Dawg Posted September 16, 2016 Report Share Posted September 16, 2016 I drew a mule buck tag again this year for unit 741 in Colorado. Ended up having to cancel last year due to the fiasco we went through buying our home. Made plans late last year to make the Colorado trip this year only to end up taking my sister in laws three children in on a CPS kinship placement. Long story but we've been taking care of these kids since early February. So it was evident I wouldn't be able to leave my wife for over a week alone with 5 kids. However, they may be given back to their dad on our next court date later this month. Anywho.....I'm making plans to go to Colorado whether they go home or not..................because the wife said I could. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted September 16, 2016 Report Share Posted September 16, 2016 Great thing you and your wife are doing Corey talking on that responsibility. Good luck with your trip to Colorado. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texastrophies Posted September 18, 2016 Report Share Posted September 18, 2016 Good luck on your trip. Can't wait on the stories and pictures. But more importantly is what you and the wife are doing with the kids. That is huge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Posted September 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2016 Thanks guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Posted September 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2016 33 more days until we point the ol Dodge northwest......this cooler weather sure is getting me excited! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbHunterNY Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 not on here much anymore. still doing this trip I see. hope it works out this time. story of how it went once you get back is always good read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Posted October 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 I'm trying to scrounge up enough coin to buy a video camera for this trip. I've got a GoPro but it's not good for shots that are on out there a ways. Gonna try my level best to get my kill shot on video this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Posted November 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2016 I'll do a full write up when I return home but here's what I filled my tag on. Not muy grande but a decent buck in my book! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted November 8, 2016 Report Share Posted November 8, 2016 Like how you got the snow on the mountains in the background, good pics. That is a nice deer Corey. Congratulations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted November 8, 2016 Report Share Posted November 8, 2016 Congratulations again Cory. WTG teammate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Posted November 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2016 Wednesday 11/2/16: Alarm sounds off at 3:30am. I jump out of bed and get everything loaded and hit the road to meet my dad and our friend Bubba at my dad's house for a 4:30am departure. Packed and ready to roll: https://pix.sfly.com/F8PkPr We hit the road on time and arrive in Aztec, NM at 8:45pm (9:45pm CST) that night. Full ~17 hour uneventful trip. New Mexican Territory: https://pix.sfly.com/ou71F8 https://pix.sfly.com/5AY-mF https://pix.sfly.com/9tt4os https://pix.sfly.com/7DcEpu Thursday 11/3/16: Up at 6:00am, top off the fuel tank and hit the road for the 45 minute drive into camp. https://pix.sfly.com/diyUJu https://pix.sfly.com/X-HEXa https://pix.sfly.com/cM1-1Z Not much happened today. We got camp set up and did a little scouting. 11/4/16: Up at 6:00am. Breakfast of pan sausage, fried eggs, hashbrowns, bacon and biscuits. On to do more scouting. Not seeing much and getting a little worried this might be a hard hunt this year. https://pix.sfly.com/Vdwegb Back to camp to finish unpacking and getting rifles dialed in. https://pix.sfly.com/E233sm https://pix.sfly.com/mbf2uy https://pix.sfly.com/yVzgHB Hit the sack at 9:00pm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Posted November 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2016 Well crap.....pics are posting like I thought they would. Hang tight and I'll see if I can get them posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Posted November 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2016 Wednesday 11/2/16: Alarm sounds off at 3:30am. I jump out of bed and get everything loaded and hit the road to meet my dad and our friend Bubba at my dad's house for a 4:30am departure. Packed and ready to roll: We hit the road on time and arrive in Aztec, NM at 8:45pm (9:45pm CST) that night. Full ~17 hour uneventful trip. New Mexican Territory: Thursday 11/3/16: Up at 6:00am, top off the fuel tank and hit the road for the 45 minute drive into camp. Not much happened today. We got camp set up and did a little scouting. 11/4/16: Up at 6:00am. Breakfast of pan sausage, fried eggs, hashbrowns, bacon and biscuits. On to do more scouting. Not seeing much and getting a little worried this might be a hard hunt this year. Back to camp to finish unpacking and getting rifles dialed in. Hit the sack at 9:00pm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Posted November 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2016 Saturday 11/5/16, Opening Day: Alarm sounds off at 4:00am. We grunt and growl our way out of our bunks and into the cook tent for some coffee. Head out for our selected areas at 4:30am. I'm hunting the mid portion of a ranch. Dad is about 1/2 mile away and Bubba heads to the back 40. The rest of the guys are hunting pieces of property about 10 miles away. We arrive at the gate and it begins to sprinkle but the radar doesn't show anything heavy so I hop out of the truck and decide to seek shelter under some scrub oaks. 30 minutes in and the rain has increased and is steady. Dad and Bubba make their way back to me and we wait out the rain in the truck. Just at good seeing light, the rain stops and we head out again. I see one deer this morning. Dad and Bubba get skunked. I managed to get a couple of pics of the mountains in the distance. Back at camp by 10:00am. Saturday evening: We head back to the ranch at 3:00pm. I sit a different spot this time. It's out in front of the ranch house ~400 yards on a ridge looking into a small draw that drops off into a canyon to the right. Some decent bucks have been seen here in years past. As darkness falls I see nothing but bushes and birds. As I'm making my way back to the ranch house to be picked up I spot 4 deer making their way out of the canyon and up the draw behind me. I watch as they make their way all the way up to the house.....literally less than 100 yards from the front door step. 3 small bucks and a doe. I ease out without spooking them too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Posted November 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2016 Sunday morning 11/6/16: I head back out in front of the ranch house but instead of going to the ridge between the draws I opt to sit on the first ridge overlooking the first draw where I saw the deer the evening prior. As daylight approaches I can hear antlers tinkling to my left. Once it is light enough to see through the binos I spot two very small young bucks sparring ~100 yards from me. As the light grew brighter I watched these two young 'uns plus another small buck make their way out of the draw and over the other side of the ridge. Just as they top the ridge a decent 4x4 comes from the other side and meets them. He pays them no mind and heads down the draw in front of me ~200 yards out. I put the crosshairs on him a few times but decide to let him walk in hopes of a bigger buck in the future. He makes his way into the canyon below. I head out and back to camp. This is the small bucks. Picture is grainy due to zooming in with cell phone. Sunday evening: After a lot of thinking and debating with myself I have decided I'm going to shoot the 4x4 if he makes an appearance this evening. Much to my surprise, nothing shows and I get skunked. Monday morning 11/7/16: I'm back in the same spot as Sunday evening. As the sunlight peaks over the trees it is evident nothing is in the draw nor making it's way into the draw. I'm getting frustrated a little so I decide to do a little walking. Another picture of the mountains from the ridge I was on: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Posted November 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2016 After not seeing any sign of a deer in the acres upon acres upon acres that I could glass I decide to follow a four wheeler trail down into the canyon below. This morning just had that "feel" to it. A light frost on the ground, no wind and fairly clear skies......something had to be moving somewhere. As I make my way down the trail I'm seeing a few tracks here and there but nothing that is getting me excited. This trail goes down into the bottom of the canyon which plays out into ~20 acre opening........lunch time. TO BE CONTINUED....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Posted November 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2016 As I approached the edge of the opening/field/pasture/whatever you want to call it, I spotted a doe. I watched her then another deer walked into view....a small buck. Then I spotted another doe and another small buck. I decided to ease down to the bottom of the road to get the rest of the opening in my view. The road had high banks on either side so my movement was concealed from sight of the deer. Once I reached the bottom I eased my way up the knoll to my left and immediately spotted a decent buck just at the wood line following what I think was another doe. I looked him over and decided I wasn't going to chance it, I guesstimated the range to be ~75 yards (forgot my rangefinder at camp) and set up my Bog Pod tripod at kneeling height, got the crosshairs settled on the base of his neck and squeezed off a round. The buck dropped in his tracks, kicked a few times and it was lights out. The shot ended up being 111 yards so I hit just a touch low but it was still a deadly shot. Filled out my tag and now it was time for photo ops.... All in all it was a great trip. I was able to sit with my dad when he killed his deer. We sat at the same spot I sat Saturday evening. It was a tall narrow 3x3. We watched two small bucks (the two I saw when I killed my buck) and I spotted the 3x3 easing out of the wood line. Dad said when he turned broadside he would take the shot. However, the deer walked straight toward us and never turned so dad shot him just below the neck. The shot severed his spine and he hit the ground with a thud. The other two bucks ran ~25 yards and went back to feeding. Dad sent Bubba, who was ~400 yards behind us at the bottom of another draw. a text and asked if he wanted to come shoot one of these bucks. Bubba eased toward us but spotted another buck in a lane behind dad and me. He signaled to us that he spotted him, took his shot and we had two bucks on the ground. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!!!!!! Dad, Bubba and I had to get on the road Thursday morning but three other guys were going to stay at camp until they tagged out or the season ended (Sunday). Friday night I receive this picture of my cousin with an absolute brute of a mule deer: One of the biggest that has been killed in our camp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted November 15, 2016 Report Share Posted November 15, 2016 Thanks for sharing the pics and story with us Corey. Some great pics too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hungry Horse Posted November 16, 2016 Report Share Posted November 16, 2016 Dawg: Great hunt story and nice photos of your hunt. So happy it was successful for some many, and with great memories. Thank you for sharing it with us. May you have many more successful hunts with your dad. HH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Posted November 17, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2016 Thanks HH 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texastrophies Posted January 30, 2017 Report Share Posted January 30, 2017 I got my answer to the question I ask... Congrats good deer and sounds like you had a great hunt. That last one is indeed a monster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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