Well I just got back from another successful trip! This time I went with Allen Treadwell of Bass Pro’s Outdoor World on a Black Powder hunt for Montana Mule deer. I left Friday for Great Falls, Montana and met Allen in Minneapolis. Then we flew into Great Falls where we met up with Chad Shearer of Central Montana Outfitters. We left the Airport in Great Falls at 2:30 and made the hour drive to our spike camp.

Once in camp we changed into our camo and went to the rifle range to make sure Allen’s scope did not get bumped during the flight. With one shot we knew we were good. We had 2 hours of daylight left so we went to try and get on a deer.  We covered some ground and saw a good Mulie, but we didn’t have any luck. We headed back to camp and Chad cooked us a great steak dinner.

The next morning we got up and ate a quick breakfast and headed to our glassing point before light. Once the sky started to turn orange we could see some deer silhouetted on top of the hills. Then Chad spotted a good buck on top of the hill. We sat and watched the deer for a while and then drove around the hill so we could make a stalk on the buck we saw on top of the hill. As we rounded the hill we saw another nice buck in the alfalfa field at the bottom of the hill. He saw the truck and ran around the side of the hill out of site. We grabbed our gear and went after him.

Chad started off with a fast-paced walk. I made it a total of about 30 yards before it felt like my heart was going to pound out of my chest. Not only did it feel like my heart was thumping like a drum, I also felt like someone was squeezing the breath right out of me. I didn’t get this winded on the entire 3 week hunt in the Yukon back in September.

Allen and Chad kept up the pace and I lagged about 20 yards behind. We kept the pace because we were trying to get on the buck. Once at the top of the hill Chad spots the buck one hill over, bad thing is he’s 170 yards away and going in the wrong direction. We sit and watch the buck check a some does and he finally goes over the hill out of sight. Then Chad checks to see if he can find the first buck we spotted on top of the mountain. Once again, Nothing.

We head back to the truck and we go to town to grab some lunch. We see a few bucks along the way, but nothing worth chasing. After lunch Chad takes us to the back side of the ranch. He said he had seen some great bucks on that part of the ranch earlier that week. 

As we a driving we are seeing lots of does and some small bucks. Then we get to an area where we see a group of small bucks together and no does. Chad says that this time of year you shouldn’t see that and he thinks there is a bigger buck in the area pushing the little bucks away. He says we should get out and ease around the hill and see if there are any bucks on the other side of the hill.

Boy was Chad right. As we eased around the hill, Allen spots a great Mulie buck. We get set up and I start filming the buck. The buck knows something isn’t right, but he doesn’t spook. We are in the shade and he can’t figure out what we are. Allen let’s me get some pre-roll of the buck, 6 minutes worth to be exact. The the sun starts to shine on us and the buck gets uneasy. At that point I tell Allen, “If you want him you better shoot him!” No longer than I had gotten that out of my mouth, Allen pulled the trigger. I could hear the bullet hit the deer, but all I could see was smoke once the CVA Electra ignited. We jumped up to see the fatally wounded animal stumbling over the top of the hill. We eased up to the top of the hill to find Allen’s deer laying just on the other side.

Boy were we surprised. We knew it was a good deer, but he definitely didn’t have any ground shrinkage when we got to him.

What a great hunt. Another successful trip and this was another 1st afternoon harvest. It has been a great hunting season so far and this one is special. As far as we know this is the first Mule Deer harvested with the CVA Electra. 

Great Deer Allen and a great way to go into the CVA history book with an awesome buck!