I enjoyed the first Alberta Mule Deer thread enough that I thought another one would be a good thing.

We are lucky enough to have some good mule deer habitat to hunt in central Alberta. We have our own land, which is the usually the haunt of the second biggest buck in the area. We also have access to ~3/4 of the territory of the biggest buck in the area, including a ragged block of 12 contiguous quarters about a mile from our house. In the middle of that block is one quarter we haven't got access to.

Weather was a bit of a challenge at times this year.


Over the last few years we figured out how the local deer react to the wind and developed a style of hunting bedded bucks that I think of as a "Small Ball" hunting. We hunt alone, and don't see a lot of deer, but tend to get close(<50yds)to relatively undisturbed deer. At that range, they don't give you much time to decide and shoot. If you are doing it right, they don't spook badly but move off slowly and without stotting, which gives you a bit more time. It usually takes some time to get the right shot at the right deer. I don't like Texas Heart shots at uninjured game or shooting when they are stotting. Fortunately, our girls get the week of Remembrance Day off from school, so we have the time. I used a lot of it this year.

We are on the southern edge of parkland habitat. It is a fairly dry mix of grass and trees on gently rolling hills cut by steeper ravines and shallow valleys. The mule deer will bed down on the down wind edge of areas of thicker cover. The wind sends their scent out over open country they can watch. Their backs are covered by deadfall and steeper slopes that they also use as escape routes. They can stott through rough terrain faster than a predator can run and by fleeing into the wind, they know they aren't going to run into another one. The keys to how we hunt are figuring out how get to into the bedding cover without being seen and never scaring the does. After that, it is just a matter of being slow and careful about the wind and noise. We almost never follow up spooked animals and can just about cover most of a quarter section in a morning.

To cut a long story short, I got the second biggest buck in the area after almost a week. This is the third time in as many years that we got the second biggest buck in the area on our land (my wife was successful the previous two years). I know he is the second biggest because I got onto the biggest buck but couldn't shoot him. Remember that lone quarter we don't have permission for? Yeah, he was on the wrong side of the fence. The galling thing is that we just haven't bothered to ask if we could hunt there. We've already got access to more land than we can hunt and there is only about 2 ten acre patches that are interesting on that quarter. Sure enough, he was on one of them and I let the second biggest mule deer I've seen in this area walk away.

I finally connected on my third chance with #2. The first time he stood up behind some brush at 40 yds and when he got clear he was going straight way. A few days later he just owned me. In fact, he likely watched me leave the yard. It was a clear, cold and calm afternoon. I was working a patch of cover ~50yds from where he was bedded when he finally lost patience and WALKED away. I saw his antlers flash when he stood, but he didn't step clear until he was ~100yds away and then he was going straight away again. His body language seemed to say "I'd have acted scared if you'd have acted like a threat." I had a good idea where he was going, but couldn't figure how to get there under the conditions without spooking the whole country. It was a cold walk home.

When I got there, my wife was watching the whole herd from the bedroom window. Home field advantage I guess you'd call it. There were 8 does, 5 fawns, a fork horn, 2 4x4 bucks and #2. The 4x4's did a bit of sparing. The fork horn asked the big buck to spar, then backed off when the old guy showed that he didn't want to mess around. We watched until dark and had a good idea where they'd spend the night. They'd picked a pretty tough place to hunt without a west wind and an unpleasant day.

The critical terrain where they were hanging out is a low hill. A gentle roll of land comes off the hill and separates the area into 2 rolling basins. One slopes away to the NW, the other to the SE. Mule deer like to hang out around the foot of the hill with a west wind. It is a real problem to get at them unless the weather is bad enough to get them back deeper in cover. You have to cross ~400m of bald prairie to reach any cover when coming from the east. Unless the weather is bad enough, there'll usually be some deer on the edge of the prairie and you'll get spotted, even in the dark. We haven't had much luck when they are in the basins and we try to cut across the wind and approach from the north or south. It's just too complicated, with too many ways to be seen, smelt, heard or otherwise screw up.

It was -23C when I left the house in the morning with enough wind from the west to make it bite. Perfect. I got into position overlooking the base of the hill and the SE basin in the dark and waited for the sun to come up. The wind held, but there was no movement at all. When the sun came up, I heard a clack of antler on antler. I judged it to have come from the NE basin, likely just over the roll of land 60 yds to my right. A few minutes later, the fork horn walked down the hill at ~80yds and into some cover on the edge of the SW basin. He was on the other side of a stand of poplars, but there were enough gaps to get a shot. I waited some more and then decided to start working over to the NE basin.

That involved trying to quietly pick my way through deadfall and roses, then getting to the next cover about 15m away. I had made it out of the roses when one of the 4x4's came down the hill. It was time to put some meat in the freezer even if there was a bigger buck in the area. When the buck stepped behind a bush, I duck walked to a deadfall, took a rest and settled the crosshairs on his shoulder. He was the 9th buck I'd put a scope on this season and I figured I'd pushed my luck as far as Lady Luck would allow. But, his head was behind a tree. I couldn't see antlers and I didn't want to make a mistake. He stepped forward, I saw the antlers and the vitals were covered by trees as he followed the fork horn into cover.

I waited a bit more, took about 3 steps to start closing in on the second buck and a doe walks down the hill. I freeze and she follows the bucks into cover. While waiting yet again, I decide to leave those three for a few minutes. The wind is good and checking the NE basin will put me in a better spot to follow up. I'm only 40 yds from the roll of land that separates the basins and make it only 5 yds when another doe walks over the roll. We stare at each other and her fawn walks over the roll and stares at me too. I slowly sink to the ground and we stare some more. The fawn flaps her ears a bit and stots twice to the north then stops and flaps her ears at me some more. When the fawn jumped, the doe jumped once herself, then stopped and stared. I rolled my eyes when she started walking towards me. My eyes probably got a lot bigger a few seconds later when the tips of some dark antlers appeared over the does' back.

I knew whose antlers those were and shuffled 2 yds to the right on my knees to get clear of a tree. I just got an elbow on my knee when the older buck steps up. I had to wait a couple of long seconds as the does passed behind him and he stared at me. The rifle went off and I heard the solid thump of the bullet.

I waited for 20 seconds or so then cautiously walked to where the buck had stood, expecting to see him piled up in the basin beyond. No buck, no blood, just hair and then a deer snorts and a buck jumps up almost at my feet. It is the other 4x4. He leaves and I start working out the tracks. A few seconds later, my eyes get to the end of the biggest tracks in the snow and the older buck is standing in them, not moving other than to sway a bit. The finisher is placed to avoid big bone and not ruin much meat.

I took a few pictures with a pocket camera and called my wife.


Where he fell.


First blood for my 7x57.

Kyla soon arrived in our Mule with a traveling circus in tow.



All hands on deck to help with the recovery and ask about/try to lick the various bits that come out.

A few final thought, starting with the ammunition I used.

- Due to a lack of suitable powder, I went with factory ammunition for my M70 in 7x57. Hornady Superformance with 139 gr GMX (monometal). The box says the muzzle velocity is 2740 fps. The buck was quartering towards me on the first shot at ~35 yds. I aimed for the point of the shoulder but slipped the bullet back by ~1/2 inch, missing larger bone and getting one lung and the very bac of the second one. The finisher was taken broadside. Both bullets left a larger crater on entering (>2 inch diameter) and neither exited. The first bullet was lost in the gut pile and the second was recovered just under the hide. They worked, but don't fill me with a lot of confidence. I'll use something else next year and save these for coyotes.

- I love the balaclava I found at MEC this fall. Soft, versatile, breathable and still somehow wind proof. I generally don't bother with camo, but something that covers the face really seems to matter at the ranges we've been finding the deer.

- The deer herd is young after 3 bad winters but it looks healthy to me with good buck/doe ratios.

- This was the first non typical I've ever taken. I'd call him a 3x4 with weak brow tines and 2 kicker tines. The tines are a bit unusual in that they are a bit flattened and angular, sort of like triangles with rounded corners instead of round. I'll have my buddy the biologist age him eventually, but I'll guess he was 6 1/2 yrs old, the same as the buck my wife got last year.

- We didn't get the most or greatest photos because first the camera froze, then my wife's hands!

Good hunting,
Dean

Congrats on the heavy antlered Mule deer and thank you for the great report!

Congratulations, I enjoyed the write up.

Dean,

Congrats on a nice buck! Enjoyed your story. So when are we sending you and the family on an African holiday? I have some not so expensive alternatives.

Mark

Congrats on a very fine muledeer.

Very cool to read that your family enjoys hunting with you.

I have enjoyed your hunt with the detailes added.
-23C for me is extreme working in the Saudi Desert where June- August 47-50C is an everyday occurance.

Yet this is a hunt I have on my bucket list in the near future.

Did you have extensive meat damage with the ammunition used?

Thanks for the comments guys.

Gerhard,+45C is just plain nasty. You can dress for the cold, but when it gets that hot you can just suffer.

The bullet craters weren't too deep and only about a pound of meat was wasted. Still, that was a lot more than I'd expect to see with the .270 and 150 gr NPs I usually us.

I am lucky that my family likes hunting. It has been a tough time to be a stuffed toy in our house lately. The girls have been hunting, killing, cleaning and cooking them at a great rate. We are very careful not to laugh when the little one checks for a corneal reflex.

Mark, we are thinking that 2016 would be a good time to take the girls to Namibia. The youngest will be 6 and will handle the travel better. The trick will be to find the right lodging. You know my thoughts on fancy lodges and fences and my wife is worse, but we still want to be close enough to touristy things for the girls and non-hunting days.

Cheers,
Dean

quote:

I am lucky that my family likes hunting. It has been a tough time to be a stuffed toy in our house lately. The girls have been hunting, killing, cleaning and cooking them at a great rate. We are very careful not to laugh when the little one checks for a corneal reflex.

I just love this. Sent you a PM.

Mark

Great write-up and a good buck. Sounds like you have the kids well trained already. My hats off to you. Bruce

Great write up. Really nice buck.

Congrats.

Yo, Amigo !

Well done ... as always. It has been too long since we did some hunting or even had a coffee ... Cheers and Merry Christmas to you'all !

Richard

Nice looking deer! Congrats!

Hunting with family; fantastic!

nice deer! Hope you get the big guy next year!