First off I would like to thank every one on here who responded to my other thread to offer me advice on my first mulie hunt. This hunt was one of the quickest but wildest I've ever done. After packing in about a mile to mile and a half, my friend and I ate our subway lunch and lightened up our packs for the evening hunt. The wind was blowing so hard we decided to wait to see if the wind would die down and we'd pitch tents after scouting that evening to make a morning plan. I don't think either of us expected to tag out that evening.

Well we donned our packs and headed up the main ridge to find the best way down to a lower ridge which led to a water tank we wanted to glass that evening. Well after hiking about half an hr we were on the ridge we wanted to be on slowly making our way to the glassing point when I saw a deer out of the corner of my eye hop over the next ridge over. We stopped and talked about how cool it was to see one so quick. About that time 2 more appeared and one was a def shooter, big 4x4, but before we could get set up, he and a doe disappeared over the ridge. We had moment of disappointment before the whole hillside came alive with deer! Well over a dozen! All but 2 went up and over the ridge, doe after doe until just 2 were left.

At this point, my buddy is using my binos and I'm set up with my gun and bipod. One of the deer we thought was a doe, turned out to be a small fork buck. The other deer had a much bigger body but his head was hidden behind a tree. Finally he moved slightly and we realized he had 4 pts on at least one side! Having the wind blowing hard in our face and the deer about 165 yds away, I slowly moved about 20 yds to the right to get a more open shooting lane. While we waited on him to give us a shot, I was very torn on whether to pass him or not. I've heard the "don't pass a deer on day one that you'd take on the last day" but it was hard to get the big 4x4 I had just seen out of my head. My buddy who had moved over now too was talking with me about it and was able to snap me back to reality telling me that he'd prob take him if it were him. I agreed as I had told him earlier I would take a 3x3 or bigger no question if we saw one early.

Well now we had to wait for him to give us a shot. After 20 mins, the fork horn got spooky and hopped up over the ridge. The 3x4 started to step out now and just before coming clear, he started hopping. At this point I'm thinking to myself that the hunt is over for the day. Just then I hear my buddy yell "maaahh" to get him stopped. That slowed him down, he yelled again and the deer stopped just for a moment at the top of the ridge to look back. He was quartering away and I took the shot at 170 yds. By the time I was back on target the deer was gone but Tony felt like it was a good hit based on what he saw.

We got our packs back on and hiked down and back up to where the deer was standing when I shot him...no blood. We started a search back and forth slowly working down the opposite side of the ridge. After 20 mins, I finally cut his trail and found blood, then lots of hair, then him! He was stuck under a log, on the side of a ridge so steep we were having trouble standing up to take pics. We carefully lowered him to the bottom, quartered him out and then began the long 3 mile hike back to the truck. We were off the mountain by 830 that night and headed into town for a pizza and beer. I can't believe how fast it happened but I couldn't be more happy. It was a great first experience hunting out west. Big thanks to my friend Tony for going with me and my wife for allowing me to hunt on her vacation. Can't wait for my elk hunt in Dec now. Hope you enjoyed the story and pics.

Congrats, nice buck

Congratulations.

Nice story and nice buck! I must have missed your other thread, where were you hunting?

nice

Thanks. NM unit 36.

Nice buck. Congratulations.

Oh yeah NM, dont know that unit, but I have seen some monster mulies around Santa Fe up to the Colorado boarder. Can be some rough hunting too!

My understanding is that 36 is more known for stud elk but is a decent mulie unit. Numbers are pretty good but less true trophy potential.

THat is a great story and a good Muly Congrats

Thx guys

congrats man