The hardest hunt that I’ve ever been on.

I was talking the other day with a friend of mine from Nebraska about hunting Mule Deer as compared to the farm-grown Whitetail that he's used to. He said he’s heard that hunting “those” deer (Mulies) is easy. “You just drive right up to ‘em,” he said. “Anybody can do it.”

Maybe a doe in Canada with a rifle, but not where I come from. This post is for him.

A few years ago I decided I was tired of only shooting little bucks. I was ready to shoot a “trophy” at all costs, so I accepted an offer by my friend Jake to go with him up the back side of Nebo Mountain, one of the tallest in Utah at 11,928 feet. We loaded our gear in packs, strapped on our bows, and headed for the base of the mountain. On our way up the canyon we met a friend coming down whose grandfather had just shot a bull elk.

We gratefully helped him trail the bull, as well as cut and load the meat, and enjoyed the experience; however, as a result, we ended up not starting our five mile hike until midnight. And a gruesome five miles it was across the steep face of Nebo by headlamp and moonlight. At 2:30 AM we reached the only somewhat level piece of ground on which to set up a small tent, which we did, and then fell asleep.

Early that next morning we arose and began to hike again, only this time straight up hill. The blue line in this picture is the path we took. (You may have to click on the picture to see a larger version that shows the path more clearly).

At the top of the blue line we sat down and scanned the mountainside with our binoculars, looking for deer. We found one. A very large one, in fact, feeding his way toward his bedding ground (yellow line, right to left). The sight of such a big buck made my body ache less and the hill seem much less steep. He had four points on one side with deep forks and thick tines, and the other side was identical except for a three inch cheater point sticking straight out from his back tine. Including the fifth point he was around 27 inches wide. Truly a trophy for me.

We watched as he and the two smaller bucks that were with him bedded down in the rocks. I picked a route up the mountain (seen in red), made a few mental notes, and started uphill. My plan was to sneak around and up over the rocks; hopefully getting a shot from above.

After three hours of hiking uphill at just under 12,000 feet, gasping for breath all the while, I finally reached a spot above the bucks. Here’s another angle:


I slowly crept down the steep rocky mountain face until I could just see his antlers from my crouched position. I wanted to get another ten yards closer, then I’d stand up straight, draw my bow, and shoot him from 30 yards away. Or so I planned. I patiently began the slowest ten yards of my life, knowing that if I kicked a rock down all my hours and energy would be wasted. After only five yards I felt a breeze at my back. It was now or never. I knew that in a matter of seconds the deer would smell my sweat soaked body and be gone. I stood up, drew my bow, and took aim.

Because the slope was so steep I had to allow the bottom limb of my bow to go between my legs. I knew that shooting at such a vertical angle would severely affect my yardage pins, but I had no time to think it through because my odor entered his nose and he stood up. Figuring I had only a second or two before he would run, I guessed and placed my 20 yard pin on his chest (he was about 35 yards) and released my arrow, which slide through the air and just over his back. All three deer bounced away and my hunt was done.

On the way back to camp I stopped on a small glacier, took my shirt off and laid in the snow which felt great in the August heat. Jake and I were both so tired that we camped one more night and hiked out the next day. While on the hike out I took this picture:

You can see how steep it was, and in the top left of the picture you can see a red X. It was at this red X a week later that I took the following picture. The green line is where we hiked with packs to our camp and you know the other colors. The black X is the spot from which I took the picture above.

Is hunting Mule Deer easy? Not if you want a trophy deer with a bow on public land. But hit or miss, it was worth it.