I spent 10 days in the mountains on my hunt this year. I did enjoy every minute of it even the rough stuff.
The first 5 days I had a friend of mine with me on his first deer hunt. Last winter in Southern Idaho was tough on all of us, but it was especially hard on mule deer. I saw substantially less deer this year than years before. In fact from Friday to Friday I saw about 20 head of deer total and no bucks at all.
I got my buddy into two different hunts that offered him a 50 yard shot at a doe. He just didn't see them in time to shoot. Tuesday it snowed and rained all day but I got him on a 50 yard doe. Well he decided that he had enough and had to get back to work.


Wednesday it snowed all day.





I got a short hunt in the morning and spent the rest of the day watching movies.
My son Jacob was going to come hunt with me on Friday night so I wanted to be done with my deer no matter how big so I would not be competing with him for a deer. I wanted to focus on him.
So on Wednesday I was going to shoot the first deer I saw. After a big storm and it was clear and cold, I saw nothing. Not a single deer.




Thursday again I saw nothing but a couple of does a VERY long way off. I was getting worried about getting Jacob into a deer. I didn't care if I got one but He didn't get one last year. I wanted him to score.



The weather warmed up a bit and the snow melted. All the other hunters bailed out in the storm on Wed. Friday morning I got up and headed out. Quickly I saw a deer and it was in range. I took a range finder reading and it was 150 yards, but steep down hill. The deer was looking at me through the trees. I could see the full chest front on all the way up. I never looked at the head. I set the sight for 150 and I knew I was going to hit high. I was shooting my Hot Rod Hawken 45 with my paper patched RCBS 11mm bullet. I was using 80 gr of pyrodex P with an over powder wad.
At the shot the deer disappeared in the smoke. I heard a WHACK but didn't see the deer run. I headed down the hill to see what happened. I got down there and went to looking for it. After a bit I found it piled up. The pack out was going to be straight up. So I gutted it and made it into a pack.





Back at camp I took a couple better pictures.





Clearly the smallest buck I have ever shot. And it was the only buck I had seen in 8 days of looking and hunting. But I keep telling my self that since he was so tiny that makes my shooting look better.

I went out scouting about 5:00 pm and saw a doe. I thought I will come back with Jacob and see if she is still around.
Well Jacob got there at 6:00 pm and he unloaded his Honda 90 and we headed over to look for the doe.



He was using the Hot Rod Renegade. His load was a 458 gr paper patched Lee 500 S&W bullet with an over powder wad and 80 grains of Pyrodex P.
He wanted me to carry my rifle so he would have a quick second shot if needed.

We headed down the hill to where the doe was. I was in the lead since I knew where she was. I duck under a tree and a branch snagged my jacket. The pop was so loud I was sure that any deer in the area would for sure hear it. I look up and there on the opposite ridge was a deer. I grabbed my range finder and said 175 and it is a buck. Jacob set his sight and I set up the shooting sticks for him. I quickly set my sight and looked with the bino's when he shot.
The buck was looking straight at us. I told Jacob to hold for center and let him have it. At the shot the buck instantly disappeared. I handed Jacob the Hawken and told him if it gets up make the same hold and let her go.
We watched for a few long agonizing minutes. I could see an antler sticking above the brush. It was not moving, but a deer is not dead until you hang the tag on it.
I took the hawken back and told Jacob to load his gun. We worked out our hand signals and he headed out to see his buck. As he got close a Blue Grouse flushed and about gave him a heart attack. Then I heard a loud whistle, the buck was dead. Thank you Lord!

I knew this was Jacobs best deer ever. The bullet hit the deer in the neck and killed him instantly.




In this picture this is where the buck died and I am looking back on the far hillside to where the bullet came from.



I went up to the road and got my ATV and headed for the ridge. I grabbed my gear and took down a bunch of stuff for Jacob to use when gutting and getting it ready to back pack. It wasn't going to be a long pack but it was going to have to be packed.






We got him back to the camp and skinned him. Then we got some dinner and crashed.
The next two days we spent riding out bikes, looking for bears and picking a gallon of choak cherry's for my Mother In Law to make Jam.
Our hunting season is over for big game this year. Jacob got his biggest and I got my smallest and I could not be more happy.

Looks like a great hunt in spite of low deer numbers.. Enjoyed the story and pics!

Very nice Ron. Jacob's buck looks pretty good to me! And that's some great shooting with open-sighted muzzleloaders.

A great hunt!!

Well done Ron!

A Honda Trail 90? Boy, that brings back some memories :-)

Great one, I used to love hunting the blackpowder area near West Yellowstone for Elk.

Thanks for posting the report.

I saw a lot of deer in the So. Hills this year, I was seeing about 5 to 15 bucks a day. My grandson has a tag..He saw one brute of a buck and missed..I saw a 160 buck, but he was off to my left and by the time I found him and returned the buck was half way to Montana I suspect. More deer this year than the last three years, so its coming back, Up North The wolves are beginning to show the damage they create that the liberals and Fed Fish and Wildlife assured us they wouldn't..the lies and deceit they testified to is one of the crimes of the century..

Excellent reporting. Great hunt. Thank you.