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"Sweet Idaho Muley Success for Greg"
Photo provided by: Greg Baer

Greg Baer writes, "I picked up this buck on my trail cam in late July in a general Idaho unit. He never showed back up on the trail camera again through the summer. After hunting the same area for archery elk in September it wasn’t until the 13th day of hunting that I finally glassed him up from 3/4’s of a mile away. It was a long two weeks until rifle deer opened in Idaho. The anticipation was getting to me and all I could think about was getting back up on the mountain in hopes of finding this buck. I bivied in the day before so I could glass the canyon he was last spotted. With about an hour of light left, BOOM, there he was not 100 yds from where I last saw him. Sleeping that night was impossible. I kept playing through a number of scenarios that could play out the next day. I developed game plans in case I couldn’t locate him in the morning and back up plans for back up plans. Finally, about 6 am, an hour before glassing light I couldn’t take it. I crawled out of my bag got my gear in order and hiked to my glassing knob. With it still dark, elk were bugling in the canyon I was set up on and the adjacent canyon. Still, all I cared about was seeing this buck at first light. As the dark skies started to light up I was scanning the canyon. I located about a dozen deer and elk but not my buck. After an hour of glassing and no sighting I decided it was time to make the hike over, taking it slowly in case he had moved closer to my bivy camp. About 400 yds from the last known location I bumped a herd of elk in the trees. As they were scattering I spotted movement on the mountain in the same location I saw my buck from the night before. There he is! Fortunately, he must have been accustomed to elk being loud because he didn’t seem too bothered by all the commotion and bugling as the bull tried to round up his cows. Using the elk distraction as cover, I moved in to 225 yds. As he was feeding on the slope above me, I set up and calmed myself for a good shot. As soon as he turned broadside it was lights out. After taking some field shots and breaking down the buck it was a mile hike back to camp and another mile down to the four wheeler, but the whole time I was all smiles."










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