2011 Mule Deer

Well 2011 was my second year really trying to get myself a deer. See in Washington State deer and duck hunting open the same day, and for most of my life I have gone duck hunting.

This year I did take the opening of deer and duck season to go duck hunting at duck camp because grandma AKA BUBBLES goes to camp opening weekend and I would hate to miss Bubbles in camp.

Anyway opening duck went well I shot my limit but had to leave that night because I had to work Sunday - Tuesday.

Every year my friend comes up to go duck hunting for a little over a week. He gets to my house on Tuesday and since the first Thursday and Friday of duck season is always closed, this year I gave the Wednesday - Friday morning to deer hunting.
I of course bring my friend along with me because, well I am not dumb, he is the muscle - I shoot big Mule deer, sometimes far away from the truck and I don't want to drag a deer all by myself.

Tuesday afternoon before I worked we went to the "State Land" where I shot my big deer last year and my other hunting buddy decides to come along as well. Both friends had already shot their deer. We must have seen 50 deer up in the grassy area we hunt. In that 50 deer we saw about 8 bucks all 2X2's or smaller. Here in Washington the Mule deer have to have at least three points on one side. It was a nice walk but no shooters.

Wednesday morning my friend and I went to what we call the School Property which is State DNR land we walk to from my house. We walked for miles up steep hills and all around and we did not see even one deer which was very discouraging.

Wednesday night I stayed at home to watch my daughter as Mama had to work. But us guys discussed our plan for the next morning. We were going to get up before light and get to the "State Land" before sunrise.

So here it is Thursday morning, my alarm goes off and I promptly turn it off. My daughter wakes up at 7 so I get up and wake my friend up. We get some food in us and head out the door.

We get to the private land we are allowed to hunt below the state land and decide to drive around real quick before walking up the hill. We get to the lower part of the property and I see two deer up on the hillside. As one disappears behind some Saskatoon bushes the other one slowly heads up the hill. We get out and put the bino's on the front deer.

My friends says its a 2X2, but as I look closer I can see where one of the forks is split to make it a 2X3 - a legal buck. As I get to a pile of wood to set up a shot this other deer walks out of the bushes in the opposite direction. As I put my scope on it I see it is a much bigger 3X3, and it disappears behind the hillside.

We run over to get into position and I lay down on a pile of sand. It walks up the hill side at about 80 yards. I put my cross hairs on it and BANG.

When I bring my scope back down I don't see my deer. I do see four does sitting there looking at me. My friend was no help at this point as he was still watching the other buck and didn't see my buck.

I am hoping that my deer went down right away, so we just stayed put for about 15 minutes so it could bleed out. Finally we walked up there and there it was laying in a small ditch still alive but with a broken back. I cut its throat and it was done.

I removed the guts as my friend drove the truck within 30 yards of the deer and then he drug it to the truck for me....Lucky Me!

We had it skinned and hung by 10:30 AM. Not bad!

And of course the day after the season ended my wife spotted this big boy walking right through the field next to the house. Boy was she wishing she had seen him the night before!

Picture taken from our living room window