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Here's my hunt report for my 652-20 Mule Deer tag in MT. Took me four years to draw this tag which only 100 permits or less are usually given out. The boundaries are Route 200 to the south to the Fort peck Dam in the North and Route 24 which also runs North and South. The area is comprised of Badlands and sage brush flats and areas of hills and brush choked coulees. I scouted the area a few times this Summer and saw a few deer. Packed up my wall tent that Mike Bryant from AR so graciously sold me and headed for the area. I hunted the area on opening day and had arrived a few days earlier to scout only to find out I had brought the wrong tag with me. Pulled camp and came home as I was not seeing much. Returned on 11/06/09 to try again. Camped at Nelson Creek on the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge. Had the place to our selves and we camped along the water. The site had a pavillion as well as bathroom facilities for added amenities. Here's a picture of the camp.  The hunt started everday getting up at the crack of dawn and scouting the various area. I had purchased maps from mytopo here in Billings, MT for my hunt area and also scouted the area with Google Earth. My neighbor Lester came along tring to fill a couple Whitetail doe tags.  The bucks were just starting to go into pre-rut so I kept an eye on the does as well as looking for single bucks. I saw bucks everyday but, nothing I wanted to drop the hammer on. On 11/08/09 hunting some block management land I spied the buck I shot chasing some does about 1 mile away. I made my way over as quickly as possible, but they had dissappeared over the ridge and I didn't want to spook them. I hunted another area off Mcguire Creek road and located another possible shooter who gave me the slip in the Badlands. Returned on the 10th to the hillside where I saw the big Buck a couple days previously. I had 15 does feeding on the hillside in front of me and I figured the big boy would come around. I happened to espy him on the ridge again chasing a doe and I took off in hot pursuit. I was eventually able to get where I last saw him and began scanning the area. A doe popped up and began trotting off with the big boy coming up behind her. I had time to get in prone position and prepare for the shot. With all my adrenaline flowing I was wondering why I couldn't see anything out of my scope! Forgot to flip the cover! I was shooting my 7MM STW custom gun with Kelby Kodiak action and Shilen Barrel and Mcmillan Stock. Bullets were handloaded .168 Gr Bergers with 68.5 grains Magnum Hunter powder. The buck folded at the 100 yard shot. I shot again and missed due to the excitement as I didn't want him piling up in the steep coulee below him. I made my way over to the buck.  I couldn't believe how tall he was! What a majestic animal. A nice tall 4x4  I silently thanked God for letting me harvest this beautiful animal and thanked him for giving up his life for me. I just sat back and admired the scenery and all its serenity. It was at dusk I shot the buck so I gutted the animal and marked my GPS and began the 2 mile trek back to the pickup point. It was a restless night as I hated to leave the buck do to the number of coyotes in the area. We returned in the morning and the buck was as I left it.   We were able to drive within a reasonable distance to the deer and drag him to the vehicle. Lester was able to harvest 2 doe Whitetails also, so it was time to settle back into camp.  Spent one more night and pulled stakes up in the morning for the 3.5 hour drive back home. Had a great time learning the area and hope to draw another tag for 652 soon!  | ||
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Perfection. Great hunt, great attitude, fantastic pictures. Thanks for sharing. ----------------------------------------- "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. -Henry David Thoreau, Walden | |||
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Sure is a mighty fine wall tent there Thomas. Oh yeah, mighty fine muley buck too. Just think, 1 million acres in CMR and and another 1 million acres of adjoining BLM and it all belongs to us. Don't have to ask anybody's permission or pay any dinero to access. You can wander 'till you puke. Life is good!!! | |||
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Great looking buck - glad you had a good time. | |||
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Great buck and well earned. I like the tall, willowy bucks as well. | |||
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Very nice buck. | |||
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That's a real beauty. Congratulations. "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry" - Robert Burns | |||
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Very well done... Mike Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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Dandy Buck,congrats | |||
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Nice looking, very tall buck. | |||
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Great story! Thanks for sharing. I really like the tall long tines on your buck. Beautiful country too... nothing like hunting the wide open spaces. BTW, sounds like a nice rig you shot him with. Got any pictures to post of your rifle? | |||
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