New Mule Deer Hotspot!

So, I know it's been a while since the last post, but your ol' buddy Lucky has been busy makin his own way in the world of business. The good news is, I now have plenty of time to explore new areas and find exceptional animals. Such is the case with yesterdays trip to Riverton and Lander. After calling on a couple of prospective clients, I decided to explore. The area I chose to explore was not entirely new to me, but not entirely familiar either. I had lived in the area as a young boy, before moving to Bairoil at age 12 and had not been back since. The thing that prompted me to look into the area again was the nearly 100% draw odds in the region combined with huge amounts of public land. In the early 1980's My Dad guided non-resident hunters from our house in the small, now abandoned oilfield town. As I recall most were from Michigan, and all by word of mouth. The one thing that stands out in my memory is the feeling of anticipation that filled the conversations and activities the day before their hunts began. These men would clean rifles, hone knife edges, oil their boots, and some would even carve crosses in the tips of their soft point bullets. All just nervous energy manifesting itself in different ways, some of which I still see happen in my hunting camps as an adult. My Dad was a great hunting guide. In those days he was a professional wrestler, and in peak physical form. It was nothing for him to drag a mature buck deer a mile or more for a client. He was legendary. He could fill entire days afield with stories about pulling pranks on Andre Roussimoff(Andre The Giant) or hitting the gym with Terry Bollea(Hulk Hogan). Those hunters couldn't get enough of my dad's well delivered stories. Some of the bucks that came out of this area in the 1980's were absolute monsters. One hunter guided by my dad won a local Big Buck Contest with his buck scoring almost 190 points.
The country hasn't changed much since the 80's mostly dry with deep sage and plenty of rimrock. The springs still flow quite well in places. It is those places where I expect the concentrations of animals to be. Because it was mid-day and almost 90 degrees, I didn't expect to see a whole lot of activity. The critters would most likely be layed up in the shade. What I did find however was an area with some excellent habitat and very good draw odds that has historically produced trophy quality deer. A few more trips and cooler weather should have me looking at what type of bucks this area is producing in the new millennium.