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Deer Factory Most hunters have heard about a honey hole or a deer factory. I have had the good fortune to have hunted one for the past fourteen years. My deer factory is in north central Montana and goes by the name of “The Jim Ranch.” Over the years that I have hunted the ranch, there have been two owners. When I first started, Mac Morgan of Montana Ranch Outfitters owned it. Now, Jamie and Matt Wickens of Dog Creek Outfitters own it. I have taken a twenty-seven inch four by four with one-and-a-half inch eye guards. That deer was taken at twenty-five yards. In 2002 I took a large doe when the weather was so bad and the bucks weren’t even coming out of the timber. That doe was taken on an extra day offered by the owner. I have also taken a dark chocolate, brown horned four by four with less then a quarter inch total deduction. On one hunt, during the last fifteen minutes of the last evening, I took a very large forked horned hybrid. Mule deer and white tail mix. This year, my fourteenth and for the first time, I walked away empty-handed. You know, I was not disappointed. Matt and I went out for a drive the afternoon I arrived in camp. Sitting on a hillside above blade coulee, Matt pointed out the largest mule deer I have ever seen. I could see it was a six by six, and over six hundred yards away. I decided to take him or go home empty-handed. Between another hunter from California, Ryan Herrera, and myself, several stalks were made on that buck and neither of us took the safety off. Ryan did have a part of the buck in his cross hairs, but it was only the hindquarters. Rightfully, he did not take the shot. Before you feel sorry for Ryan, he did take a nice four by, on the next to last day. On the drive to the ranch as I approached Big Timber, Montana, the game animals started coming out of the woodwork. Between Big Timber and Harlowton, I spotted hundreds of deer, an equal number of pronghorn antelopes, plus turkey, two moose, and a small herd of bison. On my drive home just over a week later, nothing. The weather had changed, and all of those animals had vanished. I plan on going back next year, and if the big buck is still around, I may go home empty-handed once again, or I might bag the largest deer that I have ever shot. |
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© Copyright: Ronald Machado - 2002
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