Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Wyoming record elk -- 426

Eyeball,

It's pretty much the same, but it is possible for a decent hunter to "buy" a great whitetail. I did it for several years in Alberta and came home with a fine buck every year. And had I thrown more bucks at it and hired one of the truly trophy outfitters up north, I could have done even better.

I grew up killing mule deer, lots of mule deer (literally hundreds), and rapidly learned that killing a BIG mule normally takes a lot of doing. And in the areas I hunted in Montana and Wyoming, it depended a lot on the year.

When we were hunting out of Jordan, I'd usually spend three days just looking at bucks in the area, just to see what the year had brought. Then, I'd center on one and try to kill him ... during rut, mules wander like crazy, so sometimes it's just a crazy dance.

And one year, Karen and I went out the first day we were there and I ended up killing the first mule deer buck I saw. I was not going to ever see a larger buck in the area ... ever ... so I killed him (426 yards with a prototype Nosler bullet)

I'm not so sure that you can buy hunt that will reliably result in a true trophy mule deer. Maybe Sonora, but I have no experience there.

And maybe it's good that truly trophy mules are something that are totally earned and not so much bought. I absolutely love hunting mule deer and it's their unpredicatbleness (is that a word?) that kept me coming back.

The first year I hunted whitetail was many years ago in Alberta. My outfitter (he was a friend) told me, "Steve, we have a nice bladebeam buck in our woodlot, a solid 150 over in Duncan's place and a super 160 that holds tight down in the gasweed on Pete's. What do you want to hunt?" Crap, it seemed like he had a number on the big whitetails in the area and that was not something I've ever experienced with mules.

I decided on the 150 at Duncan's woods and he put a push through with a bunch of local kids. I saw the buck coming through the end of the woods and thought, "Heck, he's just like a mulie, he'll come to the end of the woods and peek out and I'll kill him right there."

Uhhh, he hit the end of the woods on JATO and hit seventeenth gear a quarter-second later, leaving a contrail the entire way. He ran across the field at a rate that was not to be believed.

I killed my whitetail that year, but worked my butt off and earned him totally. Yep, the damned 160 in the gasweed ... ended up being 163. Heavy, 4X4, plus split eyeguards.

And I shot a 180-something kinda non-typical mule the evening before (that one was a frackin' rodeo!!!!). Came alive on me when Patty was taking the hero photos and I literally had to stab him to death with my knife ... and that took a lot of doin' on a big-assed Alberta mule deer. Not as bad as the time I rode a wounded 6X6 bull elk a hundred yards down a snowy slope in Montana, but damned close.

One day I should write a book about all this crap ... problem is that nobody would believe it.

Actually, if I wanted a big mule deer today, I would make one phone call. I would hire Pat Sinclair (ScenarShooter here at the 24HCF). I have only hunted antelope and coyotes with Pat, but every second of the time I've spent with him has been golden. Pat gets his clients onto some fabulous critters. Pat is the real deal, he is a fine, honest man and if I had to choose amongst the top three men I've ever known to hunt with (or just to hang out with), one would be Pat.

Another of the three would be Johnny Barsness. And don't tell either one of those guys that ... their heads will swell and they'll be impossible to get along with.

Dunno if I answered your question, but tried.

Blessings,

Steve

Thanks DZ for the considered reply, great story, and for your effort which resulted in a wonderful read.

Yes, you should write a book and put my copy at the top of the list.

Im old enough to know what you mean by feeling folks would not believe the things ive done and seen.

I am glad to have read the stories of Russel Annabel and Journal of a Trapper and i am glad they werent restrained by the same thinking.

Your post above is rife with the wonders of that same type of thing.

Thanks, eye

eye,

Damn, another lover of Osborne Russell's Journal of a Trapper 1834-1843. Bloody incredible!!!

Blessings,

Steve

And back at you, DZ.

Oh, killing a big mulie can be easy if you have the money. Just buy a governor's tag, wait until they are forced into winter range, and pay a bunch of locals to be your bounty hunters. Happens every year in Colorado.

61 yards away with a crossbow.

Wow, I incorporated that book into a dissertation paper in college. I figured I'd never hear of anyone else reading it.

Blood,

Yes, Journal of a Trapper is an amazing book. I re-read it every two or three years and always see something new.

By the way, Russell worked on a water bypass channel that went by Willamette Falls (Willamette River, near Oregon City) and he was injured by a dynamite blast there. The place is maybe five miles from our home.

The manuscript, I believe, was entrusted to Russell's sister and she had it published either while he was dying from the injury or shortly after his death.

Blessings,

Steve

I wonder how long it would take for the taking of such a trophy to actually sink in?