James Riley's buck as told by Howard Dobbs

This story begins on January 2, 2006. We were driving down the dirt road when we came to a sudden stop. The three of us were looking at a huge Non-typical Desert Mule Deer. The Buck was 80 yards off the road. We shot video of him for a couple of minutes before he disappeared into the Sonoran Desert.

That night we were all a buzz over the huge buck. We knew that one of our hunters was going to kill that buck the next day. We formulated a plan and went to bed dreaming about the huge Mexico Muley.

The next morning found us driving down the road where we had spotted the buck the day before. As we neared the spot, Danny's voice came across the radio. He spotted the buck at the same time we did. The buck took off without offering a shot.

Robbie, James and myslef parked the truck and walked up the nearest hill to see if we could spot the buck again. We quickly spotted the buck. He had some does and a small fork with him. I ranged the monster at 464 yards as Robbie and I both told James to shoot. He used Robbie's shoulder as a rest and fired a shot. The buck just stood there broadside. "You missed! Shoot him he's standing right there," I said. James told us he couldn't find him. The buck walked off and dissapeared into the desert.

James and I took off. The buck was in a thick bottom and we couldn't see the other side. We crossed to the other side and glassed, but couldn't locate the deer. Needing to go to the airport to get the rest of their luggage, Robbie, Troy and Rick had to leave. We decided to head back to camp. As soon as they left, guide Danny, myself and James went back out to find the monster.

It was 10:00 am when we reached our glassing point. As we glassed it didn't take long for Danny to spot a deer laying down. It took a couple of minutes before we knew it was the big one we were looking for. He was 800-1000 yards away. We planned a stalk and Danny was going to watch the buck for us. We got almost half way when Danny called to see where we were. The buck had gotten up from his bed. Some deer ran by the buck and had gotten him up. We stayed put for 30 minutes to see what he was going to do.

The buck had moved up the hill and was out of sight. I had to get to a ridge on the other side of the bedded buck if we were going to have any chance at him. It took about an hour and a half to locate the buck again. As we set up for the shot I told James to take his time. It was 350 yards away. James shot and the buck stood up. He hit him but we didn't know where. James took one more shot but missed.

We dropped down off the ridge to see if we could find any blood. Somehow my radio got turned off during all this. There was no blood, only tracks. We jumped the buck and he ran back down into the nasty thick bottom. We got to the edge that overlooked the bottom, but could not spot the buck. Danny and Brian decided to drive the bottom in hopes of pushing the big buck out. The plan didn't work and the buck stayed hiding in the thick brush.

It was late in the day as we made our way back to the truck. James was feeling bad and didn't want to hunt anymore. We were 100 yards from the truck when Danny yelled at me to turn my radio on. He had spotted the buck again! He ran down off the hill and grabbed James. I took his position behind the 15x56's and kept an eye on the buck as they made their way through the thick stuff.

Light was fading fast when Danny spotted the buck and told James to shoot. At 100 yards James dropped the huge buck in his tracks and the hunt for this monster was finally over.

The buck has a gross Non-typical score of 240" B&C and nets 214. He is a 7x6 with a double main beam. Thanks to Danny Hallock. The team effort helped James to get get this Monster Sonora Mule Deer.

Species: Mule Deer Location of Hunt: Sonora Mexico Outfitter: New Mexico Professional Big Game Hunting Inc. Weapon: Rifle Equipment: Sworovski Binoculars