Colorado Archery mule deer is something that has interested me for years. With our deep dive into goat hunting in the years past we had all the backpacking gear so I figured this was the year. Unfortunately I did not draw a tag so the leftover list was my only option. A couple buddies of mine drew some good tags so I decided I was going to help them hunt the unit I was familiar with. On the first week of leftover tags, there was one archery tag on the list. With the slim chances for getting one off the list I did not get my hopes up. To my surprise add to cart came up, and everything went through! I couldn't believe it until I had the tag in my hand.
This was two weeks before season and I had not shot my bow in over a year. I knew that between scouting and shooting I would have my hands full for the next few weeks. The plan was to let them shoot bucks before I made any stalks so I was not planning on even needing my bow for a few weeks but I wanted to be prepared.
Summer scouting brought a lot of hope! We found some awesome deer in the high country that gave us confidence in where we were going. We spent two weekends scouting without seeing a single person and plenty of deer in the 160-180 range. The high country bucks were not shy and would spend most of the morning out feeding giving us a good inventory for the bucks around the area.
Opening day we showed up to the trail head ready to roll. The plan was to hike into our area in the dark, see if any other hunters were in the area, then set up camp. If there was other hunters we would set camp near the creek, otherwise we would stay in the pines about a mile from where we seen the deer. Once we hit the trail head, there were two other RZRs. This didn't bother us at all because its a pretty large area so we carried on. Once we hit the creek two miles in, there were hunters camped near the creek about 500 yards from where we had seen the deer the week before. Although this was a let down, we kind of expected it. We carried on down the trail and set up camp near the creek and then went to the glassing spot. As we topped over the glassing spot there were 3 other hunters already there to greet us. As we looked around there were Elk and Bear hunters all over the hill side. At this point we figured the deer were long gone but we wanted to make sure. We sat on the glassing spot for the entire morning and didn't see a single deer.
We decided to go check out a spot a lot deeper in the unit hoping that this would deter more people from going in there. This was about 3 miles from camp so we took off pretty early in the afternoon and headed up the mountain. We reached the base of the mountain around 3 and sat there for a few hours before we glassed up the first buck. These were the same deer we had seen around the other side of the mountain so we were pretty excited to get the first stalk in of the season. Toby was up first and took off up the mountain while we stayed down below and glassed. As luck would have it a grouse decided to ruin the stalk as he was half way up the mountain.
As he made his way down, we snuck down the trail to try and get a better angle to where the deer were headed. Tristan and I looked up to see a monster buck standing 100 yards in front of us. As luck would have it, both of our bows were 100 yards the other way. We sat there in disbelief trying to signal Toby to slow down and come the other way. The buck turned enough for us to sneak off and get our bows. We slowly crept back down and he was still standing in the same spot just feeding on the grass. Toby had stopped on the mountain and was waiting for us to make a play on the deer. Tristan was up for the stalk and went around the buck to make a move. Unfortunately there was another deer was hiding in the bushes and scared the buck off. We knew we were in the right area now and we were going to have a good weekend. 
By this time it was dark so we had to make our way back down to camp. Unfortunately some weather came in and we were not able to hunt the rest of the weekend so we had to back out and plan on coming back the next weekend.
After our encounters the weekends before we were pretty excited to get back up to the mountain. Tristan and Toby had to work on Friday so the plan was to get up to the trail head around 4 and make the climb before daylight. We took off from the RZR and made great time getting up to our camping spot. As we were dropping camp off, we seen two other hunters walking past us headed towards the drainage we had seen deer the weekend before. Although this was unfortunate we were still going to go up and try to find those two deer we had seen. We made the trek up and seen the two hunters headed right into the same spot we had seen the deer. As we topped the mountain there was two tents set up 100 yards from where the deer were the weekend prior. After seeing all this we decided to tackle the 1500 vertical ft hill and check the backside to see if the deer had been pushed over the top. After about an hour we topped over that mountain just to find other hunters already back there. This was pretty discouraging for us so we decided the best option would be pack camp up, head back to town, and go find a new spot.
I had another deer found lower in the unit that would be a good Sunday hunt for us so we decided we would meet up in the morning and try to get on him. We met up that morning and couldn't turn the deer up. There was a smaller deer that Toby decided would make a good stalk so he went in after him. They took off and I was going to stay at the glassing spot to make sure the deer didn't leave and watch for the bigger buck. They made an awesome stalk and once they were about 200 yards out, I seen an ear flicker behind the smaller buck. Then I seen a head turn and of course it was the bigger deer. I tried to signal them so they would turn around but no luck. Toby got into 32 yards of the smaller buck and never seen the big deer. He took a shot but unfortunately he jumped the string and a clean miss right over the top of his back.
After the shot broke they never seen the bigger deer but I got to watch him run 300 yards and bed back down in a perfect spot. We decided to make another stalk in which should put us 45 yards away from him. Tristan was going to go left and get into a shooting lane and I was going to go around the other side in case he spooked. We got to the bottom of the brush patch and everything was perfect. We slowly walked up the hill to get into position. There were two other deer with the buck that we knew would be around 20 yards when we got into shooting position. What we didn't know was they moved closer to the shooting spot. As I peaked my head around the oak brush there was a smaller deer sitting at sub 10 yards looking away. I tried to signal Tristan but he was already committed. When he popped up the deer spooked out to 40 yards but the big buck stayed bedded. Tristan made a shot through the brush a put down this awesome buck! This was an awesome end to the weekend and we still had two more weeks to go.
On Thursday I was telling my Great Grandpa about how our hunt was going and he said he had seen a big buck at a lower location. Although I was wanting to get a high country buck I figured I might as well go take a look. This was a spot I had spent some time during rifle hunts but I hadn't seen anything that low yet this year. I showed up and there was a really cool deer with a big kicker on one side. Although he was a big buck, it wasn't quite what I was looking for. This buck was super narrow so I called Grandpa to confirm this was the deer he seen. He said the one he saw wasn't too narrow so I figured maybe it was a different deer.
About that time, I laid my eyes on him. Instantly I was in awe while I was looking at him. The light was running out so I knew I needed to make a move quickly. I snuck into 40 yards and drew back. This was the first animal I had drawn my bow back on and my adrenaline was pumping. As I settled my sights on the buck I knew there was not a chance I could make the shot. My bow was shaking around the entire body of the deer with my "buck fever" at an all time high. I let down as the buck started walking. I was taking some deep breaths and got back into 40 yards. Again I drew my bow and again I had to let down because I was shaking so bad. I knew that if I was going to get a good shot I needed to be closer. The buck made his way down the hill and I snuck around. When I popped around the tree he was close enough I felt like I could shoot him with a sling shot. The shot broke and it was perfect. As he ran up the hill it was everything in my body to get my phone out and call Tristan to come help.
"I shot a giant" was the only words I could get out. As the nerves wore off and I waited for him and Chey to show up I was in disbelief. I could hardly wait to get my hands on the buck. As we walked up to the deer the nerves kicked in again and Tristan said "yep hes giant". Although this was not how we planned on the deer hunt to go, I had killed the buck of a lifetime.
