A Dream Fulfilled

Whenever I am asked what my ultimate dream hunt would be, I have always replied mule deer and elk. So, when I was asked by my good friend Steve Von Strohe to apply for my Colorado late season archery license, I was ecstatic to say the least. Steve is the national sales manager for Archery Interactive and their hunting simulation software TechnoHunt. Through his various contacts in the hunting industry, Steve was able to secure permission for us to hunt during the rut on several properties on some prime Mule Deer land in eastern Colorado.

In June I was notified that I had successfully drawn my deer permit and the planning of the trip began. November came sooner than I was expecting, but I was ready for the hunt. I had worked hard all summer on my shooting skills. My Mathews Switchback shot true, and I had even extended my maximum effective range beyond 60 yards.

I arrived in Colorado late Friday afternoon. I met Steve at his house and we travelled to an archery range to shoot a few through his TechnoHunt system. This video hunting simulation was extremely helpful in making sure my equipment had made the trip in one piece and also got me in the right frame of mind by shooting my own equipment at live video images of real game. I almost didn’t want to stop, I was having so much fun shooting.

By the time I reached my lodging in the small town of Kiowa, it was well after dark. Steve helped me get settled in to my home away from home, a large, very comfortable RV. We discussed strategy for the next week and he headed home.

I awoke the next morning to snow on the ground. Everything was white. I was excited about the prospect of hunting in snow, but the forecasts predicted a warming trend that would not be favorable for deer movement. However, today was going to be a day for mostly scouting. Steve arrived after daylight along with his daughter Samantha and another hunting buddy Brian Smith. Brian had volunteered to run the camera for me on this day.

The property we were hunting consisted of open pasture and sagebrush dissected by a north/south running creek. The creek bed proved to be a natural funnel and showed a lot of sign. The only downside to hunting this property was some bridge construction being performed over the creek on the far south side of the property. There were several heavily used trails and several rubs. After a couple hours of scouting, Steve and I settled on a creek crossing train that intersected two other trails. We quickly set up a Double Bull BS5 blind. No sooner than we brushed in the blind, Steve spotted some deer running toward us. We all hit the ground and watched as three does and a young 2x2 mulie buck trotted to within 30 yards. While it was encouraging to have such a close encounter, this buck was not the reason I came to Colorado, and I was content to watch them trot away. Besides, this was only the first morning of a seven day hunt. We decided to back out and let the area rest until the next morning.

That afternoon, we traveled to another property rumored to have a great buck. This was another creek bottom that necked down into a pinch point, forcing deer to expose themselves for a shot while traveling through. Steve, Brian and I got the wind in our favor and started slowly walking the creek bottom in an attempt to locate deer. About an hour into the stalk, we jumped a small group of mule deer. This group contained two young bucks. One was a small 4x5 and the other a beautiful 5x6. He too was young, only a 2 ½ year old with plenty of growing to do. Even though the 5x6 presented me with shot opportunities of 56, 41 and 15 yards, I elected to pass on him too. During that stalk, I found the mule deer to not be as jumpy as the whitetails back home. In fact, they sometimes appeared more curious than anything. I can honestly see why these western guys are able to take such long shots. The animals let them.

The next morning found Steve and I in the Double Bull Blind on the original property. Brian had other commitments, so Steve was now going to run the camera. The only deer we spotted crossed a ridge top a hundred yards away. One of those deer sported a solid 4 point (western count 4x4) rack and looked to be a mature deer. After a couple more hours of no additional sightings, we decided to do a little more scouting. On a tip from one of Steve’s friends, we scouted the area close to the construction. Good thing we did. We found a trail crossing the creek that had a lot of recent traffic. We also found a heavy concentration of large rubs. This was a perfect situation for a ground blind set.

Steve and I repositioned the Double Bull Blind to this location. Although our set up was within a hundred yards of the construction equipment, we figured that the deer were using the area either at night or before the construction began each morning. With this being Sunday, we decided to hunt that evening and, if necessary, hunt there in the morning until the construction work started. Needless to say, we did not see anything that evening.

Steve and I climbed into the blind well before daylight on Monday. Our expectations were not all that great. The morning light finally began to show, and by 7:00 AM we had not seen a thing. With hope for this location fading I spotted a deer entering the creekbed from the eastern field. Steve worked to get the camera into position, but the deer came in from the only angle we couldn’t cover with the camera. Murphy was definitely a bowhunter. Several minutes passed and I spotted a nice 2x2 walking back toward the field, probably the same deer we had encountered the first day. Steve then saw a really good mature 3x3 back in the brush. Just as Steve saw the 3x3, I spotted a buck with good mass walking down the woodline toward our blind. Steve could not see this deer yet, but through the binoculars, I was able to tell he was a solid 4x4, mature and a definite shooter.

I watched this buck get closer and closer, and we couldn’t get the camera on him. Finally, at about 20 yards (still heavy in the trees), we thought we were going to catch a break. The buck turned up on the trail we were watching and started to rub a tree. I brought my 70 lb Switchback to full draw, and Steve readied the camera where we thought the buck would walk. Murphy strikes again. My shot was going to be right next to the camera, and my arrow clicked on the sunshade. The buck snapped his head to attention, looking right at the blind. We had brushed in the blind to help break up the outline, and apparently it worked well. The buck backed out into the creek bottom, and again I hit the camera with my bow. I figured I had royally screwed things up. But the curiosity of the deer got the better of him. He actually walked toward the blind. At a range of less than 10 yards, we finally captured him on video. I had been holding full draw for almost 2 minutes, and was getting shaky. The deer was still facing me, but he was getting a little nervous. He would look at the blind, then look at the field, and back again. When he finally took a step to his left, he presented a more broadside shot. I picked a spot tight against his right shoulder and touched the trigger on my TruFire release. The Wac’em tipped Terminator Hunter hit him with a whack and blew through the buck, and he took off across the creek and up a steep 25 foot embankment. We watched him top the hill and then lost sight of him.

Since the shot was slightly quartering toward me, we decided to give the deer an hour to expire. During the shot I was fine, but now that I had shot a mature mule deer, the excitement and the emotion flowed freely. It was almost too much to stand to wait the full hour. I decided to go look for the arrow and determine what type of hit I had. The arrow was embedded in the creek bank 30 yards from where it passed through the buck. It was covered in blood. Once we topped the hill, we found blood right where he had last been seen. After a few spots, I looked up and saw his rack sticking out from the grass. He had not made it 70 yards from the top of the hill. The Wac’em had done its job. The arrow took out both lungs and his liver. He was a beautiful 4x5 with dark horns. He weighed over 275 lbs and was aged at 4 ½. While not a monster, he is a very good deer, and I couldn’t be prouder of him. My dream to take a mule deer had finally come true. But it would not have been possible without Steve Von Strohe. I owe this deer to him. I would also like to thank Mike Adams for all his assistance and advice.

For more information on the TechnoHunt archery and hunting simulation systems and software, please visit www.archeryinteractive.com .

Best of Luck to all of you this Season

Tom Dade

Marketing and Advertising Director

Bowhunting North America, LLC

This hunt was made possible in part by our sponsors:

Mathews, Inc., Carbon Express,

The Gean-Edwards Company, Rynoskin, Trophy Ridge, North Starr Tree Stands,

Shed Hunter Co., Fieldline, DoskoSport, Lumenok, Tru Fire Corp., Rocket Aeroheads, Quake Industries,

Limbsaver, Bushnell, Huntin' Hoist, Wac'em Broadheads,, Beard Buster, The Beckham Group, Sure Grip Gun & Bow Racks