North Dakota muley buck in velvet. Shot 23 yards steeply quartering towards.
Mule Deer - September 2011 - Billings County, ND By Jeremy Rodgers
In the weeks and months before the archery season I shot and tuned my bow so I was accurate and confident with my broadheads out to 85 yards. On Thursday, September 1st I left West Fargo to drive west across the state for my three-day long weekend of the North Dakota archery opener. I left at about 7:15pm and got to the campground at 12:45 am with extra noise coming from the rear of the vehicle. I quickly backed the camper into the campground as my left rear tire on my pickup went flat. I got to sleep around 2am with auto repairs on my agenda for the morning. My work week was long and draining so I slept in until 9am and then began working on the truck. I wrestled with the spare tire release holder, improvised with some tools that I didn’t have, and finally got the tire changed at 11am. I drove 30 minutes to Belfield to find a repair shop. The busy oil field in western North Dakota created delays as first repair shop was too busy, the second shop had no technicians working, and the third shop’s only technician was at lunch.
So I had lunch and went back at 12:45. The guy was great and we had the tire done by 1:30. The archery season opened at noon, so I quickly changed clothes and went hunting. I went about 10 miles south of Medora and hiked east off the road about two miles into a drainage that I had never hunted.
I saw no deer while glassing the shadows. I went another half mile to the end of the plateau before it got very windy. And I still saw no deer so I dropped down about 1000 feet into the creek bottom to follow that on the way out to the road. It took a couple hours, but I finally got back to the truck.
I realized that this particular drainage had more clay than usual and therefore the washouts made navigating the area very difficult. The lack of deer indicated that they felt the same as me.
My cousin, Adam, was at the camper and eager for the next days hunt when I got back. The day before when I talked with Adam, he told me about a fugitive that was on the run after he murdered his girlfriend and they figured he travelled through my area before ditching his car and hiding in the badlands.
I thought he was just messing with me, but it turns out that law enforcement used aerial infrared to find and capture the guy that day. I have to admit that I did rest a little better that night. We visited, organized gear, and made a game plan before hitting the rack at midnight. Five am Saturday came
quickly and it was already starting to get light. We quickly made coffee and grabbed breakfast to go. We drove north and parked the truck at
a favored glassing point on the edge of a plateau. We faced north overlooking a creek valley over a mile wide and about three miles long. We walked over
the edge and settled in behind the shade of an evergreen. We saw three bucks and four does with one of the bucks being quite big in the 170 inch range. We closely watched the bucks, but lost them in the ravines across the valley before they bedded down for the day.
At 11 am we drove 2 miles to the east to choose a spot to walk in from downwind. We had lunch at the truck and practiced some 6- to 80 yard shots in a 10
mph crosswind. The wind was from the NW so our plan was to walk one mile north to a plateau and a series of ridges that led west to the area where we last saw two of the bucks that morning. After two hours of hiking we were on top of the eastern most plateau. We glassed ravines off every side and
saw no deer but we did find one feeding on the next plateau to the SE. We tried to stalk him, but lost him and exposed ourselves while trying to locate him and he was gone. We stayed hidden on the ridge and headed west another mile and continued glassing. We located a buck that bedded about 500 feet below us. Adam made a sneak on the buck. The wind was from the NW, but it circled around a bluff to give the buck a west wind. As usual the buck
bedded with the wind and cover at his back so he could see downwind and smell upwind. Adam snuck in from the south within 90 yards, but the buck got up and started feeding farther away. Eventually the buck sensed danger and bounded off. In the meantime I worked my way to the west another half mile to check the NW corner of a bluff that is heavily wooded. It contains one of the only areas in the badlands with moss on the ground. A large buck in the 170” class was lying in these trees and he busted out and ran a half mile west before disappearing in ravines. He is a long-tined 4 point buck that’s missing a fork on the two longest tines and his main beam sweeps upwards creating a rack with all the points very high and flat. While waiting for Adam to show up I glassed over a small ridge to the NW and saw two relatively small 4 point bucks chasing each other. I went back about 100 yards to meet up with Adam before we located the bucks bedded in the ravine up against a small cliff. Almost always deer bed with the wind blowing to them from the cover at
their back. But these two had the wind blowing up the ravine with the cliff top being slightly downwind. It only took about 15 minutes to cover
a few hundred yards and loop around behind the bucks and get within 40 yards on the ridge top. I had marked three evergreens at the start of the stalk, but none of the visible trees had deer in the shadows. I couldn’t locate the deer and I was getting worried that I would mess up and expose myself like so
many other times in the past. So I kept looking back to Adam 200 yards away and he was motioning for me to shoot downwards. After a couple more
hand gestures I realized the deer were directly beneath me so steeply that I couldn’t see them. I belly-crawled six feet farther down to the edge of the cliff and used binoculars to see through the brush on the cliff edge. I slowly stood up until I saw antler tips and then I sank down slowly. Up until I spotted the
antlers I was relatively calm, but now my heart started pounding and I started to shake. I ranged the tree a yard behind the largest buck at 23 yards.
It was a steep angle of at least 45 degrees and the deer was facing me with neither of his shoulders available. So I decided I could make a lethal shot if I aimed between his neck and shoulder using my 20 yard pin. I drew, stood up, checked level, aimed, and released without the buck moving. When the arrow hit the buck didn’t even get up. He just moaned loudly and rolled over on the arrow snapping it off. He was paralyzed from the neck down, so I shot him through the chest twice before he perished. Adam and I got to the deer together and found the 4x4 in full velvet except for the side
he rubbed on the ground after being shot. It turned out that the arrow hit about two inches higher than I was aiming. The broadhead penetrated
two inches into the center of the backbone just above the shoulder. Later in the year during the deer rifle season I was able to retrieve the backbone segment after the coyotes had scavenged the carcass.
We took a couple pictures, boned out the animal, and cut the head off at the junction of the skull and 1st vertebrae. We each took half of the load in our packs and started walking towards the truck at 9 pm. We had to go two miles the way the crow flies, but we walked more like four miles. We went east in the main creek but each time we tried to angle SE we ended up on a ridge overlooking a hopelessly steep ravine. We repeated this three or four times before we went far enough east onto the prairie so we were out of the steep terrain. At 1 am we finally arrived exhausted at the road and dumped our 45 lb. packs. After getting the truck and our packs we got the meat on ice and headed to camp. The next day we slept in an extra couple hours before hunting a butte three miles to the east of the previous day. It was now Labor Day and we only had around six hours to find a deer for Adam. After climbing 600 feet to the top of the butte we went to a ravine where I often see deer. We checked the first small ravine off the larger drainage and immediately found a small 4x4 bedded on a ledge in the shade. We snuck around to the west to come in above and behind him. Problem was the buck was bedded tight against a 60 foot cliff and he was periodically looking up the ravine where we were located. Only his antlers were visible and there was no shot, so we made a plan that I would go below the buck and make noise while staying out of sight. Adam said this worked perfectly as the buck stood up, ran across the small steep ravine, and ascended to the top. He stopped broadside to Adam but his chest and vitals were behind the only tree in sight. With no shot opportunity Adam was disappointed, but we pressed on and hiked to the west side of the butte. Again we found a bedded 4x4 buck right away, but we had to wait and watch while he and a smaller buck walked 100 yards before laying in the shade of a large Juniper. Adam quickly made a plan and began his descent to the valley floor while I stayed on top to watch the action. Before Adam got close the two bucks, they got up and started feeding south away from Adam. At the same time a separate doe fed north towards the bucks. As Adam got closer he used a small creek bed for cover from the bucks, but the doe saw him and alerted everyone which ended the stalk.
On every trip I learn a lot and I also try to improve my gear. I got another lesson on why I need to sketch my view of the area before I start even the shortest of stalks. Without Adam's guidance I likely would not have gotten this deer. I also learned that a late spring and lots of precipitation in a desert climate leads to deer in the velvet much later than usual. And since their antlers are sensitive, this leads to increased opportunities with bucks lying in the open. We were spotting three bedded bucks per day and it’s usually a really good day to just spot one. Most of my gear performed very well, especially my new First Lite Llano merino wool cam long sleeve t-shirts from Linton Outdoors . We ended the weekend with one deer on the ground and great memories.
Equipment: Hoyt Maxxis 35, Spot Hogg sight, Gold Tip Pro Hunter 7595 arrows, 100 gr. Grim Reaper Razortip broadheads, Trueball release, Badlands 2800 backpack.
So I had lunch and went back at 12:45. The guy was great and we had the tire done by 1:30. The archery season opened at noon, so I quickly changed clothes and went hunting. I went about 10 miles south of Medora and hiked east off the road about two miles into a drainage that I had never hunted.
I saw no deer while glassing the shadows. I went another half mile to the end of the plateau before it got very windy. And I still saw no deer so I dropped down about 1000 feet into the creek bottom to follow that on the way out to the road. It took a couple hours, but I finally got back to the truck.
I realized that this particular drainage had more clay than usual and therefore the washouts made navigating the area very difficult. The lack of deer indicated that they felt the same as me.
My cousin, Adam, was at the camper and eager for the next days hunt when I got back. The day before when I talked with Adam, he told me about a fugitive that was on the run after he murdered his girlfriend and they figured he travelled through my area before ditching his car and hiding in the badlands.
I thought he was just messing with me, but it turns out that law enforcement used aerial infrared to find and capture the guy that day. I have to admit that I did rest a little better that night. We visited, organized gear, and made a game plan before hitting the rack at midnight. Five am Saturday came
quickly and it was already starting to get light. We quickly made coffee and grabbed breakfast to go. We drove north and parked the truck at
a favored glassing point on the edge of a plateau. We faced north overlooking a creek valley over a mile wide and about three miles long. We walked over
the edge and settled in behind the shade of an evergreen. We saw three bucks and four does with one of the bucks being quite big in the 170 inch range. We closely watched the bucks, but lost them in the ravines across the valley before they bedded down for the day.
At 11 am we drove 2 miles to the east to choose a spot to walk in from downwind. We had lunch at the truck and practiced some 6- to 80 yard shots in a 10
mph crosswind. The wind was from the NW so our plan was to walk one mile north to a plateau and a series of ridges that led west to the area where we last saw two of the bucks that morning. After two hours of hiking we were on top of the eastern most plateau. We glassed ravines off every side and
saw no deer but we did find one feeding on the next plateau to the SE. We tried to stalk him, but lost him and exposed ourselves while trying to locate him and he was gone. We stayed hidden on the ridge and headed west another mile and continued glassing. We located a buck that bedded about 500 feet below us. Adam made a sneak on the buck. The wind was from the NW, but it circled around a bluff to give the buck a west wind. As usual the buck
bedded with the wind and cover at his back so he could see downwind and smell upwind. Adam snuck in from the south within 90 yards, but the buck got up and started feeding farther away. Eventually the buck sensed danger and bounded off. In the meantime I worked my way to the west another half mile to check the NW corner of a bluff that is heavily wooded. It contains one of the only areas in the badlands with moss on the ground. A large buck in the 170” class was lying in these trees and he busted out and ran a half mile west before disappearing in ravines. He is a long-tined 4 point buck that’s missing a fork on the two longest tines and his main beam sweeps upwards creating a rack with all the points very high and flat. While waiting for Adam to show up I glassed over a small ridge to the NW and saw two relatively small 4 point bucks chasing each other. I went back about 100 yards to meet up with Adam before we located the bucks bedded in the ravine up against a small cliff. Almost always deer bed with the wind blowing to them from the cover at
their back. But these two had the wind blowing up the ravine with the cliff top being slightly downwind. It only took about 15 minutes to cover
a few hundred yards and loop around behind the bucks and get within 40 yards on the ridge top. I had marked three evergreens at the start of the stalk, but none of the visible trees had deer in the shadows. I couldn’t locate the deer and I was getting worried that I would mess up and expose myself like so
many other times in the past. So I kept looking back to Adam 200 yards away and he was motioning for me to shoot downwards. After a couple more
hand gestures I realized the deer were directly beneath me so steeply that I couldn’t see them. I belly-crawled six feet farther down to the edge of the cliff and used binoculars to see through the brush on the cliff edge. I slowly stood up until I saw antler tips and then I sank down slowly. Up until I spotted the
antlers I was relatively calm, but now my heart started pounding and I started to shake. I ranged the tree a yard behind the largest buck at 23 yards.
It was a steep angle of at least 45 degrees and the deer was facing me with neither of his shoulders available. So I decided I could make a lethal shot if I aimed between his neck and shoulder using my 20 yard pin. I drew, stood up, checked level, aimed, and released without the buck moving. When the arrow hit the buck didn’t even get up. He just moaned loudly and rolled over on the arrow snapping it off. He was paralyzed from the neck down, so I shot him through the chest twice before he perished. Adam and I got to the deer together and found the 4x4 in full velvet except for the side
he rubbed on the ground after being shot. It turned out that the arrow hit about two inches higher than I was aiming. The broadhead penetrated
two inches into the center of the backbone just above the shoulder. Later in the year during the deer rifle season I was able to retrieve the backbone segment after the coyotes had scavenged the carcass.
We took a couple pictures, boned out the animal, and cut the head off at the junction of the skull and 1st vertebrae. We each took half of the load in our packs and started walking towards the truck at 9 pm. We had to go two miles the way the crow flies, but we walked more like four miles. We went east in the main creek but each time we tried to angle SE we ended up on a ridge overlooking a hopelessly steep ravine. We repeated this three or four times before we went far enough east onto the prairie so we were out of the steep terrain. At 1 am we finally arrived exhausted at the road and dumped our 45 lb. packs. After getting the truck and our packs we got the meat on ice and headed to camp. The next day we slept in an extra couple hours before hunting a butte three miles to the east of the previous day. It was now Labor Day and we only had around six hours to find a deer for Adam. After climbing 600 feet to the top of the butte we went to a ravine where I often see deer. We checked the first small ravine off the larger drainage and immediately found a small 4x4 bedded on a ledge in the shade. We snuck around to the west to come in above and behind him. Problem was the buck was bedded tight against a 60 foot cliff and he was periodically looking up the ravine where we were located. Only his antlers were visible and there was no shot, so we made a plan that I would go below the buck and make noise while staying out of sight. Adam said this worked perfectly as the buck stood up, ran across the small steep ravine, and ascended to the top. He stopped broadside to Adam but his chest and vitals were behind the only tree in sight. With no shot opportunity Adam was disappointed, but we pressed on and hiked to the west side of the butte. Again we found a bedded 4x4 buck right away, but we had to wait and watch while he and a smaller buck walked 100 yards before laying in the shade of a large Juniper. Adam quickly made a plan and began his descent to the valley floor while I stayed on top to watch the action. Before Adam got close the two bucks, they got up and started feeding south away from Adam. At the same time a separate doe fed north towards the bucks. As Adam got closer he used a small creek bed for cover from the bucks, but the doe saw him and alerted everyone which ended the stalk.
On every trip I learn a lot and I also try to improve my gear. I got another lesson on why I need to sketch my view of the area before I start even the shortest of stalks. Without Adam's guidance I likely would not have gotten this deer. I also learned that a late spring and lots of precipitation in a desert climate leads to deer in the velvet much later than usual. And since their antlers are sensitive, this leads to increased opportunities with bucks lying in the open. We were spotting three bedded bucks per day and it’s usually a really good day to just spot one. Most of my gear performed very well, especially my new First Lite Llano merino wool cam long sleeve t-shirts from Linton Outdoors . We ended the weekend with one deer on the ground and great memories.
Equipment: Hoyt Maxxis 35, Spot Hogg sight, Gold Tip Pro Hunter 7595 arrows, 100 gr. Grim Reaper Razortip broadheads, Trueball release, Badlands 2800 backpack.
New Grim Reaper Razor Tip.
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Broadhead in backbone.
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