Setting up a little camp the day before the season opener, I quickly got to scouting. I found some good bucks and didn’t see another person, so I was pleased.
Then, soon after dark, a truck drove by. Then another. And another. All night long hunters rolled into the area. When I awoke the next morning, I thought I was at a college football tailgate party. Such are the challenges of some public-land mule deer hunts.
By daylight I was where I wanted to be, along with more deer hunters than I’d ever seen. Some were within 100 yards of me. Rather than sit and glass, most hunters headed into the tall sage that towered over their heads.
Flustered, I dove off the mountain. On my way down, movement toward the bottom of the draw caught my eye. Staring through my binocular, I saw nothing and dismissed it as
