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| photo courtesy of Jon Yokley |
My name is Mike Riger. I am good friends and hunting buddies with Jon Yokley. Jon introduced me to HUD decoy’s about two years ago. I have to say I am quite impressed with the Mule Deer decoy. I have used the decoy in many different situations to close the distance on these illusive desert mulies we have here in AZ.
The first year Jon introduced me to your mule deer decoy I was quiet skeptical of how it would work. I glassed up about 135” muley bedded with several does. I did not have a tag and the buck was a little under my buddies standards. It was the perfect situation to see how well the decoy would work. My buddy and I started at 250 yards in plain view of the mulies. We kept zigzagging back and forth towards the bedded deer, never walking directly at them. We got up to 75 yards before the deer even stood up. Since this stalk the decoy is with me at all times while hunting Mule Deer.
On 12/25/2014, My wife and I glassed up a head of deer bedded on top of small mesa. With only a week left in the archery hunt my wife was not being picky. There was a small forkey that we seen bedded with the herd. We thought it was the only buck. My wife and I put a stalk on this herd using the decoy. We got sixty from the small buck. My wife had a hard time finding the buck as I kept telling her to step out from behind me to shoot the little forky. Out of nowhere stepped a 22 inch 2x3 to our left at forty yards. The buck fixed on the decoy giving my wife plenty of time to draw and put a great shot him.
On 12/26/2014, I glassed up a buck I had been chasing since 08/2013. He was about a mile away. I had put 4 stalks on this buck previously and was able to get into bow range each time. All 4 times I was never able to get a shot opportunity. I thought this stalk was not going to be doable, but I went for it anyways. The deer were able to see me the first ¾’s of the stalk. But due to me using the HUD Mule Deer decoy I was able to cross a lot of open country in the line of sight of the bedded muley buck and his does. The last 300 yards of the stalk I was out of the sight of the deer. After getting in bow range and waiting for the buck to stand up, I was finally able to send an arrow air mail at the magnificent muley.
I just wanted to give a big thanks to you guys at HUD decoy. I have been able to make stalks happen that without the decoy there would have been no chance. You guys have some great products.
