I recently had the chance to hunt with Mike Schmid of Solitude Ranch and Outfitters located in Devils Tower, Wyoming. I can honestly say it was a trip that I’ll remember for a long time. I didn’t arrive until the afternoon, but still had enough time to get out and do some glassing. I couldn’t believe the amount of game I saw in just a couple of hours; Whitetail Deer, Mule Deer, Merriam Turkeys, Elk, and Antelope also known, to a few of us, as Cantelope.

I was able to connect with my Mule Deer on the second day of my hunt, and did it stalking the rims of the red-rock canyons, that make up a great deal of the beautiful landscape of the Solitude ranch. My cameraman, Bob Lott, and I were working the rims looking down into the canyons, hoping to catch an unsuspecting Mule deer bedded. We worked the canyons from about 11 AM until around 4pm, which is about the time the deer started coming up out of the canyons to feed in the huge Alfalfa fields that lay on top. Playing the wind, we just slipped along the rims, in and out of the many coves, all the while hoping to catch a good Mule deer buck coming up to feed.

We had just distanced ourselves about 80 yards from each other, when Bob spotted a good buck heading out of the canyon. As he frantically looked for me to let me know, the deer just stood there feeding in a little draw that led out of the canyon. Finally seeing me, he waved me down to give me the “I see a shooter” hand signal that looks very similar to a football ref giving the “Touch-Down” signal. Hurrying over to him, he filled me in to where the deer was standing 2 minutes earlier.

We quickly decided on the simple plan of just standing up and walking as fast as we could to close the distance between the deer and us. We were able to do this fairly easy, because there were several Cedar trees between us to use as cover. As soon as we got to within 50 yards we peaked out slowly to try and spot the buck. We both slowly eased out, Bob filming and me holding my range finder in one hand, Alpine bow in the other. For a quick minute, we were both confused a little bit, when the deer seemed to have disappeared into thin air. But just as quick as we were confused, we were back in the game when Bob spotted the deer behind a lone Cedar tree about 50 yards away. I quickly used the same tree to my advantage, and crept up to within 32 yards. I ranged it one last time before drawing my bow and side stepping to get a clear shot at the buck. With Bob rolling film, I settled my pin, and released the arrow. Completely surprised by the impact of the arrow, the buck took off running straight away from our position, and out of sight.

Not believing what just took place, I turned towards the camera with that famous “can you believe that just happened” look on my face, and was speechless. I quickly gained my composure, and explained to the millions of people that reside in the little box that was aimed at me, that I’d only been there two days and believed I had a nice Muley Buck on the ground.

Giving the deer plenty of time to expire, Bob and I took care of some B-roll, which can include such things as Openers, Closers, Commercial breaks, and other footage necessary for a TV show or DVD. We sat there enjoying the beautiful sunset that just so happened to be taking place behind the Devils Tower. As the day was turning to night we followed up the blood trail, and before we knew it, we were standing over my awesome Wyoming Mule Deer.

No words can describe the beauty of the landscape, or the amount of game you will see while hunting the Solitude Ranch. During my 5 day hunt there, 7 Mule Deer bucks were taken with archery gear, and only two were taken off of the ground, the other 5 were killed out of Treestands. This little statistic blew my mind. How many places can you hunt, both Whitetail deer and Mule deer with the same tag in your pocket, over the same Alfalfa field out of the same treestand? I can’t think of any.

Thanks again Mike,
For a great time and an even greater hunt!
A special thanks to Danny “Soccer” Baugher for some great fun!

Nick Lieb " The Wildlife" Video Productions