ANOTHER ONE JOINS THE PURSUIT.

Since I began bowhunting four years ago, I’ve wanted to hunt everything with my Z28. I will be bowhunting two states again this year, Minnesota and North Dakota. I was lucky enough to stick a 5×5 North Dakota whitetail on the banks of the Little Missouri river last season. It wasn’t a monster, but big enough to make Pope and Young. It scored 136.

And the score is....136 — And the score is….136

I’m happy with shooting a nice deer anytime, but part of the allure of bowhunting, is having the patience to wait for the big one. I raised the bar last year and now I have two options going forward.

1) Find a nice shooter in velvet to put on the wall, or

2) Wait for a bigger Pope and Young buck.

Either way, I’d want them to be P&Y, but I’d settle for one a little smaller if he had soft, velvety dangles covering his antlers.

Ben Brettingen has been chronicling his journey for P&Y and has got me excited about it as well. We’ll both be heading west on I-94 on Thursday with the GPS set on Medora, ND. If the wind is right, I’ll be climbing up into the same stand I was in last October when I shot that 10 pointer. (Read about that hunt in our fall issue of MNSJ Magazine). Hopefully I’ll get to golf Bully Pulpit with my friend Dave Solga while we’re out there.

The forecast is calling for very warm temperatures again, so my riverside stand should be a good location for thirsty bucks. As long as I can stand it! I hunted opening weekend out there last year and remembered climbing down in the dark and working up a sweat during the walk to my truck. Once I climbed in, I quickly scanned the thermometer to see it read a sticky 89 degrees. With temps expected to be in the 90s again, I’ll need to add some extra scent-free deodorant.

muley2jump — Why did the mule deer cross the road?

Since the August goose season closed this weekend, I’ll be focusing my efforts on packing for North Dakota and scouting my Minnesota stand locations. I’ve been seeing a lot of deer, including a few bucks here and there. I plan on waiting until the last day of the season again if I have to before flinging an arrow. That’s the beauty of bowhunting, lots of time to do it!

Read more about our Pursuit of Pope and Young here.