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But he'll do for me. First off, if someone can post the full size pics for me here. I'd appreciate it, can't seem to do it from my phone. https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/14313141#Post14313141I arrived in SE Montana from Missouri around noon on Nov 12. I headed out to some BLM land and hadn't been there half an hour when I glassed up a 3.5 yr old mule deer buck with a doe. I made a halfhearted stalk and they were gone when I got there. I didn't really want to punch my tag that soon and wasn't as cautious as I should have been. Little did I know but that would be my best chance at a muley all week. That evening I headed up higher to some forest and didn't see any deer, only cutting two tracks in the old snow. The next morning I decided to check out the lower elevation again. Unbeknownst to me, they had gotten some rain down there. The road I had driven the day before was fine until it warmed up at about 9 AM. I hit a wet spot and that was it. Mud packed into the wheel wells of my SUV. after about 2 1/2 hours of digging out mud and two failed attempts I got myself out. I drove to a drier spot on the road and shut it down for the rest of the day. I spent a couple more hours digging out mud with a screwdriver and ice scraper. I was able to get back to pavement the next morning and spent a couple more hours next to a gas station digging out more mud, as I had a bad shimmy from all the weight in the rims. I headed over to the big chunk of Custer NF west of Broadus and spent the next day and a half there. The road I had seen lots of deer on 4 years previous was inaccessible due to the mud. I found a drier area and glassed up some does about 2 miles out and hiked over there to check for bucks. Nada. Then I made about a 5 mile loop with my rifle and spotter through some beautiful country with rolling ridges, valleys and scattered pine groves and meadows. Not a deer to be seen. The next day I headed south along the Powder river. There were several other trucks there so I thought, hmm, where would other guys not want to go? There was a steep sided mesa with lots of trees and rock bluffs that I decided to climb. Once I got up on top it was fairly flat and open with sage brush, grass and a few scattered trees. There were lots of tracks and droppings so I set up on my stool with my trigger stick tripod in a spot I could see 400 to 500 yards in all directions. Around sunset I was treated by a 2 1/2 yr old whitetail dogging some does until dark. He was a 4x4 close to his ear tips but a little small and not the species I was after, so I just watched the show. The next afternoon found me up there again, and right around sunset two deer appeared in the distance. Through my binoculars the much larger deer was revealed to be a mature whitetail with good mass, width and tines. After the week I'd had he looked pretty damned good! I ranged him at 425 yds and held just below the top of his back. I squeezed off a shot from my 257 Wby and heard the sound of a hit. He kicked his back legs, ran about 20 yards and stopped, so I let him have it again. Another thwack of a hit. He stumbled a short distance and fell. Yes! Definitely no ground shrinkage when I walked up to him. He is a 5x6 and scores 144 2/8", my second best whitetail ever. One of my two shots had hit behind the shoulder through the lungs and the other had hit the back of the shoulder, breaking the far side shoulder on the way out. I was using 100 gr E tips at 3600 fps and sighted in 2" high at 100 yards. I skinned, quartered, and removed the head and cape, then stashed the hind quarters in a tree for the night. I loaded up the shoulders, back straps, head and cape and headed out in the dark. I thought I was on the right trail going off the mesa but I was wrong! I ended up in a steep mess of thick trees, ravines and boulders. It really sucked and I was cursing the day of my birth by the time I reached the bottom, but I eventually made it. I went back up the next morning for the hind quarters and damn it was a lot easier in the daylight and carrying nothing other than a pack. All total, I saw 4 bucks on public land, but bucks and does everywhere on private land. The week didn't turn out the way I had envisioned but I ended up with a great buck and a good story.
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Campfire Member
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Congratulations on your successful hunt!
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Congratulations on a nice whitetail.
If ifs and buts were like candy and nuts, it would be Christmas every day.
“The .30-06 is never a mistake.” - Col. Townsend Whelan
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Joined: Dec 2008
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Wow, honkerville!! What a great deer, love that mass!! Grats
Ping pong balls for the win. Once you've wrestled everything else in life is easy. Dan Gable I keep my circle small, I’d rather have 4 quarters than 100 pennies.
Ain’t easy havin pals.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Paul.
"Kids who grow up hunting, fishing & trapping, do not mug little old Ladies"
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Joined: Dec 2008
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Look at the cape on that bugger!! Damn what a beautiful deer
Ping pong balls for the win. Once you've wrestled everything else in life is easy. Dan Gable I keep my circle small, I’d rather have 4 quarters than 100 pennies.
Ain’t easy havin pals.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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That's a cool looking deer - congrats on your success!
WWP53D
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A real nice “heavy horned” buck......Congratulations! memtb
You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong." -Bob Hagel
“I’d like to be a good rifleman…..but, I prefer to be a good hunter”! memtb 2024
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What a buck. Great story too.
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Campfire Tracker
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Now that is a nice buck!! Congrats to you - really nice!
"Rather hunt Mule deer than anything else" "Team 7MM-08"
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Member: Clan of the Turdlike People.
Courage is Fear that has said its Prayers
�If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.� Ronald Reagan.
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Campfire Regular
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Congrats ! Heckuva nice buck !
Your mind is your primary weapon. Never let it get rusty.
Endowment Member NRA
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Damn fine; way to improvise!
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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I enjoyed the story. Thanks for sharing.
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That’s a great whitetail! Congrats 😎 I’d love to hunt them someday👍
BT53 "Where do they find young men like this?" Reporter Savidge, Iraq Elk, it's what's for dinner....
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Sambo3006: Thanks for sharing the great story and the pictures. Congratulations on the successful Hunt! I have been Hunting eastern Montana since the late 1960's and have been "stuck" in the gumbo on numerous occasions (probably 20 times!) - the "longest" stuck in gumbo situation lasted 6 (six!) full days! Your buck is sure a dandy and similar to the 11 point (6x5) Whitetail Buck I harvested this year in SW Montana. Thanks again for sharing. Hold into the wind VarmintGuy
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Campfire 'Bwana
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“Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away” Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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YES! Fine buck and sounds like you truly earned him! Congrats.
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Campfire Tracker
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That's a great buck, and a great story! Congrats!
Montana is kind of a sleeper whitetail state....
Luck....is the residue of design...
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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That's a great buck, and a great story! Congrats!
Montana is kind of a sleeper whitetail state.... Oh bullshiit!!! Montana is mediocre bucks, say too many tags, too much private ground, tags are waay too expensive, it really isn't that good for anything.... Wolves are everywhere got everything ate up!!!
Ping pong balls for the win. Once you've wrestled everything else in life is easy. Dan Gable I keep my circle small, I’d rather have 4 quarters than 100 pennies.
Ain’t easy havin pals.
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Very nice buck!! Congrats. I think hunting whitetails in that type of country would be a hoot!
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New Member
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That's a great buck, and a great story! Congrats!
Montana is kind of a sleeper whitetail state.... Oh bullshiit!!! Montana is mediocre bucks, say too many tags, too much private ground, tags are waay too expensive, it really isn't that good for anything.... Wolves are everywhere got everything ate up!!! Jud, you need to get out more, as in away from the pickup and the road. The game is out there if you want to use some boot leather to find them.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Don’t sell yourself short on that buck. That’s a monster. Congrats!!
Camp is where you make it.
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Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
Joined: Dec 2008
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Thats an excellent public land buck...even in Montana!
"...the left considers you vermin, and they'll kill you given the chance..." Bristoe
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Beautiful buck, has lots of character. Congratulations.
NRA Life Member
~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
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Heck of a buck! Congrats!
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Beautiful buck! Good read too!
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Fantastic buck and nothing beats a DIY hunt. Congrats!
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Campfire Tracker
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Beautiful MT Buck. Congrats!
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Campfire Tracker
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OP
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Thanks for the kind words guys. I never would have guessed that I would end up taking one of my best whitetails ever while hunting for mule deer on public land in a western state, but I was blessed to do just that. I dropped the cape off at the taxidermist yesterday. I can't wait to see how the mount turns out.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Great buck and story! Congrats!
The deer hunter does not notice the mountains
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve" - Isoroku Yamamoto
There sure are a lot of America haters that want to live here...
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Congrats. Very nice buck 👍
____________________________________________________________ Dying gets closer every day
Lloyd McCarter and the Honky Tonk Revival
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Very nice work there sir congratulations!!
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 60,177 Likes: 20 |
Good job!
There are a few good public-land bucks, here and there, even in Montana....
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.” John Steinbeck
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Great story and pics.
Very nice buck also!
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Congrats, that's a slammer!
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Ed
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Campfire Ranger
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What a great buck and great story, thanks for sharing. I have hunted that same country many times and never seen a whitetail like that on public land. Well done!
Originally Posted by Judman PS, if you think Trump is “good” you’re way stupider than I thought! Haha
Sorry, trump is a no tax payin pile of shiit.
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Figures don't lie, But Liars figure Assumption is the mother of mistakes
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Campfire Regular
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That is a handsome whitetail buck. Congrats
Good luck and shoot straight y'all
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Campfire Regular
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That’s a toad man. Congrats. The mass is impressive
"If you got it, you got it!" In memory of Pops, gone but never forgotten
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Campfire Regular
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Nice buck..I'd have taken him home as well. Nothing wrong with that one.
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Nice buck, congratulation,
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Regards, Nick- Georgia
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Congrats on a great buck!
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