D.Camilleri
Well-Known Member
Once again my favorite time of the year came, opening of Mule Deer season in the high country of Western Wyoming. I pulled into the trail head on Sept. 11th with my 5th wheel camper and horse trailer loaded with my two horses. I met my good friends Neno and Miriam from Delta, Utah at the trail head and they had already packed in their tent for our base camp about 3.5 miles up the trail. We loaded up the pack horses and mules and headed to the top of the mountain to set up our spike camp and do some scouting. It is about a 7 mile ride to the ridge where we put up our spike camp and we got up there and set up camp with some time left for scouting. I saw some ok bucks while glassing, but my friends saw a couple of good shooter bucks. One had about a 27 inch main frame with a forked cheater on one side and another cheater on the other side. We spent the next day trying to figure out how to hunt the big buck and never came up with a good plan, so we decided to see what happened on opening day. Opening morning came and the hillside in the wilderness that we had seen the shooter buck on was crawling with hunters, then we heard several shots in the area of the big buck. We never really could tell what they shot or shot at since the distance was over a mile away.
We glassed a few bucks on our side of the mountain during the morning and then retreated to spike camp for a nap. Early afternoon came and I told Neno, let's go do some glassing. We were in one of my favorite glassing spots when two other hunters came over and said you beat us to our spot. I laughed and told them this has been my spot for close to 17 years. I invited them to sit and glass with us. After a little while, they decided to go glass the other side of the ridge and left. A few minutes later a large sow black bear with two cubs came walking several hundred yards below us and then went out of sight. I looked around for the bears looked up on one of the far away ridges and spotted a deer. I told Neno that I spotted a pretty good buck and he honed in on him and told me he thought it was a good buck. I told Neno that I was going to try and get set for a shot. We were sitting on a steep sidehill and facing north. Being a lefty, laying down on a log next to me wouldn't work. I went down about 20 feet and leaned up against a tree and got my shooting sticks out. It took me a little while to get the sticks solid and then I got my look angle of 10 degrees. Range was 710 yards and I was aiming up hill. I dialed 13.5 moa on my Sightron S-3 and the let the 300 grain Berger OTM fly from my 338 Rum. Neno called the shot, HIT, he's down. I could hardly believe my eyes as I found the deer in my scope. I made the trek over to where the deer was and drug him down to where it would be easier to field dress him. I finished up and left him for the morning hoping the bears wouldn't find him that night.
I returned in the morning and the carcass hadn't been touched, I quartered him up and loaded the meat onto my horse and went back to spike camp and then down to the trail head. A great hunt. I measured the horns today and came up with 180 3/8 non typical sci. Now to decide to mount him or not.
We glassed a few bucks on our side of the mountain during the morning and then retreated to spike camp for a nap. Early afternoon came and I told Neno, let's go do some glassing. We were in one of my favorite glassing spots when two other hunters came over and said you beat us to our spot. I laughed and told them this has been my spot for close to 17 years. I invited them to sit and glass with us. After a little while, they decided to go glass the other side of the ridge and left. A few minutes later a large sow black bear with two cubs came walking several hundred yards below us and then went out of sight. I looked around for the bears looked up on one of the far away ridges and spotted a deer. I told Neno that I spotted a pretty good buck and he honed in on him and told me he thought it was a good buck. I told Neno that I was going to try and get set for a shot. We were sitting on a steep sidehill and facing north. Being a lefty, laying down on a log next to me wouldn't work. I went down about 20 feet and leaned up against a tree and got my shooting sticks out. It took me a little while to get the sticks solid and then I got my look angle of 10 degrees. Range was 710 yards and I was aiming up hill. I dialed 13.5 moa on my Sightron S-3 and the let the 300 grain Berger OTM fly from my 338 Rum. Neno called the shot, HIT, he's down. I could hardly believe my eyes as I found the deer in my scope. I made the trek over to where the deer was and drug him down to where it would be easier to field dress him. I finished up and left him for the morning hoping the bears wouldn't find him that night.
I returned in the morning and the carcass hadn't been touched, I quartered him up and loaded the meat onto my horse and went back to spike camp and then down to the trail head. A great hunt. I measured the horns today and came up with 180 3/8 non typical sci. Now to decide to mount him or not.
