2013 WY Mule Deer hunt

[bigbucks]

Well this will be kind of long. I was kind of waiting until I could get more pics together, I haven't got them all yet, but thought I'd get started.

Tim (Pa), Paul, Cousin Greg, & me took off for Walton Mountain (Green Mountain) in WY about 8am on Saturday, 10/19/13. After stopping for gas & to pee every 50-100 miles, we’re getting older you know, we made it to Hot Springs, SD about dark. We’d reserved a cabin there at the KOA, so we could have a bed & a shower one last night before our week in the mountains. Everybody woke up pretty early, as we’d switched to MTN time late in the day, but our bodies were still on Central time, so we were out of there about 6:30 or so & headed for Casper, WY & Walmart to get groceries & supplies. We detoured about 10 miles the wrong way, but managed to go by “apparently” the secret location for where all doe pee products are made, because that’s exactly what it stunk like. I think it was some type of corn or grain processing plant really, but there were no HUGE signs explaining what it was.

Our one night home at the KOA.

We got to Casper, found one of the Walmarts, & loaded our cart with high quality snacks, condiments (for those of you that know me well, I have no idea why), propane bottles, water, paper products, etc. Would have been a great time to pick up the coffee filters Greg forgot, but of course he didn’t realize he’d forgotten them yet...

We got to our turn off 7.2 miles West of the infamous Muddy Gap, WY. Somewhere slightly N of there all cell contact with the world ended, which at the time we didn’t know, as we’d had some coverage on Green Mtn 5 years ago when we were there. We started up the badly rutted one lane gravel road/trail to our camp site, which was I think about 12 miles up the mountain, on a very windy route. Muddy Gap, WY could best be equated to Midway Gas S of Long Prairie (if any have ever been there), other than Midway has more to offer...

Muddy Gap in the rearview mirror.

We setup the borrowed wall tent, dug the latrine, unloaded the 4 wheeler & generally got setup for the week. We got to the spot about 2pm & were setup by about 4pm.

A successful camp set up.

We went for a little scouting drive that evening before dark with the truck & saw two nice bucks, a big 4 X 5 & probably a 3 X 3 (no pics of those). We had buck tags & they had to have at least 3 points on one side. We went back to camp. I think we had our first of two planned fish fries that night, might have been the next night, can’t remember. We all brought fish from home. We did see some really small, under 6”, cutthroat trout in a stream along the trail.

Here's some of the very prevalent wild horses we saw along the trail climbing the mountain.

[bigbucks]

It takes a lot of stuff for 4 guys to setup camp for a week to hunt, at least if you want some comforts...

That's a homemade deer hunting blind for Paul's brother-in-law who's in wheel chair, he wasn't with, but it was a good way to protect our stuff on the drive.

We weren't going to starve...

We got to have our coffee...

[Black_Bay]

Great story so far. I love Wyoming. Can't wait to see more.

[bigbucks]

It started snowing & blowing sometime Sunday night, had around an inch the next morning I think. It was colder, we were wearing shorts when we arrived the night before. It wasn’t very nice. We stayed around camp, did a little scouting on foot in the morning & early afternoon.

This is probably more what it looked like that day.

Greg & I had decided we wanted to hunt near the clear cut down the road where we’d seen the bigger buck the night before, when the season opened Tuesday morning, 10/15/13. We decided crappy or not we better go check it out & figure out where we wanted to setup. We hopped on the 4 wheeler & went there. We saw a cow & calf elk, as well as a doe & fawn muley in that area. We were stoked about that. We headed back to camp. Did I mention the roads are not very good there? They were at one time undoubtedly, but are not well maintained, so there are severe wash out ruts in some places. We knew there was a bad one in the middle of the road, just over the hilltop, right before the turn off to our camp. We were excited & looking for critters & probably went over the hill a little faster than we should have, although not real fast. We were more to the right side & needed to be to the left to get around the rut. Greg braked & seeing he couldn’t get to the left, tried to wiggle around it on the right, but it was just too sloped toward the rut & too narrow. Fighting our way around it, the wheeler tipped to our left sides & somewhat forward as we were going down hill. We landed pretty hard & Greg’s left leg was pinned under the foot peg. The wheeler was on it’s side, but wanted to continue over onto it’s top, but we were holding if off with our right legs. My first thought was oh my goodness, he broke his leg, followed by, I can get up I have to get it off of him. I asked him if it was broken as I got up & was able to grunt & groan & force it back over onto it’s wheels. He got up limping & tried to walk it off. He said, no I don’t think it’s broken, but it hurts. We caught our breath, restarted the wheeler, & gingerly rode the rest of the way to camp. We were in a bit of shock & were fairly quiet. Later I noticed I was a bit sore on my upper left chest, close to my shoulder, but not bad.

Thank you Lord, we were really lucky. If he broke his leg or one of us broke our arm, or had a head injury the hunt would be over & obviously one of us could have even been killed. It was a very slow tip over, but it wasn't funny. We were EXTRA careful after that.

[bigbucks]

We got up about 5 or so the next morning & left camp about 6:30. Greg & me were on the wheeler, the other two on foot. There was some more fresh snow, but not a lot. We were the first ones to venture out on the trail, based on no tracks before us, which we were happy about. We saw 6-7 elk maybe 200 yards W of the trail in the low light. Looked like a nice bull with a bunch of cows. Elk season had just ended there. We got to the clear cut with another wheeler now on our tail. Bedded in the clear cut was a smaller bull elk & 6-7 deer, they blew out of there all directions. The close deer were antlerless, the others we didn’t know. We sat until about 10am & saw nothing else. Heard 2 fairly close shots about 9am. Later I talked to a guy that had jumped two bucks twice, the first time just off the clear cut & the second time he got one, a nice 3 X 3. We checked out another area farther S where I saw 6 antlerless deer, all in range. We headed back to camp for lunch & to check in. Tim had seen a nice 5 X 5 & another 3 X 3 or 4 X 4 with it, but they were out of range. Paul could have shot a nice 5 X 5 bull elk at 200 yards, but of course no license & it wasn’t season. He said it was limping a little, presumably from a bullet wound during the just finished elk rifle season.

We made a plan to pinch where he thought the bucks went after we ate lunch. Lots of guys & vehicles running around. A youth who could shoot any antlered deer, shot a spike probably 250 yards above our camp in the drainage while we were in camp. We ate lunch & setup the pinch in the main draw, which is around a mountain from camp. There were already guys in the timber when Greg & I took our positions down in the draw/canyon. We were waiting for Paul & Tim to get into position & then we were going to push up towards them. I was waiting in a spot & had noticed a nice open side hill trail about 200 yards to my left & thought if deer came out there I’d be shooting. I waited a bit then worked 30-40 yards farther forward to see what was there, all of a sudden I looked back at that side hill trail & there was a whole string of does trotting along it going the other way. I threw my rifle up & started checking heads to be sure. I got to the 6th one, I think, the last one anyway, & holy cow it had horns. A skinny, V shaped rack, but I could count 3 points on one side, so I got on the front of him & squeezed the trigger. Well I tried anyway... It wouldn’t fire, my first thought stupidly was the slide wasn’t all the way forward on my auto, no that was fine. Oh that’s right I thought they were all does, so hadn’t taken the safety off. I got that off, found him again & then a tree was in the way. He came out from behind that & I shot just has he went around the side of the hill. Pretty sure I missed, but had to go check, guessing the shot was about 250 yards trotting. Found where the bullet hit the side hill, no blood anywhere, but kept following for a while to make sure. As I was following I got to thinking I might as well keep following the tracks, I know there’s a shooter buck in this group, maybe I’ll get another shot.

Here's a random scenery photo.

[NoWiser]

Great story, thanks for posting it!! We stopped at Muddy Gap on our elk hunt this fall. All I remember is that it was cold, rainy, and WINDY there! I loved driving through Wyoming. You didn't see any antelope on your drive, did you??

[paceman]

Great story and pictures so far!

[bigbucks]

Great story, thanks for posting it!! We stopped at Muddy Gap on our elk hunt this fall. All I remember is that it was cold, rainy, and WINDY there! I loved driving through Wyoming. You didn't see any antelope on your drive, did you??

1 or 2...

[bigbucks]

I kept following. After a few hundred yards I jumped some deer 50-60 yards ahead of me in the pines, one was a doe, I saw two others I couldn’t identify. I just kept following. By now I’ve come out of the main drainage & am following the side of the bigger valley we hunt off of heading S. The deer seem to stay 50-100 yards below the top of the ridges, that are probably 300-400 yards long or more, several hundred feet high. I keep following, as they cross towards the top of a few small drainages. Then I look across another small cut 75-100 yards in front of me & there’s this big doe, with a fawn behind her staring at me at about 150 yards. She’s looking at me like, “Why do you keep following us? Who are you?” I see more deer to the right of her & a bit farther away. The one on the other side of the tree from her, butt towards me, head down, feeding, turns it’s head to the side & I see legal horns. It’s not a great target, but it’s a standing buck. I look for a rest, it’s a bare slope. 10’ behind me is a low rock, I retreat towards it, but as I start to get down realize I’ll be too far behind the crown of the hill to see the buck. Now the doe’s had enough, so she starts to move & blows, & the others go into motion. The buck goes broadside & I put the cross hairs on him. For some reason I put them on the top of the shoulder, he’s down hill, so I should have put them on the bottom. I shoot just as they all bust out of there. No idea if I hit him, thought I should, but the feeling wasn’t right. He’s out of sight, but a second larger buck comes into view from above them, that I hadn’t seen. I swing on him, solid shot opp, click! The clip hadn’t put in a new shell. Insert the expletive of your choice as I pulled back the slide & rammed another round in. I snap a steep quartering away shot at him as he disappears from view. Figured I for sure missed that one, wasn’t sure on the first. I look for sign, no blood. I keep following.

I go a few hundred more yards. Now they’ve turned WSW into another larger draw/canyon & started to angle down. I decide to stay above the tracks as far as I can hoping to see them from above before they see me. I’m working along & scanning the woods far ahead for movement & then I see them, again... There’s several deer in the pines working up, quite a bit higher than I am, across this small canyon. They’re standing & walking, the trees aren’t real thick, but the deer are at least 300 yards now. They’re going to be gone over the top soon, but I can see them now. They’re at long range, but I killed a running antelope at that distance a few years ago, so why not? At least they're basically still now. I settled down behind a nearby boulder & took a good rest. I cranked up the scope all the way & started looking for horns. Aah, there’s the smaller buck in an opening. I shoot, he moves a little bit. I shoot again, he stumbles, as he lurches forward, looked like I hit him, swear I saw blood on his belly. I follow him as he starts to go up & fire 3 more times, holding right below his ear as he goes up the hill. He disappears & the other deer stand there, looking in that area like they often do when one goes down. I think, wow, I probably got him.

I communicate with Greg where the deer were & that I may have hit one. I start my climb. 20-30 mins later, I’m guessing, I’m up where the deer were. I’m really getting tired now. A lot of side hill walking & a lot of climbing for a flatlander’s lungs. I search all over, lots of tracks, hard to tell exactly where the one I shot at was. I thought I knew from down below, but it looked a lot different up there. I find no blood or dead deer. The sun’s setting so I work down through that timbered draw to Greg & we go back to camp. I think it was that night the moon was out nice & bright...

I was excited by the shooting opps, but disappointed in not being able to connect.

[bigbucks]

Tim & Paul getting ready for the day after a scrumptious breakfast of coffee & pop tarts...

Greg getting geared up for some more, cold, wet, windy, crappy weather hunting.

[bigbucks]

I got up Wednesday morning to take a leak about 3:30, it was so cold my teeth were starting to chatter by the time I got to the tent door. When I came back in, I was shaking almost uncontrollably by the time I got in my sleeping bag with my socks, long underwear, long sleeved shirt, & stocking cap on. This is standard sleeping attire for someone in a somewhat normal sleeping bag, in a tent in these frigid conditions. Tim started the truck about 5am to check weather & temp. The truck said 12 degrees. I’m sure it was down to 10 by sunup. I decided to climb back up to the high place where I’d shot at those deer the day before & work back towards camp. I knew according to the tracks the one buck had broken off & headed back towards the main draw we were hunting, so I thought I’d follow him. We didn’t get going quite as early as Tuesday & there were hunters ahead of us up the slope. I waited until they picked a direction & then went up behind them. I hit the tracks of the main group of deer from yesterday & decided to follow to the top of this mountain to see where they went & if I could send a text. No luck on the text. By the time I got on top I’d found a few drops of blood. dump! I had hit one of those bucks. It didn’t look like much, just a scratch probably. His gate was normal & it was only a fleck here & there, but I decided I’d follow as long as I could. Maybe I’d jump him wounded, or come across the group again. Eventually after several hundred yards, they crossed another open top where the wind was strong & the tracks were wiped out. I knew that other guys had already gone down into that timber about a half hour ahead of me, so I had to give up the tracking. I followed a game trail down through some dark timber into the main draw & then Greg picked me up on the wheeler to go back to camp. I don’t think anybody had seen anything that morning.

We decided to go South that afternoon & check out the area where Greg & Brent had got their deer on the last night on our prior trip. It was about 7 miles from camp. We all went in the truck. The road was thawing & really dicey as far as getting stuck in one spot, but we made it. We saw at least 5 does & fawns from the truck right by the road on our way down there. We split up again. Paul & Tim took the woods on the right side of this huge, long, rough meadow. Greg & I headed towards the back edge of the left woods to cut back to a large clearing they’d found last time. We jumped a couple of antlerless deer as we came into it & then saw another doe & fawn out in the clearing a bit. Greg went & sat by a little cluster of trees where Brent had scored from 5 years before, while I explored the fingers of this huge clearing down on the W end. I jumped one of the original does again. I wasn’t feeling the best & indicated to Greg I was going back to the truck. He indicated he was watching game & would stay. I snuck back a bit & saw the two cow elk that came to within 20 yards of him. Eventually they went by me around a 100 yards. There was another doe & fawn muley to the E of him. I really was chilled & nauseas so headed back to the truck. He saw another deer, he thinks was a buck run out, out of range & a nice bull elk was standing where I’d been as he came W in the clearing. Paul had started walking back towards camp & made it about 3 miles or so before we picked him up. He saw a doe & a fawn I think.

Thursday Greg wanted to go back to the S clearing. I said I’d go to the clearing we’d found mid morning Tuesday where I saw the 6 deer. They were less than a mile apart. The other two would hunt closer to camp again. As I got into the clearing I saw 3 elk, all 200 yards or less. A bull that was at least a 5 X 5, then a cow or small spike & another bull that was probably a 4 X 4, or maybe only a 3 X 3. The elk ran off, but I could hear the one bull bugling throughout the next hour or so, which was really cool. Greg saw nothing. He picked me up around 10:30 & we went & explored another off shoot road that climbed this high ridge. We walked this long ridge out to the point & I saw a cow & calf elk over the side at 80-100 yards. We got back to camp around 1:30. The other guys hadn’t seen anything, but there were lots of fresh tracks. There were coyote tracks, everywhere. Greg & Paul were going to head back S, I wanted to stay close to camp & try straight W where we hadn’t gone yet. Tim was going back up the mountain behind camp. Paul & I went for a short walk down the drainage from camp. When he went back I decided to keep going & went probably another mile down. I’d been planning to come back to camp & get more clothes for the evening sit, but decided it was too far now, so I’d just walk. It started to snow for about the 32,135th time of the trip. This time is was big wet flakes, it wasn’t real cold, but it was snowing HARD. I walked over to the second ridge W & climbed it. I then walked it a long ways S before working down & coming back to camp. I was soaked from the snow & all the walking. There are horse trails from the wild horses up there everywhere. As high as you go you’ll find horse dump & trails. On my walk I had kind of a cool encounter with a big black stud with a star on his forehead & white socks on his back feet. He was guarding his little band of 4, mares & yearling foals. He chased them a ways off & then came back & pranced around about 100 yards or so from me & snorted at me defiantly. He just wanted to make sure I knew those were his horses. It was pretty cool. I got back to camp a bit after 5pm. Tim showed up about 10 minutes behind me. We changed clothes & got warmed up, he checked the weather in the truck. Snow into the morning & 30 mph wind forecast. PERFECT! NOT! The other guys came back around dark. Paul had seen 11 does & fawns, Greg had seen nothing. We ate & talked about it. We scraped the tarp off in front of the tent 3-4 times. We decided we’d be in no hurry to leave in the morning, so we could see where the deer were moving. I said I still wasn’t feeling that great & would get up when I felt like it.

[shortfatguy]

I was out there at the same time as you were! We hunted across the paved rd off of the agate flats rd! We did spend on afternoon glassing on green mt. Didnt see any bucks over there but I shot a coyote at a little over 300 yards. We found a lot of winter killed deer in the area we hunted. I ended up taking a smaller 4x4 and my brother shot a really nice 175ish 4x4. My two friends who are wy residents both shot antelope. One was a really nice one that scored 83 3/8 B&C. It was my first trip out there and I look forward to returning!