Just got back last night from hunting mule deer with my good buddy Hunter Ross of Desert Safaris (http://www.desertsafaris.com/) down in the Sonora Desert. It was a nightmare trip from a traveling/filming standpoint. I did come home with a big mulie…read on for more…

First, on the way down, my cameraman filming for T/C Game Trails (Chris Douglas) was delayed and had to stay in LA overnight. He got in late the next evening. So that was a day of the hunt cut out. The worst part was that we went out looking for deer that afternoon before Chris got to camp, and we found a deer in the 200” range. He was bedded and sound asleep at 75 yards - for 10 minutes. Hunter finally walked up to 35 yards before the deer woke and took off. Man it was awful - seeing that big guy in easy range and just having to watch him with a tag in my pocket.

Well Chris got to camp - and the airlines had lost his luggage! We had 1 tape and 1 battery. The luggage arrived the next night. For 3 days, we played cat and mouse with a really big buck that was 32-34” wide as he would leave an alfalfa field in the mornings. We never could get set up right to get him on film in shooting distance. The last morning of the trip, we could have stalked him and gotten within range pretty easily, but there was no way to do it with the camera.

Chris got really sick about an hour into the hunt on the last day, and we had to take him back to the ranch house. He was in bad shape…

So Hunter deceided to try to film for me, but we never got an opportunity at a big buck that morning. That afternon (our last) Chris was still in bad shape. Hunter and I went out to hunt, and left the camera behind. It was the last few hours, and we hoped to get a good buck to salvage the hunt, and hopefully I could get some magazine stories from the trip.

To make a long story short, we found a good buck trailing a doe. As we assessed him, they kept moving in and out of the brush- getting further away. We debated back and forth on whether or not to shoot him, and finally decided I better try to take him. I know Hunter was hoping I would get a 190-200” buck, but things just kept going wrong.

I shot the buck at some where between 200-250 yards as he walked through a small opening headed into some heavy brush. As usual, the .30 T/C Icon did a great job, and I had my Sonora mulie.

He was heavier than I thought and very tall. He was aged at 7.5-8.5 years old, and we figure he was on his way down. The buck (though he has weak forks on one side) still is right at 180 due to mass. He is a cool old buck with some brow stickers and a small cheater off his G-2. I was sure proud to get him.

This was one of those dream trips for me, and though it didn’t turn out nearly as good as it could have, it was great to get to spend a week with Hunter and bring home a neat old buck. I felt bad for Hunter because I could have killed 2 much better bucks off camera, but we were really trying to get a show, and that os a hazard of this business. Hunter’s operation in Mexico is 1st Class and is the place to go if you want a HUGE mulie.

That is my last hunt until March except for an occasional duck or coyote hunt here around home. I have ATA, SCI and SHOT shows coming up, so there will be more travel soon. Hope everyone had a happy New Year while I was gone…TH