West baby!

[Scoot]

The last morning Briggs and I went to the area we started the trip at. The forecast was for warm and windy- two bad ingredients for chasing muleys. I sat in a spot that resulted in me getting blasted by a 30+ mile/hour wind. I couldn't hold my binocs still enough to glass effectively! Not surprisingly, I didn't see a deer.

Briggs, on the other hand, saw two decent bucks- possibly the same two bucks we'd seen the last time we were there. The nice 4x3 was chasing does and eventually disappeared around a corner. The other buck bedded on the other side of the draw in a spot that seemed reasonable for a sneak. Briggs took off after him.

It's almost impossible to see, but the buck is bedded to the right of the big juniper in the pic belowm (even if you know where he is you kind of have to close one eye and turn your head funny to make him out!)

This might help, but it's still tough to see.

Here's another shot with the same juniper in the picture. You can see Briggs in the bottom of the cree bed. I put an arrow in to help see him. He's just getting ready for his final 40 yards.

I was carefully watching the buck through the binocs when his head suddenly snapped in the direction of Briggs' approach.

Soon the buck was on his feet- things were unraveling fast!

The buck turned and trotted off with Briggs none the wiser. Briggs was down in the bottom of the creek and couldn't see the deer. Eventually Briggs figured out he'd been had and made his way back to our lookout. From there we packed up and headed out.

We hustled back to Briggs' land near Valley City for one final evening sit. Here's my view from the stand.

I saw 13 deer that evening and passed an ear wide 8 pointer in the last 15 minutes of light. It was a fun night, but no shooting. Briggs got blanked, so no arrows flung for him either.

...and that's how our trip ended. With only 2 1/2 days to shoot a muley I wasn't optimistic, but we had at least a couple very legit opportunities where we could have accomplished it. But, like is so often the case with mule deer, we were left with stories of how we "almost got him".

Muley hunting is frustratingly tough! However, it's fun as heck! In 12 years of chasing muleys out there with Slevy I've shot two mule deer. I could have shot about 100 does and dozens of little bucks, but I've passed on them and held out for bigger bucks. Accordingly, I've eaten my tag out there a bunch of times. I've managed to take two nice bucks, but nothing huge by most people's standards. But boy oh boy is it fun out there in God's country! If you go in with a good attitude, work hard, and have a week to make it happen, there's a decent chance you can get it done. If you're more like me and you don't get to fling an arrow, hopefully you'll be able to enjoy your time out there in that wonderful country as much as I do. Deer or no deer, arrows flung or not, it sure is wonderful getting out there with great friends and getting to play for a few days.

Thanks for following along! I hope you have a great December and a wonderful Christmas! With any luck I'll still have a picture or two to share before the archery season wraps up.

[DonBo]

Thanks for the fun Scoot. You are right of coarse, there's usually more to a successful hunt that filling a tag. (even though I love filled tags )

The best hunt I was ever on was an antelope hunt, and I never did shoot one that year. The terain out in that part of the world is certainly worth the price of admission all on it's own.

[NoWiser]

Love it! Thanks for sharing, Scoot! I've got to give that a try someday! I wish I were as good about taking pictures as you, but I just never seem to want to take the time to pull out the camera while I'm hunting. It's something I need to work on for sure.

[Boar]

Way cool! Love the closing picture. thanks for taking the time to share that absolutly way cool.

[mrklean]

always love seeing those west pics of yours

[paceman]

great report scoot. another great reminder that a successful hunt does not have to be one that ends with a bloody knife.

[sticknstring]

Great recap and pics - thanks for taking the time to share it with us! Sure is some beautiful country!

[dukhnt]

Great story as always! Thanks for taking me back there. Seems like forever ago but it only was September.