State: Texas
County: Reagan (lease extends into Crockett)
Location: SW of Big Lake
Lease/Hunt Club: Trans Pecos Hunt Club
Rifle used: CZ550 in 9,3x62

This year, we took a lease that had both whitetails and muleys - although I've been disappointed with the quality of whitetails on the place (and the apparent poaching by oil-field workers), I have been very pleased with the mule deer and mule deer hunting (I love spot-and-stalk hunting!). The weekend prior to the season, I saw a tremendous muley buck (for Texas) with about 22"-24" inch spread and extremely lone tines, forks, and mass (a 4x4 with eye-guards). I saw him the Friday before the season opened as well. However, he did not put in an appearance opening weekend, and one of my buddies shot him during the week while I was at work.

The first weekend of the season, I saw one good "settle-for" buck - a 20" deer that was a 4x2 with eye-guards and that was really tall. The 2nd weekend of the season, I saw several 4x3s (all with eyeguards), but nothing that tickled my fancy. My Dad shot a big 2x2 (with eyeguards) thinking it was something better, so the last Saturday morning of the season, he and I set out to see if we could find me a good buck. I had been carrying my custom Encore in 6.5x284 and dry days and my stainless 300 WSM on rainy and snowy days, but this morning I decided to change my luck and carry my "Africa Rifle" - my CZ 550 in 9,3x62. Working the mesas the past two weekends had only produced close range opportunities, so I wasn’t too worried about the trajectory, and besides, I’d taken game with it out to 250 yards in Africa.

Anyway, Dad & I were working the edges of the mesas in the camp jeep early Saturday morning. We’d already seen a young mule deer buck (already bedded) and a mule deer doe, when we came to a point and Dad said “you ought to get out and check that canyon†. . . so I did – and immediately spotted a buck about 250 yards out. It was a really damp morning, with dew all over everything – including my binoculars and scope. After wiping the lenses of the binos and straining to see him through the still-foggy lenses, I could tell that the antlers extended outside the ears (and that was all I could really make out of his antlers) and that the buck was fully mature – which were my only criteria for a "last weekend" mule deer buck. I’m wiping the dew off the scope of my 9,3x62 and Dad is saying “I think you’d better take himâ€. . . I edge around the juniper bush and set up my shooting sticks and let him have a 250 gr TSX as he turns to walk away. The first shot was just a touch too far back (liver) but he staggered into the cedars, obviously hit hard . . . a few minutes later, he staggered out of the brush and I sent another 250 grain TSX his way (at 300 yards) anchoring him (raking shot from just in front of left hip exiting just behind right shoulder).

While Dad brought the jeep around (he had to drive back the way we’d came, drop off the mesa, then drive back into the canyon) I went down to check out the buck. I knew it was an older deer with a decent spread - I thought he was a nice, average typical buck for the area and was COMPLETELY surprised to find that my buck’s antlers were nontypical – he's an 8x4 with eyeguards and has 14 scoreable points (1†or more) along with another one that you could hang a ring on (15 pts, “Texas countâ€). The greatest spread on his antlers was 24½â€. He was also obviously very old, with patches of missing hair on his back, thinning hair on his neck, and a distinct Roman nose. Upon examination, some of his teeth were worn to the gums, so I’d estimate him at 8½+ years old. In this case, as far as I'm concerned, age and character matter far more than score, but I taped him at 152 4/8 net nontypical.

woohoo! Another West Texas Muley Down!

Great buck!

Very nice Texas muley.

Sorry to hear about the poaching.

That buck has a ton of character. Congratulations.

Kyler

I disagree with kyler...he has a ton and a half of character...

That's a terrific old buck, and I'm sure he'll have a place of prominence on your wall.

Congratulations!

Troy-

I just noticed Camp Wood in your signature line. Is Barry Cox still around?

I hunted with him about 25 years ago. WHile I didn't care for his hunting methods, he was a very interesting character with lots of stories to tell. And he could scale those hills like an old mountain goat.

His wife was about as sweet a lady as you'll ever find and was a pretty darn good cook, too.

That is one of the coolest looking muleys I've ever seen!! Way to go man!!

Great buck! I love those chocolatey antlers - very distinct.

Nice, Congrats.

Reloader

Hey Troy,

Congrats on a great muley!!!! Tell Russell Phillips "Hey" if you see him in town.........

Bob

very cool buck. congrats!! and i really like your choice of rifle also my cz 9.3x62 is fast becoming my favorite rifle.

Nice old Mulie. Well done.

Nice Muley and thanks for the story.

Troy
Just curious..did you weigh him and if so what was he #?

I did not weigh him, but I'd estimate his live weight at around or a bit over 200 pounds. Body-wise, he was much bigger than any Texas Whitetail I've shot (mature bucks around 130 pounds). His muscle tone was really poor, he had no subcutaneous fat to speak of, but his gut was huge and heavy.

I just finished processing the meat - interestingly enough, he had the thinnest backstraps of any deer I've shot - his muscle tone was really poor, and in the lumbar region of his back, the backstraps were only about 1 1/2" thick where normally I'd expect back straps of that width to be 3" thick or so.

Troy

Bobby,

I've only lived in Camp Wood since '04 - there are several folks named "Cox" here in the area, but I haven't met the gentleman that you mention. Since I work in Uvalde, I don't know everyone here - mostly just the parents of my daughter's friends such as the folks that "Bob in TX" mentioned above.

Troy

Troy,

Nice buck, TONS of character!

Nice rifle too!

Troy
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