okanagan: A few years back in Alberta, I had several bucks in front of me,far end of a field,that came out of the bush during the rut.Bucks/does everywhere.....
There was one that bedded down that was big,but the rest were feeding out into the field and I'm figuring it was early enough,I'd wait him out,and if the big one got another 100 yards or so closer, I'd kill him.
About 10 minutes later,I'm watching and then this THING walked into the field,just strode out and my first reaction was...."What the hell is THAT!".....because he just dwarfed everything else in the field and made my "big" one look pretty average.......I'll spare you the rest of the story.....
I killed one a couple years later in the breaks of the Peace that went 230 or so "hog dressed",gutted,head and hide off,legs off at the knees.....he was an old buck,not much through the horns and on the "mend",but was so enormous I gawked for several minutes before killing him.
The truly big one's ARE different;highly nocturnal even in lightly hunted country, very deliberate, not prone to panic,unlikely or harder to get to break cover;adept at finding impossible bedding areas ,never far from cover,and their main focus is to avoid being SEEN.They seem to understand very well that they are most vulnerable when moving and visible.They make no rash decisions,and you HAVE to move VERY deliberatly and slowly through bedding areas(assuming you can get that close).
When still-hunting these areas,it's a bonny good idea to double back or fishhook in heavy cover,because you will likely go by them,assuming there was nothing there.The pressure may get to them the second time around.
Mule deer hunting CAN be a long-range affair,but I've killed my biggest ones in moderate to heavy cover where a lighter fast handling bolt gun with a modest scope is more suitable than a 26" barreled 300 magnum.
Unless they get very lucky the first time,many guys that go to Canada kill an average "big" one and are happy......until they see a REALLY big buck.Then they are screwed...like me....the reason I hunted 14 days and passed several 170's and a 180-ish buck.....I guessed right 3 hours into day #1,found the "true hog" at 20 yards and hesitated a bit too long.I hunted that buck for the next 13 days,and never saw him again......I know he was still there.
JG: If you value your sanity and the contents of your wallet...do NOT go to Canada for mule deer
