My very first hunt for deer was a mule deer hunt in what is now x-9 in California in the area of Tioga Pass & the Bodie mountains outside of Lee Vining, California. My father and I hunted both archery and rifle season and my dad was successful on opening day of rifle season. I got off a good shot with the bow for a mule deer and I was so excited that I dropped the bow to see where the arrow would go.... The arrow dropped almost as fast as my bow!About the second week of rifle season I got the shot at a nice 4 by 4 and grazed him right across the back and he bolted up the mountain. At about 200 yards, he stopped and licked his back and in a flash he was gone from my life forever. I did not get a chance to hunt mule deer again until I was 32 and I got the miracle draw of area 270 near Darby, Montana. I shot a beautiful mule deer but no where close to this buck on the pictures above.
Of all of the animals I have have hunted in my life, Mule deer are and always will one of my favorites and it is a life goal to find a buck with the width and the mass of the one pictured above within the confines of my scope at about 150 yards. Someday!!!!
