I was fortunate enough to draw a bull elk and mule deer tag for unit 48 2nd season. I spent my summer trying to eat right, working out and researching anything I could find about the area. Somebody on this site even gave me a little grief about this unit, then wished me luck!
Needless to say, I was a little nervous about my upcoming adventure.
During my stay in the mountains , I covered a alot of area(shortest day by gps was 7 miles, longest was 12) I was fortunate enough to have encounters with 35 cows and 4 bulls. my bull elk was shot @ 400 yards. I never intended to keep the 5x5 rack till closer inspection...It had a small caliber bullet hole in his left antler. Something along the lines of a 243-260 caliber-entering from the rear -going forward. Kinda cool!
A picture of where I killed my mulie buck.A cat and mouse chase that lasted about 30 minutes-I was over top of him and a doe. They knew something was up-but never could locate me looking straight down at them! I got on mulies everyday-just not the caliber of bucks I wanted to harvest. No size limitations in 48-makes for a tuff mulie hunt. I did manage to locate 2 BIG bucks(6x6, 5x5 w/2 kickers). Once the snow moved in(day3) , I was unable to pursue them anymore.
It never crossed my mind to take a picture of it..I was so worried about packing him out(was alone and miles from the truck) before dark and just figured out my head light had broke somewhere during the course of the day. He was a hefty 250, maybe even 300 pound mature animal with a slightly larger than average 3x3 rack. I managed to stuff him in my eberlestock pack(couldn't pick it up-so heavy). I had to lean the pack against the mountain(very steep where i was)-"lay my back up against it, put my arms thru the straps. Roll over so my chest was on steep ground-and "bench press myself to standing position. I couldn't have been happier to see the truck!!!
I was 3 miles in when the storm blew in-this made for a
'half" day of hunting!
Needless to say, I was a little nervous about my upcoming adventure.
During my stay in the mountains , I covered a alot of area(shortest day by gps was 7 miles, longest was 12) I was fortunate enough to have encounters with 35 cows and 4 bulls. my bull elk was shot @ 400 yards. I never intended to keep the 5x5 rack till closer inspection...It had a small caliber bullet hole in his left antler. Something along the lines of a 243-260 caliber-entering from the rear -going forward. Kinda cool!
A picture of where I killed my mulie buck.A cat and mouse chase that lasted about 30 minutes-I was over top of him and a doe. They knew something was up-but never could locate me looking straight down at them!
I got on mulies everyday-just not the caliber of bucks I wanted to harvest. No size limitations in 48-makes for a tuff mulie hunt. I did manage to locate 2 BIG bucks(6x6, 5x5 w/2 kickers). Once the snow moved in(day3) , I was unable to pursue them anymore. It never crossed my mind to take a picture of it..I was so worried about packing him out(was alone and miles from the truck) before dark and just figured out my head light had broke somewhere during the course of the day. He was a hefty 250, maybe even 300 pound mature animal with a slightly larger than average 3x3 rack. I managed to stuff him in my eberlestock pack(couldn't pick it up-so heavy). I had to lean the pack against the mountain(very steep where i was)-"lay my back up against it, put my arms thru the straps. Roll over so my chest was on steep ground-and "bench press myself to standing position. I couldn't have been happier to see the truck!!!
I was 3 miles in when the storm blew in-this made for a
'half" day of hunting!
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