21 November 2007, 08:20
CDHMy first mule deer
This was the result of my first mule deer hunt. We were tent camping in New Mexico, unit 29, on BLM land. This is some desolate land, tough to hunt and plain tough to even move around in without landing on your backside all the time. The hills are mostly loose shale and coming from nearly sea level the 6000-6500 ft altitude just about did me in! This was on day #3 of my hunt, about 3PM.
I was standing and taking a break, watching a saddle and small canyon between 2 hills while my hunting partners walked around the far sides of said hills. This guy saw one of my companions and snuck over the hill away from him...and right into my firing line. My friend never even knew he had scared up a deer, at least not until I started shooting. He made it down the hill at a fast loping trot and was coming up from the wash behind me at a steady trot. He didn't seem to acknowledge my presence as I was standing still and right at 100 yards away. My first shot had him perfectly behind the shoulder blades, missing all shoulder bones and blowing chunks of lung out the far side. He didn't even flinch. I hurried a second shot and caught him high, hitting him center spine and while it stopped him before he could get over into a very steep canyon, it ruined about half the backstrap. He gave 2 good thrashes on the ground and was done. Both bullets exited and performed flawlessly. The lungs were mush, but the adrenaline kept him going until hit #2. This is how I found him.
A bit of a closer view:
It was about 1/3 of a mile to the nearest road. I dressed/quartered him in place, packed the meat into big plastic bags, and hiked him out in one trip.
The rifle is my pet M70 classic stainless, 300 WSM, shooting 180 grain Nosler ballistic tips. The load is 64 grains H4350 for 2900 fps and is less than 3/4MOA when I can shoot that well. The scope is a Nikon Buckmasters 4.5-14x40AO.
My homemade knife worked flawlessly. I have a post in the knife section if anyone is interested in more details.
Not the biggest mulie one will see here, but a personal trophy nonetheless! It was a helluva tough hunt and a decent buck to show for it.
