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Once we got to our area we drove to the furthest corner near where we thought those bucks had been seen the day before. Just as we were about to make a decision on where to go next Steve spots something BIG cross the road. We parked the truck and bailed out to see what it was he had glimpsed. After cresting a ridge we saw a very nice muley buck on the next ridge over. He was on a mission and walking steadily away. I tried to get closer and actually got within shooting distance twice but I was so winded from climbing the ridges I couldn’t steady my gun well enough to make a shot. And there was no way I was going to try a marginal shot or fancy neck shot. We tracked that buck for over a mile, up and over rocks, hills and ridges. He just wasn’t stopping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I made the decision to go back to the truck and try to get in front of the buck. The truck was pretty far away at that point and we were tired. Remember, ground level there is almost a mile above sea level in places. For us coastal flat-landers the going was… well… slow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We got back to the truck, eventually, and checked the maps to see if we could find a road near where the buck was heading. Since it had taken so long for us to return there was no telling if we would be able to find the deer again. We picked a road that looked likely and scraped our way in the general direction the buck was last seen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Note to future hunters: <\/strong>After the obligatory number of dead ends and wrong turns we finally found a road that looked to head in the general area of where we thought the deer might<\/em> have been going. It was pretty much all guess work and prayers at that point.Yep, I said boinked. Mule Deer have this way of pogo-stick hopping that is almost comical. It’s like they have springs on their feet. I’m telling you they boinked away. I swear I could hear it. Boing, boing, boing.We took my deer back to the check station to get it logged in. Having an electric hoist for processing and a walk in cooler to put your deer in afterwards is awesome! <\/p>\n\n\n\nDewey, the hunt coordinator, had told us exactly where he had seen the deer the day before, we listened, and it paid off. We have learned to pay close attention to anything the hunt managers say. They are the ones who work the property all the time and know the animals and terrain intimately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As he was looking over my deer, Dewy recognized it and said he was definitely one of the ones he had seen the day before. We told him about the other deer we had seen with my buck. Dewey said that the deer we had scared after the shot shouldn’t go far and that there was likely still a nice buck with them or close by. Our ears definitely perked up.
Dang it! After watching the deer bed down we decided to keep moving and see if we could find something a bit larger. The next ridge over held what we were looking for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We had just parked the truck and Steve took his camera and headed out to get some nice shots of the area. I took my binoculars and glassed around. Within a few minutes I found a decent deer. He looked a lot like my buck. I called Steve over and he traded his camera for his gun. We spotted a couple more bucks and some does. Surely there was a big deer around. Then I saw him. A huge bodied buck with nice antlers walked out from behind some brush. He was definitely wide enough. He even had that white face older mule deer bucks got. Steve’s very first mule deer buck had a much bigger body than mine and, even though it doesn’t look like it, was wider. His buck came to rest far from the road but it was all downhill and it didn’t take too long to gut then load him up. And just like that we were done. The first day, with hours left, we had both gotten nice deer on public hunting land. ON MY BIRTHDAY! Elephant Mountain in the background.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
Now that we had both gotten our deer, the next day we turned our attention to the possibility of taking an elk. Dewy told us that a small bull was often seen in our compartment and gave us some pointers on where to look. Steve had never even seen an elk in the wild and would love the opportunity to get his hands on one. Not to mention that they are very tasty.
That second day the weather had turned, it was overcast, cold and the wind had picked up stirring up even more juniper pollen. Oh joy. The last thing I felt like doing was hiking all over that blasted mountain, breathing in even more of the accursed pollen, looking for an elk that may or may not be in our compartment. What I really<\/em> wanted to do was go back to the hotel, climb into bed and curl up into an antihistamine induced coma. But let’s face it, we would probably never get a chance like this again. I would forever regret not trying my very best to find an elk for Steve. I could be miserable in the hotel or I could be miserable out hunting. The choice was obvious. Alas, the only animal we saw was a small whitetail buck which we almost stepped on before it took off. The weather had everything hunkered down and nothing was moving. We also didn’t see any elk sign despite covering most of our compartment. There weren’t even any tracks at the watering holes. It wasn’t looking good.We never did see an elk and Steve was pretty disappointed about that but we were both beyond happy to have gotten two gorgeous mule deer bucks. <\/p>\n\n\n\nA couple of other hunters also brought in great bucks and left with smiles on their faces. I will never forget this hunt, even though I was sick as a dog through most of it. If we ever have an opportunity to hunt this part of Texas again I know to take my allergy pills way ahead of time.
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