Muley Buck Nov. 2006  By Jeremy Rodgers

On the second saturday of the deer gun season my friend, Jeff, and I found and harvested a nice muley doe for him.  We continued to hunt hard throughout the day to find this nice muley buck just before sundown.  We found and passed on 17 bucks before seeing this one about 3/4 mile from our vantage point on a back road.  After a few hours of stalking and avoiding the 50 other deer he was with, we finally got close enough to take him with a rifle.  It was a late one that night as I managed to use the white needle of the compass instead of the red one and get us lost before Guss (Jeff) got our direction straightened out using the stars of the Big Dipper.  We had a mile hike out to the truck in the dark, then we had to find a two track trail that got us close to the deer.  We got back to camp around 10pm to a worried dad and brother.  But it was all high fives and a couple celebratory drinks after we revealed our day's accomplishments.  Needless to say I learned about using the appropriate end of the compass needle and the north star.  I also learned that dovetail mounts like to come loose since that almost cost me this nice deer.  Thanks Guss for putting up with a lousy guide on your first hunting trip to the badlands.

Equipment: Browning A-Bolt 30-06, 165 gr. reloads, Nikon 8x40, Bushnell rangefinder, Cabela's boots

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