November Escapade | Rifle Mule Deer Hunt
November Escapade
I arrived the night before the third day of the season of this hunt, which wasn’t ideal but just the way things worked out with my schedule. It was also good to miss the crowds on opening weekend and with weather coming in I was hoping for perfect rutting conditions. I was truck camping on this trip in order to be mobile and travel to different parts of the unit. This was an area I was familiar with, but had never had the tag to hunt it. I did have some friends that have hunted the area, but it was a new area to them as well. I did do some scouting, but that becomes somewhat irrelevant when the rut kicks in because the deer become less patternable. The scouting did help for navigating road systems and finding good camp locations.
The next morning I was greeted with a fresh dusting of snow that covered the landscape. November, cold temps, and snow is a mule deer hunter's dream. It was a steep snowy hike in the dark, but I made it up to my first vantage point before light. As the sun came up I was able to find a couple pairs of does and fawns followed by a larger group of does further in the distance. The snow made for great glassing conditions and the cool weather had the deer on their feet. I decided to pack up and head toward the larger group of deer in hopes that my probability of locating a buck would be greater. One of my good hunting buddies had set up a trail camera in this particular area and sent me a pin so I would be able to check the camera and bring it back with me. Unfortunately it is very common for trail cameras to get stolen and my friend’s camera was gone. It would have provided some awesome insight on the caliber of deer that had been moving through the area.
As I cut the distance to the larger group of deer I was able to verify that there were two forky bucks in the group, but nothing bigger. This time of year I have learned that it is a game of covering the numbers to locate a mature buck, so passing on these deer to look for more was an easy decision. I knew that I needed to see as many deer as I could in order to find that mature buck that could appear at any moment. The issue was this particular group of deer were on a ridge I needed to get to in order to look into more country, so I had to patiently wait for them to move off then was able to hike around them. I don’t want to bump deer out of an area because I would like to be able to find them again just in case one of the does comes in heat and attracts a mature buck.
Cresting the next ridge I was able to locate another group of deer directly below me about 300 yards away that appeared to have a couple of bucks. I quickly grabbed my spotting scope and tripod and got on the deer. There was a pretty three point and 150 class four point buck. Neither were the caliber I was after so I elected to pass on the deer. While observing these bucks I heard a couple shots in the distance as a reminder that I am not the only one out there on public land chasing these rutting deer. The wind had also picked up making it frigid cold. I found a spot in the rocks to cut out the wind and built a small warming fire to sit out the cold and continue to glass. I glassed a few smaller bucks in the distance as the dusting of snow slowly melted with the afternoon sun, but no shooters were found.
The next morning was bitter cold and light snow was falling. I had to wear long johns, which I do not prefer because my legs get so hot hiking, but they were very necessary in these conditions. I decided to move on to a new area to locate more deer and hopefully find a next level buck. The area I went to was higher in elevation and more of a transition area to the winter range country. There was a lot more timber and aspens which can be harder to glass, but great mule deer habitat. Hiking into this drainage I glassed up a small group of does about midway up the mountain feeding in a small park. This time of year I would expect a buck to be around so I set up the tripod and readied the rifle. After an hour or so of watching the small group of does I decided to move on and cover more country with the plan of checking on them later in the day to see if a buck moved in.
I hiked another mile or so further into the drainage before a mature buck appeared to my right only 80 yards away in a window through the thick oak brush. I slowly grabbed my binos and looked over the buck. He was wide and heavy 3x4, but not very tall. I still had time in this hunt to pass the buck, but typically during the rut if you don’t shoot the buck when you see him you have a slim chance of relocating the buck. This was all running through my head as I was debating shooting the buck. Then suddenly he quickly moved through the brush chasing a doe. I now didn’t have a visual of the deer so I rushed over the adjacent ridge to gain some elevation and be able to relocate the buck. I was able to spot the buck on the heels of a hot doe along with another smaller buck. I knew this was a deer that I would be happy with and the thought of not seeing him again helped to make the decision that I was going to take the buck. I got the shooting sticks set up for a seated position shot. I patiently waited for him to stop as he was aggressively chasing the doe and fired. The buck didn’t react so I reloaded. The buck was still chasing the doe and working his way higher on the mountain. I settled the rifle again, fired a shot and this time the buck dropped and crashed into the oak brush!
Walking up to the buck was a mule deer hunter's dream. Big snowflakes falling and mature buck on the ground. I examined the deer and noticed as I caped the buck that I had hit the buck well with both shots, but in his rutted up craze, was able to take the first shot and keep going. It is truly amazing how tough these animals can be. He was a great buck with good mass, good width, and the age class I was looking for. I was able to get the buck out in one heavy load back to the truck. Doesn’t get much better than hunting rutting mule deer in the snow!
