Had a great time in southern Alberta trying to fill our mulie draw tags.
This was going to be a great way to turn 50. Spending time with the best of friends. We’ve waited a few years for these tags
Jason 9 yrs
Colin and myself 7 yrs
Wednesday was the rifle opener and we hit the coulees in search of shooter bucks. Three of us each had buck and doe tags to fill. Colin and myself teamed up while friends Jason and his dad hunted together.
I missed an opportunity on a huge 5x4 on opening day. I wasn’t steady enough to pull the trigger on a 250 yd head on shot off a fence post. 30 seconds later the buck and his 5 does dropped down into a draw. By the time I ran over to where they dropped in, the does squirted up the other side of the coulee, and the buck was nowhere to be found.
Thursday, I was walking the top of a long coulee. I occasionally peeked over the side to glass ahead, and I was cautious not to bump any deer that were out of view on the wall beneath me. 20 min later, that’s exactly what happened. From a thicket laced bowl beneath me at 50 yds, out jumps 2 mule bucks and one 120 class whitetail. They all hit the coulee bottom 100 yds from me and stopped to look back up. With only a split second to judge them before they stopped, the largest mulie met my realistic size requirements, and I cleanly dispatched the broadside buck with a heart shot. Very happy with him. From there I rendezvoused with Colin for an extraction. I’m not happy with the picture quality of Colin’s phone, but I didn’t dare tell him till we had the buck packed out of the coulee lol.
Friday we hunted the southern part of the zone. We saw deer but nothing worth folding Colins tag on. We drove back to where we had been hunting the 2 days prior to hopefully catch a shooter with 2 hours of legal light left. With luck on our side, we noticed 2 bucks through the spotter, sidehilling a coulee. The lead buck was a stud. With time being at a premium, we had to drive around and plan a stalk, well ahead of where he was going. We reached a likely ambush point on the same side of the coulee he was on and saw that he was now doubling back. We watched him cross the coulee and he was now sidehilling towards us on the opposite side. On hands and knees we crawled back from coulee edge and had to reposition our ambush point. We lost sight of him for about 5 min, but reappeared where we expected. Laying prone on the edge, he presented a broadside 200yd shot. Colin squeezed the trigger and thru my binos, I saw the bullet hit dirt just high above his back. The buck stayed motionless. I whispered “high” and Colin layed into my pack again for a follow up. This time he took it cleanly thru the lungs and we watched him expire seconds later. Colin walked down to start gutting his deer while I brought the truck around on the tractor trail. We met up with Lee and Jason, and together we retrieved the deer from the coulee bottom. I brought a 300 ft reel of rope for this hunt. We backed the truck up to the coulee edge and kicked the reel over the side right down to the buck. Took almost all of it, but we had enough. Truck made short work of it. The picture taking and backslapping began.
This was the same buck I had a shot at 2 days prior. I am so happy for my bud to get a big boy. I wanted my hands on this beast!
I also managed to fill my doe draw as well on this hunt.
Colin still has a doe draw and Jason is on the hunt for a big boy he scouted in preseason. Hopefully more write ups to come!
Many thanks to friends and very gracious landowners that made this hunt possible. All stand up individuals.
Thanks again to all involved.
2018 Birthday hunt
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