straight from the eastman's vault let's go hunting for mule deer in colorado's high country
gotta figure out a way we can kill that buck
that's a big buck that's a really big buck
hi folks welcome to today's show today we're in colorado in november on a mule deer hunt for
trophy bucks last night was the last night of the season on the third season mule deer hunt here in
colorado we just packed out of the back country today this morning it was an exciting hunt but
let's not get ahead of ourselves let's go back and see how this hunt started after trophy mule deer
in the high country in colorado in november
well we just got here into colorado it's uh monday afternoon
the season started on saturday but it's the first week of november
but as you can see it's pretty uh pretty nice so it's kind of a cold turkey hunt we got some maps studied the maps and
topos and asked some biologists talked to some people i know that have hunted the area before
so got a few tips here and there
we got five days to hunt so let's see what happens
we went into an area the first night hiked back in there three or four miles and it just
didn't look good we we didn't see any deer we cut our losses pulled out of there broke camp went
to town got some more supplies went around the mountain and into a a different part of the unit
you know after we got our supplies we bombed into a different part of the unit set up our base camp
and you know it was hard it looked really good it looked more like what we thought colorado
mule deer hunting should look like but we were patient we just sat behind the optics glassed all
the country for a good day and a half two days just to get the lay of the land and really spot
some good bucks and figure out where the deer were and where the biggest concentration of bucks were
here's the situation nate and i have been camping down here for three days and what's
happening is it's the first week of november but the weather is just too darn nice it's been
in the 60s like every day not exactly what you'd hoped for on a mule deer hunt in the
first week of november what we found is these bucks are high they're clear up at the tops of
these peaks still what we've done we've spotted a big buck at the top of that peak over there
uh this morning we're looking at four and a half to five miles away that we spotted this buck so
it's hard to judge him you can just see his frame you can't see how long his points are any of that
kind of thing but he's certainly at least this tall and nice and wide big boxy huge body buck so
it's definitely too far for a day hunt so nate and i are going to have to pack up
on our backs and go in and do an overnighter probably take us all day to get in there
and hopefully we can get on him tonight or first thing in the morning
well there's a little buck we're back here about six seven miles we spotted some bucks up in these
basins from way back to our other camp so we packed in here bivvy they've whacked in here seven
miles where we're getting right across the creek and here's a nice little buck but not not the type
of buck we want to pack out of here he's a little four point about 23 24 inches wide just a real
nice buck he's coming down to water in the creek i think so we're gonna pass on him and load up and
head up up the mountain into these basins where uh they'll be the big boys hanging out so
get a little drink here and then we'll head up steam up the mountain pretty good sign though
see a buck right off the bat like that once we got our spike camp set up nate and i got out on
a point and just started glassing that evening all the basins again we didn't run around crazy we got
to a good vantage point where we could see five or six basins from one spot and just glass and glass
well we're positioned up here tonight is the second to last night of the hunt tomorrow's
the last day but we spotted a lot of bucks on all these hillsides this morning you can see where our
main camp is it's clear across there to base those mountains with the snow on them and we spotted bucks
from there over to here so on the map as a bullet flies it's probably four and a half miles but
to hike in here you have to come around about way and it's almost seven miles so
see what happens in the morning it's gonna be a long cold night in the bivvy camp
up here at this elevation holy mackerel what are we doing up here nathan the 8th of november
we do not recommend this
well this isn't uh exactly the jw marriott hotel but it'll work this is really what we expected
coming down here to colorado we're at 9,000 feet almost just shy of 9,000 feet on the 8th
of november in central colorado in the rockies but it's been so warm and dry that these bucks are
are still up here where they spend their summers so we've had to throw our packs
on our back and come in here and bivvy out tomorrow's the last day of the season it's
gonna be a chilly night but we're right in their backyard now man we're right in their living room
in the morning we got up first light got back on that vantage
point and started glassing again and started turning up bucks everywhere
here we are we got uh nate and i got up early this morning just as the sun was coming up
went up to our vantage point and glassed and sure enough we found quite a few bucks but
uh one of the more promising prospects we found was about a 180 buck rutting some does the top
of the basin actually that we're camped in so we're going to hike up there they went and bedded in the
quaker patch hopefully we get up there we can see into the quakers where they're bedded we're going
ultralight taking everything out of our packs we don't need just bushwhack to the top and see what happens
we caught that buck out in the open and it was in the middle of the day like one o'clock in the
afternoon i couldn't believe my eyes and that smart sucker watched us walk right past him
he just laid there in that brush and watched us walk right on by because we were walking
on the inside of the ridge in the basin he was laying in because we were trying to hide ourselves
from the bucks that we were actually hunting which were in the next basin over and we almost got
to the top of that basin and spotted him down there and we were debating how to make a move
on him because he's out in the open we're out in the open in this bull you know 1,500 feet above him
gotta figure out how we're going to kill that buck that's a big buck
it's a really big buck
he's acting ruddy he's got some does there he's actually not really paying attention
to does he was trying to run off a little four-point buck more than anything he was
all puffed up prancing around posturing and then he went over to a tree and just started raking
the heck out of this tree well the does dropped off the little bench that's uh
up in that basin so they couldn't see us so nate and i just decided to bomb down off there
figuring hey the buck's preoccupied raking his antlers let's just make a move
the brush is so thick we can just see the tops of the bushes moving and every once in a while we
catch a glimpse of antler or a piece of hair but definitely nothing good for a shot and he was only
probably 150 yards away from us then he just quit raking his antlers and we had to make a
move because it was going to get dark and we had looked at that basin the night before and he never
came out in the evening so there was no guarantee he was going to come out in the evening on the
last night of the last day of the hunt you know we had to take a gamble and make a move on him
i'm on him nate
he's in that brush but i think i can sneak it right through
got him i think you got him
dude that is the buck that is the buck of my dreams man public land do it yourself colorado how high
are we 10,100 i just saw this white you know white nose and muzzle watching us like we're
walking the camp we thought we were elk hunters nice spot i got a deer tag in my pocket that
my friends is public land hunting do it yourself the eastman way holy mackerel nate and i spotted
this buck because we're going after another one we're up at 11,000 feet we spotted him back down
here we had to come all the way back down another thousand feet we came across circled around here
and i said you know i remember looking at this last night i said you can look up into that brush
pretty well from the side so we just eased along here glass eased glass ease glass and luck be a
lady because i looked over there and i just see this big pumpkin head and this gray white face
and a black nose just staring at us watching us walk along this hillside gotta love it we
got work to do now baby we might be at base camp after all we're seven miles in so it's a three
almost three hour pack out of here once we get to our camp holy mackerel i love this country
big buck rub right here where we were sitting up there we couldn't see him i saw the trees moving
he's probably been living in here all summer i want an insurance policy just in case nozzle insurance
here he is that'll work one and eight that'll do
lights out folks look at that buck
this is what high country dreams are made of right here boys
this is a rutted up third season colorado public land buck we've got five six on this side
count the eye guards and seven on this side so just a gorgeous six by seven in the prime
of his life we actually spotted these bucks no kidding from almost five miles away at our base
camp with our spotting scopes those big swarovski 80 millimeters you dial them up and we saw him
from five miles away no easy way to get to him no easy way we we saw a guy packing out an elk hunter
old cowboy packer and he said you fellas get a buck up there you've earned it let me tell
you we earned it with this buck because there's no no slam dunks back here in this back country
but it just makes it all the more sweeter when you do connect with a big old buck like this
what a trophy that's what i love doing one of my favorite activities is punching tags
especially on a big old buck like this public land do-it-yourself this is just about as good as it
gets you can see he's he's got six on one side seven on the other got some real nice cheaters
gnarly bases he's been rubbing he's still got fresh oak brush pulp on his bases just a
really trophy buck now we're gonna get him all broke down gonna be a trek back to the truck
so it's been a heck of a hunt thanks for spending the time with us remember fair chase is the only
way to hunt and take trophy big game we'll see you next week on eastman's hunting journal