Too Much Rain!

[minzwa]

This year's hunt not quite washed out but...... We only saw about a dozen cows before the rains came. Not too terrible, but bad enough to shut the elk up, and get us pretty wet for 6 of our 8 days. Usually, I hear 4 to 6 bulls a day bugling, and work a couple of them. This year, only hear 3 bugles total. Bummer was, I had been raving about how awesome this hunt is to my rifle hunting pal, and he came from a long way for a big let down. Sigh, yep, pretty much rained out. We did get a few bulls coming to the water hole at night, in spite of the rain. Just not while we were there in our stand.
There was a bright side though, I did manage to use the moist trails to put a great mulie buck on the ground. I've been a mule deer hunting addict most of my life, and a big buck has very nearly as much thrill for me as a big bull elk! I feel very blessed to have harvested a good buck with an arrow. This is my first bow kill too. Had several close calls with elk, but no shots yet.
Killed this buck in his bed at 48 yards. Soft moist game trail allowed me to get close, and then when he spotted me, I pretended not to see him, looked the other way, scratched my head, whistling a little tune (nervously!) and got an arrow on the string. He laid there in his bed, thinking he was invisible since I hadn't reacted to him. I turned and released in under a second, shooting as soon as i was still. The arrow in his back was the second hit, only angle he gave me. He was already hit through the boiler, but since I could still see him breathing, wanted to make sure he didn't get up and run, and wanted to help end it more quickly. That was the only spot I could see through brush, and the arrow head actually came out his chest. looks like poor penetration in this pic, but it actually went all the way through, and backed out when he thrashed a bit.
He was a big bodied, fat covered buck. Sure did put a bright spot in our wet hunt! Good luck to you guys with a few days left!

[Norrec]

Nice Muely! Im so jealous!!! I cant wait to go up this fall with my wife! Unfortunately its rifle but its still the thrill of the hunt!

[minzwa]

Love the rifle hunt for Muleys! Honestly, guys who can consistently score with Archery gear on mule deer impress me. Those are real hunters.
I feel like i got lucky. So glad to have brought this guy home with me! I will be taking my 12 year old boy out rifle hunting for his first Muley this year.
Good luck to you & the wife!