My 2012 Mule Deer

So October is crazy  in my household with all the hunting that we do.  So when ever general season opens for deer I always hope to make a quick kill so I can focus on other things, although a deer is the most important kill of the year for us. We use our deer for all of our normal beef needs but we mostly grind it or cut it up in small pieces for other dishes.

So a few days before I went hunting I found out that there were going to be a few people going to the same spot I was going to go to.  Since I knew the people I called them up and we discussed where we were going to go so we would not disturb each others hunt.

So the morning of the hunt I got into the private property where I hunt at about 5:50 AM and walked about half way up the hill that I hunt. I sat down and watched as the other vehicles came into the property.  At daylight I hiked to the top of the hill and started looking for deer. As I was hunting Quail and Huns were flushing everywhere. I then saw a man with a rifle and no hunter orange on. I tried to catch up with him to see what he was doing but I lost him in the brush. (He was later caught by Fish and Game.)

I continued my hike and I was on a bench with a few pin trees on it. On the other side of the pine trees I saw a deer go over the hillside. I ran to where I saw it go over and there he was. As I tried to county points he stood there and watched me. I tried to sit down to get a comfortable shot but the brush was to high. After he finally turned his head and I could see that he did have at least three points on one side I started to go through ballistics in my head. The deer was at a steep downhill incline from me. I knew if the deer is down hill I need to aim low. The deer is about 100 yards so I put my cross hairs right at the low part of his chest. BOOM as my shot rang off I could see his front leg react to the shot hitting him.  As I watched him run over the hillside I decided I should likely run after him as I did not feel very good about the shot.  As I got to the next bench he was on and looked over I could see he was running with about 6 does. I could not get another shot of due to the close proximity of the does.   I sat there and watched him at a fence line, as the does all jumped over he was sitting there not wanting to jump. He tried going under the fence but finally jumped over into what I knew was state land. I ran to an area where i thought I could get a shot off and I set up on a little knob of land and spotted him about 120 yards away on the next little ridge line. I got my back pack off to use as a rest, got prone, took a deep breath to calm my heart as I just ran 3/4's of a mile and squeezed the shot off and watched him drop like there was a trap door under him.   

I rolled over onto my back and thought "Whew, O Thank God." I got up grabbed my pack and heard two shots from a rifle 20 seconds apart only about 100 yards from me. I the heard a males voice go WOO HOO. The first thing that popped into my head was my deer got back up and someone else shot him. So I walked directly to the other hunters.  The guy yelled to me that my deer was injured and had gone around the corner. I asked him where his deer was and he pointed to the hillside. He then said "RORY?"  I responded YEA. I the found out it was Scott family friend of ours. His wife Deanna was the shooter and she had shot a very nice big bodied 4X4 mule deer.

I discussed with Scott what he saw my deer do. We decided that he did not see my buck fall and did not know I shot a second time at the deer. All he knew was, he saw it with its brisket torn open before I shot a second time. So Scott walked over with me to the area I shot my deer. I thought I shot it higher on the hillside but within a few minutes Scott found it laying in the sage brush with a broken back. I used a 9mm Glock to put one shot at the base of the skull and put it out for good.  I thanked Scott for the help with the heart of the deer and he went back to Deanna to help her with her deer.

I called my wife to bring the trailer down from home so I could get this guy home. After I got him gutted and took some pictures we started the drag out. It was up and down hills with tight cow trails through rocks and sage brush. When I finally got it to where I could the the jeep and trailer to I was very tired. But I knew that we would eat well for the rest of the year and the next day would be all duck hunting and I was excited.

This was a good year for deer in my area, the picture to the left is my deer head with the antlers of my friend Jason who shot his deer opening morning as well in the area by my house. We are still looking for a deer for my wife to shoot. Have found a few shooters but just can't get in to the right position for a shot but we still have tonight to try for one.