Updated with pics and story - First mule deer...and first deer in 20 years

[bigorange]

It’s taken longer than I wanted to get this posted, but here we go. It’s been over 20 years since I’ve killed a deer. After about 15 years not hunting due to college and early career moves, I finally got back into hunting several years ago. Despite several close calls of my own and several friends having success while I was with them, this was my first AZ big game animal and first mule deer. What better place to make this happen than the Kaibab.

 

Our hunting group decided to put in individually this year and apply for Kaibab tags and late December coues tags down south. When I saw the AZGFD charge on my card I thought it was probably my first or second choice Kaibab tag, but wasn’t sure. Either way I couldn’t wait to find out. Reality hit when I saw that I had drawn an October Kaibab tag. Dreams of monster mulies ran through my mind and I even contacted a couple of guides to find out their rates. I decided to go DIY and began making plans for scouting trips and my hunt. The reality again struck that I had drawn a Kaibab tag and the sheer distance from home which would make scouting trips difficult to schedule due to work.

Fast forward a couple of months and my work schedule didn’t allow any scouting trips, but thanks to a lot of great folks on here (you know who you are) and the unit manager I had a great plan in place with plans A, B, C, D, and maybe E laid out. I also had 2 of my hunting buddies Steve (elkhunter1) and Daniel taking time off work to go along and help me. What a great group of guys.

 

 

Due to work schedules, we planned to leave early Saturday morning and set up camp then hunt the afternoon. What an amazing drive to beautiful country. But a long drive! We found a good campsite right where the unit manager and a couple of others recommended and went to check out a couple of recommended spots.

 

 

Driving into one spot we see a forky maybe 20 yards off the side of the road that doesn’t even seem to mind us being there. Wow…this is going to be easy, right? Of course being the first evening I passed this buck, but it was great to already see deer and more importantly a buck!

 

 

After checking out this area that we intended to hunt Sunday morning, we went to another area that had been recommended for evening hunts. Several meadows converged near a waterhole and looked like a great spot with lots of deer sign, but no deer that evening.

 

 

Sunday morning we’re back in the same area we had seen the forky…still hunting through partially burned area with a lot of thick aspens where I was advised bucks would often bed down. Had a great day exploring and hunting this area and saw several groups of does (lost count we saw so many), but no bucks all day long. Not even small bucks. Maybe this isn’t going to be so easy after all! But that’s why we call it hunting, right?

 

Monday we decide to switch tactics and hunt the burn where we’d been hearing quite a few shots on Sunday. We know this is a popular area to hunt, and expect it to be crowded with other hunters. We find a nice looking area and work our way onto a ridge to glass. After several hours of glassing and seeing no deer we decide to move to another ridge. We’ve already packed up our binos and tripods and are getting ready to move when a decent 3x3 steps out maybe 100 yards below us…spots us and takes off. We should have been quiet even though we were getting ready to leave. He drops into the thick bottom out of site and we start glassing again. We spot him again working up another ridge and disappearing into a thick stand of new-growth aspen. We move over to that ridge to get closer and he has of course disappeared completely.

 

 

We sit down and glass the other ridges for a while. I decide to take a break from glassing and rest my eyes (the best naps are always on the side of a ridge under a nice shade tree ). Daniel wakes me up telling me they’ve found some bucks for me to shoot…awesome! Steve and Daniel have spotted a decent forky, a smaller forky and a doe that soon bed down. After several moves, I finally am at an angle where I can get a shot but the deer don’t cooperate very well. The doe and small buck get up a couple of times to feed, but the bigger buck is bedded behind a log with part of his neck visible periodically. After waiting these guys out for a long time I decide it’s either time to shoot or time to move on since we’re losing daylight. I don’t want to force a shot on the bigger buck, and don’t want to shoot the smaller buck so we decide to back out. On the way back to camp we decide to take out our frustrations on some squirrels and end up with a tasty addition of roasted squirrel for dinner that night. We ended up hunting right behind camp until dark, and saw another CWT member linked below (who apparently ended up getting lucky later in the hunt) drive along the meadow as well as several does right at dark. We’ve lost count of all of the does we’ve seen so far.

http://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/topic/53354-cw-sticker-at-kaibab-deer-check-station/

 

 

Tuesday we decide to head back to the same area of the burn since we’ve seen the most bucks there and this will be our last full day to hunt. We haven’t been glassing long when we hear deer behind us…a group of does less than 100 yards away but no buck. Then Daniel (who by now I’ve begun calling Ole Buckeye since he’s spotted every buck so far) spots a buck silhouetted walking across the top of a far ridge and works his way onto the bottom of the ridge in front of us. This ends up a nice 3x3 who is on the move and never stops…we never see him again. Not too much time passes and Daniel spots another buck working its way down the same ridge. I get set up using the roots of a downed tree as a rest and Steve ranges him at 290 yards.

 

 

I’m not messing around since I’ve missed a chance at a couple of bucks on the move and this is my last day. I let a 130 grain Barnes TTSX fly from my .270 and it hits the mark. The buck runs maybe 30 yards and stops behind some brush. I hadn’t seen the original shot hit due to recoil so I let another fly (apparently missed due to the brush or my excitement) and the buck is gone by the time I get back on the spot. By this time Steve has told me that my first shot was good with a classic mule-kick result out of the buck and that I shot so quickly he wasn’t even set up for video. I’m just glad to know I connected on the first one. Ole Buckeye spots him bedded down maybe 20 yards from the second spot. By the time I finally locate him (great eyes…all we could see was his tail flicking every once in a while) he moves to where I can get another shot at his neck/shoulder area. Before I can get him in the scope for another shot he rolls head over heels and I know he’s done. We can see plenty of blood where he was bedded, and he gives his last kick.

We give him a little time and gather up our gear…packs and binos that we’ve left in the last several spots as we were moving on the buck. Picking our landmarks, we move over to the buck and I’m overcome with all kinds of memories of previous deer, thoughts, and emotions. After some handshakes and high-fives we get him into position for some pictures, tagging, and begin to discuss the pack out. We’re pretty close to the road, so we decide to use a pole and carry him out after gutting him. In hindsight with all the downed trees we probably should have quartered him there, but it is what it is.

 

 

 

 

After the pack out and visiting the deer checking station (haven’t been to one of those since my last deer years ago hunting my uncle’s farm in Tennessee), we spend the afternoon skinning and butchering the buck, and then enjoying fresh backstraps and our first deer heart on the grill. Steve also grilled up some awesome javelina steaks and we topped it off celebrating with some Gentleman Jack. Overall a wonderful end to a great hunt. Not the monster Kaibab buck that I'd been dreaming about, but I couldn't be happier. We're pretty sure that this may be the same buck that I had bedded on Monday and couldn't get a shot and backed out.

 

I’m very thankful to all of the folks from this site who gave me pointers and starting points for my first (hopefully not last) Kaibab hunt, Steve and Daniel for going along for the ride, my wonderful wife and kids for making it possible for me to get away for this hunt, and my almighty God for creating such amazing creatures and beautiful countryside that we’re so blessed to be able to hunt. Thanks for reading this and allowing me to share the great memories too.

[CouesWhitetail]

Excellent! Congratulations!

[PelaPapas]

Way to go man! Congrats on your buck!

[capoeirajosh]

Very nice!

[tytanner]

Should be some pretty dang good eating right there!

[Coues assassin]

Congrats welcome back!

[AZHog]

Congratulations!

[Edge]

Right on, nice buck for a good guy

[mattys281]

Thats awesome big orange. Congrats!

[el diablo]

Congrats. Looks big bodied. Will be some good meat.

[muley224]

Hope you enjoyed the " Bab " I know that you hunted hard. Good job !

[az41mag]

Well done Bradley, congrats on your first muley!

[az_shooter]

Awesome!

[MULEPACKHUNTER]

Big floppy ears are good in my book, nice job.

[Will K]

Congrat's.