All,
I'm looking for some exciting muley stories, with pics to go along with them. Whether it's something you've personally plugged, or can relate the story from someone you know. I've had a few that I've shared with the Beartooth buddies here, but I'll start off with one from one of my brothers. Here's a pic of his really nice buck from about 12 years ago:

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z210/shwncrea/100_0067.jpg

This buck got bagged on the last day of an elk hunt in N Idaho, north of faucett Bob's country. I wasn't along on the hunt, but over the many years since, with "elk camp" and the stories getting told over and over, I feel like I was there!

Most of the hunting crew was sleeping late since it was the last night before pulling camp, and there was a bit of celebratory hindrance to an early rise. My brother rallied and walked about 150 yards from camp early, and in an old clearcut, this buck was chasing does. He was shooting a 300 Wby and hit him hard. Then hit him again, and then, dead on his feet, trying to mount a doe, he hit him one last time to put him down. The whole camp came alive and helped him gut and get the buck back to camp. The mount turned out really nice.

Pony up with your stories!

That's a beauty of a deer Shawn. We have both mulies and whitetails up here. Up in Big Canyon there's some monsters that are darn near impossible to hunt on those steep canyon breaks.

Nice Shawn! No Mulies down here. Those horns are impressive. If I was ever to go out west on a hunt I would make sure that a mule deer was in the mix somewhere.

What a beautiful Mulie. After my first hunt this season, I am hooked. I took a lease in North West Texas which is known for producing big racks. The body size of the desert mulie is smaller than the Rockie Mountian variety but again, the horns are good. If I could get one like that, I'd die a happy man.

Boy that sure beats the little 3x3 I shot in Wyoming some 10yrs. ago. I must say the experiance turned me into a "Muleyholic". Big "atta boy" to your bro.Shawn. Anytime you can get a shot at one like that,you've hit a home run. Have hunted the Gunnison Natnl.forrest area since then. My partner got a nice Buck maybe2/3 the size of your bro.'s.I had a chance at a shot at a nice one but passed cause I was huffin & puffin to get around a big blowdown I couldn't shoot through.The cross hairs on the scope looked like the graph paper on a heart monitor so I had to let him go. Lord willing I'll have another chance. Again, great example of a really nice Muley! :)

Geez Shawn,
Setting the bar a little high dontcha think. Maybe you could have posted a picture of a little 2 pointer or something, how are we going to measure up to that beast. Well, here is the deer I shot in '06. Some buddies and I always make a huntin' trip back to where I grew up to hunt on some nice private land about 3 hours from here. We usually drink alot of beer and tell some tall tales at night, but come day break we get pretty serious. This deer was shot at day break, he was ruttin' something fierce. I shot him at 300 yards with the ol 7mm WSM. I should have some deer from '07 pics & story to post soon.

Take Care,
BigSky

Me jelous...yep me jelous:D

Geez Shawn,
Setting the bar a little high dontcha think.

Ah BigSky, you'll note that it's not my buck!:( And believe me, I could put plenty of two-pointers on the board.:D Heck, they're all trophies whether for the wall or the freezer, otherwise we wouldn't pull the trigger. That's a nice buck you got too.

Bob, I shot a muley up in that same country north of you in '97 I think it was, and it was just a dinky little 4-point, but it was the biggest bodied deer I've ever seen. I think it was in regression. I'm pretty sure it was pushing 400 lbs live weight as I got 100 lbs of no-bone meat out of it. Same trip, I got the smallest-bodied spike elk I've ever seen, and got 132 lbs of no-bone meat out of it. I've never done any serious autopsies on deer I've killed - weighing and such - but someone once told me you can expect to get 1/4 of the live weight from a deer in no-bone meat.

RDKNG, I've been there with that huffing-and-puffing and no good sight picture, and kudos to you for not slinging lead!

tpv, you best get an Idaho tag and I'll take you hunting. But I'll be honest, we're usually hunting elk primarily, and the [big] deer are elusive and not that numerous (or, we're not that good at hunting them!), but there's some gems to be found. Oct 10 opener, + 3 weeks.

Chief, you should go after muleys at least once in your life!

To continue the thread, here's another nice muley - sorry fellas, it's another big one! This one, I was actually there, but didn't get to pull the trigger on it. The happy hunter is "Warning Shot Joe", a good friend that is actually a good shot, but has a habit of missing his first shot, thus the nickname. Must be his upbringing, as he is the product of many whitetail drives where shots are at running deer. Maybe a standing shot is too easy?!!

This buck was gotten in 2005, and was spotted a long way off from the trail below at about 7500 ft or so elevation. 2 1/2 hours later, Joe and I were peaking around a scree ridge at 9400 ft elevation and Joe spotted the buck about 100 or so yards away, laying down facing away. He tried to put a bullet in the back of the neck, and missed. The deer, and his buddy - a little 4-point - exploded for a few yards, then stopped as they didn't know where the shot came from. I was on the buck, and had taken up about 2 lbs of the 2.5 lb trigger of my 6.5-06 M98 and whispered to Joe..."I'm on him, do you have a shot?" Joe replied that he was on him, and "boom", the buck took a boiler house hit from Joe's 7mm RM and shortly, piled up in the steep rocky draw. His young buddy was allowed to escape.

The nice buck is 31" out-to-out, and a 5x5 - 6x6 if counting the little nubin eyeguards. Joe's buck made a nice mount. The story gets told many times in "elk camp", and Joe slaps me in the back of the head every time I look up at the peak this buck was below....it was a grueling stalk, and getting the head and carcass off the mountain.

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z210/shwncrea/DeerMan.jpg

Old Joe is in good company. The great Howard Hill of Hollywood archery fame and the first I believe, white man, to take the big five with the bow, was also called "two shot Howard" by his hunting friends. That second shot was always amazing.

Here is my 2007 Mulie buck. He is a decent 4x4 with 5 brow tines. I shot this one pretty close to legal shooting light. I shot this deer with my 30-06 with 150 grain bullets at 325 yards. This was the biggest bodied and rankest smelling buck I have shot in my 20 years of hunting. He was chasing does pretty hard when I shot. I made a good lung shot and he started running up hill still chasing does. He ran 40 yards up hill and turned around and ran back down. I knew I had hit him good, but decided to put another round in him, he then went down for the count. This is by far not the biggest buck I have ever shot, but as I get older and time seems harder to come by to get out in the field I tend to cherish these moments even more. This trip was special, as I got to camp with 2 very special friends and took home some meat (even though it was gamy) to the family.

Great deer and pic. Chalk up another animal for the old 06. She sure is the daddy of all hunting rounds.

Thx for the post Bigsky. It's a nice buck. Were you in November when you got it? My brother's buck - the first in the thread - was very stinky too, and everyone thought he'd be horrendous to eat, but turned out he was a good eater. He wasn't all that big in the body though.

Taurus 44mag with 8 3/8 barrel,275 grain remington core lokt from about 10 years ago.Shot in front chest,dropped on the spot.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8df27b3127cceb36bccb813a000000025100AbuWzhszcuW Kg

That's a nice looking deer countryrebel, and I really like your hoist system!:p

I got on a new lease out near Marfa Texas. Its on a MLD program which means we can hunt them through January, and catch the rut next year.
Some of the quail hunters took this picture two weeks ago. Pretty nice for a desert muley.
Good Luck

Wow!!!!! That's a real nice deer..... hope you see him through the scope next fall.

Looks like you picked a good lease tpv! That one would send me into buck fever mode, especially if I saw him from behind; that's a tall one!

Nice??? Thats a dandy mulie! Hope it all comes together for you.:D

Nice??? Thats a dandy mulie! Hope it all comes together for you.:D

Yep, the anticipation is almost as good as the hunt. The same owner has ranches in the Palo Duro canyon area but he has this Marfa ranch on the MLD program. If Muleys have anything in common with a Whitetail, it might be the rut. Should be a better chance of seeing big bucks late in the season.
Anyway, that's the plan. If I don't see a big one, I won't shoot one.
I'm running out of seasons to take one of these beautiful animals.

Good Luck to all