MANIAC998

My good friendChris and I, have just returned from a successful Montana Mule deer hunt. We've always dreamed about heading out West for a traditional Western style hunt for that elusive Big Mulie Buck. We got the required time off from work, so we jumped in the truck and headed out from Upstate New York.
40 hours later, we were tired, but excited too, as we were finally in Montana. We met up with my cousin (Ed)who lives in Montana, and away we went to set up base camp near Broadus, MT. On the way in, we saw numerous Mulies and Whitetails. I guess he wasn't lying when he told me that if all you wanted was "meat", you could fill your tag in 15 minutes!!! They were everywhere!!!
We got base camp set-up, and as it was nearing dark, some of the crew went out hunting/scouting, but Chris and I stayed in camp as we were tired from the drive. Besides, I wanted to get my sleeping quarters all set-up, and to help Ed finish setting up the rest of camp. We got dinner cooking and the wood fires all going by the time the rest of the crew got back just after dark. We all ate dinner and discussed where everyone was going the following morning. Ed and I were hunting together, and he told me he was going to take me to his "Honey Hole" that has always produced nice Mulies in the past.So after getting to know the rest of the crew for awhile, we all turned in for the night, to get some much needed shut-eye.

Morning came to early for my weary bones, but after a shot of coffee and some quick oatmeal for food, we were off! We hiked in about 3/4 of a mile before daylight started to creep into the landscape and we were able to stop using our flashlights. We crested one of many buttes and started glassing. It didn't take us long to find a nice group of Mulies heading for the big timber, about 8 does and 4 bucks. Two of them were nice. REAL NICE!!! I was traveling light, so Ed was using his spotting scope while I was using my rifle scope. One of the Bucks was wearing a radio-transmitter, and Ed told me this was my "shooter" Buck. While he was telling me this, I was checking out that other nice Buck!
"Ed, are you sure? Man, that other Buck is MASSIVE!!!"
"Nope, you want that one with the radio collar." says Ed.
"Are you sure?! Are you looking at the same buck that I'm looking at?!"

"Yeah, he's big, but he's only a 3x3. You want that radio collared one. He's at least a 4x5, and he's got more character. He's the one you want."

Seeing as how Ed had the better optics than me, coupled with the fact that he knows whats a true trophy, I wisely chose to listen to him. At about this time, the does were starting to get wise to us, as the wind had started to give away our position. The whole herd was starting to act nervous as well. I waited for a nice standing broadside shot to present itself as the radio collared buck came into shooting range. He was busy chasing a doe, as it was well into the rut for the year. When she turned and headed back, he stopped and paused just long enough for me to shoot.
I had my 7mm resting comfortably on my pack for a shooting rest and when the Buck paused, I gently squeezed the trigger. Nothing happened! I gently squeezed the trigger again! Nothing again!! I quickly racked the bolt half-way and returned it to the locked position. BAM!!! The gun went off by itself!!! Of course, this scared the hell out of me and Ed, not to mention the deer!!! Thankfully, the rifle was still pointing relatively near the deer and not towards any person! At the sound of the shot, the deer were gone, rut or not!!! Ed told me not to worry about it, and that we'd catch back up to them again. He also told me that he wasn't going anywhere until I unloaded that rifle! I could use his 300 Winchester if and when we caught back up to the Mulies.
We started hiking in farther, and started glassing off from every butte and hill-top. A couple hours later, and a few miles deeper, we found them again. We had to run around a couple of ridge lines and climb a Butte to get within shootingrange. He was still chasing that doe, and just wouldn't stop long enough for a shot. He was slowing getting out of range when the doe finally turned back towards us, andhe started following her back.

Once again, I waited for the perfect broadside standing shot. When the moment finally presented itself, I clicked the gun off from safe and was just about to let him have it, when the sun brilliantly shone over the top of the mountains and into my scope!!! I couldn't see the damn deer!!! He was standing, broadside, right in front of me, and within range, but I couldn't shoot!!! I could just make out a slight outline of him in the scope, almost like a ghost image if you will, but there was no way I was going to blow my second chance at this guy, so I waited. He continued chasing the doe, sometimes in range, sometimes out of range. After a while, one of the other does caught wind of us again and alerted the rest. They were acting nervous again and were starting to evacuate. There escape route was right at the base of this one hillthat was also still in shooting range.

Sure enough,my Buck was still chasing that doe, and when he got at the base of that hill, he paused just long enough to look back. It was one of the last things he ever did, because he had picked the wrong spot to stop, as he was finally in the shadow of that hill!!! Ed said "Take him.", just as I was squeezing the trigger on that 300. I hit him right in the front shoulder, and he just stood there!!! I quickly racked another shell in, but Ed stopped me from shooting him again.
"He's going down. Nice shot!" After we picked up our gear, we went over and started the work, but only after taking a few photo's. He ended up being a real nice 6x5 with a 22" spread. We scored him when we got back to civilization and he measured out to 158 + 4/8's. He's not going in any record books, but he sure is a trophy to me!!! Hope you guys enjoyed my story half as much as I enjoyed being in it!!!

Oh yeah. The next day, My buddy Chris went hunting with Ed, and he got a nice 3x3 Mulie to take home with him also. As a matter of fact, the only people on the trip that got anything were the ones that hunted with my cousin Ed! I guess he's just everyones good luck charm!!! Maniac

MThunter

great story...nice going on your buck

jones123

1. Good story. Congrats.

2. C'mon . . let's see photos!

3. What were you shooting that went off? Remington? Happened to me as well.

MANIAC998

I updated the post with one photo of my deer and I. The rifle that misfired was a Browning actually. I've since sent it to a gunsmith to have it repaired. If you guys want to check out the other photos, go to www.photobucket.com, and look under Maniac998. Enjoy!!! Maniac

jones123

Nice Photo! I assume you're the one in the back with orange and the deer is in the front.

Good job.

DOUBLE-LUNG

Congrats on the buck!! Great story. Thanks for sharing.