My North Dakota Mule Deer Hunt

[CrewJones]

Wow its almost like a TV show, minus the corporate sponsors

great shot, nice deer

[engfish]

You and Scoot are going to have to fight it out over the Best Story of 2012 award. Thanks for sharing your adventures.

[paceman]

Congratulations! That trip sounds like a blast!

[slimngrizzly]

Great job! Thats a nice velvet buck! Enjoyed the story!

[Shu]

Congrats, great story and buck!

[dukhnt]

Day 5

The morning was pretty uneventful and when everyone got back to camp it was decided to pack up and try a different spot. Since we just brought up 5 gallons of water the afternoon before we had to bring 2.5 gallons back down.

As we walked out, I would glance down at my bow from time to time and see the 2nd arrow in my quiver covered in blood. Everytime I looked at that arrow it would put a smile on my face and I would relive the events that took place yesterday in my head. I still cannot believe that I had two bucks walk right to me!

After a drive we reached our destination. Put on our packs and started the hike.

As you can see in this picture. Since my tag was already punched, my bow and arrow turned into a jug of water.

Here was camp #2

As we were setting up camp. A decent buck jumped out of his bed not far from us. We were starting to have a good feeling about this spot.

Camp was set and we got up high on a ridge to get a better view of the area. As I looked down the other side I saw this.

That evening we only spotted a couple does and fawns. But the morning is when we were seeing more deer. So we went back to camp and had supper. After eating we layed on our backs looking at all the stars. Searching for satellites and shooting stars.

[lungdeflator]

Awesome story! congrats on the muley buck! I like the shed as well! Theres something about finding a shed in the fall that sits really well with me

[dukhnt]

Day 6

The morning was uneventful except for a couple of does being spotted. It was again decided to pack up camp and move. On the way out my buddy found a 3 point shed and also picked up this baby dinosaur.

That afternoon we got to the new spot and this is what the third camp looked like.

The view from my tent.

We all headed to a different spot that evening. I didn't see anything except for two chipmunks wrestling around.

When my buddy got back to camp he shared with me the story of his night. No bucks spotted but he had quite the encounter. He could hear two mountain lions fighting and they were making quite the racket. He used there noise to stalk closer to them. I am pretty sure I would have headed the opposite direction. He said he got within 80 yards of them. These two mountain lions were probably about a quarter mile from our camp. He was lucky enough to get some photos of the rare encounter.

Some would think it might be hard to fall asleep knowing that the mountain lions are close by. However moving camp twice in a couple of days was more than enough to make me tired and I fell right asleep.

The next morning I again didn't spot anything. I went back to camp a little early to make something to eat.

My buddy was soon back and was ready to go home. This was his fourth time out to the badlands and he couldn't believe how few deer were around. His dad got back and shared the story of him flinging an arrow at a buck. He was 50 yards away, however he was on his way out by the time the arrow reached were the buck stood. It was decided to pack up and head home.

Almost back to the truck

It was an awesome adventure. I hope to do it again sometime. I never did get to try to stalk on a mulie. But I will take them walking by me anyday!

[Scoot]

I never did get to try to stalk on a mulie. But I will take them walking by me anyday!

Heck ya!!! Stalking a muley is fun, but never look a gift-horse in the mouth!!!

Congrats to you on a wonderful hunt, dukhunt! Thanks very much for taking the time and effort to share your experience with us- I know how much effort it takes to do this and I'm thankful for the chance to be able to "follow along on the hunt". Sounds like a great trip was had by all...

[sticknstring]

Sounds like a great trip to me! Always a bonus when you get to take home some meat and bone. Thanks for sharing it with us!

[BLACKJACK]

Great story and a nice buck!!!!

[nbadger23]

Thanks for sharing the story and congrats on the successful hunt!

[DonBo]

Thanks for taking us with. Congrats on your buck. Cool mountain lion photo!

[NELS-BELLS]

Great story and great photos! Thanks for sharing and congrats again on a very nice mulie buck!

Nels