Handgun Hunting Afield

Moving from Ohio to Wyoming was a big change, and more or less everyone I met in the hunting community had the same advice: “Forget about whitetail, and get after some nice mule deer.” For a few years, I spent my time learning the lay of the land, exploring new spots, and just enjoying the experience. The dream of a big buck was always there, but I wasn’t really chasing it.

Last year, I went out for a single day with no scouting and no real plan. Not surprisingly, I didn’t tag a buck, but I had a blast exploring the high alpine country of western Wyoming.

These general tag areas are great because they’re open to any resident. But the hunting isn’t easy. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department sets the season to coincide with when the deer are high in the mountains. And on top of that, you can only legally harvest a buck with at least four points on one side. When the deer are that high, success rates drop significantly, making it a real challenge.

This year, I decided to get serious. Every summer trip to the mountains became a scouting mission. The Fourth of July weekend was all about finding deer, and that’s when I spotted a truly dandy buck—the biggest I would see all summer.

The season opened on Monday, September 15th, but I went in on Saturday for one last scouting trip with a coworker. On Sunday, we spotted five or six legal bucks. The plan was set.  Get up two hours before legal light, hike in, and be at our glassing spot at least 30 minutes before sunrise.

But opening morning didn’t go as planned. It started with a rainstorm, and when we finally got out to glass, we found a big buck. That’s when things went sideways. A group of hunters with questionable ethics started shooting from over 900 yards and 700 yards, firing multiple rounds, from different directions, over our heads as I was trying to stalk. If you need 7 shots from that distance to hit an animal, you’re just too far away.

With all the traffic and shooting, we checked out few more spots without luck and decided to bail out that same day. As we hiked out, I was already thinking about when and where I’d return. Since I don’t work on Fridays, I decided to be at the trailhead right at the beginning of legal light and hike back in.

On this first trip, I learned that packwheel I was using starts to be less comfortable to use when it needs to be pushed up long steep inclines. With more weight, it gets more challenging. That made me plan better where and when to use it next time and to limit its usage to only trails with downhill sections.

As planned, I started my hike in at first light. I stopped to glass a few times on the way in and spotted some elk but still no deer. Then, just five minutes later, I looked up and saw a buck about 50-60 yards in front of me, walking out of a willow patch. He was probably 2.5 to 3.5 years old and fairly large. It was tempting since the pack out would be easy but by the time I checked if he was legal, he was already going anyway. Seeing him, made me feel great about the possibilities of the hunt.

The hike in was no joke. It took me over three hours to cover three miles, with more than 2,500 feet of elevation gain, mostly in the last two miles. That tells you how steep the terrain was. After setting up my tent and grabbing a quick nap, I went out to glass with no firm plan for the evening. My original idea was to climb one ridge to glass the next, but I realized it would take too long to do it and it would take even longer to get back in the dark. Instead, I went down to a creek for water and a quick lunch, glassing the whole way.

That’s when I spotted a doe. Later, as I was heading back to my glassing spot, I saw a bunch of does, fawns, and a few yearling bucks. About half an hour later, he walked in. The first thing I noticed was that his body was almost twice the size of some does. “He must be legal,” I said to myself. My binoculars quickly confirmed it—he was a legal and fairly large buck.

At the time, I was out in the open, about 800-900 yards away. I slowly moved toward the creek to get out of sight, then used the creek bottom to get closer. A few times I had to stop since deer spotted me. It was only a few minutes before sunset when I finally got as close as I could. The hillside was too steep to climb in the fading light, and I knew I wouldn’t have enough time. The horizontal distance was about 500-520 yards, and the range as the crow flies was no more than 550 yards. I knew from practice that my  limit for a single shot handgun was 550 yards. First I tried dry firing, and I felt rock solid.

With 130-grain MTH from Cutting Edge Bullets in a .308 Winchester chambered in Remington XP-100, I found the buck in my scope. After placing the reticle behind his shoulder I started slowly squeezing the trigger. The shot broke clean. The does ran about 40-50 yards and stopped, looking back towards the spot where buck was standing. I couldn’t find the buck in my scope. He wasn’t running, and I guessed he was down. By the time I climbed the steep hillside, it was dark, and it took me a while to find him. Taking a photo of the hillside beforehand and remembering exactly where he stood helped me find him. The only movement he made was a little roll and slide down the hill after he dropped. In the darkness, I realized he was even bigger than I had thought while glassing.

After taking photos, I quartered the meat and hung it in a tree away from the carcass. The hill was too steep and covered in shell rock to pack out safely in the dark. In the morning, the meat was perfectly cooled. I packed it out a mile to my camp and then used my non-motorized packwheel for the remaining three miles of mostly downhill trail. With 80-100 pounds of meat and 40-45 pounds of my gear, it was a slow, not hard, but not an easy process either.

Balancing and controlling the packwheel on narrow, steep sections was a challenge, but it was far better than trying to carry it all on my back. It allowed me to get the meat out in one trip and avoid it spoiling, which is always my top priority. Trophies are great, but the meat is what’s most important to me.

This hunt didn’t start the best, but it ended better than I could have imagined. I know exactly what I’ll be doing next September; trying to get even larger mule buck.