TL;DR Punched a tag on a gnarly Nevada Unit 222 muley
On March 21, I got news of a successful draw burning 15 years of points in the process. I reached out to Greg Krogh of Mogollon (Mawgeeawn) Rim Outfitters and got the contract lined up. I booked a 7 day one on one which cost $7450. I have been on Greg's draw list for many years. He is a real professional and is a legend in Arizona / Nevada for the deer and elk his clients harvest.
I had recently finished load development for my 7mm Shooting Times Westerner (7STW) using 160 grain Nosler Accubonds (79.1 grains of H-1000 and Federal GM215M primers) travelling at 3180 fps.
The trip from Shiner to Pioche, NV was about 1600 miles and would take roughly 24 hours of driving to get there. I planned my route with a couple of days to rest and visit with my parents outside of Mora, NM which was a convenient midway point.
Shiprock, New Mexico
The rest of the drive took me north of the Grand Canyon and south of Zion. It was a very enjoyable and scenic journey.
I arrived a day early in Pioche, NV. The outfitter arranged a room at the historic Overland Hotel & Saloon for me.
Pre-hunt range time…
Greg dropped a pin on some BLM land about 20 miles away from Pioche for me to go shoot. I had breakfast at the Silver Cafe and then set out to see the country and zero my rifle.
Open Range Cattle
Once my 200 yard zero was set, I proceeded to shoot out to 700 yards. It was super windy and shifting from dead on to quartering to me from left to right. All was in order as my custom calibrated turret was dead on.
After several hours of enjoyable range time, I met the guides (Trevor and Koy) as well as another hunter at the Silver Cafe at 3pm.
We ate a hearty meal and got to know each other a bit before heading north to Unit 222.
The other hunter and I stayed in a basic, well-used RV. We had a generator for coffee and a microwave to heat up oatmeal etc. in the morning.
We were hunting the Mount Grafton Wilderness in the heart of the unit.
Opening morning reminded me why I should never skip leg day!
We glassed for hours. I have never seen so many mule deer doe. Bucks seen were limited and predominantly 2x2's & 3x3's with a few smaller (narrower) 4x4's.
After a solid day of glassing and being sufficiently crapped out, we enjoyed a steak dinner and some great conversation.
Day 2 (Monday) was more glassing. We watched a group on horseback miss several shots at a very wide mature 2x2. He was impressive walking at you but then disappointing from the side what you realized he was a just a forkie.
Day 3 brought about a significant change in the weather. While planning the hunt, I was prepared for 7 days of low humidity bright sunny days. I was really only checking highs and lows / precip forecasts and not watching the weather in the Pacific. The rain and snow brought about by the combination of Hurricane Priscilla and Tropical Storm Raymond was an unexpected surprise for many across the 4 corners region of the US.
Remnants of a wounded & unrecovered Muley found on the hike in to the north side of Mount Grafton.
Day 4 (Wednesday) Driving to the west side of the unit to glass a different area. About 3" of snow.
Young 3x3 bedded. Can you see him?
Wednesday was the coldest day yet. I was chilled all day. The wind shifted and brought another brief snow shower from the northwest.
Day 5 (Thursday)
By this time, I was very tired and feeling like I was about to get sick from the day before. This is where the psychology of the hunt really can take its toll. I have 3 days left. Still haven't seen the big 4x4 I was dreaming about. Around 10:30am, the other guide asks us if I want to take a look at a very wide freaky buck nicknamed "Droopy". We joined the other guide and hunter at their glassing spot and got the low down on this deer. He was bedded about 2000 yards away. I was told he was about 28" wide. We decided we would stalk in on him after lunch and get a close up look and make a decision.
Here we are about 350 yards away looking at Droopy. I had made my mind up that I would probably take the shot, punch the tag, and head for home the next morning.
Around 4:45PM, with a little over an hour of shooting light left, Droopy still hadn't risen from his bed under / behind a clump of trees. At this point, we got a message from the other guide that he just glassed an awesome buck headed our direction from the north. We began glassing in that direction and found the group of deer including a really cool buck. He was right at 1000 yards away. My guide and I gave up on Droopy and followed the deepest draws amongst the 3' tall sage to close the distance. We got to about 760 yards. I got the buck in my scope. My heart is still pounding from the hike. I told my guide that I'd like to get another 200 yards closer. The buck then bedded down with a doe. So we dropped off into the deep draw to our east and hiked another 150 to 200 yards and came up out of the draw. By this time, the sun is about to dip below the tops of the mountains to the west. I found some level ground and got my rifle clamped into the ARCA mount on my tripod. (For the record, I had practiced this set up out to 500 yards with good success).
I passed along my rangefinding Leicas and my guide says "Looks like 630 yards". Buck was still bedded. The other element I should point out here is that many of the bucks were migrating. There was a good chance this buck would be much further south in the morning. With that (and the setting sun on our minds), my guide tells me to get ready for the shot as he is going to make some calls to get the deer to rise. For the Lonesome Dove fans, recall the scene where Gus and Pea are holed up in the river bank and Gus lets out a blood curdling Comanche war cry. Scares the hell outta Pea. Similar sound. It worked. The buck and several doe were now up on their feet looking east as a string of about 20 Elk cows is thundering their direction. After a moment, I am presented with a broadside shot. I squeeze one off and no impact. Chamber another one. Also a miss. At this point I question the distance. With the buck quartering away to the left, I held at the top of his back, slightly left of center and sent what would be the 3rd and fatal shot. Guide says "Good shot. Went in just behind the left rib cage and he wobbled before going down in the trees.
The buck was gorgeous and scored 185 6/8".
Once he was caped out and quartered. We made the long 2-mile hike back to the trailhead.
We got back to camp and I loaded my gear. I thanked my guide and headed home. I decided to go straight through which took 27 hours taking a few power naps at various points along the 1600 mile journey home.
On March 21, I got news of a successful draw burning 15 years of points in the process. I reached out to Greg Krogh of Mogollon (Mawgeeawn) Rim Outfitters and got the contract lined up. I booked a 7 day one on one which cost $7450. I have been on Greg's draw list for many years. He is a real professional and is a legend in Arizona / Nevada for the deer and elk his clients harvest.
I had recently finished load development for my 7mm Shooting Times Westerner (7STW) using 160 grain Nosler Accubonds (79.1 grains of H-1000 and Federal GM215M primers) travelling at 3180 fps.
The trip from Shiner to Pioche, NV was about 1600 miles and would take roughly 24 hours of driving to get there. I planned my route with a couple of days to rest and visit with my parents outside of Mora, NM which was a convenient midway point.
Shiprock, New Mexico
The rest of the drive took me north of the Grand Canyon and south of Zion. It was a very enjoyable and scenic journey.
I arrived a day early in Pioche, NV. The outfitter arranged a room at the historic Overland Hotel & Saloon for me.
Pre-hunt range time…
Greg dropped a pin on some BLM land about 20 miles away from Pioche for me to go shoot. I had breakfast at the Silver Cafe and then set out to see the country and zero my rifle.
Open Range Cattle
Once my 200 yard zero was set, I proceeded to shoot out to 700 yards. It was super windy and shifting from dead on to quartering to me from left to right. All was in order as my custom calibrated turret was dead on.
After several hours of enjoyable range time, I met the guides (Trevor and Koy) as well as another hunter at the Silver Cafe at 3pm.
We ate a hearty meal and got to know each other a bit before heading north to Unit 222.
The other hunter and I stayed in a basic, well-used RV. We had a generator for coffee and a microwave to heat up oatmeal etc. in the morning.
We were hunting the Mount Grafton Wilderness in the heart of the unit.
Opening morning reminded me why I should never skip leg day!
We glassed for hours. I have never seen so many mule deer doe. Bucks seen were limited and predominantly 2x2's & 3x3's with a few smaller (narrower) 4x4's.
After a solid day of glassing and being sufficiently crapped out, we enjoyed a steak dinner and some great conversation.
Day 2 (Monday) was more glassing. We watched a group on horseback miss several shots at a very wide mature 2x2. He was impressive walking at you but then disappointing from the side what you realized he was a just a forkie.
Day 3 brought about a significant change in the weather. While planning the hunt, I was prepared for 7 days of low humidity bright sunny days. I was really only checking highs and lows / precip forecasts and not watching the weather in the Pacific. The rain and snow brought about by the combination of Hurricane Priscilla and Tropical Storm Raymond was an unexpected surprise for many across the 4 corners region of the US.
Remnants of a wounded & unrecovered Muley found on the hike in to the north side of Mount Grafton.
Day 4 (Wednesday) Driving to the west side of the unit to glass a different area. About 3" of snow.
Young 3x3 bedded. Can you see him?
Wednesday was the coldest day yet. I was chilled all day. The wind shifted and brought another brief snow shower from the northwest.
Day 5 (Thursday)
By this time, I was very tired and feeling like I was about to get sick from the day before. This is where the psychology of the hunt really can take its toll. I have 3 days left. Still haven't seen the big 4x4 I was dreaming about. Around 10:30am, the other guide asks us if I want to take a look at a very wide freaky buck nicknamed "Droopy". We joined the other guide and hunter at their glassing spot and got the low down on this deer. He was bedded about 2000 yards away. I was told he was about 28" wide. We decided we would stalk in on him after lunch and get a close up look and make a decision.
Here we are about 350 yards away looking at Droopy. I had made my mind up that I would probably take the shot, punch the tag, and head for home the next morning.
Around 4:45PM, with a little over an hour of shooting light left, Droopy still hadn't risen from his bed under / behind a clump of trees. At this point, we got a message from the other guide that he just glassed an awesome buck headed our direction from the north. We began glassing in that direction and found the group of deer including a really cool buck. He was right at 1000 yards away. My guide and I gave up on Droopy and followed the deepest draws amongst the 3' tall sage to close the distance. We got to about 760 yards. I got the buck in my scope. My heart is still pounding from the hike. I told my guide that I'd like to get another 200 yards closer. The buck then bedded down with a doe. So we dropped off into the deep draw to our east and hiked another 150 to 200 yards and came up out of the draw. By this time, the sun is about to dip below the tops of the mountains to the west. I found some level ground and got my rifle clamped into the ARCA mount on my tripod. (For the record, I had practiced this set up out to 500 yards with good success).
I passed along my rangefinding Leicas and my guide says "Looks like 630 yards". Buck was still bedded. The other element I should point out here is that many of the bucks were migrating. There was a good chance this buck would be much further south in the morning. With that (and the setting sun on our minds), my guide tells me to get ready for the shot as he is going to make some calls to get the deer to rise. For the Lonesome Dove fans, recall the scene where Gus and Pea are holed up in the river bank and Gus lets out a blood curdling Comanche war cry. Scares the hell outta Pea. Similar sound. It worked. The buck and several doe were now up on their feet looking east as a string of about 20 Elk cows is thundering their direction. After a moment, I am presented with a broadside shot. I squeeze one off and no impact. Chamber another one. Also a miss. At this point I question the distance. With the buck quartering away to the left, I held at the top of his back, slightly left of center and sent what would be the 3rd and fatal shot. Guide says "Good shot. Went in just behind the left rib cage and he wobbled before going down in the trees.
The buck was gorgeous and scored 185 6/8".
Once he was caped out and quartered. We made the long 2-mile hike back to the trailhead.
We got back to camp and I loaded my gear. I thanked my guide and headed home. I decided to go straight through which took 27 hours taking a few power naps at various points along the 1600 mile journey home.
www.southpawprecision.com
Type 07 FFL / Class 2 SOT
Nightforce Optics Dealer
AGM Night Vision Dealer
Type 07 FFL / Class 2 SOT
Nightforce Optics Dealer
AGM Night Vision Dealer
