North of the River Muley's

[RockyMtnOyster]

WOW, gotta love those north of the river muleys! Hardest part of the hunt is getting that tag...

 

[standman]

Here's my dad's '06 and '07 Navajo archery muleys. Both bucks were killed out of the same blind and waterhole.

 

 

[huntemup]

07 buck

 

[PAugie17]

Here's a desert floppy ear I got a few years ago. Like all the pics!

 

Pat

[wetmule]

Thanks Jim for forcing me to date myself and reflect back on just how long I've been guiding north of the river, now I really feel old. The Big non-typ. was killed in 1989 on the Kaibab, I had been guiding there since 1983. The permit was an auction tag sold by ADBSS and I believe it was the second year it was offered, the first year it was raffled off and tickets were $5. In those early auction tag days the hunt was only 5 or 6 weeks long and started after all the regular Kaibab hunts were over in late Nov. and ended Dec. 31. My hunter bought it for I believe $12,200, a price I'd gladly pay today. Anyways the actual hunt was pretty quick as we killed it on the third day of the hunt or the third day the hunter was there. The first day hunting we found and passed a ginormous typical that still scares me in my dreams and left me thinking wow! this is not going to be easy to find a shooter for this guy, as it was a buck I'd gladly shoot on opening day of any hunt, even if the hunt was 365 days long like it is now. We found the buck he killed right before dark on the second day and didn't really get a good look at it as it was a pretty quick look and it was late, but we knew it was like nothing we had ever seen. Needless to say my good buddy Jeff who came down from Utah to help, me and the hunter didn't sleep at all that night. We were back after him first thing in the morning and we worked our way around to where we wouldn't be looking into the rising sun and far enough away from where we last left him so as not to spook him if he was still in the area. We set up glassing and right away I picked up deer and antlers dancing on the horizon in the incredible heat waves, I could'nt tell anything about the buck as the heat waves were so bad but I knew it had to be him. The deer disappeared down in a draw and out of sight and we made our move to try to get in position. We got to where we wanted to be and like clockwork deer started filtering out of the draw headed back to some really thick stuff. first does then the buck came out - then our jaws dropped. I thought we were in range (maybe 375 yds.) and wanted to end it right there as the deer were slowly walking broadside non-chalantly back towards the juniper jungle, but my hunter had other ideas, like, he wanted to get a closer shot. We decided to move and

the deer saw us and they all began to beeline for the thick trees. We quickly got setup again and he shot at the running buck just as he was about to dive behind a big juniper and then the thick jungle never to be seen again. The shot was true and a good one and it put him down for good. I still can't believe he made that shot and I'm getting chills typing this stuff 19 years later remembering that moment and how it felt to find and be part of such a special hunt and such a special once in a lifetime buck. The buck was a 13X14 and grossed in the low 270's and netted 264 and change. He had I believe a 185-188 frame with 90+ " of abnormals. That same hunter bought the tag 3 more times and hunted with me each time. One year he didn't kill, the other two years he took a typical in the 190's and another monster non-typ in 1992 that ended up 238.4. The year he did'nt buy the tag in 1990, a guy from Calif. bought it and I hired my good buddy Gary Goose H. to help me with him for a while, the guy from Calif. shot pretty early on a nice buck in the 190's. Hope I didn't bore you all to tears, and good luck Jim with your Kaibab tag you'll have a blast.

[COOSEFAN]

Awesome story and thanks for recalling it for us wetmule! I got goosebumps right before he shot....like I was right there too! Hey wetmule...we ever meet before??? JIM>

[SilentButDeadly]

wetmule,

 

thanks for the story, makes that monster even more legendary...

[TwoGuns]

Here are a couple pics of my dads mule deer mount. He killed the deer in unit 9 in 1982 or so.... My 4 year old son "volunteered" to hold it for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[desertsheep]

wetmule,

 

 

You have to get those others scanned in and posted. Quit holding out on us.

[ehunt]

not from up north but here are a few floppy eared bucks....i will try to post more soon. eric

[Kilimanjaro]

ehunt,

that top 3X4 is a nice looking old desert buck. I bust him in a heartbeat!

[ehunt]

ehunt,

that top 3X4 is a nice looking old desert buck. I bust him in a heartbeat!

 

thanks scottyboy, he actually busted his G2 on his left side so i had it fixed when i had him mounted and it turned out great!!!

[elmergoo]

wetmule,

 

thanks for the story, makes that monster even more legendary...

Yes ,Wetmule thanks for the story.Awesome.

[matthewp45]

Here is my best buck to date. Hopefully they will be getting bigger

 

[Huntn coues]

Nice bucks there Eric.