Matt!
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"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." - Thomas Jefferson
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supertool73
Optics God Superstool Joined: January/03/2008 Status: Offline Points: 11814 |
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Way to go Matt. He is a dandy.
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Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.
"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything they don't own." |
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cheaptrick
MODERATOR Joined: September/27/2004 Location: South Carolina Status: Offline Points: 20844 |
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Outstanding!
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If at first you don't secede...try..try again.
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Bitterroot Bulls
Optics Master Extraordinaire Joined: May/07/2009 Location: Montana Status: Offline Points: 3416 |
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Thanks guys!
I will be working on the video for a while... |
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-Matt
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SVT_Tactical
MODERATOR Chief Sackscratch Joined: December/17/2009 Location: NorthCackalacky Status: Offline Points: 31233 |
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Dogger
Optics Jedi Master Joined: January/02/2007 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Offline Points: 8902 |
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Very nice buck Matt and gorgeous location (maybe not so gorgeous with 100lbs of meat on your back). A dream hunt for most of us! Congrats.
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God save the Empire!
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8shots
Optics Jedi Knight Lord Of The Flies Joined: March/14/2007 Location: South Africa Status: Offline Points: 6253 |
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Way to go...the tough hunts are the best.. but only after you have a cold frosty in the hand!!
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