Another one bites the dust! 

 With my last tag for the season in my pocket, my husband and daughter in tow, we head up to Montana in hopes for a Montana Muley Buck!  And when I say with my husband and daughter in tow, it is because my husband didn't draw his tag this year, so it is only my hunt and I am so grateful to both of them for helping me through all of this!

 We left on Thursday after sharing great family time and food at my parents house.  We hunted south of Miles City, MT on Friday, see 6 buck mule deer, only one shooter.  We put the stalk on and of course when we get within range, the big one is no where to be found!   So we continue our trek, and original plan to Livingston, MT on Saturday only to find LOTS of hunters and no deer.  Well actually we saw some deer that were getting hunted by about 4 or 5 people, at the same time, it was craziness!  Shots all around and we got the hell out of there!  Next to Absorkee, MT, nice little town!  Put the lucky hunting shirt on today, I really didn't have a choice, it was the laaast day of season and I needed all of the help I could get!  And we're off - the first spot and stalk on my buck I came up empty handed and one less bullet! Wait, I should leave that part out, nah, it makes for a better story at the end!  So the deer jump up in front of us, sooner than expected, I got set up for the shot, and as he was running by I took the shot -  and -  a -   big -  miss!!  Well my first shot at a running animal, I guess it is to be expected!(trying to make myself feel better) The good thing, a good clean miss and a little more time to hunt!  Of course I was pissed, no really pissed at myself, I hate when I screw things up! So I was cranky and whiny and my husband said get over it and lets go get him! With a long walk back to the vehicle to head to the other side where they ran too and the drive over there, I guess I got over it.  I left my husband and daughter in the truck this time, well actually it was a GMC Yukon Denali, which will be funnier later, and took off after my buck.  Down the ridge, all the way up the other side, I just got to the top and saw a head long before they saw me, crawled the rest of the way on my hands and knees to get set up for my shot, at 173 yards, one shot and another one bites the dust!  My family got to watch the whole thing from the other ridge and when it was all over I got a big BOO-YAH and BBD from my daughter; and my hunting season was officially completed!  And yes we had to load that deer in the back of the Denali, the picture is a classic!  It was, however, only for a short time, we had a trailer at the bottom to pack him out!

I did have an elk tag for Montana too, but with little time, one elk already down, plenty of meat already in the freezer, and I didn't have a muley yet this year, we chose to go after the real grand slam!  So an antelope buck, a bull elk, a whitetail buck, and a mule deer buck, it truly was a GRAND SLAM!

So with the end of my 2008 hunting season I feel very lucky to have accomplished what I did!  With my family by my side and my lucky hunting shirt on my back I am truly blessed!  I have had alot of fun hunts and mistakes along the way but what a great ending! 

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