Tripod

2024 Archery Mule Deer

This was the fir​​st year I purposely decided to chase early velvet bucks. I bought myself an OTC general season tag and left for the hunt on August 24th. I met up with my husband who had been chasing these deer all season. He gave me the rundown of what deer were in the area and places for me to check out. There were several great bucks in the area, any of which I’d be happy to take. But, there was in particular that stood out from the rest, and for good reason. I think any hunter would naturally gravitate toward this buck. He was big and had a distinct inline sticking right out between his main beam and G4. The inline was long and made it look like he had a tripod, hence why we called him that.

He had just stripped his velvet upon me arriving which made it easier to identify him from longer distances. 

The first evening we both went out, driving along a ridgeline and taking our time to glass along the way. We were in the area Tripod had been seen several times. We glassed over much of the area, not seeing much. We parked and walked down the hill to get a better view of the country. Sheldon went one way, I went the other. There were several does and some small bucks wandering around. As I stood on the hillside, staring at the landscape with my naked eye, I caught some movement in my peripheral view. I looked below me to see the body of a deer maybe 150 yards away. I pulled up my binos and saw a hard-horned big frame. I instinctively crouched down and called Sheldon over, thinking I had found Tripod.

Once Sheldon came over he confirmed it was him. He was with one other buck and they were feeding right along. Wind wasn’t good so we contemplated what to do. All the sudden a two point buck came running from around the ridge straight toward Tripod and his buddy. 

Tripod, being smart and weary, decided to run off in a hurry back into a canyon with the two bucks following right behind him.

This was normal for Tripod, as he had been hunted many times and even shot at by other hunters. Sheldon even glassed him up one time to watch him get spooked and bolt from just a small owl landing close to him. 

Tripod was a buck who was now constantly on edge and would prove to be very difficult to get on.

The next few days I would find him here and there, always being in a spot where the wind was awful or just wasn’t a good place in general to sneak within bow range to this buck. Day 4 he was a no show. I worked my way all over the mountain, morning to evening, with no luck in finding him.

Day 5 I got up top before light hoping to catch him moving in the early morning light, but again was greeted with disappointment. That evening rolls around and I’m glassing up top once again. Here and there I’d glass up does and small bucks, but nothing mature or worth stalking. Sheldon decided to go across the valley to the other side to glass back up to the mountain I was on to see if he could pick up a nice buck below me. I picked him up in my binos while glassing back onto his side and began to scan the area. I ended up picking up our friend on the same face putting a stalk on a buck. I could see the deer, he was hard horned, but just assumed it was some random buck. I kept a close eye on him as I wanted to see this hunt go down. He then drew back, released, and the buck went running and then another buck, in velvet, came running behind him! 

I gave him a call to see if he had hit the buck, he told me he just grazed him but the hard horned deer was Tripod! He didn’t even see Tripod until after shooting the velvet buck and they both went running. I pulled up my binos quickly to get sight on Tripod and found him quickly working his way out of the canyon. I watched as Tripod worked right above Sheldon, then Sheldon gave me a call frantically saying Tripod was above him. Already aware, we made a game plan. Sheldon hustled down to get eyes on Tripod from below while I collected my gear and ran as quickly as I could down the mountain and back up the other side to try and cut him off. Sheldon gave me a brief description of where Tripod and his buddy were going as I made my way up the side they were on. Sweating profusely and breathing heavily I got into a small group of juniper trees that the bucks were working their way towards. Not even 3 minutes after getting into the junipers I caught movement coming my way. It was the velvet buck and I new Tripod would be right behind him. 

As the velvet buck walked passed I ranged him at 68 yards so I set my sight to that range and right after doing so I saw Tripod's body through the trees. I drew back and he came out walking the same path. They both stopped out in the open and I settled my pin on Tripods slightly quartering away body. I squeezed the trigger and the arrow made impact right on the mark. They both bolted around the corner and I lost sight of them. Still breathing heavily from running up the mountain and then just shooting a buck, I gave Sheldon a call letting him know I hit Tripod. He met up with me and we both worked our way around the ridge. At first I didn’t see him and got nervous, but his body blended in so well with the grass and was only a short distance away. We quickly picked him up and I took multiple sighs of relief, still flustered from running over a mile to cut this deer off.

We called our friends over and we all got to put our hands on this buck that evaded us all for so long.

It was surreal getting to hold him. This was a team effort deer and I’m beyond grateful for everyone involved, especially my husband, Sheldon.

Never would I have thought that I’d kill a buck like this with my bow and I’m not sure I’ll ever top it.