Draysen's Mule Deer Hunt

[rossislider]

My son has pretty impressive draw luck, and as many of you know, drew his second 3A/3C rifle deer tag in three years. We spent quite a bit of time up there through the summer and fall scouting for his hunt and a friend’s bull elk hunt. Leading up to the hunt we had found a really nice buck that we had planned to target. But in the final weeks leading up to the hunt we lost track of him. Try as we might we were unable to relocate him prior to the hunt. Unfortunately we believe he was shot by another hunter opening day. So over the first few days of the hunt we went through plans B, C, D, E, etc. We had several good friends come and join us for the hunt and had a great time looking over in excess of 300 deer, mostly does and probably 20-30 bucks. While we were seeing some good bucks the first couple of days, he didn’t see anything that he wanted to wrap his tag around that early. As opening weekend progressed we noticed we were seeing fewer and fewer deer and the ones we saw were smaller and smaller.

 

Our original plan was to return to the valley Tuesday afternoon so my son could go to school for a couple of days, get caught up, then return Thursday after school (it is a 10 day hunt). But the way the hunt was going we thought we might be better served to drive home late Monday night and return Wednesday after school. We figured this would give us more time to hunt after a lot of the pressure had left. So Wednesday after school, I met him in the driveway and flew up to the area just in time to get in about 20 minutes of good light. We jumped out of the truck to hear the unmistakable sound of air coming out of our tire. We decided to come back and change it in the dark after we looked over our predetermined ridge. No deer, but lots of elk including a couple of bulls still sparing.

 

The following morning we headed out well before first light, and were just reaching our predetermined spot when I got a call from my friend Houston (WHT_MTNMAN). He was kind enough to offer to go check out a couple of spots for us in the morning before heading off to work. He had located a group of bucks and thought there might be a buck or two in the group we would be interested in taking a look at. We raced to meet up with him at speeds that were most certainly faster than I should have been going on those dirt roads. On the drive up the night before, my son and I had talked and he decided that for the second half of the hunt he would be willing to shoot a big three point or good four point. As we reached Houston and looked over the buck we noted a big three and good four point in the group. Draysen looked from his binos to me and said, “I want to shoot that four!” I ranged him at 630, a shot that I knew he could make, but was not wanting to push our luck. We made a plan to hike down to a finger between us and the deer that would have cut the distance in about half. But as we were getting ready to go I started to get concerned with the direction the deer were feeding into some thicker stuff, and was worried that we might lose him. I asked Draysen if he was comfortable taking a shot, which he said he was. So he got the 300 RUM set up on the bipod, found the bucks in the scope, we dialed in the scope, and then waited for the buck to step back out of the brush. A couple minutes went by, the buck stepped out, and Draysen made a spectacular 630 yard one shot kill. From there out it was smiles, fist bumps, and hugs.

 

I want to thank all of my buddies who came to help us glass, and a special thanks to Houston for his help finding and dragging this buck out. It was yet another great hunt and week spent with my son and great friends.

 

Shot Placement Pic (sorry, a little bloody)

 

From last night's butcher session.

 

[Big Browns]

That's freaking Awesome!!!! That kid has turned out to become one heck of a hunter!!!! Congrats.........

[jim]

Awesome buck Congrats Draysen.

[Goldfinger78]

Awesome buck and great shot!!! Congratulations on a successful hunt!!!

[300RUM]

Great shot and a beautiful buck. Well I guess I'll go take my rifle for another walk.

[tomharveyb]

Congrats on a nice buck and a great shot!!

[WHT_MTNMAN]

Great shooting Draysen, congrats on a fine buck. You are going to have more big game kills than many of us, lots of years older. So cool.

Just so you know I'm putting in with you next year.

[1denogean]

congrats! looks like you are going to have a trophy room real quick

[rossislider]

Great shooting Draysen, congrats on a fine buck. You are going to have more big game kills than many of us, lots of years older. So cool.

Just so you know I'm putting in with you next year.

13 years old and he has already pulled a head of me, and he reminds me about it regularly.

[AzDiamondHeat]

Great shooting Draysen, congrats on a fine buck. You are going to have more big game kills than many of us, lots of years older. So cool.

Just so you know I'm putting in with you next year.

 

We're going to have a BIG camp next year cause I was thinking the same thing....lol

 

Congrats Draysen!!

[naturebob]

Good Job.congrats.....BOB!

[rossislider]

 

Great shooting Draysen, congrats on a fine buck. You are going to have more big game kills than many of us, lots of years older. So cool.

Just so you know I'm putting in with you next year.

 

We're going to have a BIG camp next year cause I was thinking the same thing....lol

 

Congrats Draysen!!

 

Someone might as well take advantage of his luck. My daughter turns 10 next year. If she has half the luck her brother has had I won't have time to hunt for myself. Good thing I only ever draw when I have max points.

 

After the deer hunt was over, we got her out for a little practice.

[Jnj13]

great buck. congrats

[Will K]

Awesome.

[brian390]

I really liked the footage of the shot. Congrats on a great buck.