Wyoming Ultimate Crush

[Crappie Rage]

We hit the road on the last Sunday in August and drove non stop 13 hours to Wyoming. We had permission to hunt 700 acres that had whitetails and maybe a few mulies. We had never been there before and had only seen the place in aerial photos. The season opened on Wednesday the first and we had a plan.

For two days we scouted and secured permission to hunt a couple other spots, making sure to stay a long ways away from where we would be hunting. We hung two portables near a river for whitetails, both of them on the edge of cover. One where we had seen two good bucks and one where we could see a long ways.

Day 1 found Dave and Matt on the whitetail stands and me trying to figure out a group of mulies on the other property. Everyone saw deer but nothing close enough to shoot. The observation stand was moved closer to where deer were seen. I was able to watch a group of mulies leave an alfala field and bed not far in some thicker brush.

Dave and I went to the whitetail spot that evening and Matt went to the alfalfa field with his pop up blind. Again Dave and I saw deer, but nothing close enough to shoot. Dave was seeing deer pop up off the thick stuff on the river for 70 yards, walk by a big cottonwood and go back into the thick stuff. How ever they were 100 yards down from his tree.

Matt is in his pop up blind in the field 50 yards from any cover. The group of mulies comes out into the field right on cue. They stare at the blind for a little bit and go right on to feeding. It takes an hour and finally a nice buck is 30 yards away but facing straight on. Just then a doe gets behind the blind and gets a little freaked, the buck runs out to 60 yards, Matt ranges him and he goes another 10. Matt fires and smokes this Wyoming trophy. Buck did not go 40 yards.

Day 2

Dave again heads to the whitetail spot and I go back for another group of mulies bedding in a sorgum field. My mulies do not show up for the first time in 3 days. Dave has a big 9 point we have seen 2 times come up on the road and down again 100 yards away and that is all he can take. We moved the stand to that cottonwood late that morning.

That evening, Dave and I both go after whitetails. I see a does and fawns and some bucks a long way out. Dave's move is right on. Without a sound the big 9 is 15 yards away and moving. Dave is able to pick up his bow, but the buck stops right next to his tree at 8 yards. This stand is not very high and there is no cover between Dave and the buck. Dave does not move for 2 minutes until the buck starts to walk again. He draws and shoots very quickly and hits him perfect. The buck does not go 70 yards.

Day 3

Feeling a little left out and under a little pressure to close the deal and get us home, I headed for whitetails that morning. Only saw a few mulie does and one 5X2 whitetail that I would love to see 2 years from now. When Matt and Dave came and picked me up, they let me know they spotted a group of mulie bucks with 2 big ones in the group. They said they left a field and had gone through a small area and both were confident they would use that same area to return.

That night Matt and took the pop up blind and planned out ambush. Matt would try to film a kill. The wind was right for the funnel if only the deer would cooperate. After 1.5 hot hours in the blind Matt and I saw him at the same time. I have never killed a mule deer but have hunted them twice before and when he was 25 yards from the blind I knew he was big. Matt says "shoot him, he's right there!" I drew and have not had that much trouble being steady since I was 25 years old. Matt says 20 yards and I finally let go. The shot looked good, but may have been a hair low. The buck ran up a small hill and stopped. I grabbed my backup arrow and Matt opened a window. Matt says 40 yards and the second shot was off. This one would only cut the brisket. Later both distance estimates are determined to be 5 yards short.

After 30 seconds we can see the deer walking away with blood covering both front feet. He laid down with his mouth open looking bad. Then when we thought we would see him expire, here comes a train. As the train got near he spooked and shot out of there like a bullet. We got out of the blind and walked up a small hill. 70 yards from where he was laying were a patch of bushes, the only cover around. After 30 seconds, I could see an antler sticking up from the brush and knew it was over. The train just sped up the process.

When we look back on this trip we can see we made almost no mistakes. Scouting from afar. Not going into the whitetail cover and busting them out. Spot and ambush instead of spot and stalk. We also had 3 shot opportunities and 3 kills.

The 13 hours home didn't seem so bad.

[Scoot]

Awesome!!! Congrats on a wonderful trip!!! Thanks very much for taking the time to share this with us.

[mrklean]

great story thats a heck of a hunt yo guys had

[pumper317]

Looks and sounds awesome! Congrats to all of you on GREAT deer!

[matchset]

that looks like a lot of fun guys! great photos; props to you!

[DonBo]

Great hunt. Three great deer. But dude, fix the date feature on your camera would you please?

[Crappie Rage]

That @#$%! camera. Every time I change the batteries the date gets messed up.

[matchset]

just take the date off the photos. go to your camera settings and get rid of it!

[FishingWebGuy]

Nice pics, great story. Thanks for posting!

[Nate McVey]

Great story and photos! Thanks for sharing. As for the date, who cares, the pics are awesome, just photoshop it out or photoshop in the actual date........

[Hoyt4]

Nice work boys,

[fire29]

Great hunting trip!!! Thats how they are sapposed to end. Nice work.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Awesome picts and story.. thank you for sharing!

[Cheetah]

Great deer! Congrats!

[sticknstring]

Nicely done fellas - what a memorable trip! Thanks for sharing.

[musky hunter]

Really nice hunt, I enjoyed reading about it. Nice pics, too!

[GRH]

awesome hunt and story, congrats