Southern Alberta Muley Success 2019

[Positrac]

Full disclaimer here, this is not going to be your average garden variety Mule deer hunt thread. While there will be a pic of a half decent Mule deer shot there will also be a few pics that some will find pretty gross. So, if you have a squeamish stomach I’d just move on to the next thread.

In 2016 I was lucky enough to get a great Mule buck down south and I’ve been looking forward the last 3 years to getting another draw. Fast forward to 2019 and a good buddy and I put in for a group draw for antlered Mule deer in 118 this year and luck would have it we got drawn.

So, November 3rd came around and off we go. About a 1000k later and 11 hours of driving and we roll into the driveway of some fiends that live right next to Cypress Hills. Ya, we probably drove by the odd Mule deer on our trip and could have got one closer to home but I love the area, I had permission on some large tracts of land, and we had a great place to stay with some real nice people.

The 4th and 5th were spent just getting reacquainted with the area and doing some scouting. I was hoping to have a couple good Muleys locked down before the opening day gong show started. Plus, I had a bow and if I saw one that fit the bill I planned to put the stock on and see if I could get it done. I knew from previous experience that you had the place pretty much to yourself up to and including the day before opener, then the place got inundated with hunters. Our hosts called it the worst time of year with not being able to drive a mile without having to slow down for some tourist being stoped in the middle of the road gawking at deer. Lol. Well, this year was no different.

During those first couple days we did see a pile of deer, but quality was lacking. Some decent framed bucks but any of the 4x4’s we saw were weak either front or back. No shooters and none worth putting the stock on with the bow. I expected to see a couple shooters because there didn’t appear to be any pressure being put on them and there were no hunters around. I wasn’t too worried though because I had a few spots we wanted to walk into, I just didn’t want to do it before I could pack a rifle. Plus, temps were getting colder with both the first couple days being around -10 in the morning with light snow. I figured while we were early for the rut the weather may get them moving a bit.

Nov 6th, opening day of the rifle season came around and I was up at 3:30; an hour and a half before my alarm clock. I was so excited there was no chance of me getting back to sleep. So, after completing all 3 of the magical morning s’s, my partner was up and we were ready to go. The plan was to split up and both walk into two separate areas. After a short drive, I was dropped off first. It was -25 when I left the truck and started walking. It was still over an hour to first light and we got to the area we wanted to hike into first, so we were off to a good start. But, not far behind us was the second group of hunters and I only made it a hundred yards off the road when they passed in the dark, quickly followed by the third, then fourth set of lights. Amazing the difference one day made.

I didn’t make it far before bumping a few deer. It was still way to early to shoot, let alone see anything. It didn’t matter, I knew where I wanted to be for first light. I also had to keep moving to keep warm. -25 when I left the truck but as most know it usually gets colder right before first light, and it definitely seemed to be colder now. Even with thick gloves on, my hands were getting cold.

About a half hour after first light I spotted a half dozen Muley does through my binos, quickly followed by a pretty good wide-framed 4x4 buck. I dropped down into the prone position and ranged the buck. There were a whole bunch of little rolling hills and before I could get a lock on him he was over the first hill and out of sight. The range finder showed 500 yards in the general spot, about as far as I feel comfortable shooting. Up I got and it was a sprint to get closer while the deer were out of sight. This cat and mouse game went on for over a kilometre with me getting the buck in the scope a few times but not getting a good shot on him so I never got a shot off. My gloves were also too large to shoot with so each time I tried to get a shot off I had to momentarily take my gloves off, which would prove to be a bad decision with it being so cold. In that first hour and a half of light, I heard almost 20 shots coming from lower down the valley up and down the road. It was like world war 3 so I was really liking my decision to go for a good walk...

[Positrac]

The deer didn’t seem spooked by all the shots going on. We were quite a ways from the road so I wasn't too worried and I figured sooner or later I’d get a shot off. Well, that didn’t happen since instead of going farther up the valley, all 30 of the Muleys that were now together turned east and went straight up over the lip of the valley and were gone. I had the buck in the scope but it was 400+ yards and they were all moving together quite quickly. When he did stop, each time there were other deer either in front or behind him so no chance for a shot.

I made it up to where the herd left the valley and that’s when I spotted a sxs on the opposite ridge. So I figure that’s what spooked them from their current path. I was pretty pi$$ed since I was about 3k from the road and there was a ohv closure for the purposes of hunting from dawn to noon in the area. The guys with the sxs were all camo’d up with rifles over their shoulders. They were about 300 yards from me and about 100 yards from their sxs. They spotted me and I held my hands up “like what the frack?”. They turned and quickly walked back to their sxs, jumped into it and went back in the direction I figured they came from. It was obvious they knew they were in the wrong. Whatever...

I hiked up over the rim of the valley I was in and followed the path the deer went. Up top was a flat plateau with deer tracks in every direction. I had no idea where the buck went. I could still see the sxs but they were now over 1km away and heading in the opposite direction. By now it was 9:00am and while I was warm from all the hiking my hands were still cold. My right hand actually had a couple spots that looked like I might have a mild bit of frost bite. No biggie I thought.

I made it the 1km across the plateau to the next valley. Right away I spotted another group of Muleys. I figured it was the ones I was looking at earlier but while it had a couple good bucks in it, I couldn’t find the big 4x4 I was chasing earlier. They were about 800 yards out and even with decent binos I couldn’t tell exactly how good either of the decent bucks were. Both looked high with decent splits but neither were as wide as the previous buck. I decided to make a play to get closer to see if one was worthy of shooting...

[CBintheNorth]

Following along.

[Positrac]

I went back west on the plateau until I was out of sight of the Muleys below then went south about a kilometre to the start of a good sized coulee that meandered down into the valley bottom. I figured this would be a good spot to head down, keeping the wind in my face and out of sight of all the eyes below. It was about 10:30am by the time I made it down and I slowly made my way up a little rise, looking with my binoculars every few feet. I soon made it to a spot where I could see the herd and most were bedded down. The one buck was actually a large 4x3. The other one was a decent 4x4. Not as good a buck as I was chasing earlier but a mature buck that I’d be happy with. I ranged him at 425 yards. He was one of the deer that was up, and slowly moving around, although not looking like he was going anywhere. I set my pack up for a rest and laid down. I was thinking I was going to shoot him but being the first day I still had my reservations. I really didn’t want my Muley hunt to be over that quick. After 15 minutes I decided that I’d be crazy to pass a buck up on the first day that I’d be happy getting on the last day. That in combination with knowing there were hunters everywhere and it would only get harder to find a decent buck I decided to shoot. With that my 270WSM barked and I could hear a direct hit a split second later. The buck jumped and ran about 40 yards before toppling. Game over.

I stood up after the shot and quickly realized my right hand trigger finger was throbbing from the shot. I reactively looked at it and quickly saw that the underside of it was visibly swollen in a half inch square spot. My hands hadn’t felt cold for quite some time but that one finger was in a lot worse shape than it was earlier. While I didn’t look great, I wasn’t too worried as it wasn’t too bad. I packed up my gear and made it out to the buck. I was really happy with what I saw when I got up to him. Not my biggest Muley to date but a good mature buck and a great hunt that all came together.



That’s the end of the hunt story and the start of where things start to get unpleasant, so you’re all warned.

The plan was to gut the buck then walked back out the 4-1/2 km’s to the truck. I gps’d the spot so I knew exactly where return for it. I had permission from the Landowner to use my little 350 Honda Rancher to retrieve any animals we got in there and with it being past noon I was set. Before leaving to get the quad I had one more look at my finger. This was what it looked like around 11:30am.



Wow, it was getting ugly quick. I didn’t realize it at the time but the damage was probably done earlier in the day taking my gloves off and grabbing the cold rifle while trying to get a shot at the first wide racked 4x4. That, combined with the fact I have diabetes which is supposed to affect circulation I was starting to get a bit worried. I knew then that if I hadn’t shot that buck I probably wouldn’t be shooting another one. While it didn’t look good it wasn’t the end of the world either.

Within 1-1/2 hours I was back to the buck with toboggan in tow. In a few minutes it was loaded up and out I was heading back out.



After the quad and buck were loaded back on the truck we decided we should maybe make the trip into Medicine Hat hospital for a quick look at my hands in Emergency. No pics at the time but my right hand index finger while still the worse one it was not the only finger affected. All my fingers were now showing signs of frost bite.

While in emergency, this is what they looked like.





The docs were surprised they were so bad but still not overly worried. It would be the end of my hunting season but with any luck there would be no permanent nerve damage. With that they game me a prescription for some T3’s and the wrapped them up real good.

[DRhunter]

Great write up and great buck. Good luck with the fingers!

DR


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[freeride]

Great write up!

Sucks about the fingers... you will need to be extra careful later on, it seems like toes or fingers that have that damage get cold fast after.

[Positrac]

We decided to cut our trip short and head home. My partner also shot a nice buck the same day I got mine but I’ll leave that story for him to tell if he feels the need. With the T3’s I couldn’t drive and I was told by the docs to not take too much hand work on because while they were not overly concerned about the frostbite they could easily get infected if the blisters burst.

The trip home was uneventful and I was back into emergency yesterday morning. While both hands were very sore, my right hand was really throbbing. Also, the bandages needed to be changed and the T3’s were not cutting it. I really wasn’t prepared for what I saw once the bandages were off.







The docs in emergency, 3 of them, agreed the pressure in the blister on my index figure was too high and it sounded like they were worried it would become de-gloved. Also, if the blister went all the way around there was a chance circulation would be cut off from the finger tip. In the end they decided to drain it and bandage them all back up. I was give different medication and given the direction to be back tomorrow to have bandages changed out again.

So, sorry for the gross pictures. I would never have believed things would get this bad so I’m sure there are others out there that could also benefit from the story and the warning that goes along with it.

Take care of yourselves guys, especially if you are a diabetic.

[GMX]

Jesus man I sure hope for a full recovery for you. Beautiful buck as well

[roper1]

Fine hunt & a nice buck! All the best of luck with the fingers!!!

[CDNOutdoorsman]

First off, congrats on the beautiful mulie.
Wow, I can't believe your fingers got that bad from the initial pictures.
One thing I can assure you is that once you're healed up those fingers will be cold all the time.
In cold temps like you experienced, I always wear those magic mini gloves underneath so when I pull off the heavy glove/mitts, I still have a bit of protection, these would of prevented this from happening. Too late now but a heads up for others.
Best of luck and hoping for a speedy recovery.

[Zip]

Awww man... that sucks that this happened, I can feel the pain from here.. ouch!!!
Great Buck, love the write up, very entertaining indeed. But again, those blisters look very very sore no wonder a mere t3 or 4 was not cutting it!
Happy you got a nice buck, sad your paying in pain!
Zip

[pikergolf]

Nice buck. Look after yourself. Nice write up!

[RACKER]

congrats on a great buck.That was a great write up as well.I wish ya all the best in your recovery.Its gonna be very painful and i understand how bad it can be.Take the time to heal properly and take it easy.

[Dweb]

Here's to a speedy recovery !

[Don K]

Nice buck! Hands look SORE, heal up.

[catnthehat]

Excellent write up Positrac but holy crap those fingers!!
Hope you heal completely and quickly !
Cat

[KazIce]

Nice buck, awesome story!

The hand looks rough! Hope it heals soon for you. That’s pretty crazy.

[artie]

Hope your fingers gets better and are good to go. Though not as bad as yours I had a funny experience. I was skiing and camping in the Columbia Icefields and when I got home I looked at my toes and the tips were all black. I went to this old Scottish doctor and he said so your froze your toes what do you expect me to do. Next time wear wool socks. So much for the doctor. Toes all peeled and got better. But for you as I said good luck with your fingers.

[elk eater]

Wow and WOW !!! Nice buck and not so nice fingers. Amazing it happened that fast without you really knowing. Makes me think twice. Thanks for the write up. Take care of those digits.

[270person]

Great buck. You earned him the hard way but he'll be memorable for sure.

I enjoy your 118 writeups. Kept a copy of your first and hope to be down there next season for a similar hunt.

Take care of the fingers. Hope everything works out ok.

[JTRED]

That is a great write up, congratulations on a really nice mule deer. Hope your recovery goes smoothly.

[58thecat]

Perseverance.....ouch....nice buck stubs

[MooseRiverTrapper]

Ouch, I was down there same day as you and with the wind and driving snow that’s the first time I’ve kept my gloves on to skin anything.

[3blade]

Nice buck and great write up

Regarding the fingers...yeah that sucks. While I have no problem sitting in a blind or stand within 1 km of the truck down to -30, I’ve taken to a -15 cutoff for any longer hikes. Even with top quality gear I’ve gotten close to real bad too many times, not worth it, want to hunt for the rest of my years. Cold is insidious, if you’re used to being outside you don’t feel it until it’s too late. Hope you heal up quick

[CBintheNorth]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

Excellent write up Positrac but holy crap those fingers!!
Hope you heal completely and quickly !
Cat

×2 Wow.

I'm sure I came close to getting there a few years ago with my trigger finger, but kept it in my mouth till it started hurting again and the coloured came back.
Scary stuff.
Congrats on the buck!

[Pathfinder76]

Yikes!

[john-brennan]

Nice buck, Yikes on the fingers

[Bearbreath]

Great post. Strong reminder for all of us to be really careful in those negative temperatures. Take care man hope you heal up soon.

[teledogs]

Ouch! That's looks painful. Hope they heal up quick and lovely mulie BTW.

[Positrac]

Thanks for all the well-wishes and the few PM’s I received, it is appreciated.

I was at emergency yesterday for the 3rd time in 5 days. Swelling is going down in all fingers other than the thumb and index finger on my right hand, they still look ugly. But, the thumb will heal just fine and my rh index finger is no worse, so docs hold high hope for a full recovery in time. As long as I do my part in keeping them clean and getting the dressings changed regularly things should be just fine.

I’ve never been much of a speed typer but with just having use of my ring and pinky finger on my lh right now the simplest of sentences take a bit to get out...lol.