At the risk of being severely tongue/keyboard lashed by some internet armchair hunter, who will likely find something to nitpick me about, I'd like to post the results of my muzzleloader deer hunt in New Mexico.

I spent most of Saturday and Sunday hiking and glassing into various rocky nooks and crannies with no luck. Didn't even see a deer or much sign, though coyotes were plentiful. I bailed out in time to take the kids trick or treating Sunday night. I returned to work for a day, then headed back out again this morning to try once more. While traveling to a new spot that I'd heard good things about, I spied three bucks standing in a low grassy area opposite the hills I'd left a bit of shoe leather in over the weekend. They seemed to be in a stalkable position, so I sped past while making a plan to sneak back on foot. Luckily for me they didn't spook out and were still contendedly munching this year's good desert grass when I belly-crawled over a low dirt-tank dam and got a solid rest on the bipod. Further details and results below.

Species: (Desert) mule deer
Outfitter/guide: None, solo hunt, public land
Tool of the trade: T/C Encore shooting 250 grain Barnes
Shot distance: about 100 yards; one shot fired
"Dead on his feet" distance traveled: about 30 yards





Thanks for looking!

Any mature buck on public land is a good one in my books!

Congrats on a great buck!!!

Great work and very nice buck.

outstanding!

Well I thought I'd give you a positive "atta boy" before the negative crowd jumps in!
Nice buck and nice shooting.
I'm glad you posted the pictures and the details and I hope the rest of your hunts go as planned. I'm leaving for a Cow hunt this Friday.

Congrats, and thanks for sharing.

Nice buck and well hunted. Congratulations!!!

Perry

Obviously under gunned, too long a shot, bad shot, and poor woodsman skills!

Congrats on a your desert mulie and good job all the way around!!

Bob

DIY desert mule deer with a smokepole is quite an accomplishment IMO! Congratulations!

I love that muzzleloader!

Drummond

quote:

Originally posted by Bob in TX:
Obviously under gunned, too long a shot, bad shot, and poor woodsman skills!

Congrats on a your desert mulie and good job all the way around!!

Bob

Great Job! What unit did you hunt?

Very nicely done!

Nice stock on your Encore, by the way...

Really nice buck and sounds like a fun hunt. I grew up in NE Nwe Mexico, man do I know about the walking there.
Congrats!

SSR

Thanks for the comments on the deer and rifle. I've had that Encore for several years now and it flats gets the job done. Every time I'm tempted to "trade up" to an Endeavor or other new model, I just take it out and kill something and that thought goes away.

I shoulda known I could count on you Bob!

R, I'd love to tell you where... Actually, I wouldn't! Let's just say southwest NM. There aren't a whole lot of deer down in this part of the state, and I might want to go back next year and find this guy's brother.

Very nice, congrats!

quote:

Originally posted by DesertRam:
R, I'd love to tell you where... Actually, I wouldn't! Let's just say southwest NM. There aren't a whole lot of deer down in this part of the state, and I might want to go back next year and find this guy's brother.

No Problem DR!

I saw a huge buck while on a Barbary hunt years ago on Wind Mountain...lots of Scalies too..!

Congrats! Pretty buck.

Good job. FYI, you did much better than I did on my PRIVATE LAND NM muzzleloader Mule Deer hunt. At least you got one! On public land no less.

Good job and nice Mulie.

R - oddly enough I haven't seen many quail this year. I'll get more serious in a few weeks, but I'm not impressed so far.

Thanks DC.

Sorry to hear about your NM hunt Wendell. You made up for it though!