a pic of the terrain we were hunting
The porcupine that watched me pass by three times hauling Dustin's deer out of the bottom of the Butte's
Dustin with his first muley a solid 4x4
getting ready to feel out of shape hauling a head, cape and 2 hindquarters up the butte to the truck
Rancher's shed behind the house and the round bales the deer were feeding on last year each afternoon
pile of crap house we stayed in, but it kept us warm and did the trick just fine.
preparing to hike out into the frigid wilderness and try to stalk a muley buck ( I look like I know what I'm doing, but really I have no clue, what I am suppossed to be doing).
Stormy style celebration!!
Dustin and I have been hunting together since we were probably five years old trying to exterminate every pigeon and sparrow from the entire farm, we were always fairly successful and this hunt was no different of course Dustin is the one bagging the trophies and I was ok with that. We had a ton of fun chasing these awesome beasts all across the badlands of North Dakota and I blew stalk after stalk and Dustin had some close calls before he finally connected on this buck, it was a solid team effort as I glassed him from about 800 yards away and got Dustins attention and we put the plan together where I would spook him out of his bed and hopefully he would head up the ridge where Dustin would be waiting. It was a huge releif to me when he got this buck because his knee's were really hurting him with all the hiking we were doing and I knew my body would be able to handle this stuff for a long time I hope and him being a dairy farmer limits his time as well; as busy as we both are its always nice how hunting can help keep a friendship strong and the funnest parts of the hunt probably were not the hunting, but the nights at the cabin shooting the breeze, striking up new friendships, playing some cards and joking around. The other guys in camp were great to hang out with as well Deano's friend Cunningham had the experience and taught us the ropes and Brandon Storm was a rookie this year with Dustin and I; Stormy is a hunter I have always admired for how he bags trophy's year after year off of knocking on doors to gain access and sitting all day for weeks on end during the rut even if he isn't seeing much, plain and simple he is successful because he outworks all the other hunters I knew it would be beneficial to learn from him as he was a big part of the reason I decided all day sits in my treestands and having more patience are neccessary for me to be able kill trophy deer; main thing he taught Dustin and I is you always have to have a victory beer in your pack for the rare occassion that you kill something and need to sit and have a beer and savor the moment, he said it might sit in your pack for two years, but no beer will taste better than that one, Dustin and I each put a beer in our packs and the next morning we got lucky! I was not suprised when he was the first one out the door in the morning and the last one to give up at night. Ironically Stormy and I were the only two hunters that never drew our bows, but we are all the more determined and excited to go back and I believe there is a big muley buck in our near futures. Dustin and I left a day early, so he could get back to help on the farm and also, I wanted to see Jesse and Bryce wrestle at the first tournament of their senior seasons, it turned out to be well worth it as Jesse came away a champion and Bryce was third that was great to watch; family is always more important than any hunt and that is exactly why Deano missed out on the hunt he planned, because he was being a good husband and taking care of his wife after she had surgery, we missed him in camp a lot and were really hoping he would make it, but more importanly hoping everything went great for his wife and him. The whitetail numbers were decimated from a disease they all got over the summer and they were not feeding on the ranchers round bales all around the house like last year, but we were not really there for them anyway, there is just something beautiful about a steel gray giant muley buck that we all wanted so bad. The house was a little rough with holes in the ceiling about the right size for raccoons to crawl through and a toilet that never really wanted to flush along with beds and couches that seemed to be cloth on top of bricks...LOL, but hey thats the North Dakota experience. I am already fired up to get another crack at the muley's next year.
