The Mule Deer Double Story: 400" of Antlers on Opening Day with Gray Plunkett

Foreign. To the Hunt west podcast, here's your host, Jaden Bales. All right, Gray, have you ever done a podcast before?

Nope.

This is your first. First podcast. Oh, I'm. I'm so honored. We're actually recording now, by the way. So we're just gonna dive into this.

All right, here we go.

Gray, what took you so long to hunt mule deer? Because we met in 2020, I think, and I don't think you really gave a mule deer a shot until 2023. We went to the high country.

Yeah, that is true. I don't know if I even bought a general mule deer tag before that. I don't know. Growing up in the South, I don't know, I hunted deer. I kind of thought mule deer were. Deer have learned differently. I don't know. I kind of, like, had this fascination with elk. It was like, why I wanted to move to Wyoming to hunt elk. And deer season was always in September, and took me a while to. Well, I killed an elk my first year with my bow, Little raccoon.

But I just had this, like. I don't know. I just. I remember the next year, after you killed your elk with your bow, you spent, like, the next September. I swear you were out there 20 days.

I think 117.

17.

I think 117. So, yeah, it was like this whole, like, I have to kill a big bull, and I'm not gonna do anything else until that happens. And then, I don't know, I guess you just kind of leaned on me, and we. Eventually, I went deer hunting, and I figured out really quickly it's very different than hunting whitetails out of a box blind.

Yeah, but you got a buck, and he's sitting up here like, we're drinking. You're drinking a whiskey. I've got a ranch water, and we're sitting at your dinner table, and there's a nice whitetail buck over here, and he's got a split G2 just like a mule deer. Yes. And so you were probably like, I don't need another split yet. Buck riding around.

Funny story about that. So I shot that deer at my, like, really best friend, best man in my wedding, Whit Kendall's place. And the first thing I said to him, he picked me up. I said, I shot a big buck. And he's like, what? Tell me about him. And I was like, looks like a mule deer had split G2s. And sure enough, yeah, he's got a big split. Got a split G2, which is super uncommon in the whitetail world. I've seen very few like that.

But yeah, he's got an extra coming up.

I don't know.

I don't.

I just.

I don't know.

I mean, I guess call it being ignorant. I just didn't know what western mule deer hunting was.

Yeah.

I mean I grew up watching primos and mossy oak hunting the country and every elk video was like tuned in. I think part of it's like the whole southern turkey awning, goblin turkeys, bugling bulls. The similarities, they're very different, but.

There'S.

Some commonalities there and I don't know, they're just big. Oak are just big.

Yeah.

But mule deer are freaking cool.

Do I think the part about elk hunting that like I hate the most is that they're so big and cuz then once you kill one, you got like this whole big project and I guess this year we ended up with a big project because we got two mule deer down. But yep, for the most part, it's like a lot easier to manage. It's. It's a much different.

It's way easier to manage. First elk I ever came up on, I was like, what have I done? Yeah, they're big, but man, they're cool. They're confident.

Yeah. Whereas like a deer is like they're always just kind of like tweaking out a little bit.

Yeah. The meth heads of the mountain, the.

Methods of the mountain. Yeah. So when we did that 20, 23 hunt, we went into this high country spot. Another September 15th opener. And what was that, what was, what was it about that hunt that you.

Were like, oh, this is, this is sweet. The cat and mouse. It's cool. Well, the country they live in is cool.

Yeah.

I mean I shot that deer I think at 10,000ft.

Yeah.

Or over. Yeah, yeah, I think it was over 10,000. It was like at tree line. Just the cat and mouse, like when you put it together, the finding them the day before, the glassing, the like figuring out where they're going, making your movement and they're just cool animals.

Yeah.

They're living in sheep country.

Yeah. I remember like this year we've said it multiple times. Like our deer hunt was the closest thing you can get to a sheep tag without a sheep tag.

Yeah.

At least they just live in like gnarly country.

And at least like mountain mule deer. I mean you're earning them. They are in some gnarly, steep country that like you got to work to get to. So I think that's really cool too. But yeah, that hunt I don't know. It definitely was a little bit of a bug. The pack out about ended my mule deer hunting career. That rolled ankle took six months to get over. But yeah, it was just cool. It kind of showed me because, like, I don't know, deer hunting in the South, I definitely grew fatigued of the sitting in a box blind or a tree stand. And it's just slow, monotonous. But this isn't that at all. I mean, you were moving country. You're glass and you're moving. You're glass and you're making moves on animals. It's very active hunt. Sometimes I would say even more active than an archery elk hunt. So it kind of just showed me how drastically different whitetails and mule deer are.

And it's not to say you can't go hunt mule deer in low country where there's ag fields and like roads everywhere. Like, obviously that's an option. But like, in particular, like you're saying we're talking mountain mule deer where they're. They're living at the top of the damn mountain. And then there's so much snow, they're moving. Like some of these deer in the herds that we're hunting are moving 150, 100 miles.

Yeah.

It's insane. So it's just like a cool. This is like a cool background story to the critters you're chasing too.

I mean, yeah, they're just such cool animals. It's hard to kind of put into words what makes them so cool.

And they're elusive.

Maybe that's what makes them so cool.

Yeah. Because like in 2023, we went up into this high country spot day before season, saw a sweet buck that we both. That was like, you should kill that thing tomorrow. And then the next morning, we're glassing all morning and didn't see. Hiding her hair of him.

Nope.

It's like he was right here last night and he just disappeared on us.

Yep. And like, even the bucks we just turned up, which I'm sure we'll get into that. They were in the broad daylight, like they were 500 yards from us in the wide open and. And it took us an hour to turn them up. Yeah, they're just like. I don't know how they do it, but man, they're. Yeah, they're elusive.

That's part of the great. Gross. The whole great ghost mythology. Right.

And they're freaking crafty. Yeah. Like, I don't know. I've definitely like, heard the people that are like, ah, mule deer, big Dumb, man. I don't know how those people think that they are.

Maybe they're hunting the low country deer in November or something, but yeah, for.

The most part, man, they're crafty.

So that all sets the stage for basically this high country deer hunt that we just went on. We started planning that basically right after the 2023 hunt because we were like, oh, we got to go do this again. Because that was a good time.

Why did we not go last year?

Cuz I drew an elk tag. A type 9 elk tag.

You drew a talk. And I did. I drew a elk tag that I knew I needed to go all in an archery.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you were. You killed your bull like right around September 14th. Yeah, exactly. So we were both elk hunting. And then it was like, okay, well we got to get back up there. We gotta go do this thing. And so basically we had. We had two plans and both were hail Marys.

Yes.

So like going into this, we were like, all right, we're either gonna go into this spot where we've seen a buck before or this other spot where you and I saw the big deer in 2023. And we just figured we were going to get our ass kicked in the first place and then go to the 2023 spot as backup.

Yeah. And it was kind of shaping up that way. I mean, our first afternoon, I mean, the hike in, we saw a lot of deer sign. Doe. A lot of doe tracks, a lot of deer sign. But I mean, we were go ask them for two. Two hours.

Two or three.

And we had seen one deer. Yeah.

It was looking a little rough.

Definitely was like, definitely starting to think like, oh boy, this ain't going to work out.

Yeah. And that pack in too. Like, I think both of us. Yeah, I'd been in there before, but also I had forgot, like, it's kind of a slog.

Yeah.

And you know, we did about three miles to camp and that was just under 3, 000 vertical to get to there.

Yeah.

And then once we set up camp, we hiked another 600 vertical.

Yep.

Up to the glassing knob, which it was kind of funny. Like we had. Dude, I plan hunts for a living. And we got up there and made a different plan because we were like, oh, that original plan sucks.

Yeah, well, I mean, I was really nervous because you kept saying we were going to hike on this little bench and I was like, line distance on onyx. And I was like, man, we're really close to where these deer look like they're going to be and also, it looks like it's about to be a big lightning storm. And we're about to be at 10, two in a clump of five trees.

Yeah, yeah. At the top in the rocks. And we were. Yeah. So that was really the final straw. But as soon as you had kind of, like, started questioning, you're like, I don't know if we should go up there. I started looking on annex and I was like, yeah, dude, there's a better glassing knob. I think my laziness was going like, I just want to wake up in the morning. And, like, glass from the tent, basically.

Yeah.

But that wasn't the right move. And, like, we made.

We pivoted. I don't think we ever would have found those deer.

No.

We've been in our first glassing knob.

No. So we're just kind of flexible. We got up there. We basically were like, okay, we're going to have to. I was bitching to you about it too. And I'm like, I. I'm the guy who always says, like, oh, you're normally.

The guy that gets me into the. That. I'm like, this sucks.

Yeah, this sucks.

But. And I feel like I was kind of that this time, because I don't know, man. Like, sometimes you got to do the uncomfortable to kill. And. Yeah, climbing that 400ft, 600ft in the dark was gonna be the thing that helped us kill.

Yeah.

Well.

And especially with solidified. We got up there to the glass and knob after we set up camp, and then we're like, oh, yeah, this is like, this is where we need to be.

Yeah, that was the spot. It was like, such an obvious glassing knob.

And cool thing was, like, the trail that we took in sucked, which means there was no other horse folks that were going to be able to get up in there.

Nope.

And I had seen some other hunters in there the first time I went, but I just had the sense, like, I'm not sure this is getting hunted hard. It's a pretty tight area of good deer habitat, like maybe 800 yards wide.

That's about be hard pressed to find a deer that was not in rifle range.

Yeah.

Or damn. Where you saw him. Yep. Yep.

And so that kind of, like, was. Again, we only had. We were planning. Opening day was Monday, so we went in on Sunday, and we had to. I had an elk hunter coming in on Wednesday, and I was like, this is a kind of a hail Mary. This is either gonna work or it's gonna go down in flames.

Yep.

Yeah.

Yeah. I was Getting nervous about that because I had like, blocked. I had taken the whole week off. And like, when we started planning this two years ago, I was like, we'll have the whole week, we'll go in. But obviously, like, I mean, life always gets in the way. Yeah. But it got whittled down to like five days. And then like month ago, it's like a three day hunt. And I was like, oh, boy, this is, this is pushing the limit here. But I don't know, I didn't have a ton of doubt though.

As we were hiking in though, we were talking about expectations and you'd asked me like, yes, me, like, well, what do you want to shoot? And I was like, you know, an old buck. An old buck. And I was like, I'll know when I see it, but, you know, we'll just see. And then you were like, well, I got to shoot a better buck than my last one. Yeah. Or than your best one. And I was like, that's a good. That was the guiding principle for the first like six mule deer I ever killed.

Yep.

And it's like a really good. I like, I like that mentality.

Yep.

So we were like, okay, well, you know, we'll probably find something one of us wants to kill. So. But then we did the. The other thing that we talked about was, okay, so how do we decide who's shooting? And I was like, spotter gets first right of refusal. And then the next guy up can like decide, Right?

Yep.

So we're up there that first night and you spotted the first deer.

Yeah, I was kind of on the south side of the glassing knob.

Yeah.

And I saw that first deer.

You just saw a butt like freehand in the binos. What are you talking about?

Thousand yards, man.

And threw up a spotter. And it was just like a little three point. And I was like, ah, that's not one we were going to want, Jace. Then after a while, we like split up and I went down on a glass knob to look at the face that I had seen the buck on in 20, 23. And you kind of went off, looking off towards where the buck was because we're like, it's September. These deer should be in bachelor herds.

Yeah.

And so you're kind of looking to see if any other bucks showed up down there.

Yeah. Where that original, that initial buck was.

Yeah.

Just waiting for something else to pop out.

Now I'm trying to remember. Did, did I come find you after I found the deer?

No, no, I came and joined you.

Okay.

And like, you had just found them when I got there.

Yeah.

And I, like, was sitting down and you were like, they're three bucks in the bedded in the sun. I was like, dude, what?

It actually made them harder to see.

Yeah, they blended in so well.

Yeah. They just blended into that hillside. And like, one was in the shade, one was out of the shade. And, like, we only thought there were.

Two bucks at first.

Yeah. And then it, like took the spotting scope on them and they were only 600 yards away.

Yeah.

And. But in the spotting scope, then you can find the third one. You're like, oh, okay, we got a herd of bucks in front of us. And I remember first being like, I just know one of those is a shooter. And you were like, okay, like, what is he?

Yeah, yeah. You were like, that's a shooter. And the. And I had only seen two bucks at that point. And you're like, there's a shooter. But I was looking at. There was three bucks. We were looking at one common buck and one different buck each.

Yeah.

And because I hadn't seen the one in the shade yet and. Yeah, you said one shooter. And the other one's like a three point, which ends up being the one that I shot.

Yeah.

But it wasn't Not a three point. But yeah, you couldn't just. You couldn't tell what he was.

Well, and the way he was facing, too. Like, I got the, the phone on the. I got my phone on my spine scope and we're just taking video, watching deer tv. And he finally moved his head and like scratched his back the. The buck that was in the shade. And then we go, oh, oh. He's got a lot of stuff going on too. He had like these inlines that you couldn't see when he was facing you. Then he moved his head around. You're like, wait, wait, hold on.

You couldn't see his forks either. Yeah, he looked like a clean three point at first.

Yeah. But so then. So basically we just watched them till dark and looked around for some other deer and then headed back down to camp. I remember looking at the weather forecast and we were talking like, shit, we're going to have rain in the morning. Rain and snow. And so we talked about. We're like, okay, well, we got to get our asses to the glass and knob in the dark and then be there when it breaks.

Yep.

But, dude, we went to bed that night. I don't know about you, but I was like, I was like, I think we're gonna kill a deer tomorrow.

Yeah, I was Pretty confident we were gonna kill a deer. I didn't know if I was gonna kill a deer.

Yeah.

Because at that point I still didn't know if I would shoot the second deer.

Yeah. That's a hard point.

Until we really started diving into it. But I knew you were going to kill a buck the next day.

Well, and it depends. It depended basically on the weather and if they were going to show up too. It was just kind of like. So that was the only variable that we were like, okay, well, if they show up on the face, we've. We had been skunked before after finding bucks. Like, that was the other thing I was in the back of my mind. So I was just kind of. I was just kind of nervous. I was like, all right, well, I.

Was a lot more confident in this one with where they bedded.

Okay.

That last buck in 23, when he left, he went into this, like, big timbered up basin. These bucks this trip went into a 50 yard circle of timber, and if they fed out either side, we would have seen them. So we knew they stayed in there. So I, like, kind of was pretty confident and especially with the fact that the weather was rolling in.

Yeah.

I was kind of thinking like, these deer know this weather's coming in, they're hunkering down.

That's a good plate.

So I was pretty freaking confident they were going to be right there in the morning. It took longer than I thought it would to turn them back up.

Yeah. But, you know, basically about 2 o', clock, 2:30, the skies unleashed, man. And both of us had a terrible time sleeping after the rain and wind and snow started because, yeah, it was rough.

That hail was just. It sounded like somebody beating on drums all night long.

Yeah.

Snare drums on the tent all night.

So needless to say, we were like, up before our freaking alarms went off because we were just awake.

Yeah. Just like ready to get out of that tent.

Yeah. And so we hike up and we cut our food bags down. Got food for the day. And it was still pretty damn dark when we got up to the glassing knob. Like, we couldn't glass, let alone the fact it was raining and snowing.

Yeah. And we had to wear our rain jackets, which I always hate so much. And so we were trying to, like, go really slow to not sweat. Yeah. It was a lot colder than I thought it was.

Yeah. Yeah. And it was sweet because, like, as the sun technically was coming up, I mean, it didn't look like a sunrise. It just started getting lighter. You could see that like at our, at where we were sitting and higher was turned into snow and then everything below us was still rain. So we're just like right at the Snow line for September 15th too. Like it's just that first one freaking feels cold every time.

It was cold and that humid cold. Yeah, it wouldn't have been that cold if it hadn't been raining. It was that humid to the bone.

And then you sit down and your butt gets like wet and then you just. Oh yeah.

Like we tried to not sweat, but it's hard to not sweat climbing 600ft.

At like, at 10, 000ft.

Yeah, yeah. I mean we, you sweat a little bit. And I think it was my brilliant idea to not bring our puffy pants.

Yeah, we had talked about, we had debated. We were like, we had packed them in there.

Yeah, we should have bought them.

She just brought her. But yeah, we sat up there and we're waiting for it to get light and we're just shivering and I'm trying to like stay warm. So I'm like bouncing from one side of the ridge to the other just like keeping on my feet, glassing and just in case old shows up close.

But yeah, I eventually gave up on the deer. I was like, deer are not coming out in this. And I turned my back to where the deer were. That's where the wind was coming from. Put my back to the deer, put my hood up and just got out of the wind for an hour.

Yeah. Yeah. So then. Oh, so what time? It was probably about 6:30. It got light.

Yeah.

By like 8.

Oh yeah, a little. Yeah, it was late. It was a late sunrise.

So about by 8 o' clock we had moved up to the highest glassing knob, see the most country, and we're glass in and glassing and glassing and finally the weather breaks.

We could see blue skies. Yeah. To our west. Yeah, we could see blue skies to our west. So we knew it was coming. So then we started getting a little excited.

Yep. And like I remember you had asked me before and I was, you were like, are they going to get up when the weather breaks? If it breaks at like noon? I'm like, yeah, whenever the damn weather stops, like they will have been hunkered down for like 18 hours basically, or 12 hours. And so it was like, yeah, no, no, they're, they'll be up. So we're sitting there and like as soon as it breaks, I'm getting excited. I'm like glassing like a madman.

So you went to the, to the north. North I went to the south side and.

And you.

I immediately found a deer which would have brought me over there.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah. For a little longer than I should have been over there.

Well, that was. That was a dough, right?

I think it was a dough. But I mean, I was hand holding binos at a thousand yards. So like I was trying.

They were small.

Really make sure it was a dough. It could have been that little buck.

That's true.

From the night before. It was in that same spot. And so I was like sitting over there and I think, did you whistle at me?

I tried, but I was.

I thought it was a bird because the birds had started singing at that same point.

Yeah. Yeah.

And so I thought it was a bird. And I was like, I think that might have been Jaden. But I was like, I got to figure out if there's a buck with like, if there's a big buck here with that deer. And so I stayed for like, I think five minutes longer. And then I was like, I'm going over there to see what he's doing.

Yeah.

Which is almost too long.

It was damn close. It's almost too long. So I'm over here on the north side. You're looking out the south side. And you're like, just far enough. I can't see you. But I'm like, I know he's just right over there. So I'm like whistling like, hey, hey. You're like, this is awkward. Like, yell, but quiet. Yell like, I never heard the hay.

I heard like what I thought was a bird.

Yeah.

And that was definitely you whistling.

I kept going like.

Like, yeah, I heard that. And I almost came there, right there, that minute. But I had a deer.

Yeah.

So I was like, yeah, it was just bad timing. If I hadn't seen that deer, I would have been.

Been bailing, gone over there. But so then I'm like looking and I'm like, we had looked at this buck the night before and the one that was like, for sure, shooter. We were like, we need to kill that thing because we thought he was big. And we were like, okay, we should, we should get him, get him down. And I was like, I'm not gonna wait for him. Like, he's. I, yeah, I gotta get these guys dead or get this guy down. And so I just bail off. So we were at 600 yards.

Yeah.

And I bail off to go get up a little closer and get a good rest. And I'm looking for a rest up on the top. I can't. Like, there's Trees blocking the view of where these deer are. And they're feeding up like an avalanche shoot. And so I like drop down off the ridge and there's just enough of a clearing, but there's like some deadfall in the clearing. And I'm like, well, I'm gonna have to use the deadfall as a rest. So I'm out here just trying to jockey around and get a good like, shooting position built. And they're like 450 yards from that deadfall. And I'm just trying to like not. I'm, you know, you're trying to work fast. You're trying not to. And also trying not to lose my. Because I'm excited about this buck. And then I turn around, I hear some like a rock roll. And I turn around. You're coming down. I'm like, oh, thank God.

So I had been up there for like five minutes before that because I didn't know what was happening or like where I went. No, no. I could see you like as soon as I crested. I saw your pack in my pack, but your gun wasn't there. So then I started like looking. And I eventually found you, but you were in your scope at that point.

Oh.

And so I like stopped because I didn't know where the deer were. So I stopped. And then you like put your rangefinder up dialed. And so I'm like, I'm. I sat back because I didn't know what was going on. I didn't know where the deer were.

Oh.

And I was not about to like mess it up. So I like sat there for a while and then I like scanned the. The close.

Uhhuh.

And I didn't see deer. And so then I like grabbed my gun and started like butt scooting down.

Okay.

And that's when I kicked the rock. Cuz I was like, I was not about to mess it up, but I was trying to get like in your vicinity.

Oh, okay.

To like be able to close the gap if I needed to. And then you like waved me forward.

Oh, okay.

And at that point I was like, okay, I think the deer are probably far enough.

You can just stand up and walk over.

Yeah. So then I like dropped in that little ditch and was able to come to you. But yeah, I was up there for probably like five minutes watching you, thinking you were about to shoot. I don't know. It felt like five minutes. It was probably like 45 seconds.

Yeah. Well, what had happened was I'd seen two bucks feed out and. Or I saw all three bucks feed out. And then the big one disappeared. And so in the time that he disappeared, I went down and got on this rest and, like, was getting set up for a shot. And so right about the time you were looking at me, I was range finding the buck you ended up killing.

Yeah.

And I was range finding them and, like, getting all set up, basically getting ready to. Because I was, like, looking at your deer in my rifle scope. I was like, damn, that's a nice deer. Like, I was like, should I shoot that? And I was like, no, no, don't shoot that deer. Like, there's another big one here. Like, don't. Don't shoot that. Like, wait. Just wait for him to step out. And then by that time, you had. I saw you were there, and I was like, oh, perfect. Well, if I just wait long enough, we can maybe double.

Yeah.

And I was like, okay, cool. We're just gonna hang. Hang tight. So then you get down there, and I'm like, like, yeah, get set up. And you're like, can I get set up next to you? And I was like, no, no, set up next behind me. And then once I shoot, I'll drop back behind you. Just not the right move we should have made there. But that's okay. We found out we should have just.

Gone to where I ended up shooting from.

Yeah. Probably. And tried to wait for them to feed into a good spot.

Yeah. But, I mean, dude, with a buck.

Of that caliber, it's like, take the shot you get.

You can talk all you want about what you should have done, but.

Yeah.

It's so hard to make any kind of move.

Yeah.

At that moment. And, like, I was so in that moment, like, trying to just be in the background. Like, I was not about to move up to that spot I shot from.

No. Yeah.

And, like, potentially blow it up or.

Yeah. And it just so happened that the deadfall that I was sitting behind was, like, the perfect height for me to be on my knees. And then, like, when I. My hands were not on the gun, the gun was still on the deer. Like, it was, like, perfect rest. I had, like, a front and a rear rest. And I was like, oh, this is money.

Yeah.

And then you're sitting behind me, like, God damn it. This is not the best, like, setup I could have had.

Yeah. I mean, I was, like, trying to hold steady on the deer and was like, this is not good. But I was not about to change anything.

Yeah.

So, like, I don't know. I may could have done something different. I don't know. But that rest was Terrible. It was the perfectly awkward. Like, I couldn't sit on my butt. I couldn't sit on my knees. I had to, like, hover to get behind the gun, and I couldn't. It was too high for my pack to be behind the butt of the stock. So, like, I couldn't find a rear rest. Yeah, it was.

And I'm up here, like, on these deer, like, getting ready to shoot.

Yeah. So I wasn't about to try to change anything.

Yeah. Yeah. So regardless, the. The big buck eventually steps out, and he's quartered slightly away, and I'm just like, oh, this is such a good shot. Like, gray, are you ready? And you're like, no, no, I'm still trying to get steady. Like, okay, let me know when you're ready. Are you ready? You're like, no, hold on. I'm getting steady. And I'm like, God damn it, Gray.

Like.

Like, yeah, great. Are you steady? And then it found, like, really what it was is, like, you just weren't in a good position.

Yeah, I was never gonna get steady.

Never gonna get steady. Yeah. But anyway, once you said, like, okay, I'm. I'm on your deer.

Yeah. I wasn't even on my deer. Yeah, I was on your deer.

When we had talked about this was something I think we did a really good job of, is we went through scenarios, and I was like, okay, so if we have an opportunity for a double. First guy shoots, we're not gonna, 1, 2, 3. This some.

No, that doesn't work.

It doesn't work. First guy shoots. We're both shooting suppressed. So most of the time, if they bump at all, they don't bump very much. And they stop and stand there and look around, and then the other guy shoots, which I think was. So. That was so helpful for us to walk.

And we knew we had to get your deer killed.

Yeah.

So, like, I was on your deer until I knew he was dead.

And that was something. Also, I told you is like, I don't care. Like, obviously, I wanted to shoot him, but also I was like, I'm not going to be upset if you shoot this deer after I miss. Because we need to. Someone needs to shoot this dang thing. Like, this is a team effort here.

Yeah. I remember asking you that the day before.

Yeah.

Because, like, per our agreement, it was your deer.

Yeah.

In which it should have been, like, after the full story, which I'm sure we'll get into. Like, that should have been your deer. So I wanted to ask you, like, if you miss that deer And I didn't even say that because I was like, you're not going to miss the deer. But like something crazy happens.

Yeah, I said something like, yeah, if.

If, if a chipmunk runs in front of that bullet or like, yeah, like whatever happens. Like, yeah, because I'm a big. Like, don't put it in the air that you're gonna miss or whatever. I think the mind is huge and yeah, being confident is huge. So like I wasn't trying to put that out there, but I was like, if something happens and you do not kill that deer, what do you want me to do? Yeah, and you were like, kill the deer. And so I was like, okay, so when you shot, I was way more steady on your deer than you than I was when I moved to my deer.

Oh, okay, that makes sense.

Like, I think if you had missed, I would have killed your deer.

That makes.

I was on him and. But I'm. Look, I wasn't even looking through my scope. I don't think when you shot.

You're looking through your binos.

I was looking through my binos.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, I don't remember.

I think.

No, I was looking through my scope.

Okay.

Because I was on your deer. But I knew, like, I mean, tell your part of it.

So these deer like the three bucks are basically between 3, 4, 425 and 450. And I'm. I'm real comfortable sub 500. I'm not very good at judging wind still, but like. And I haven't shot so much that I'm like, I'm not like a thousand yard guy and like, that's just not how I operate. But I was like, anything under five should. Should be.

Yeah, that's what you said on the hike in. Like you were good sub five.

Yeah. And so these guys are at 450 and I'm like perfect. And both of us. This was sweet. Like, you were like, dude, check this out. I got my. I got my drop chart on my cell phone and I was like six. Yeah. And yours was the 600. And I go, no, I got mine on my cell phone. And we were like, oh, we're both dialed. Okay. We got the same system. We kept talking about that. We had the same systems, like set up.

Yeah.

Both shooting 65 PRCs. Both basically running like a suppressor with a carbon fiber barrel. Like, I mean, there's maven scopes. Yeah. So anyway, I once I finally. I'm rock solid waiting for you to say, yeah, I'm good. And as soon as you said that, I was like, okay, cool. And what you keep talking about, I was. I was sitting there deep.

I said, go. And Jaden is for maybe 45 seconds. And after like 10 seconds, I'm like, all right. He's just trying to calm himself down. At 30 seconds, I'm like, all right, do I need to intervene here? Like, I think this guy's having. He's hyperventilating here.

I was just calming myself down because I knew if. If you got into a hurry, that's usually when goes south. So I was just like, no, no, take your time. You always have more time than you think.

Always.

And so anyway, I was like, I've got a great heart shot. And you're like, okay, go. And I did my breathing, my Wim Hof method.

Yeah, yeah.

And torch went off and you were like, dude, that's heart shot.

Yeah, it's like, he's dead.

He's dead. And I reloaded. He stood there again, and I don't know if he was getting wobbly legged or not, but I put another one in him and he ran into some pines.

And I was on my deer at that point. Okay, I did not see your second shot because I knew the first shot.

He was dead, which I don't think I remember seeing a second bullet hole. I think there was one. So, yeah, it was probably just that first shot and then the second one.

Yeah, I mean, I. I didn't watch the second shot. I knew after the first shot he was dead. I mean, he did the whole, like, didn't mule kick, but like, the hunch. Did the, like, pull the front legs up Hunch? Not hunch up, because that's gut shot. But like, yeah, the quick hunch. Step forward, heart shot 100% every time. I've never seen a deer act like that. That's not hard shot.

Yeah. So he runs into the bushes and. Or the. The little tiny pocket of jack pines and doesn't come out. And then I'm like, all right, Graham on yours. And then you shoot. And I was like, I think that was a hit. And then you shoot again. And I was like, I don't know about that one.

Well, and then you saw him, like, what was he doing? He, like, ran off, but like, oh, he ran.

And then he just stopped and was like looking around, but he ran off.

In a way that was like, that deer's not hit.

Oh, he bounded.

Yeah, yeah, he bounded.

He bounded off. And I was like, oh, that's not it. That's not.

Yeah, that's not a hit. So then I was like, I gotta go find the deer. So I ran up and did a critical mistake. I left my pack, left my gun, but I just wanted to find the deer. So I, like, ran uphill and got.

On to, like, look around. Yeah.

Got onto a flat spot, looked around for, I don't know, 10 seconds, and I found him. And he was just standing there, like, 100 yards further. And so I think I just. At that point, I think I just yelled at you. I was like, jake, bring my gun now.

Yeah. Yeah. And I marched up there with your gun, and I handed you that. And then you're like, I'm looking at the deer, and you're like, kind of getting into.

I had to walk you into him because I did a terrible job. Like, in the rush of the moment, I was like, find the cliff. He's above the cliff.

Yeah. And I'm like, which cliff? Yeah. Yeah.

And then I realized then you ranged him, and you were like, 551.

Yeah.

And I was like, I don't have my phone.

Yeah. And so then I ran the, I don't know, 15 yards back down to where we originally shot from, Grabbed your chest, pack it, which had your phone in it, ran back up there, and I ran out that. I told you what your MOA was. You just dialed her up, put a.

Rock behind the butt, and you were like.

You're like, are you ready? And so, like, the rules are now reversed.

Yeah.

And I was like, hold on. Like, I gotta find him again. And you're like, tell me when you're on him. Don't tell. Yeah, tell me. And I was like, all right, I'm on him. And boom. Boom. This is immediately.

I was on him. Like, I had a rest. I was hovering on the lungs behind the crease. Like, it wasn't even hovering. Like, I was there.

You were just on him.

I mean, I put a rock behind the butt, which, like, I don't know, it's not the best rest, but, like.

It ain't going anywhere. Yeah.

It was just steady.

Yeah.

And immediately shot. And, I mean, we heard the hit. Yeah.

Like, oh, that's good hit. Then you racked another round and shot again. And I was like, oh, that's a hit.

Yep.

And then you're like, I'm out of shells.

Yeah.

And I was like, oh, I. I got an ELDX here.

Let's send it.

Yeah. Because you're shooting the 147 match bullet.

The match bullets.

Yeah. And so by this point, it's like, we got two rounds in this buck. You know, it's not going to be a perfect ballistic match. You know, your gun probably shoots it slightly differently, but.

But I ended up dialing for yours.

Yeah. So that. That was super. I don't think I would love to go truth that at the. At the range.

Me too, because ours were off, like, point at that distance, I think we were off seven minutes of angle, which at 500 yards, I mean, you're talking only four inches. Yeah, three to four inches. So, like, it probably wouldn't have mattered, but I wanted to go off your ballistics.

Yeah. And so I was like, I read you my ballistics. And you're like, okay. And you just top feed one of my. One of my rounds and throw it down there. And drilled that buck again. It was sweet.

Hit him again. I mean, it ended up like, we need to go test it at the range. But it hit right where. Yeah, because I was aiming back on that one. I don't know why. It was just where I was. And at that point, it's just like, get rounds and animal.

Yeah, because we knew his head at that point. It's like, all right, let's just put him down right where he's at, because you don't want him to run any more than he has to, because this is off the back side of the ridge of where we're camped. So, yeah, any further they go, they're going further away from camp and downhill. And we're like, no, no, no, no. Yeah.

And so that round hit and I mean, I think he. He dropped seconds after that round.

Yeah, he just kind of like wobbled and then stumbles and tips over. And that buck, he's. He lands right on top of a cliff. And I'm like, oh, no, that's not. That's not a good spot for him.

And I. I didn't even see him at that point.

And I was watching him, and I was like, he's going to kick himself over. And I look away for a little bit.

We hugged, we hugged.

We got excited. And I looked back at the top of the cliff, and he's gone. I'm like, gray, he's gone. And so then I got out my spotty scope, and I was like, looking in the rock shoot below the cliff, and there's no buck. No buck, no buck. And I'm like, panning down at this point.

I know he's destroyed.

Oh, he's definitely. He's definitely dead. But it's also like, where the hell does this thing fall? To. Because the further down he goes is not good. So we're looking and looking and looking. And finally, like, 200ft below the cliff, I, like, glass him up in my spotter. I'm like, oh, got him. Dead buck. So we basically. Yeah, in. In a little bit of a rodeo, but mostly not. It was two.

Controlled chaos.

Controlled chaos. There's two bucks down. That was freaking sweet. Yeah, that was really cool. So the first buck that we come to. So we walk across the little drainage and come to my buck first, and we walk up, and I think both of us go, oh, my God. Like, this was a little bigger than we thought.

Yeah, a lot bigger than we thought. I mean, he grew and grew and grew.

And we knew he was big, but we didn't know how. And one of the things that was really cool was just, like, the body size on the deer totally changed how we had field judged him as we were sitting. They were. We had field judged him the day before. I was like, I think my. The. The bigger buck is in, like, the upper 80s, low 90s, like, AKA like, upper 180s, low 190s. And then the buck next to him, I think he could hit the 60s is what I think we had come to.

Yeah. Like, because that was kind of like I wanted to shoot. Like, that was my bare minimum threshold. Yeah. Like, I was not going to shoot a deer if we didn't think he was going to tickle the 160s.

Yeah.

Which is like a. I mean, it wasn't like, a crazy objective.

No, it was like, most times I've been up in the high country, you can find one of those. Like, that's. Yeah.

And that was, like, bare minimum. Because, like, I'm not like, all. Like, both of us are at this point. Like, we're not just killing to kill. Like, it's gonna have to be something that excites you a little bit. And.

Yeah. And we, like, have. You'd shot a whitetail?

Yeah, I'd already killed it a year.

The week before I shot a moose. It's not like we're, like, hurting for meat. And so there's, like, this element of, like, well, let's go find something that, like, makes us stoked. So we walk up to my buck, and we're like, holy. Like, this is a good deer. And we take photos, do the whole thing. And we're starting, like, I think it's starting to set in a little bit. And I'm like, holy crap. Like, this is. This is pretty sweet. And then I'M and then I'm getting kind of antsy. I'm like, I want to go see your buck. And we took. You know, we took our time taking photos, but it was like, let's get down to your deer. And so we didn't butcher mine yet. I cut my tag, hung it on him, and then walked down to your buck, which is like 200 vertical feet, but only, like, what was 180 yards?

No, less than that. It was less than 100.

Was it like, 80 yards, something like that?

Like 80.

But it's straight down below there because he had ran and then fell off the cliff. So he was just, like, down an avalanche chute. And we get to your buck, and we're looking at your deer, and we're like, oh, this is a good buck, too.

Yeah, this is a big deer.

This is a big deer.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was a sweet buck.

Yeah.

That was cool.

So what did. How many points did your buck end up having?

1550.

Eight and a seven, nine and a six. Nine and six. Dude, that thing, like, when we started looking at it, I was like, oh, wait, there's a split there. There's a split there. He had, like, a. It was funny because I made the comment, like, he's got a white tail frame, but he's just got splits off of all of his white. Like, off of his main frame.

Yep.

And they're all, like, inlines and stuff, and it was freaking sweet.

And his fourths, what did we end up.

Yeah, yeah, we treated him as a fourth.

Fourths were just giant.

Yeah, they were like. I'd have to look at the score sheet, but they were, like, 13 or something. Yeah, they were 13. They were as big as the force on my buck, for sure.

Yeah, his fronts were crabby, but they were, like, bonuses almost, because his.

Yeah, they. We treated those as extras.

Yeah.

And so, yeah, he was. He was just a cool deer. And he was heavy, and he had a good.

Heavy. Yeah, he was really heavy. And dark.

Yeah, super dark. Antler deer. He must have. I. You know, must have shed his velvet earlier, because I don't think there was any velvet on that buck left.

A little bit on the bottom.

A little bit on the bottom. Okay. But, yeah, so then we butcher that one up, because I'm sitting to think, like, there's a chance of grizzly bears in here. Like, I would rather we just get this thing butchered and then up to my deer and then butcher my deer. We gotta get these things butchered and back out as fast as possible. Yeah. So once we got your deer loaded up, we took a bunch of photos there too. We got your deer loaded up, and then we look up this avalanche shoot and we're like, this is not going to be very fun. I took an okay route. I found like a sheep trail or an old deer trail or whatever, and like, was able to side hill somewhat, but still you're kind of a little bit below and behind me. And I kicked a rock down towards you once and I was like, go. Oh no, Gray, watch out.

Like, yeah, I saw it bounding by my head and I was like, oh, boy. And I needed a break at that.

Point anyway, so we kind of took two separate routes up because we had to let me go first in order to not rain rocks on you.

Yeah.

And then I get up on top.

Which that same thing happened on the way down, and you quit kicking rocks on me, and I'm like, I'm not trying to kick rocks on you.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Oh, shoot. This just this like classic steep mule deer country. Whenever somebody, like whenever I'm talking to somebody and they're like, dude, I'm all I'm finding is does I always be like, go take whatever your view is right now if you're finding does, like, if you see anything steep with cliffs, go, go there. Because, like, you're obviously in deer now. You just got to find the buck part of it.

Yeah.

That was just classic.

Yeah. Which, like, where we saw all the doe tracks was 600ft lower and a lot more rolling, 20 degrees less steep.

Yeah. I mean, where we saw the doe tracks is where we put our tent.

Yeah.

As an example.

Yep.

Yep. So anyway, we get up to the my buck again. So we've got one.

How long did it take us to cover that? 80 yards and 200ft. An hour?

At least a half hour, I think.

It took you a half hour? It took me an hour.

Yeah. Because I got up to my deer and I started butchering again or started getting my stuff ready to butcher by the time you got there.

Yeah.

It took a long time just because it was like the classic shaley, like shitty rock stuff where you take one step up and a half step down.

Yeah.

And then you're slipping on the stuff that's not like that and you're like, oh, my God.

There were like multiple places where I had to backtrack because, like, it like I would try to pick my route beforehand, but then when I would get there like a couple times, there was like a two foot sheer cliff or three foot that I Couldn't get over.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

And so I would have to, like, backtrack, find a new route. But, like, it was just so steep. It was four points of contact for.

Plus half a mule deer on your back, plus your rifle and your. Or. No, you left.

I left my rifle, but I had the head.

Yeah.

And half a mule deer and no.

Cape, which we decided. We. You. You. After the fact, you were like, man, maybe I should have kept the cape.

And then it might have been what killed me.

Yeah, exactly. You would have got.

Because if I had flit, like, if you. It was steep enough, if you had gone backwards, I don't think you would have died. I never felt like I would have died.

But you would have been hurt.

You might have gotten life. Flighted out.

Yeah. You'd have been hurting unit for sure.

Maybe. Yeah. I don't. I don't know how bad it would have been, but it was like, you did not want to fall.

Well, like, when we butchered your buck, like, one of his sides, the side that he landed on when he fell off the cliff was all bruised like he got hit by a car. Yeah. It was steep. It was. Yeah. So anyway, we get up to my buck, and I start butchering on mine. And then you just start shuttling quarters up to the top of the hill, which was so helpful, dude. Like, I. That was, like, saved us a ton of time. And.

Yeah.

In that kind of place where I'm, like, thinking about G bears, I'm like, yeah, probably. Probably should get this thing out pretty quick.

Yeah. And it was, like, loose ground enough. You didn't want to go crazy heavy because, like, it was wet.

Yeah.

Like, it was probably fine, but yeah. You just wanted to, like, take more trips and go a little lighter.

Yeah. And it never really did warm up on us that day. Like, it. It stayed wet all day because I'd. We'd be butchering or hiking, and a squall would come through and put down, like, a fresh blanket of white hail or snow or rain. And then it would sound. Would try to poke out, and you'd be like, ah, here we go.

Five to ten minutes. And then it'd be back.

And it'd be back. You're like, oh, my God. But yeah. You shuttled meat quarters up to the hill, basically, because we're off the back side of that ridge. We got them to the top, and then from there it was all downhill to the camp.

Yeah. It was steep. First 200ft. Yeah. And then it kind of mellowed out.

Yep. So Basically we were like, okay, now we have a math problem. We've got two bucks in camp and.

Camp was 50 to 60 pounds each.

Yeah. And I don't know, maybe it's because we brought the puffy pants we didn't.

Use and those puffy pants weighed 15 ounces. Yeah, the puffy pants weren't the problem. It was like, I mean, I don't know.

And we have like when you start.

Really crunching numbers, like I've got a light rifle, but my rifle, scope, ammo, all of that. I mean I'm probably nine and a half pounds.

Yeah.

And my rifle is sub seven bare rifle. So I'm not talking about a Remington 700 Sendero here.

Like.

A lot of people get this like fascination with light rifles and when you get your rifle capable lights only so light.

Yeah. So that optics, tripods.

Tripods, food, everything. I mean you're £55.

And we packed enough food for. We were planning to be there at least two nights. But we figured if we didn't kill something, basically we were going to bounce that other spot. Yeah. But yeah, so but even then you just remove the rifle and for the sake of argument, you remove 10 pounds immediately.

Yeah.

And you've got a 40 pound base weight and which is not bad.

Typical. It's hard to get lighter than that.

Yeah. And like on my pack you remove another six pounds of optics that you take and then you're like oh, we're like in the 30 pound range. So it's not like we were really heavy on camp, but.

No, no, we did not have a heavy camp. We went as light in primitive as we could.

Yep.

But it's only so light.

Yeah.

So yeah, we had essentially, let's call it, what would you call it? 60 pounds of deer with head.

For half a deer. Oh yeah. I guess you could say. Yeah.

Each deer. Yeah.

60, 70, something like that. 60, 70. Well then I heaped mine out so that we had.

Close to 200 pounds.

A piece to get off the mountain.

In deer and camp. To get off the mountain.

Yeah. So yeah, £200. Yeah, something like that.

Yeah. Heavy enough.

Heavy enough. So basically we were like planning to start shuttling meat past camp and then come back and sleep at camp and then shuttle it in basically three loads all the way down.

Yeah.

And what we ended up doing though, we like got everything down towards camp finally and it was like about 5 o' clock in the afternoon. Evening and then we ate a really good dinner, AKA a freeze dried peak refuel baby. That fueled the night and then you were like, dude, why don't we just take a load all the way to the truck? And I was like, oh, yeah, why don't we?

Yeah.

And so we loaded up our packs, and we basically loaded up with meat and then a couple of, you know, the essentials, plus our sleeping bag and our sleeping pad. So we sleep with the trucks and hauled out that night. Dude, that, like, once it got dark especially.

That was a long night.

It was long, but I mean, about 8 o' clock, it gets dark. And we didn't get there till like, 9, 39, 45, something like that to the pickup, which isn't terribly late, but it just was a long damn day.

Felt long. And everything looks steeper. Yeah, the uphills felt steeper, the downhills felt steeper. And so little backstory. Our last pack out in 20, 23.

Oh, yeah.

The boys were buzzing.

We killed this deer.

We felt like we were in good shape. I mean, we were booking it off the mountain. And we got to this really steep spot, loose gravelly spot, and just kept our same pace going down.

And which I remember, I think we were trying to do three miles an hour because that one was like. Yeah, yeah. Where you killed that buck was right about three miles from the truck. So we were like, oh, let's get her out in an hour. Yeah.

And we got to this really steep grally spot. Horses had just, like, kicked it up, so it was loose. And I took a little slip and ended up landing on my ankle and thought it was broken. It popped bad. I think I told Jay, nope, she's broken.

Yep, she's gone.

Yeah, it wasn't broken, but it was bad. So on this hike out, we kind of had that in the back of our mind. And so we were, like, in the steep, shitty stuff. We were trying to go real slow. And I think we did a better job. Day two, we did of, like, keeping our pace and not going too fast, but also, like, being smart.

Yeah.

So that was, like, in the back of our mind on that first night, too.

And then hiking out by headlamp, it's just like, everything looks a little bit different too. So.

Yeah, I mean, I ended up, like, falling on a rock that I just, like, never saw.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So anyway, we get to the truck. I had. I had hot dogs in the truck, and they were the best damn cold hot dogs that I've ever had.

Cold hot dogs with mayonnaise.

And. And, like, spindrift alcoholic bubblies. Yeah, those are good. That was it.

One of Those into the bed.

Yep. So we got up at like, was it 7 the next morning? It wasn't crazy early 7. It was right about. Because that's right about shooting light.

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All right, back to the show. You're listening to the Hunt west podcast. Okay, are you grabbing some water?

No, I'm grabbing some whiskey.

Oh, okay.

You want water?

No, I'm still sipping on my ranch. Well, it is. Is water. It's ranch water. It kind of counts. Gray's got another whiskey.

Are we back live?

Yeah, we're back live. Okay. So we wake up not too damn early, but it is frosty. That next morning it was cold 28, which was like the first. There was a little frost on my moose hunt, but like this was the first real hard frost that I'd. Yeah, fall just felt like. I think we talked about that on the way back in. I was like, this just feels like fall now. Like rifle season kicked off. Yeah, it felt good and we did pretty good on the way in. We were trying not to kill ourselves, go too fast, but got back up to the meet, did the whole, like, hey, bear. Like, make sure nothing is.

Yeah. Make sure nothing's around.

Around. And then basically we loaded up our packs with the other half a deer a piece, and then we went and grabbed our. The rest of our camp, which is basically just the tent. Thinking of my tripod and spotting scope and a couple other odds and ends.

Like just our puffy pants.

We never use our puffing pants. Those damn things.

I.

You know, I'm gonna bring them on my next hunt with Cody, but I don't. I hope I use them this time.

Yeah, I would definitely use them.

Yeah.

I've never used my puffy pants.

Don't get still. In fact, wow. They're way easier to use when you're, like, lasting from the pickup for sure, but. But then you're also using the pickup, so. Yeah. Yeah. It's a conundrum. Anyway. Yeah, this. That next trip we went out, it was just weird. I was on cloud nine. I think you're on cloud nine. It was pretty damn good.

Yeah, The. The. That second pack out was great. Yeah. I mean, we were. Every one step was one step closer to out, which, like, you don't want that to end.

Yeah.

But at the same time, like, when the job is done, it's like, yeah, get out of there. But, like, damn. I mean, right now I'd give anything to have an unpunched tag at 10,000ft.

Yeah. Yeah. That's for sure.

As sore as my feet are and my calves and all that, like, I don't know, man.

That was a damn blast. Yeah. I Wish it was September 14th and we were going in again.

Yep.

But that's the fun part about it is, like, it's just addicting, man. We get down to the trail head, and there's a. There's a old time we're sitting on the tailgate or just kind of getting our gear kind of squared away, and then oldtimer drives up. He goes, you guys kill some bucks? And we're like, yep. He goes, they were just chatting us up. And then we were like, you want to see him? He's like, yeah, no. How'd this go?

We weren't advertising that because we didn't really want to advertise it.

Yeah.

And he was like, well, boys, why are you hiding them horns?

Oh, that's what he said. That's right. And we're like, oh, well, here we go, I guess. And so Greg goes, well, hold on. Let me. Let me show you My. My buck first.

Yep. Yeah, because you got to see my deer first.

And he pulls out and. Damn, nice deer. You're looking at it like, sweet, you know. He was like, yeah, good job. Got freaking like you said, nine by six. He's got extras and cool deer. And then I pull mine out. And he was kind of. He kind of got big, big eyes. He's like, oh, you guys did good. So. So that's always been the running joke is like, when we talk about this story, it's like, hold on. We're gonna show you Grave's buck first. Yeah.

Cause like, my buck, man, you'd be tickled pink if, like, that was the end all. Be all of the trip.

Yep. For sure. But that was basically. And we kept saying that, like, shooting one buck like yours was our goal. Our goal.

We would have been so stoked.

Yeah. Way beyond stoked. So. Yeah. But then we. We got a. A giant and a really nice buck, and it's. Yeah, that was just next level. So thanks for doing that hunt with me, man.

Oh, man. Anytime.

So I guess we should kind of reveal how they ended up going on the tape we went to. So the next day, I. My elk hunter was already in town. He just was there early. And so I was like, well, I should probably start hunting with him. So we're kind of mad dashing to get to town, and I was gonna basically just swap out my shit and then like, go elk hunting the next day. And so we swung by the outfitter I work for Extreme Outfitters is Chance and Kevin Marshall. So we go to Chance's house and talking to him, making sure I've got a good plan for the next day. And also I want to show him these deer.

And Chance is a connoisseur of big deer.

Yeah, they've killed some giants, and they've also scored some giants over the years. And so we wanted to show them and we did the thing. Hold on. Let's show you grace buck. We show him grace buck. And he was all tickled. He was like, oh, that's a hell of a nice deer. You know, we show him mine and he goes, oh.

And he got kind of speechless, which, like. Yeah, that dude doesn't get really speechless with big animals.

No, he kills a lot of them. So.

And he was like. He like kind of looked at me and was like, that's 200 inch deer.

Yeah, easy.

And. Yeah. Just kind of got like, quiet.

Yeah. I kind of. When he did that, I was kind of like, oh, okay. Because it just. You and I had seen the deer and this old boy that was driving.

Yeah.

And Then Carly, his wife, comes out, and we're taking guesses at what this deer scores. And Carly goes, I think he's 220. And we're like, no. I mean, like, elements were like, no, 220. Sure. We get out the paper, and I let Carly and Chance scored it. Carly was writing it down, and as is tallying up, Carly goes, I'm gonna be right.

She. After we finished the left side.

Yeah. She.

I'm right.

She was like, I'm right.

And Chance like, sh. Sh.

So, yeah, at the end of it all. And then. And then we tallied it up wrong, which. Because we put it into an online calculator, too, but, yeah. Yeah, that. That dude went on Carly's paper. It was 225. And then online calculators. 226. Yeah.

226. Yeah.

And then you're a freaking buck. We're trying to hit a 60s deer.

Yeah. 176 and 6, 8.

And I taped that one. And we've come to find out that I run a really tight tape, so maybe we need to have somebody else put it on there.

It's not gonna surprise me if he tickles some 180.

Yeah. It was a damn nice deer. And, yeah, I think both of us were just like, oh, my gosh. We did. We did something pretty sweet.

And then Carly threw the dagger in the throat when she saw the phone scope and said, my deer had a double throat patch.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Which, like, I still don't know if I would have mounted him, but that just means big deer, double throat patch. Yeah. Sweet buck. And it's like a dream. My buck's a dream buck. Your buck is like, looks like it's how it should have been, but still, like, if it had been a 350 bull, I would have been like, that's my bull.

Yeah. Like, I should have killed that bull.

Because, like, I want the big elk, but, like, the big, big deer of lifetime, man. It's your deer.

Thanks, man. Well, that's a really cool thing. And one of the reasons why I like hunting with you is because it feels. It always feels like we're working as a team. We're not actually out here just, like, hunting for ourselves.

Yeah. We're not competing against each other.

Yeah.

Like, hunting bonds are a different bond.

A good hunting bond, because you can go hunting with the boat.

Oh, I've been hunting with people that. It's, like, miserable.

You're just like, oh, my God. This guy's just trying to get it out for himself or whatever.

No, it's not what I want. That deer was your deer.

I appreciate it. And we've had some good hunts.

We've had like a run of.

We've had a run of three kill one day deer hunts.

Yes, with me one day last year.

Yep, yep. Three one day deer hunts.

And our turkey hunts are pretty quick too. Yeah.

Yeah, they are. Yeah. So we oftentimes in our like, friend circle, we call gray gobbler gray because he's a turkey fanatic. We were talking about it earlier today, but how many states have you killed turkeys in?

21.

21. And you got to get a 49.

49. So that's the long term goal. We'll see if I get there. The more I big game haunt. Oh, God, this is gonna hurt to say. The more I big game hot, the more. The less interest I have in turkeys. But that's like a weird.

In the, like, opposite season.

They are in the opposite season. But it's like, oh, gosh. I don't know. That's like a weird thing to say. I've never said that before, but you're.

Just thinking about, like, your time budget and your financial budget and you're like.

No, not really the rewarding factor. Okay. Like, I don't know how many turkeys I've killed.

At least 21, right? More than that. Yeah. Yeah.

Probably three.

You guys. You guys killed three in one. Yeah.

Probably triple that. I don't know. About 160 gobblers. And like, they're all cool. They're all unique. I love turkeys. I have so much respect for turkeys. I think they're such a cool critter, but they're very similar in, like, big game animals are so different in the physical aspect. I appreciate there's a lot of turkeys that are easy to kill. The biggest turk. Hell, the biggest turkey I've ever killed. The biggest turkey I ever will kill was the easiest turkey hunt I've ever done. So, like, there's some aspect of that.

Is that on ours?

Yeah.

Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

On public land 50 yards from the truck.

Yeah. Like, yeah.

We're like the big game hunts we're doing. There's no faking it. No. And there's no fake. And turkey hunts. Like, I. I don't know. I kind of regret what I've said.

Well, sometimes. But there is a difference between a yard bird. Yeah. Like a wild bird.

Like, do not get me wrong, there are turkeys. Turkeys get a bad rap on being like dumb and easy to kill. Go hunt a turkey in the Deep south and you'll, you'll work for it. You will question everything about your hunting ability. Like those dudes that can routinely kill turkeys in the deep south are as good a hunters as anybody you'll ever meet. Yeah. 100% like wit. Dude's a straight up killer and I think if he ever got into the big game hunting, he'd be straight up killer. David Falk, my other friend. Like, the dude can kill. So like there is some correlation between the turkeys and big game. And that's another thing. Like elk and turkey hunting are not the same thing by any means. I kind of like cringe when people say like it's turkey hunting a 900 pound animal. But I think I've had the success I have had because of my history with turkey hunting.

Yeah. Because it still takes a mental grit. Like it still takes like that persistence.

And turkeys are the most keyed up animals like you talk about. Yeah. Meth heads on the mountain.

Yeah.

Turkeys are way more skittish than any big game animal I've ever hunted.

Yeah. Especially because you're trying to get in there like in that bubble, that 50 yard, 40 yard bubble and it's like you can't get away with.

No, no. They're so much more skittish. So there is like, man, the really good turkey hunters are like some of the best woodsmen and outdoorsman I've ever met.

Yeah.

So I definitely like keep that with me.

Yeah. No, that's good. So, all right, what are you most excited about? I mean, you still have a late season elk tag in Wyoming this year, so you've got the opportunity on to, to still do that this year. But as you look to the future, are you more excited about a 3, 330 bull or a 180 buck?

330 bull.

Okay. Still an L guy.

Yeah. I don't know if I'm ever man, if you would have said like 190 buck that probably I might have thought. I don't know, man. Elk are so big. I think the bigness is what? Just they're so big.

Even like a medium bull is like freaking sweet. Yeah.

Like a 300 inch bull is sick.

Yeah.

I don't know. They're both cool. I have tons of appreciation for both of them. But elk are just big and loud and obnoxious.

I'm really excited for you to do this. And I'll probably have to do some podcasts either with you or probably with Cody talking about late season elk stuff, because to me, let's do a joint podcast. That sounds good.

I've still never met Cody.

Okay, well, we'll get. He's coming down in a couple weeks, so we'll have to do that. But the thing is, a late season elk hunt is the exact same tactics as a good mule deer hunt.

Oh, no, no. I like. I don't have any qualms about that.

Yeah.

Late season elk hunt separate the men from the boys.

I think so. I think so.

You better be ready for misery. Well, late season elk tag.

That's exactly right. I'm dang excited for your hunt. So I'm. We'll try to keep everyone posted to see how it goes. I'll reshare.

Yes. So hopefully, hopefully we turn up a good one. I don't know. I think I'm kind of to that point. I'm not going to punch that tag unless it's an elk. That gets me excited.

Yeah.

Which I hope there's a lot of people with that tag that don't have that mindset.

Yeah. So they're done.

Yeah. But I'm going to sip through them. We'll see how bad the weather is, how bad the snow is, and how. But I got meat. Like, if I don't kill an elk, I'm not going to run out of meat this year.

So. Yeah, we'll just have to see.

I'm kind of in the point where. Let's turn up a big one.

I like it. That's super fun. Well, Gray, thanks for doing this podcast with me, man.

Let's do one in turkey season. We need to teach these western boys.

About real turkey hunting.

About turkey hunting.

Okay, we can do that.

That is fun.

All right, we'll put it on the calendar. We'll do like a March podcast. So that publishes in April before everyone's out in the turkey woods.

Absolutely. That was fun. First podcast.

That's right. So if someone wants to touch base, maybe they're a turkey fanatic or just wants to check out your deer. What's your. What's your Instagram handle? Or whatever they can hit. Hit you at.

Gray Plunkett. G R A Y P L U N K E T T. All one word.

Yeah.

Or just go to Jaden's followers following. You'll find me in there.

Cool, man.

Thanks for doing, but I'm not. Yeah, find me. DM me.

Yeah.

I just love to hunt, man.

I know. That's why we're buddies. Oh, all right. That's the pod.

All right. See ya. Thank you for listening to the Hunt west podcast.

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Sa.