Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Float Hunt for MT Mule Deer

The deer is quartering towards us slightly and aware of our presence but not sure what to think. I ask if she is calm and she says she is. I tell here to let him have it whenever she is ready. When the 105 Berger made contact the deer hit the ground immediately and rolled. I saw some dust and some kicking and watched him roll further into a brushy coulee and then nothing. We wait a few minutes to make sure he doesn't come out and then keep the coulee in sight all the way from the shooting position to the coulee. I went up high to cover any exits and look for the animal and they went directly to where we expected to find him.

He hadn't moved from where we last saw him roll and he was stone dead by the time my wife got up to him.





To watch my wife shoot a nice buck at 425 yards was pretty neat. To have two of my kids there to witness it also made it even better.

We were ahead of schedule and the buck was in a good position so I let my son do most of the knife work as we broke it down and loaded it into backpacks for the hike back to the canoe.

The hike back was mostly level and uneventful which was a relief compared to the last two pack outs



Once back to camp we got things squared away and took a pic with all three bucks before doing the final break down and loading for the float out.



We were heavy coming out and I wasn't nearly as stable as I would have liked. My wife suggested we buy a jet boat next time. I suggested the lack of stability adds to the adventure of the trip. She disagreed. We may compromise and get a jet boat.



It was a tremendous blessing to spend this kind of time in beautiful country with people that I love the most. My wife is a camera nazi and we ended up with some pics that I never would have taken the time to get. Pretty fun to have a photographer present to document the trip. The weather was perfect and everyone truly seemed to enjoy themselves. When I took my kids on this trip a couple years ago I did most of the work. On this trip everyone shared the load and my son in particular wanted to be involved in all aspects from the scouting to the prep to the knife work to the packing out. Those are proud dad moments.

We had some highs and lows but we definitely finished on a high note and don't have anything to look back on that will sour the memory of the trip. Can't wait to do it all over again in the future with some of my younger kids.

Thanks for coming along.


Side Note:
Since this is a hunting forum I will comment on the rifle we used to take all three bucks. It is a blueprinted Rem 700 stainless with a 1:9 Bartlein in a McMillan Stock with a Timney Trigger. It shoots the 105 Berger very well up to around 3400 FPS but I choose to run it at around 3300. The scope is a Leupold VX5-HD 3-15x44 with the windplex reticle and zero-lock CDS. The rifle has taken around 10-12 head of big game the past couple seasons. It is a tremendous antelope rifle and obviously effective on deer. The scope tracks great and returns to zero. I dial regularly and check it on paper throughout the summer shooting season and it has always been spot on when brought back to zero.

My only complaint with the setup (and this is primarily a bullet selection issue) is that on mule deer sized game exits are rare. Internal trauma is impressive (think broken shoulder blades and puree style vitals) but should a shot not damage something vital, recovery may be a challenge with no or minimal blood to follow.