Eric and I hunted near Roswell NM with Rio Brazos Outfitters. Rio Brazos Outfitters We've hunted elk with these guys before but we thought that we would give mule deer a try this year. Here's the money shot from this trip.
We stayed at this spacious lodge and had about a 30 minute drive to ranches where we hunted.
Here's an OnX track of the lodge and where we hunted all week.
For the deer geeks, lets get the money shots out of the way. There were six hunters in camp and 5 bucks taken. Eric had some chances but never closed the deal. Our guide, Guy, was great and worked hard to get us both on bucks. Here's the other bucks taken this week.
One of the hunters brought his own Euro Mount set up.
And these were a couple heads from the previous week's hunt that were waiting for a ride to the taxidermist.
On the day we drove in, there was a dusting of snow. We were hoping that was enough to put the snakes to bed for the season. It wasn't. We encountered multiple rattlers that came out on the roads to catch some rays.
The guides may have snake skin hat bands now.
The daily routine was up for coffee at 4:30, on the road at 5:15. Gina was the cook and she fed us well all week. She made some variety of breakfast sandwich for us to grab on the way out the door each morning.
We would hunt all morning and come in for lunch about noon. Gina usually had soup, grilled sandwiches, tacos, quesadillas or some other hearty lunch.
Then we would head back out about 2:00 and hunt until dark. Back to camp for a Gina prepared dinner usually by about 7:00.
Eric and I were hunting 2x1 with Guy and Eric was first at bat. We drove parts of the ranch stopping frequently to glass. Keaton's hunter knocked a nice buck down the first morning. We saw some does but no antlers were spotted.
A lot of time was spent on the glass.
The land looks completely flat but there are a lot of bumps, dunes, and drainages where deer can hide.
And we shared the ranch with cattle that were sometimes very curious.
Eric's friend "8007".
Glass, move, glass again.
The weather started the morning at 36F and got up to about 58F. Blue sky.
Great sunsets all week.
Day 2 didn't start as planned. We pulled out of the parking lot and couldn't see the road in front of us.
It took us about 30 minutes to drive out to the stop sign at the paved road. We parked there and just waited for some visibility. After it had lifted a bit, I could just barely see a road sign and I stepped it off. 75 yards. It was 9:30 before there was enough visibility to move. We did see 3 bucks near Randy's parked UTV. None of them were shooters though.
Eventually the sky cleared completely.
In the afternoon, we hiked into a spot that was considered "the bedroom".
We set up and watched as we lost light. Guy tried to shock some deer onto their feet with a predator call.
Beautiful evening but no luck.
At last light we had an owl hunting right over us and Eric caught him in this photo.
On the walk out in the dark, I had my usual faceplant when I tripped on a root. No injuries. Colton's hunter killed a buck on Day 2.
Day 3 started without fog.
We went to the "Crow's Nest" and glassed some does way off in the distance.
Randy's hunter shot a buck on day 3.
We had a nice hike to a high knob but we were unable to glass any bucks up. Guy tried the predator call to see if some deer would stand up. No luck with that but a coyote did come in. That evening, Eric had a look at several 3 points. One posed for a while at 120 yards. He was waffling about whether to shoot it, decided to go ahead, and just then he turned and boogered out.
For Day 4, we decided to split up to increase our odds. Keaton and Colton were available since their hunters were tagged out. I went with them. Eric went with Guy on a semi-foggy morning. They spotted a big buck from the truck first thing in the morning. Eric dubbed it the "dwarf elk". He got out, set up on the sticks, saw it clearly thru the binos, and couldn't get the rangefinder to resolve a distance. He concluded that it was a long way away. Guy couldn't understand why Eric wasn't shooting as he appeared to be on it in the scope. The buck turned and boogered begore Guy could tell him that it was 200 yards.
Meanwhile, Keaton, Colton and I drove to a high spot near a steel stock tank. We walked a couple hundred yards to a knob and started to glass. It wasn't long before Keaton had identified bucks moving. OnX line measurement later showed the distance to be 0.86 miles (1514 yards). I doubt if I would have picked these guys up by glassing on my own. Keaton found them, called one out as a shooter by 6:30am.
They set up the spotting scope and got on them and just watched. With directions by Keaton, I could pick up the moving bodies in my binos but I definitely could not resolve rack size. We watched thru the spotting scope as they fed and wandered a little bit. Colton kept wishing them to just bed down and they eventually did.
Somehow, Keaton marked a spot out there in what looked like bare flatland and we took off on a stalk. He had some frame of reference to a particular mesquite tree. The three of us set off to go find the bedded buck across all of that open land without getting busted first. Along the way, we checked the wind and swung wide in the direction that would put the wind in our favor.
As we got closer (how did Keaton know?), we slowed down and crouched a bit. Keaton looked at me and said "is your scope magnification on minimum?" I replied that yes it was and then looked down and found it on 10x (Doh). Turned it down to 3x.
Now we were in a series of bumps that were not even visible from where we started. Keaton would peak over one, decide it was clear, and we would advance to the next one.
We got to a bump and he peeked over the top to find a young buck facing him at 40 yards and staring right at him. He slowly ducked back down and had me come sit beside him. The buck was alert but not boogered. Keaton took another look and spotted a bigger rack on a bedded buck 5' to the right. Meanwhile Colton is 10' behind us behind the bump and can't see what's going on.
So Keaton sets up his sticks and I get on them half sitting and half kneeling. I get on the scope and can see the young buck plain as day staring right at us. Keaton says "do you see the rack in the bushes 5' to the right?". It took me a few seconds but I did. He said "he's going to stand up shortly - if you like him, take him".
I saw a big rack move, the buck stood right up broadside facing to my left. I had a thought that I'm zeroed 2" high at 100 yards and I'm only at 40 yards. I put the crosshairs low on the chest, took the safety off and shot. I never had any chance to evaluate what I was looking at, I saw a big rack and shot.
He bolted right but was clearly hit. I was watching to see him go down and Keaton says "reload". Doh. I did but he was down within about 20 yards. Colton was kind of caught off guard but managed to catch a short video of the shot. Says he heard the safety click and then the shot (suppressed).
Anyway, I had no idea how good a buck I had just shot. I could see a few really long tines when he was bedded and I wasn't going to spend time studying when he stood up.
So we celebrated and discussed for a few minutes and then walked over.
I was surprised that he was a 3 point but those tines were so long. And the right G2 still had some velvet on it. Keaton and Colton went into guide mode and started setting up for the photos.
He was a big old 3x3 with decent eye guards.
He had a big body and a huge neck.
We went thru all of the "Hollywood poses".
He wasn't the 4x4 that I had in mind but he was definitely and old warrior with some character.
These guys made quick work of the caping and quartering. Check out the shot placement. It went thru some leg muscle on the way to the heart. It would have been very embarrassing to miss at 40 yards.
These guys are good. I probably wouldn't have spotted them on my own. I likely wouldn't have known they were bucks. I definitely wouldn't have been able to find the spot where they bedded. And there's no way that I could have stalked my way in there without blowing them out. Not to mention remembering to turn my scope down or reload after the shot.
And then they put it all on their back and carried it the mile out to the truck. I think it was 9:30am when we were back at the truck.
I carried the "goodie bag" with the backstraps and the tenderloins.
Keaton later removed the jaw and examined the teeth. He's estimating that he was about 8 years old.
So after lunch, I rejoined Eric and Guy in the hunt for Eric's buck.
We walked into where Eric had spotted the 3 points earlier and set up as light faded.
This is a spot where we encountered the sand spur spawn of the devil.
They are nasty little buggers and their hypodermics break off and stay in the cloth.
Guy spotted a buck a long way off as light was starting to fade.
We took off to try to get on it and then we noticed Joe's truck cruising by on the road. We didn't want to crowd in on him if he was on the same buck so we backed out.
We kept glassing until we lost light.
Gina had steak night (with help from Joe on the grill).
Day five - last chance. Joe's hunter took a nice 4x4 near the main road first thing in the morning.
We went out to a steel tank and Guy glassed up a large frame 3x2 in the distance. He was with a couple does.
I stayed on the spotter as Guy and Eric put on a stalk. They got fairly close but the buck was onto them. I think it was the does that actually finally busted them and everybody boogered out.
Novel way to use the spotting scope.
In for lunch and Eric took advantage of the range to work on his 44 mag rifle for Ohio deer hunting. He had put on a new scope and we got it on paper.
Then we headed out and walked into the area around my buck kill spot. We set up on a high spot and glassed. Keaton, Colton, and Joe were also glassing from other spots.
A buck was spotted as light was fading but he was a long way off. We took off to cover some ground while racing the light.
As we got closer to the spot, there was a lot more hills and valleys than we expected.
We thought we were right there.
But we never saw him and ran out of light.
It was a great hunt. Five of six hunters took bucks and Eric had chances but didn't convert. I have a few videos (nothing too special) that I may upload and add to this post in the coming days if I have time. (here they are)
Meanwhile, my favorite butcher is working on my mule deer in Chicago.
Violet came with me to the farm. Joan and Daisy stayed home.
We checked all the cameras and had a good walk..JPG)
She really enjoyed herself.
We busted a doe off a bed at one point and Violet took off after her. Surprisingly, she came when called..JPG)
That might have been when she got into the hitchhikers. We had our work cut out when we got home.
Poop of the week - almost all fur.
Brassica at the driveway still holding up.
Upper pond brassica peeking thru the weeds.
Main field brassica has a few sprouts thru the weeds.
Clover in barn field, orchard, main and lower pond all pretty decent.
A couple of bobcats this week.
And a fox.
The deer were active.
It was the peak of the rut..JPG)
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Several one-sided bucks.
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If tired, just bed down..JPG)
A ton of coyotes.
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This photo was last visit. I spent some time in stand this week and everything seemed perfect. Cool, calm, etc. But, not one deer moved. The only deer I saw was an 8 point buck from the kitchen window while doing dishes..JPG)
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