Mule Deer in Ole Mexico

By Dan Catlin

Editors Note: Our own Mid-Michigan SCI member Dan Catlin and The Wildlife Gallery Corporation (one of our major sponsors) own THE EXPERIENCE! THE EXPERIENCE is a hunting show that can be viewed on CarbonTV (which is a FREE app for digital TV and your hand held devices) as well as on YouTube. Their Channel has over 12 Million views and 71,000 subscribers. This mule deer hunt will eventually be shown on both platforms.

January of 2024, directly after the SCI Convention and GSCO Convention in Nashville, I set out for Ole Mexico in search of Desert Mule Deer and one heck of an EXPERIENCE. This hunt was a little different in the fact I was heading to a completely different location about a four hour drive north of Hermosillo, Mexico. The Ranch is owned by a very good friend of mine from Mexico, Braulio Romero. This particular ranch is not commercially hunted and its completely low fence with only four mule deer taken off of over 12,000 acres of Sonora Desert Ranch each year. Additionally, I was hunting with one of my very best friends Jim Beltz of Kent City, Michigan. Jim became a member of Mid-Michigan SCI a few years back and has been coming ever since. Jim also drives The Wildlife Gallery/The Experience/CYA Hunts 96j pro-truck at Crystal Motor Speedway. We spend our summers chasing checkered flags, and our fall’s chasing Bucks across the Mid-West! To have the opportunity to do this Mexico trip together seemed more like a dream than reality! We had SO MUCH fun!

Jim with The Wildlife Gallery,The Experience, and CYA Hunts sponsored truck..jpg

Posing for a picture from the high rack..PNG

The crew on one of our walks in search of mule deer..PNG

The landscape of the Sonoran desert..PNG

Two happy hunters on the last evening..PNG

Fast forward to the first morning of the hunt, and all hell broke loose with at least two shooter bucks fighting near the first feeder we came to on the ranch. Low light, only being the first day, and hesitation on everyones part allowed this shot opportunity to pass us by. We were super excited to see this action and pushed on hunting. Our next opportunity came on day two in the evening and again, circumstances dictated another missed shot opportunity and to say we were a little bummed was an understatement. Moving on to day five of a six day hunt, the thoughts of things not coming together are starting to creep in. However, on the evening of day five the stars lined up and a WIDE “signature" Sanora Desert Mule Deer presented Jim with the perfect opportunity. Jim took care of business with a perfectly placed shot and the celebration began! What a dream come true for Jim as he harvested his first ever Mule Deer Buck…

With one day to hunt, and me previously taking a desert Mule Deer, I was very happy with NOT getting a deer myself. So the morning of the last day, day 6, the rains came and we only stayed out a couple hours. After spending most of the day in camp the weather lifted and we went out to set on a feeder for the last couple hours of daylight. With no real deer activity going on, a coyote came in to the feeder area and I did some predator control by shooting the coyote. We took a few pictures and with only about thirty minutes of light left we started driving back to camp. As luck would have it, the buck that got away from us on day two crossed the trail in front of us and presented me a shot from the hight rack! Last day luck and two beautiful Sanora bucks were collected. Memories were made that will last for a life time, and everything was captured on film to be aired on CarbonTV later this year in season 4 of THE EXPERIENCE!