A really nice buck and doe had just gone over the hill in front of us. We continued to stalk in towards them. As we peaked over the top of the hill, we expected them to be right there in front of us, but they weren’t! We quickly scanned the area and spotted a pair of deer across the valley below us. We quickly glassed them and confirmed it was the same buck we saw just moments before. As my dad set himself up on his shooting sticks, I ranged the buck at 257 yards. I stood just behind my dad and focused my binoculars on the buck…
In Saskatchewan to hunt Mule Deer, you can either hunt with a bow and arrow during archery season, or you wait until you are drawn in a specific zone to hunt with either a bow and arrow, muzzleloader or riffle during a special draw season. When putting into the draws you can choose up to 6 zones where you would like to hunt in and can put in as a group with up to 3 others. With my dad Mike, my brother Kyle and myself all being in Super A (the highest pool to be drawn out of) we decided to put in together for Mule Deer.
We were lucky enough to be drawn in South-West Saskatchewan. Once we were drawn, we started planning where in the zone we wanted to hunt and which landowners we should start reaching out to, to get permission from. After spending a few days out during muzzleloader season to get a lay of the land and see numerous deer, we were ready for when riffle season opened in November. We packed up my dad and brother’s trucks and headed down south to start our adventure.
Day 1
We had decided since this was my first Mule Deer hunt that I would be first up when the opportunity came. We started our hunt with getting a feel for where the deer were in the rut cycle and what areas they seemed to be visiting. We checked out sloughs, pastures, agricultural fields, bad lands and hill bottoms. While walking through a slough, a nice tall 4×4 mule deer buck jump up in front of us, I got on my Bog Adrenaline Tripod and took a look to see if I liked the looks of him and was ready to pull the trigger if I had the chance. As the buck ran away from us, we could tell he was a nice 4X4. When he was about 200 yards away, he stopped and turned broad side giving me the perfect opportunity but something in me told me not to shoot.
As the daylight was waning, we did not see any other shooter bucks. At last light we saw a nice shooter buck that was bigger than the buck I passed up out in the middle of a field where we had seen some does earlier in the day. He was too far away for a stalk that afternoon, so we decided that there would be a good chance he would still be there the next day, so we planned to go there at first light.
Day 2
We started the morning where we had ended the afternoon before. The does were all still there, however, the buck was nowhere to be found. We needed a plan B so, we decided we would stalk in and glass on a high point a couple fields over thinking we might be able to see that buck or another buck of equal or greater size. While we were driving over to the field, we spotted a tall thick antlered buck in a field, nose down sniffing the ground as he was quickly walking along. We stopped and made a plan that my brother and I would stalk in and try and wait for an opportunity to shoot. As Kyle and I stalked in we got within about 300 yards when the buck started to slowly walk quartering away from us. We both got ready to shoot and I looked over at Kyle. He whispered that I should shoot. I lined my crosshairs up on him and slowly pulled the trigger. Down he went. We waited dad to come to us and once he did, we walked up to my deer. I knew he was a big buck but I did not realize how big he was until we got up to him. He sported thick tall non-typical antlers with 13 points in total. To say I was pleased was an understatement. My whole body was shaking with excitement. We took some field photos where he dropped and then loaded him up to take back to camp to field dress and skin him. We were so taken with his antlers that we took more pictures before we started working on him.
After my deer was field dressed, hung up and skinned, we got ready to go back out hunting as my dad and brother both still had tags to fill. My dad decided that my brother was up next, while my brother thought my dad should be up next. Deciding that whoever had the best opportunity would be up next. We walked in a community pasture and sat on a high point watching to see if we could see any deer on the move. After a short time, we saw a couple does on the move and we hoped a buck wasn’t far behind. As we suspected a nice buck was following these does hot on their trail. The deer were just out of shooting range so, we watched to see where they were going to potentially be able to see them later in the day. We waited a while longer, but no other deer came out for us to see.
As the day was coming to a close, we decided we would go for a drive to see if we could see any deer in an area we hadn’t yet hunted, that wasn’t too far away. We were getting to into position when we saw a buck chasing a doe. From what we could see he was a wide 4×4 buck. We saw where he was headed and started to stalk in that direction. As we were stalking in, we saw him again, just under 500 yards away. At this point my brother decided that he wanted to shoot this buck, so we let him go after the buck as we stayed back and watched the action unfold.
As we watched Kyle, he was stooped over and half walking and half running. Suddenly, he stopped, knelt down and rested his gun on his Bog Adrenaline Tripod set to its shortest height. We could see him go motionless as he leaned on the shooting sticks. to shoot. We heard the crack of his rifle and watched the buck lunge forward a few feet and then drop to the ground. Both dad and I were impressed but not surprised with Kyle’s long-distance shot as he practices long range shooting, studies ballistics and has made several other successful long-range shots over the years.
We walked to Kyle and then the three of us headed towards the buck Kyle had dropped. Kyle was buzzing with excitement and stated this was the longest shot he had taken at a big game animal. When we got to his buck, we confirmed he was a tall, wide classic framed mule deer with a brow-tines making him a 5×5.
We were enjoying the moment taking field photos and then we realized the sun was starting to set and the daylight would quickly disappear. As Kyle’s deer was laying a long way from the truck and it was going to be a long haul up a steep hill, dad went back to the truck and grabbed a sled we had brought along to pull deer while Kyle and I field dressed his deer. By the time dad got back to us with the sled, we were done so we loaded up the buck and pulled him to the truck. We loaded him up, headed back to camp, had a quick supper and then skinned Kyle’s deer.
Later that evening we made a game plan for the following day. We decided we would start the day at the exact same place where we had started Day 2 with hope that we would maybe see that big buck again. If not, we would head to a new area where we had heard from a couple local ranchers that there were known to be home to some bigger mule deer bucks during the rut.
Day 3
As we had planned, we started the day in the same place we had the day before. With just my dad left with his tag, our attention was focused on finding him a stellar buck. That morning we saw a nice buck near where I had gotten mine. As we were taking a look at him through our Vortex Razor HD 22-48X65 Angled Spotting Scope. He crossed a fence into another field moving directly towards a farm yard. At that point, he was safe as here in Saskatchewan, you are not allowed to shoot big game animals within 500 yards of an occupied farm yard. Even though we couldn’t shoot the buck we continued watching him as we wanted to get a good look at him to decide if he was worth waiting out or if we should move on and try and find another buck. After taking a closer look we decided he was a nice buck and if he was left undisturbed, he would probably bed down in the farm yard and then maybe be out chasing does later in the day in a location where dad could shoot him.
At that point, we decided we would leave the buck for now and headed to a new area where some bigger bucks had been seen. We went for a walk and spotted a buck feeding in some buck brush. We stalked in on the buck getting within 75 yards. We knew his one side was strong with 2 wide forks, but he would not turn his head for us to get a look at the other side to confirm he had all 4 points. Sadly, when he finally turned his head we could see he was missing one point. He was still a nice deer but wasn’t what my dad was after, so he decided he was going to pass and wait for another opportunity at a different buck. We sa and watched the deer for a long time so as to not to spook him or any other deer in the area. The buck slowly milled away and we all agreed its amazing watching deer in their natural state.
On another stalk later in the day, the wind shifted, and the buck caught our scent and spooked, before we were to get close enough for my dad to be able to take a shot. As the afternoon was closing out, we had two options, stay in the area we were in and see what we could see or go back to where we had seen the nicer buck in the morning. We left it to be our dad’s decision as he was the one who still had a tag. After seeing a number of nice bucks in this area and countless does, he decided we were going to stay where we were to finish off the day of hunting.
As we were glassing with our Vortex Binoculars, we spotted a buck with a doe the next field over. We changed our course of direction and found a spot to look at the buck through our spotting scope. This buck had dark tall and wide antlers. My dad decided that he would like to try and stalk in on this buck and doe to see if he would get an opportunity to shoot. We made a plan and started on our stalk. We could see the buck and doe were on the front side of a hill eating, we just needed to close the distance to get close enough for a shot. As we were getting in range, the buck and doe slipped over the hilltop and disappeared from out of our sight. We kept creeping closer and changed our angle of approach. When we got to the top of the hill, they were not where we expected them to be. We quickly scanned the area and spotted a pair of deer across the valley below us. We quickly glassed them and confirmed it was the same buck we saw just moments before. As my dad set himself up on his shooting sticks, I ranged the buck at 257 yards. I stood just behind my dad and focused my binoculars on the buck and after what seemed like forever, dad pulled the trigger sending a 130 grain .270 Winchester Ballistic Sliver Tip bullet on its way. At the boom, I realized our Mule Deer hunt that we had waited years for, was now over. Even though I was incredibly excited I was also slightly sad as this meant our mule deer hunt was officially over.
We went back to camp that evening, had a good supper, skinned out dad’s deer and had a great sleep.
The next day we packed up, left camp and headed home. On the way home I realized This was a hunt of a lifetime! After hours of planning and preparing, walking an average of 8 miles a day, we had three impressive mule deer and memories to take home with us that will last a lifetime. I cannot wait for the opportunity to come again when we get to go on a family mule deer hunt in south-west Saskatchewan.
