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The North Dakota Badlands. There is something magical about the place. Aside from its beauty and more, it's mule deer country, my third attempt at filling a muley buck tag.
A couple of years ago I chased them around Unit 4C west of Grassy Butte. I saw elk and a lot of deer but never did pull the trigger. That experience got me hooked. Next time I had a tag I came down with pneumonia and couldn’t make the trip to hunt with my friend Sam in Unit 4D.
I got one more chance.
My brother-in-law Brad and sister Shelie offered to go along and help. I am a full-time job. We decided that we would take off for Medora November 3 the night before the season opens and head back on November 8. That would give me three days to hunt and two days to travel.
We arrived at Medora the night before the season started, we met my buddy Sam at the Little Mo Saloon for supper, libations and to make a plan for the next day. Sam grew up in Medora and was my guide/gut man for the hunt.
November 4, opening day Sam had a plan for us to go down to a big ranch southwest of town. It was a little over an hour away from Medora on the south end of the unit. I was a little hesitant to go that far but once I got there I was in heaven. We met the awesome landowner Nick at his house, plus we met his beautiful family. Their place is right along the Little Missouri. Teddy Roosevelt even camped not far from their homestead while hunting the area. They made us feel like we were part of the family.
Before we headed out, I showed them my rifle mount and how it attaches to my electric wheelchair. Then I showed them how my rifle attaches to the mount and how my extended trigger attaches to my rifle. They were impressed.
We put on a ton of miles that day. We were going up and down and bouncing all around the buttes and valleys on their place. It is something that I will never forget. It’s hard to absorb it all. We saw some deer that first day but Nick was disappointed that we didn’t see more. We did find quite a few does and one buck that I could have tried to get on. But Nick the landowner told me he wanted me to get something bigger. That first day we explored most of the north side of the ranch. I really didn’t care about seeing deer. I was in my element driving through that land of history. Nick invited us back the next day to search some more of the territory. He promised me the next day that I would be able to notch another item off my bucket list. That is to ford the Little Mo with my pickup. So, we headed back to the motel and I went straight to bed.
The next day which was Saturday we headed back down to the ranch. This day it was windy. I mean 30 mph with higher gusts. We headed through the corrals and to the south end of the property. It wasn’t too long and we were staring at the Little Missouri. Nick and Sam went first in Sam’s pickup and we followed shortly after in my pickup. I didn’t think it was going to be as deep as it was seeing there had been little rain. But it was up to the floorboards or little higher. It was a blast going through until we got to the other bank. It was steep and there were deep ruts. We tried going up but we slid off the high points and stopped. So we backed down into the river and this time we gave it the onion. Nick and Sam were on the top of the bank and as soon as we give it the onion Nick put his thumb up and smiled. They got back in Sam’s pickup and we explored some more. I don’t know how those guys see the deer they see. They would stop and glass and point out deer. Most of them I didn’t see. I don’t know how they could see them while driving? Soon enough we were at another river crossing. This time fording the river wasn’t as sketchy but just as much fun. There were deer here and there up high on the sidehills and one buck I would have tried to get on but he ran like the wind for some reason.
Soon enough it was getting dark and we started heading back to the ranch. This meant fording the river two more times. I was in heaven. Going this direction, the riverbanks were not so bad climbing out.
We made it back to the ranch right before dark. We had some refreshments and talked about the last couple days. Nick invited us back the next day to try and fill my tag but I knew my body couldn’t take another day of bouncing around. Sadly, I had to decline. I told him I would be back in the future though. Then headed back to the motel.
The next day Sunday, Sam had a plan to hunt closer to town. He said he and his buddy Brady had some land I could get on that there should be deer. I was still in bed at the motel when Sam called me. He had a buck bedded down and it was just off the road. I could hear the wind howling in my room and I knew it was going to be a sketchy day shooting. We got packed up again and Brad, Shelie and I headed out west of town. It wasn’t long and we ran into Sam. We made a plan of driving past the buck, then I would get out of the pickup and get the rifle mount and rifle strapped on my wheelchair. This time we would use his 300 Norma Mag with 230 grain Berger bullets. Sam said we should use this because the heavier bullet would cut the wind a lot more than the 150 grain bullets I was shooting from my 270 Tikka.
It was brutally cold, around 25° and winds were at 40 mph. I was shivering uncontrollably. We were using my pickup as wind protection and a barrier so the buck couldn’t see us. It took me a while to find him in the scope as he was on a hillside full of buck brush. He was a cool looking devil buck and for some reason he was still in velvet. He was a little over 200 yards. When I was on him I asked Sam to take my rifle off of safety and when he did that the rifle went off. Missing the buck by only inches that we could see from a video from Sam’s phone. The buck got up and ran away in a hurry. We made the decision to head to Sentinel Butte to figure out what went wrong with my rifle and to figure out the next plan.
By this time, I was freezing. Brad and Sam helped get everything loaded into the pickup and we followed Sam to Sentinel Butte. There we were going to meet his friends Brady and Cole. We met at the gas station which is also the local coffee gathering spot. That place has quite the story. The owner opened the back door so I could get in and I tilted back in my wheelchair. I am supposed to do that every hour for 10 minutes to relieve pressure. Shelie got some tea and the owner heated it up for me. I was so cold, my left arm wasn't working well. I don’t even like tea but that didn’t matter at the time. It helped me warm up. The owner also brought out a platter of baked goods including caramel rolls and pumpkin bars. They didn’t suck. While we were there, we figured out that when we put the elongated trigger on the trigger guard of Sam’s rifle it must’ve been too close to the trigger. That is what made the gun go off prematurely. But it worked great earlier when we tested it. Brady said we could use his 300 Win Mag that shoots 215 grain Hybrid Berger bullets. His rifle is topped with a Vortex Viper Gen 2. My elongated trigger worked perfectly on his rifle.
Brady said they had some family land that I could hunt on. Brady and Sam hopped in Brady’s vehicle and we would follow them from the gas station. We pulled into an old abandoned farmstead and we made a plan. Brad, Shelie and I would stay at the farmstead in the warm vehicle while they did some scouting. It wasn’t long and I got the call from Sam that they found a good buck bedded down.
It took us a bit to get to the spot. But it wasn’t nearly as rough as the stuff I had been through the last couple days. Brady was concerned about the roughness and Sam said with a laugh, “He’s been through a lot worse.” When we got to the top of the hill there was a field of harvested peas. The wind was pretty much directly in my face. Perfect to get on the buck. It was perfect but blowing 40 mph with higher gusts. I got out in that wind and I knew it was going to be a hard shot. Brad, Brady, Sam and myself made the sneak up to the edge of the hillside and got prepared for the shot. The deer was bedded 290 yards away from my position. My tray on my wheelchair was vibrating and my chair was blowing around like a kite. Brady grabbed one side of my chair trying to hold it still and Sam on the other. My eyes were watering and I was shivering. I was miserable at that moment. It took me a while to get on him with that wind and then once I was on him the wind would bounce the scope around terribly. But I finally felt like I was on him so I took a shot and it went right over its back. The buck had no clue where the shot came from. He got up and ran maybe a hundred yards and bedded back down.
I was ready to give up but they said he isn’t going anywhere. So, I got back in the pickup for half hour to warm up. Then I got back out and we reattached the gun mount and Brady’s rifle. We then made the second sneak. We got up to the hillside and he was bedded 130 yards away. It worked perfectly. For some reason it was just as windy but at that spot the wind wasn't affecting me as much. I moved my wheelchair to get in line, adjusted my elevation by tilting a little, looked in the scope and he was right there. The crosshairs were right on him! Sam grabbed one side of chair and Brady on the other. I said, “I'm on him.” Sam dialed the scope in a little and I said, “That’s good, I'm taking the shot.” I pulled the trigger and didn’t even feel the trigger or the recoil. It felt good. The next thing I knew Sam, Brady and my brother-in-law Brad were screaming like school girls. “He got him! He got him!” I got a little choked up. It was quite the moment. We congratulated each other and I thanked them all.
They then helped me get everything back into the pickup. Then Brady and Sam went down to the buck and tagged it. They told me to head back to the abandoned farmstead where Brady’s brother Cole was with their cousin Shay. I later learned that these two videoed the whole thing a thousand yards away at the farmstead. I love watching that video.
After the shot, Cole and Shay drove up to help load the buck. It’s a good thing they did because Brady’s fuel pump went out on his pickup. What are the odds? So they threw the buck in the back of Cole’s pickup and made their way down to the farmstead. We then all got out and went over the events that just took place. It was a great time. It was now time for pictures. We found a good spot next to an old building and took turns capturing the moment. They then gutted it and told us to follow them to the Grandpa’s farm so we could quarter it out.
Once we got in to the garage the boys hooked up a propane turkey fryer right next to me so I could warm up with the flames. In no time the buck was quartered and in game bags. I also had him caped because I knew I was going to do a shoulder mount. We found the bullet and found that the top half of the heart was completely gone. Lucky shot.
After we got the buck in the cooler the boys got the garage cleaned up and looking just like it was when we got there. I thanked Grandpa for helping and he said any time. I thanked Cole and Shay. They were smiling the whole time. Grandpa told us the shortcut to get back to Medora so Brad, Shelie and I headed back to town to the Little Mo. Brady hopped in with Sam because he now had no vehicle and needed a ride to Dickinson. We told them to stop at the bar to have some supper and cocktails. Which they did. We all had a great meal and a great time reminiscing the day’s events.
The next morning which was Monday, November 7 there was snow on the ground. It snowed all the way to Jamestown. At one point we were going 5 mph on the interstate going to cross the Missouri River. It took a while to get back to Enderlin.
I still can’t believe how everything came together. It was just perfect. There isn’t anything I would change. Everyone that I met was so awesome. Glad they urged me on to try one more time. They didn’t even know me and they were willing to help in any way. I am forever indebted to everyone that was involved. There is no way to say how thankful I am to everyone. It’s not about the kill, it’s about the memories made. And I sure made a lot of memories during this hunt.
Thanks for reading, Clint.
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