The wife and I left the house this morning at 6:15 in the dark to drive out to a small watering hole we found a few days ago while out scouting for mulies. It is so dry here the leaves on the trees are crunchy before they even fall off the trees. Before I continue though.... I have had FIVE mule deer bucks that took up residence in my back woodlot back in June, appearing like clockwork every 8 to 10 days, hanging around for a couple and then leaving again. Two days ago they appeared again, this time with no velvet and looking fat and healthy. 2 - 4x4 , a 2x2 a 2x1 and a spiker. Driving me nuts all day and then sleeping in the yard last night. Had to take the dog out front on a leash as the back yard was off limits obviously. Funny thing is I am out there BBQ'ing and they are laying on my lawn not 50 feet away.....
So.... this morning I was amped up to get out to that watering hole about a 1/2 hour drive away. As we got close I was watching the side hills for any sign of deer as it was just shooting light. We got to the skidder trail that led to the watering hole, still 400 yards away and not in view due to the rolling terrain. As I was about to turn and park the truck I caught something in my view that was out of place. I parked and grabbed my binos and sure enough , it was a deer and I saw antlers easily. I decided to drive towards it for another 100 yards and as I did that the deer bolted...... with 7 more behind it..... the flagging tails told me they were not mulies..... good thing I buy a whitetail tag every season just in case.
I parked the truck and went up onto a high spot off the road and got them in view as I chambered a 160gr nosler partition into my 7mm rem mag Ruger MK II and put the glass on the running deer. There were 7 of them and the buck was #3 in the line of flagging tails..... then the last deer did a fatal stop and turn to have a look back at me and showed me his rack..... the rifle barked instinctively and the deer dropped at 275 yards on the range finder. Point of aim was neck above the shoulder and the nosler found it's mark. Killing the deer where he stood.
It was an easy drag down hill to the truck where the wife had already backed it up to the bank and got the tarp ready.
We rolled in the drive way at a quarter to 9.
I've taken many mulies and blacktails but this is my first whitetail in all my years of hunting. It has 4 points on one side and 2 on the other but I'm liking more that it was nice and heavy and loaded with gobs of fat around all it's organs.
Feeling blessed this morning that's for sure
