I had posted these photos in another thread but decided to start a new one.

I'm sitting in a Comfort Inn in beautiful Wellington, Colo. where I arrived late Mon. to start a hunt for a "management" mule deer buck with Atkinson Expeditions.

The first three pix are my management buck -- a high & wide 3x3 with 17" back tines that I killed Thurs. a.m. Although he's only a 3x3, the very symetrical buck grosses 155. Note how the browtines are growing from the FRONT of the antler bases at about a 45 deg. angle.

I used my tried & true Mod. 70 .264 Win mag. I quit reloading about 10 years ago, so I have been shooting Win factory 140-gr, PPs. The shot on the buck took out the heart and one lung. He ran about 20 yds. and dropped dead.









Another management 3X3 buck killed by Roger Bell from Gold Beach, Oregon on Weds. morning. He nailed it with a 130-gr. Hornady bullet from his .270 while the buck was bedded with two does.



This 10x8 trophy buck -- not management -- was taken Weds. by hunter Richard Attenberger using a .300 short mag. It scores just under 206

Love those mulies! Nice bucks guys.................wapiti7

Here are a few more photos. -TONY

Another of Roger Bell's buck with guide Chanse Snow.



The red arrow at the upper right was where Roger's buck was bedded. When he was hit, he got up, ran a few yards before going down and then started tumbling, stopping just short (where the other arrow is) of going off the steep cliff. That's Chanse standing to the left of the arrow.



This is a wider view showing where the buck went down. Hard to see in the photo but Roger and Chanse are standing where the arrow points.



Chanse and Roger dragging the buck down to where I had brought the truck. I had dropped them off about 1/2 mile away from the bedded buck, and they worked their way to within 160 yards to a ridge to the left of it. Once I heard the shot, I drove back to the spot where I took the photos of the cliffs.



This is a photo taken of the ranch terrain from the area where I killed my buck. The snow-covered peaks off in the distance are within Rocky Mt. NP. All the brush is mountain mahogany.

Beautiful Bucks, and a great narrative.
Thanks for posting them.

Don

Congratulations on your deer--those are quite nice mulies by any standard. I'm sure the hunt was fair-chase and the rewards justly earned.

However, the interlocked terms "Colorado" and "Management Bucks" makes me terribly sad. Rightly or wrongly, it implies a subtle "ownership" of the wildlife that carries with it the stigma of high-fence hunting. It seems to be part of an irreversable trend that, little by little, means the death of hunting for the average guy. Please understand that I am an agricultural landowner and acknowledge the temptation to turn control of the wildlife resources over to an outfitter--especially a reputable one like Atkinson. It just seems to be a symptom of the "southern disease" and documents the trend of exclusiveness that is spreading everywhere. Big bucks for "big $$$$$ bucks". Each to his own, but it still makes me sad.

Just my opinion--no flame intended. Congratulations again.

quote:

However, the interlocked terms "Colorado" and "Management Bucks" makes me terribly sad.

I'll say a rosary and light a candle for you with hopes they will cheer you up some. I hate to have people be sad for no good reason. -TONY

Those are some nice "management" bucks!

Congratulations!

X

thanks Toni ,

grate job , i am checking into their Hunts waiting for a reply.

Blaser,

Wes is in Kansas guiding whitetail hunters right now. Did you send email or what? -TONY

Tony ,

I sent them an Email , It's for next year.
Looking to do a Mule Deer or Elk Combo.
I see on Coues .com they are killing some nice deeer already

Blaser,

Wes runs a good operation, and it's sort of cushy hunt in that you get to stay at the Comfort Inn in Wellington.

It's only about a 1/2 hr. drive to the ranch each day. Best of all, his guides know the ranch very well and do lots of scouting. So they know where the game is hanging out.

Chanse, who guided me, is 26 yrs. old and lives in St. George, UT, but he has eyes like an eagle and spots deer a mile away without binocs. His manager here, Rob, is also good and lives right in Wellington.

If I can help you in any way or answer questions, shoot me a PM here and I'll give you my phone #.

I guess you mean Coueswhitetail.com, right? They are killing some very fine bucks, and the Dec. season ain't even here yet. The best so far appears to be Josh Epperson's (Grong) monster. -TONY

Tony,

The buck you took sure looks great to me! Looks like you had a good time hunting with Wes. I sure have enjoyed my two hunts out there.

-Sean

Sean,

Yup, it was a fun hunt, especially for an ol' dude like me.

I just got the frozen cape and antlers from Rob, and we went and picked up my meat, including 54 lbs. of three different summer sauages. I had the backstraps cut into steaks and the loins left whole.

Chanse showed me where you had killed your buck. I think it was very close to where Roger killed his.

Did a little waterfowl hunting this morning. It was slow because the weather warmed considerably. It was 17 deg. Thur. at 6; this morning at 5:30, it was 38. We had several flocks of geese make passes near the decoy spread, but only one was dumb enough to get within gun range; he died, as did several mallards.

Wes is in Kansas and won't be back in CO until Dec. He's been doing well with whitetail hunters there.

I'm outta here for home early in the a.m. -TONY

I have to say that it turns me off when I go to an outfitters web site and he won't post hunt prices. That always seems to indicate pricing that is "above average".

Bowhuntrrl

I don't think they are above average for the quality of deer being taken.

I recently posted that they had two cancellations for the five day trophy hunt offered at $3500 if someone wanted to take advantage of it. Looks like that could have been good for a 200+ buck. Wish I could have taken advantage of it.

What would you say is 'average' price for a quality mule deer hunt?

-Sean

Sean,

Just to make sure everyone is on the same page:

I believe Wes charges $5K for the trophy hunts and $2.5K for the management ones. That $3.5K figure was probably discounted for the cancelled hunts. -TONY

quote:

Originally posted by blaser93:
Tony ,

I sent them an Email , It's for next year.
Looking to do a Mule Deer or Elk Combo.
I see on Coues .com they are killing some nice deeer already

Did Wes Atkinson ever contact you?? -TONY

Real nice bucks! Someday I'll go for mule deer.

Hey Tony,

That rosary and candle thing works pretty well. This is my 15 year old sons first deer. NOT, a "management buck". Also, not Colorado but you can see it from here.

Sorry, not a guide in sight. (C'mon, let me gloat...)

No Tony he never answered my Email yet.

quote:

Originally posted by plainview:
Hey Tony,

That rosary and candle thing works pretty well. This is my 15 year old sons first deer. NOT, a "management buck". Also, not Colorado but you can see it from here.

Sorry, not a guide in sight. (C'mon, let me gloat...)

See, told you they would help. Gloat away and congrats to your son. Good buck! -TONY

Congrats Tony - very nice...