Mano a mano Mule Deer
I grew up hunting whitetails from a tree stand in the Southeastern United States. This style of ambush hunting has its own set of challenges and I still love it. But when I discovered the immersive challenge of mountain spot and stalk hunting, it was like a rebirth of my passion for hunting and I went all in.
But being a flatlander, I had much to learn about new species, new habitats, mountain hunting strategies, navigating broken and mountainous terrain, backpacking, hunt-planning, mountain fitness, gear, public land dynamics and a handful of other factors that I just never had to deal with. The learning curve was steep. Fortunately for me, I was able to surround myself with some amazing mountain hunters and I have been blessed to work and hunt with some of the best in the business.
So, this year, when I burned some Colorado mule deer points, I had been saving, I set myself a challenge. This hunt I would do solo. From research to planning and prep, e-scouting, hunt planning, finding and stalking game, and of course, executing the stalk and kill.
When we landed there was 8 inches of snow on the ground and the weather was calling for as much as 12-16 more inches. Being that I have to fly out to do my hunts, I have to travel light and every gear decision is a big one. That’s why I do not compromise when it comes to quality gear especially my clothing, backpack, boots, shelter and weapon systems.
We could not make it to my plan A spot with the bad weather, but I had to learned along the way to always have at least plans a-c ready to go when you hit the ground, so plan b it was. Opening morning we hiked in about 2.5 miles to my first glassing spot in some broken country with about 12 inches of snow on the ground.
It wasn’t long before we began spotting animals. First some elk, then, boom – a small group of doe about 1000 yards away on a ridge in front of us. This was a mid-November hunt so I knew if I kept an eye on those does, more than likely a buck would show up at some point. Before I barely had to time to direct my camera guy onto the group of does – there he was, all rutted up and ready to go. We watched him for about 5 minutes and he bedded, locked on to a hot doe. It’s never a bad thing to get reps when you are a new mountain hunter and even though I wasn’t 100% sure I wanted to kill this buck on opening morning, I could tell he was a mature 4 point with eye guards, which was my goal, and decided he was at the very least worth a closer look so on we went. I planned our route and we made a perfect stalk and about 30 minutes later I was set up, super solid on my Eberlestock Mainframe and vapor pack. I grabbed my Alps hooded jacket from my pack and stuffed it under the butt of my rifle, making a nice field expedient rear rest. It wasn’t long before the buck stood up and I made a perfect 400-yard shot.
The hunt was over by 9:30 am on the opener, and while bitter-sweet to be done so soon, I was beyond stoked that I had been able to use all the skills I had learned over the previous 4 seasons of mountain hunting to execute a flawless hunt on a mature mule deer on public land, in a state I had never hunted before.
This just goes to show that if you have the courage to start, the discipline to stay, the humility to learn and you pair that with solid gear you can accomplish your hunting goals – and maybe even your life goals. I am grateful to God for this blessed life and my partners for helping me plan and execute my dreams – if I can do it, you can too! So, get out there and start, I can’t promise a filled tag on every hunt, but I can promise you it will be an adventure you won’t regret.
