Our SD Mulie Trip - Long story & pic heavy!

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Our SD Mulie Trip - Long story & pic heavy!

Unread postby Lockdown » Fri Nov 02, 2018 7:25 pm

My good buddy Tyler and I headed to SD Oct 24-30. We left late Tuesday night, drove strait through, got two hours of sleep, and were headed afield in gray light. We were tired but there was no lack of ambition. Spot #1 was an "old faithful" for me and my gun crew. I used to consider this place "rough"... and me being a flat lander, it is. Lots of rolling hills with some steep cut banks here and there and good deer numbers.
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A little over a mile in and we spotted a good buck and several does. Now that's the way to start a trip!
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After much debate we both decided to pass. :? It was a real solid buck but he looked like a 3x4 and we knew true monsters roamed at spot #2. We put on 5.5 miles through the hills, saw a few other deer and headed to our camping spot.




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We hunted spot #2 for the first time in 2016. Tyler had a couple real close encounters with some big bucks (being at full draw with one), and I hit a 3.5 year old in the shoulder and never recovered him. We were hungry for redemption.

We got my Ice Castle set up. That evening we had an hour and a half to hunt/scout. Tyler picked a new area and saw a ton of does. I went back to a familiar area from 2016 and saw 7 deer. All bucks. Two shooters. 8-) BUCK NEST. (pic is from next day)
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It was 2.82 miles to my vantage point. Boot tracks were plentiful at the parking lot, but trailed off to nothing when I got to "the goods". We encountered several good bucks here the last trip including the buck I hit and one we call "Cabelas Buck"... because he would fit in at one of their stores. Shorter tined but crazy wide and HEAVY HEAVY mass.



[glow=red]DAY 2[/glow]
I glass a few spots on the way in and see nothing. When I meet up with Tyler he saw a couple real good bucks on the same hill he had encounters on last year. There's a rock that looks like a *peter (think vulgar... male organ) and a big hill by it so we call it *Peter Hill. It was a BUGGER to get there but he was going for it.

I decided to head South to virgin territory. I glassed a while, moved a few times, then hit the jackpot. 2 bucks were bedded at the bottom of a bluff wind to face. This was by far the best most approachable opportunity I've ever had out West. The big buck was a GOOD one. 150+



They were bedded in the shadows at the bottom of the bluff toward the left side. Wind is left to right.
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Here's a spotting scope pic
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Honestly, I felt like this was it. They were 436 yards away and I started getting the shakes a bit as I crawled away to make my move. Most often the big ones bed in difficult spots. The wind KILLS you. They're almost always wind to back or they bed low in steep ravines where the wind swirls and sucks down the draws. I was confident I would have a consistent wind in this situation, though. I gathered my thoughts and went into kill mode. No more nervousness... But I still realized a lot had to go right. I knew time was of the essence, as the sun would be hitting them soon and they'd probably relocate when it did.



When I rounded a corner, I was greeted by this.
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That's a pretty decent mulie bedded on that tiny shelf dead center in the pic. They have soooo many options out here, and there's no telling where they'll be.



Shortly after, I came to the realization that accessing my target buck was not possible from downwind. :twisted: The terrain was SO rugged. The next ridge over in this pic is roughly 150 yards away.
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The ridge I'm on drops about 70-80' in about 20 yards. It's practically strait down. On my way back through I see the shadow is almost to the smaller buck. NOT GOOD. I'm hoofing it at this point.



I try to sneak through one spot to avoid going upwind. That was also not possible.
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I end up making a 1 1/4 mile loop to hope they don't catch my wind. I snuck around the right side of this hill to come right over top on these bucks. Even though they wouldn't be in the shade I was hoping they'd still be there. Sometimes it takes them a while to move...
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I crept crazy slow watching for a tine, a leg, a hind end, ANYTHING. UGH. Nobody home. Here's the bed the big one was laying in
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Here's a pic of the bed close up. It was HUGE. You can see where his knees indented the ground on the right side when he laid down.
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I searched for over an hour trying to relocated them but the terrain right there is so crazy its nearly impossible. You can't side hill on a lot of that stuff, nor can you see the little hidy holes. Its a needle in a hay stack feeling even when leaving wind out of the equation.



Not being able to capitalize on that was a mental blow. I sat on a hillside for at least an hour and collected my thoughts. It was SO perfect, but not meant to be. I met up with Tyler later and he'd located his bucks, but they were so remote he didn't think it was feasible to stalk and kill one from that distance. We'd have been packing him out in the dark. We're talking 5 miles from the truck, 2 of which is NASTY terrain that we're not familiar with. Packing a deer up a steep hill is one thing, but running into hills that aren't passable is another. Here's one of the bucks he was watching. Rack is 160+ and hard to see, but look at that sagging gut. Huge bodied mulie.
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Day 3
I went back to the Cabela's buck draw observation and Tyler observed Peter Hill. Wind was wrong for an aggressive move. I watched a definite shooter head into the cabelas draw and another borderline shooter head into the next draw over.

While watching them, I saw a shed antler in some buck brush. It was either an elk shed or MONSTER mulie.

I made my move in the cabelas draw. I was ready to bet money he was bedded on the same bluff the Cabela's buck was, but when I peered over top... nothing. It's about 40' to the bottom.
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Having prior knowledge of this draw, I slowly picked my way through, dropping milkweed the whole way.
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I never found him :think:

I don't know if he busted me or had THAT good of a hiding spot. I had 4-5 hours invested with no encounter

In the mean time I went to check out the shed :shock: didn't appreciate the extra weight in my pack but had to bring it home.
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I was on my way out and decided to try for the borderline buck on the next ravine over. I finally find him but we saw each other at the same time :oops: it is SO hard to stay vigilant with every step and see them first. He was 60 yards away in a DEEP ravine, right in the bottom. Tyler and I noticed that these bucks don't like high winds. Especially the big ones. I noticed that they keep walking those cuts until the find a spot that the wind is still.

Anyway, he somehow let me back out. I snuck around the top side of him but he knew to watch the skyline. I had a 15 yard shot that was about 35' down. I had just cleared some brush and needed a couple seconds to settle my pin when he bolted. He was a 4x4 roughly 135-140".

The high winds kept us out of the field that evening. 30 mph+. So we scouted around checking new properties from the truck



Day 4
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Glassed from a butte in the morning and didn't see much besides antelope. Winds were still super high so we spent most of the day driving. Found some promising properties and a bunch of goats! Drove over 200 miles but saw over 300 goats.
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Day 5
We decided to hit up "old faithful" where we went morning of day 1. I was heading a couple miles in right off the bat, but Tyler was going to check a cedar draw (that I'm ashamed to admit I didn't know was there prior to day 1) before heading to the vantage point where we'd passed the good buck. My first glassing spot yielded nothing until 3 does surprised me from below 70 yards away :lol: I could see for two miles in spots... then deer appear below me. Sitting on vantage points you feel like you can see a lot. But all you can see are ridge lines. Mulies don't move on the high spots... they stay down low.
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I ended up seeing about 15 does. I located some super cool mulie beds that I'll post later on.


Tyler had ACTION. He saw 25, most of which were on a hay field. All the does stayed out in the hay while 4 bucks headed South. All the sudden it clicked. "They're heading for that cedar draw!!" Tyler ran around to get the wind in his favor.

Sure enough that's where they went. He watched them for a couple hours and has video of them sparring, and raking young cedar trees. Here's some stills of his target buck.
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FINALLY he lays down. Tyler makes his move and takes his boots of when he gets close. Stocking feet are 10x quieter. He pulls his hood up on his leafy wear jacket to help break up his outline, he ranges the hill side and other potential shot opportunities. Strait CREEPING. When he feels like he should be able to see the buck's rack 25 yards away... NOTHING. :? Then he sees him 10 yards to the left! The buck had re-bedded and was sleeping! In that moment he picks his head up, sees Tyler, and runs up the steep hill. Tyler lets out a "MEEEHHH!" to stop him and he stops right behind a tree. He said a branch covered his vitals but he knew his arrow trajectory would clear it so he settled his 50 yard pin on the top of the branch and let er rip.

THUMP!! It sounded good and the buck took off over the hill. A couple jumps and he was gone.

Tyler called me and I headed over. An hour and a half after the shot we decided to check for blood and the arrow.


Tyler felt really good about the shot but though it might have been a touch back. I was on the hill the buck ran over top of, and Tyler went to a different vantage point to try and locate him in the semi open terrain. Then the buck bolts from cover and runs around a ridge :doh: :doh: :doh: I felt like a rookie in that moment. We both knew better, but didn't think he'd bed THAT close. Not to mention we thought he would be dead.

The only spot we found blood was a gopher mound with pin drops of blood on it. You couldn't see anything in that shorty whispy grass.
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Worried he'd cross on to private, we knocked on the landowners door. No answer.

The winds were high and we couldn't really get our head in the game anyway. Buck was shot at noon. No hunt that night.



Day 6
We picked up the blood trail where he rounded the point. The grass out west is CRAZY fine stemmed but it went well considerding. We felt we were tracking a liver hit deer. I know I've never tracked a gut shot deer that bled like this. After 500-600 yards I told Tyler I was going to go back to get our packs. When I got back to him he said he jumped him :o :o :o

"When he got up I thought he was going to tip over." Tyler said. He was clumsy and walked the first 15-20 yards. But the buck gained his composure, trotted, and jumped a barbwire fence. He headed around the corner of a bluff by the river and disappeared. To add insult to injury Tyler said he was in bow range and could have shot him again had he had an arrow knocked. We couldn't believe how this was playing out.

Tyler said both times he saw him, there was blood on his side and he couldn't figure out how that shot wouldn't kill him. It was right in the pocket of the shoulder. :think:

Luckily we gained permission to track him on the private land. But do we track him that evening? Would he be dead in 4-5 more hours?? We opted out.

No hunt that night either. High winds again and surely didn't need two deer to track when we were suppose to leave in the morning so we stayed in.


Day 7
We arrived in gray light only to see a dead ringer for Tyler's buck on his feet. We both thought it was him, but he didn't act like a wounded buck. :think: After checking some likely spots, morale was LOW. We headed toward the river bluff where we last saw him. This was it... if he wasn't here, it was back to a needle in a hay stack with almost no time left to search. I got to the point where I could see the whole bluff...

NOTHING

Are... you... kidding :oops: :oops:

It's going to be a VERY quiet ride home.

I took a few more steps and glassed it again. :D THERE HE IS! Not sure if I flat out missed him the first time or what, but I backed out and signaled Tyler. After the nightmare we'd been through the last two days we took all precautions and made sure he was down. He likely died an hour or two after we bumped him the day before.

TALK ABOUT RELIEF

We high fived and celebrated. What a roller coaster. What a magnificent animal. What a bizarre turn of events.

Point in case, look at the exit hole
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We quartered him and didn't do a full autopsy but the entry wasn't back it was good left and right but high. He was shooting UP at him... entry was high, exit was right in the crease with the broadhead still lodged there :think: :think: :think:

At first I thought the arrow hit the spine and ricocheted down but that would have severed the femoral arteries killing him in seconds. For now I think he hit a rib square (they're thick up top) and that redirected the arrow down. He maybe caught a LITTLE of the nearside lung, and just the top and a little of the outside of the far lung. All the big veins and arteries in the lungs are the center of the lung itself and they get smaller toward the outside. :think:

Regardless, we're both extremely happy to recover him. He's a stud of a public land buck and the ride home was a happy one!
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Re: Our SD Mulie Trip - Long story & pic heavy!

Unread postby stash59 » Fri Nov 02, 2018 10:26 pm

:handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbup: :handgestures-thumbupright:
Happiness is a large gutpile!!!!!!!
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Re: Our SD Mulie Trip - Long story & pic heavy!

Unread postby Bigburner » Fri Nov 02, 2018 10:31 pm

Very Awesome!
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Re: Our SD Mulie Trip - Long story & pic heavy!

Unread postby Drenalin » Fri Nov 02, 2018 10:44 pm

Awesome hunt LD! Thanks for sharing!
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Re: Our SD Mulie Trip - Long story & pic heavy!

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Fri Nov 02, 2018 10:48 pm

Nice! Way to stick at find him. The high highs...and low lows.
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Re: Our SD Mulie Trip - Long story & pic heavy!

Unread postby headgear » Fri Nov 02, 2018 11:21 pm

Looks like a blast, congrats tyler!
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Re: Our SD Mulie Trip - Long story & pic heavy!

Unread postby Lockdown » Sat Nov 03, 2018 12:12 am

headgear wrote:Looks like a blast, congrats tyler!


It’s a blast for sure, but it will test you mentally. Last time we went I told Tyler I wasn’t coming back without a rifle... it’s just too rugged. Somehow he talked me into it though :D

We walked 50 miles through those hills in 6 days. My feet were sore and blistered after day 2.
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Re: Our SD Mulie Trip - Long story & pic heavy!

Unread postby MOBIGBUCKS » Sat Nov 03, 2018 12:15 am

Awesome buddy!! Congrats again to your friend!! Looks like an awesome adventure :D
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Re: Our SD Mulie Trip - Long story & pic heavy!

Unread postby crankn101 » Sat Nov 03, 2018 12:45 am

Sounds like a fun trip. Congrats, maybe you will get one next time.
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Re: Our SD Mulie Trip - Long story & pic heavy!

Unread postby Jonny » Sat Nov 03, 2018 12:53 am

:clap:

The terrain out there looks incredible. Congrats on getting it done
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Re: Our SD Mulie Trip - Long story & pic heavy!

Unread postby isitseasonyet? » Sat Nov 03, 2018 1:09 am

Beautiful terrain, awesome buck, and a great memory! Nice Job!
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Re: Our SD Mulie Trip - Long story & pic heavy!

Unread postby bigbucks1234 » Sat Nov 03, 2018 1:32 am

Wow,,, that's a memorable hunt right there!!!! Thanks for the write up LD. Congrats to Tyler on a beauty!!!!
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Re: Our SD Mulie Trip - Long story & pic heavy!

Unread postby Lockdown » Sat Nov 03, 2018 1:36 am

Forgot to mention when we jumped him the first time while checking the impact site, it was an hour and a half after the shot. In the end, even if we’d let him lay until that evening, we still would have bumped him.

We weren’t going after him... just trying to figure out how good the shot was. I still feel like we made a mistake searching for blood that soon since Tyler could only see him for a few jumps after the shot.

It would have been entirely different if he watched him run 100 yards. In that situation we could have safely investigated near impact.

So that’s something to think about next time you put an arrow in one.

When we jumped him the next morning, it was 21 hours after the shot.

We both really regret not opening him up, but we were late the way it was. Late enough I missed pumpkin carving with the kids that night :oops: mama was not impressed
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Re: Our SD Mulie Trip - Long story & pic heavy!

Unread postby muddy » Sat Nov 03, 2018 1:43 am

Fun hunt, congrats on the recovery
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Re: Our SD Mulie Trip - Long story & pic heavy!

Unread postby Twenty Up » Sat Nov 03, 2018 3:42 am

We just got back from Lakota ND from a duck hunting trip. Absolutely beautiful country up there, enjoyed driving through SD even more so it looked beautiful just from the highway..

Glad to watch your journies as usual LD, tell your buddy congrats on that stud Mulie :clap:
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