Mule Deer Fanatic

Since all of us enjoy stories and photos from great mule deer hunts – and since the 2008 season is upon us or is winding down, we would love to hear your stories and see your photos. Submit them by clicking on the Contact tab at the top of the page.  

Thanks and Happy Hunting

From the Witchita Eagle:

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This fall, the Satanta hunter, Todd Robinson, shot this typical mule deer buck, killed with a muzzleloader, netted 195 5/8 of typical antler.

Hours before he shot the big mule deer, he’d resigned himself to shooting a doe.Robinson had hunted hard for nine days in Unit 17, having passed up numerous small bucks.

Getting off work early on Sept. 27, the next-to-last day of the special muzzleloader season, sent him to where sand hills met farmed ground.

He spotted the buck in the distance with about 20 minutes of legal shooting time remaining.

“Everything just worked out,” he said. “I had the sun at my back and a light breeze in my face,” Robinson said. “The field had a little dip in it and I used it to get close.”

The 100-yard shot with a .50 Thompson/Center Encore was perfect.

“I knew he was big, but didn’t realize how big until I walked up on him,” he said. “It literally blows you away when you walk up on a deer that big.”

The buck carried antlers with five tines per side and an outside spread of 31 inches. The beams carry exceptional mass from beginning to end.

The buck easily topped the previous state record, a buck of 189 5/8 inches shot in Unit 2 in 2000. Robinson’s buck also ranks second for Kansas’ all-firearms category, trailing a Unit 17 buck of 202 2/8 shot in 1999 with a centerfire rifle.

Friend and fellow blogger, Kevin Paulson, sent me this photo of a recent Arizona Strip Buck killed by a hunter named John. Visit Kevin’s website by clicking on the Hunting Life link in the sidebar.

Good work, John

John Baxter just returned from a church mission in time to hunt the Utah archery season.

Having not shot a bow for over two years, John had to make up for lost time. After too many shots to count, John finally killed a very nice buck on the last day of his hunt.

This is just to whet your appetite.

This is one of the bucks that will be featured on our upcoming DVD

Rock Schardine arrowed a massive muley buck during Utah’s 2008 archery hunt.

The buck grossed 199 2/8 and netted 194.

Rock figures the buck will gross score in the 190’s. Hunting is a family affair for the Schardine family. Three of them ride together on one four-wheeler, and have done so since the boys were little. Rock and his brother are accomplished hunters, bull riders, and hunting guides. “Staying on the ATV is nothing compared to riding a bull”, they say.

You don’t want to miss our DVD titled Amateur Velvet.  On a recent trip to Southern Utah, my son and I stopped at a local convenience store run by Mr. Quinn Howe.

Among other things, Quinn is an elk rancher, with ranches near Price and Monticello.  And, it was a pleasant surprise to see about a dozen mule deer mounts hanging in his store.  I asked if I could video tape his shoulder mounts and was kindly told that I could.  I asked Quinn if he killed all of the bucks in the store.  He said they were all killed by members of his family, beginning quite a few years ago.  I asked if the huge bucks were killed in Colorado.  He said they were all killed in Utah, but most amazingly, he said that only the small ones were hanging in the store.  The “big bucks” were at home.  On the store walls were two non-typicals that netted about 230 each.

After Quinn got our adrenaline pumped up, we headed up the mountain to film some high country mule deer bucks.  I have been hunting this area for 22 years (every time I can draw a tag).  I have never seen so few deer.  It seems that the deer herd just keeps getting smaller and smaller.

The does were in the process of birthing fawns, and the coyotes were eating them about as fast as they hit the ground.  It is such easy pickings for the coyotes.  We could have caught several fawns, so the coyotes would have no problem doing so.

I have also never seen it so dry.  The roads were beat to powder, as were the game trails.  The deer were very definitely staying near water.

All that said, we did find a few trophy class muley bucks.  Filming these bucks caused us to go a little muley crazy.  The bucks we filmed were not yet completely formed, but some of them showed real potential. You ought to see what we saw.  Stay tuned, and get Amateur Velvet for yourself, as soon as it becomes available.

Invisible Deer