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Mule deer in Wyoming
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We left for Wyoming early Sunday morning to start our 14-hour drive to Gillette and full of excitement for
the hunt to come. I had one buck tag and two doe tags, one for deer and one for antelope. In Wyoming a general deer tag is
for mule deer or for whitetail, but I had a mule deer buck on my mind. We had made this trip two years ago and came home empty
handed on the harvest side of the trip but any trip out west is always a great getaway. The memories made are worth the trip
alone. We got to our destination about 11:00 p.m. and on the way into camp the road right of way was full of game
that is always a welcome sight. It seemed every 300 feet there was mule deer. We set camp up about three miles off the main
gravel roads. The roads were rutted up bad from the rain that area had received prior to our arrival. A 4 x 4 vehicle is a
must in these types of areas.
This was our first trip to this particular area so after setting up camp I got some shut eye in my new Mountain
Hardware® Lamina™ 20 Thermic Micro mummy bag that was super-lite but kept we warm on 30 degree nights. It was an excellent
sleeping bag for cold conditions and I sure won’t go camping without one from now on. The next morning would involve scouting and driving the area to see where the boundaries were. The terrain
was totally different from what we were accustom. One hundred miles to the south there were lots of pine and cedar trees and
much rougher country with higher elevations. But the scenery was awesome near our camp site and our hopes were high. That afternoon we started hunting the hills and the ditches. Climbing up and down these things seemed to
take forever. I covered what I thought was a lot of country with my Mathews bow and a quiver full of arrows. After about three
hours I decided to look at my GPS to see how far I had come from camp. I had covered about two miles but was only a half mile
from camp. The terrain in this area was a mixture of ditches, tall hills and open prairie. On this hunt I wore ReadHead®
Silent-Hide™ pants, shirt and hat in Realtree® Hardwoods green® HD™. It blended in great for the area I was stalking.
And the Silent-Hide™ was comfortable and of course very quiet which is the most important thing while stalking anything.
This trip I wore LaCrosse® 18-inch Striker snake boots which proved to be the most comfortable pair of snake boots I have
ever worn. The athletic fit design allowed me to wear them on the whole trip with no discomfort what so ever. I decided to head back to camp to see if my buddy had returned from his hunt area but he hadn’t returned
yet so I decided to grab a bottle of water, relax for a while and do some glassing from camp. While glassing I happened to
see two bucks south of camp about a half mile away and decided to start working my way there, hopefully to find a bigger buck
with them, being that some of the bucks we were seeing were bunched up.
With the wind in my favor I started my way on the stalk. After going through several deep draws I had finally
made it to their last location. I slipped around the hillside where they had gone. Walking ever so slowly I searched but found
no sign of the bucks so I decided to glass again and work my way down some long ledges that were about 15 feet in height and
about 40 feet wide before dropping down to the next draw. They were easy to walk down one to the other as I quietly descended,
slowly glassing as I went. The ledges were lined with pine trees making for great cover during the stalk. I glassed down each draw before continuing down to the next and after almost giving up seeing the bucks again,
on the last draw below me there was a nice sized mule deer heading right down the draw toward me. He was totally off guard
and I dropped down to one knee in hope of getting a shot when he passed in front of me but he spotted movement and froze looking
straight at me through the branches of a pine tree. He stood there for what seemed an eternity before taking a few more steps.
Another moment and his steps would bring him right in line with my arrow. This was the perfect time to come to full draw and
get set when he got in front of me. I was ready with my Mathews® XT and Gold Tip® arrow with the new Rage™ broad head. I looked through
my peep sight at my HHA single pin sight and released the arrow and down he went. I had hit a pine branch and it kicked my
arrow high and back hitting him in the spine. The deer got back up and was trying run but couldn’t go far so quickly
reloaded with another arrow and put it through both lungs. Needless to say he was down. I couldn’t believe it the first
day there and I had my first mule deer buck on the ground. Although he was not the biggest mule deer out there I couldn’t
be more proud of my harvest. In the next few days to come I was also able to fill my doe deer tag on a walk-in area. This was a fairly
small track of 350 acres in contrast to the vast Wyoming landscape but was the place to fill doe tags. For deer or antelope,
does must be taken on private property tracks of land and not on federal or state property. It was a nice way to finish off
the hunt. The doe I was able to take was near a water hole. On the previous day I had seen several deer at this location but
the wind was wrong for an approach so I waited till the next morning to slip in and make the stalk before they even new I
was there and I was able to make a 45-yard shot to harvest the doe. This time I used the new Muzzy™ MX 4 broad head
and it did the job with no problem and this fixed blade flies just like a field point. One thing is for sure before going
out west for your hunt make sure you practice your archery shots out to 40 and 50 yards. Out there that is the average shot
distance. I used my Case knife for gutting/cleaning all of my game. When you walk distances through the back
country for a big game harvest it is important to use a good knife for caping your wall mount and removing cuts
of meat from the bone.
After filling my deer doe tag I decided to try my luck at harvesting an antelope doe and that proved
to be a difficult task on the 350-acre parcel. While walking on part of this property I could see antelope across the
way. Nevertheless, they were on federal land so I tried setting up my antelope decoy from Montana Decoy Inc., on the ridge
to try to raise their curiosity and pull the does my way. I would guess that there were 25 to 30 antelope does at rest about
500 yards down a hill on the land section that bordered my private land hunting location. Some of them stood up to look at
my antelope decoy but would not come on over. They just returned to the ground and laid there for over a half hour. I just
could never get the attention of any doe antelope from the setups I had on at least 100 does I saw during that hunt. The decoy was super lite and folds down to next to nothing for packing in and I must say the look is very
realistic. Easy set up is a snap with the two support legs that go through guided sleeves and even in high wind the antelope
decoy was very stable.
You do not have to be a professional hunter to have a successful hunt out west or experience the hunt of
a lifetime on the first day. You do have to be willing to work hard and spend a little time and money preparing for the hunt.
Regardless of the outcome it is well worth the trip. Wyoming gear bag: clothing ReadHead® Silent-Hide™ in Realtree® Hardwoods green® HD www.basspro.com optics Readhead® compact binoculars boots LaCrosse® Striker snake proof www.lacrossefootwear.com broadheads Rage™ and Muzzy™ MX 4 [both are a excellent choice depending on your preferance
] www.ragebroadheads.com and www.muzzy.com bow Mathews® Switchback XT http://www.mathewsinc.com bow sight HHA Sports Optics www.hhasports.com arrows Gold Tip www.goldtip.com knives Case® www.wrcase.com sleeping bag Mountain Hardwear® www.mountainhardwear.com antelope decoy Montana Decoy Inc., www.montanadecoy.com  |
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