My quest for Montana mule deer actually started when I was a young boy. My mom and dad traveled out west every summer and took my brother, sister and myself for the big family vacations. I've been to Montana six times, but never had the chance to hunt or fish the vast amounts of wildlife it holds. I remember saying to myself that I will return when the time is right for a big hunting trip when I am older.

My best friend Dan asked me in the spring of 2000 if I would ever consider going with him hunting to Montana. I jumped at the chance and said, "When do you want to go!" We sent in applications for deer permits that spring and the following year with no luck. We did though gather preference points, which enables you to have a better chance at drawing the following year. So in March of 2002 we applied again and were lucky enough to draw tags for deer combination that fall. That would let us shoot one deer per guy for either mule or whitetail deer. We planned our hunt for November 16th thru the 23rd that would let us hunt the traditional opening day here in Michigan with our families. We would take off for Montana the following day. Neither of us shot bucks opening day in Michigan so the anticipation for out west trip was boiling in our veins. We chose the town of Broadas Montana for it was located in the southeast part of the state. We learned about this area from talking to friends that had previous experience hunting there they said it was rich with deer hunting possibilities. The trick to hunting different states without a guide was obtaining BLM maps from the regional offices in the area your going to be hunting. You can obtain these maps by having them mailed to your home or buy them when you arrive in Montana. The letters BLM stand for (Bureau of Land Management) which are sections of land you can hunt. The map also shows state and private land that gives you an indication on areas for pursuing game. We studied our maps and pinpointed areas to scout using UTM's the letters UTM stand for (Universal Tanverse Mercator) system. They are shown on the maps that help coordinate with my Garmin 76S GPS. This allowed accuracy for us on the borders of private and Federal land. Our first four-days we spent scouting and learning about the terrain of Montana and where we could get accessibility for good hunting.

The state has been in a three-year drought so most of the deer are located along the river bottoms where water and cover to bed is good. We passed on shooting small bucks until the fifth day when my buddy Dan put on a ½ mile stalk on a nice 3x2 mule deer. It was working a ditch line looking for does for the rut was in full swing at this time. The wind was blowing 25-miles per hour that day and Dan got as close to the buck for a clean ethical shot. The buck was 123 yards away when he shot and dropped it with his 300 Winchester magnum. Dan finally shot his first mule deer and was smiling from ear to ear. Now it was my turn to get my first mule deer. It was the last day; I spotted a nice 4x3 buck. On a piece of BLM land we were scouting for new terrain. I glassed the hillsides with my binoculars when the buck was spotted with seven does in a group feeding. Dan and I both started a one-mile stalk weaving through different ravines and coulees to get close for a shot. I bellied crawled 200 yards to the top of a hill for what ended up to be a 334-yard shot at my buck with my 300 Winchester magnum. I put two bullets in him before he stumbled into the bottom of the coulee. My body was shaking for I had buck fever before and after the shots until I found the buck.

The mule deer bucks that Dan and I shot are awesome animals that will be in our memories forever. My dream of hunting out west finally came true and I credit it a lot to the goal I set when I was younger vacationing with my family.