Hunting hard does pay off!

by Brian Richter

Found First On

The lowlight of day break and excessive distance made his trophy status difficult to judge.  Nevertheless, I was certain he was the one.  All I needed was for him to lie down and I would make my move.  He had been courting a doe since daybreak; but suddenly, and without notice, Romeo left Juliet and disappeared into a nasty basalt canyon.  With two miles and multiple rocky canyons between us, he might as well have flown to the moon.  A knot grew in my stomach.

There are three periods of emotional charge in big game hunting:

Anticipation: Everything leading up to the adrenaline rush.

High Noon: This is the climax.

Descent: The feeling of remorse, or disappointment that it’s over.

It was September 1, 1990, and it was my first year carrying a gun.  The gun was a 20ga Remington 870, wingmaster express.  My father and I were hunting sage grouse with our yellow lab, Pal, in a remote area of the Idaho desert.  Early in the day I had my first close encounter with a rattlesnake.  I barely made it back to the truck with my dignity (or my bladder).  But now, after having shot my first grouse and recovering my pride, we took an afternoon break.  Our resting spot gave us a view of the valley we had crossed in the morning.  Hidden amongst the sea of sage and bitter brush in the valley below something white caught my eye.  After focusing my binos, I determined the prize was an elk antler.  I bounded down the slope with Pal at my heels.  When we had reached the clearing were the sun bleached elk antler was lying, I was shocked to discover that it wasn’t an elk antler at all… It was a matched set of mule deer antlers.  Antlers that would score around 200 gross inches and inspire my hunting imagination for years to come.

Anticipation

The maturation of this hunt was nothing out of the ordinary for those of us living in Idaho, a state that has yet to adopt a preference point system.  After nineteen years of application, my father and I had finally drawn a much coveted desert mule deer tag.  It was now late August, and we were slowly bouncing and weaving down a brutal lava and sand two-track.   Despite the season opener being more than a month off, my excitement was soaring!

I had been watching a buck for several weekends that I was certain would go two hundred inches, and like any long distance relationship, my heart was brimming with excitement to make contact once again.  I had named him the Burgundy Buck, after Will Farrell’s character in the movie Anchorman, as they both shared a proclivity for showing off.  Sadly, I was not the only one to affix him a nickname, there was another who affectionately referred to him as Lefty.

Jason and I met each other, and the Burgundy Buck, at nearly the exact same moment.   “You wouldn’t shoot that little buck would you,” came a quite voice behind me.  I nearly leapt out of my skin, there, in the middle of an uninhabited desert, was a man in full camo staring down at me.  It was a happenstance encounter considering the seemingly endless miles of country lying within the unit’s boundaries. The season opener was still months away, and I was perched on a mound of dirt watching a bachelor herd of bucks I had just spotted, among them, was Lefty.  Jason’s calm smile easily revealed his intentions; he too had just seen the size of that rack!  Two men lusting over the same trophy was nothing new to history, and we cordially exchanged numbers and agreed if either of us were lucky enough to harvest the magnificent animal we would inform the other.

First light on opening morning found my father and I glassing from atop a small rocky bluff near Lefty’s preferred bed, however, I had not seen him there in weeks.  Our location offered a perfect 360-degree view of the landscape and several bucks were spotted from his original bachelor group, but not Lefty.  That afternoon we relocated to a higher vantage point enabling us to glass adjacent drainages, but still no Lefty.

On day three, the afternoon turned gray in the west, which precisely mirrored my spirits; Lefty, was nowhere to be found.  That evening it began to spit snow and we awoke on day four to nearly a foot of wet, heavy snow and zero visibility.  Adding insult to injury, our forty-year-old wall tent collapsed on top of me during the night, no longer able to bear the heavy load.

By day five, melting snow had turned the roads into a greasy mess.  My hunt was going from bad to worse, and we determined a retreat to lower elevation was in order.  Aided by a hard freeze and a 6 A.M. departure, we narrowly made the pavement the following morning.  Despite our harrowing escape, there was one casualty.  My sweet mother, our camp cook, had had enough.  She announced her resignation the moment our truck tires gripped the solid asphalt, leaving Dad and I to feed ourselves.

While choking down breakfast at a roadside pull-off, my cell phone beeped indicating I had service and messages waiting.  One was from Jason; he called to inform me he had harvested Lefty on the second day of the hunt!  He had clocked in a lot of hours with that buck.  He deserved it I reckoned.

It was hard to leave camp that morning without my father.  He had been my hunting partner for twenty years. We had relocated to the opposite corner of the hunt, a region that can be extremely rocky and treacherous.  I would be going alone.  No words of explanation were needed.

On day nine of the hunt I crossed his path, there, in the damp clay at the edge of a small creek were long hoof prints with due claws pressed deep into the soft soil; the telltale indication of a mature mule deer buck.  There were a couple of doe groups frequenting the water source as well, and I resolved to keep a vigilant eye on the ladies, gambling that he would eventually show up.

The next day brought extreme heat upon the desert.  Only days ago I felt I was in Antarctica, and now, I felt as though I just de-boarded a plane in the Sahara.  By eleven it was in the high sixty’s, and realizing the chances of seeing a big buck in these conditions were poor, I elected to head back to camp and savor my tenth P.B.&J. lunch in a row.  Following lunch and a short nap, I gathered my gear and began a long ascent into the sage.  The lava beds acted like thousands of black solar panels and I made it only a few hundred yards before being forced to stop and remove layers.  With antlers on the brain, I failed to consider other desert inhabitants who actually prefer this type of weather.

Holy @#$%!!!  RATTLER!!!  My distaste for the little bastards is exasperated immensely by my inability to hear them, which is due, I believe, to repeated unprotected exposure to gunfire as a boy.  The nasty little creature had rolled himself into the classic, “come get some” defensive coil.  Slowly, I circled around him while trying to keep my composure.  Nervous but undaunted, I marched on.  Minutes later, however, I saw another, now I was truly a mess.  I froze and began examining the area.  There, against a break in the rocks, the grass moved in waves and a serpentine ball undulated against the black curtain of lava.  I had been told of large groups of rattlers coming out of their dens to sun themselves in the fall, but these far-flung stories were cataloged in the abstract corner of my brain reserved for mermaids, big foot, and the Lock Ness monster.

It took the better part of the day to complete the remaining half-mile climb to my vantage point.  Despite not seeing another snake, the entire hike I felt as though I was trekking across a freshly laid minefield.  I spent the afternoon and evening glassing, but saw nothing.  Another evening had passed without finding the buck; I had only four days left to hunt.

High Noon

Like any other morning, day eleven found me impatiently setting up my spotting scope twenty minutes before there was enough light to see.  As soon as dawn broke, I knelt to go to work. Immediately I spotted a deer up against the lava rock rim.  There was so little light that I would not have known he was a buck had he not been raking his antlers so violently.  Then a doe appeared not more than twenty yards below him.  He immediately turned to pursue her.  When he intercepted her path, he extended his neck and raised his nose.  He alternated between this flehmen position and raking his antlers while the doe fed.  He disappeared into a small patch of high sage and I watched for five minutes as the brush shook violently.  By the time he reappeared the light had improved enough that I could see sage hanging from his head.  When he shook the sage off, I could see that he was really tall with deep backs and long main beams.   I couldn’t count points but I knew he was the one.  After about ten minutes they bedded down right out in the open.  As a younger hunter I would have tried to close the gap right then.  But something wasn’t right.  They were too exposed here.  And I didn’t believe that he would stay with a doe this early in the season.   They remained bedded for about ten minutes, and then the doe stood up and started back the way she came.  I remember saying out loud, “follow your girlfriend.”  Sure enough he got up and followed.  Then it happened…she squatted to urinate.  As soon as she moved on, the buck came and put his nose to the ground.   That was all he needed to confirm that this little honey wasn’t in the shag’n mood. Without so much as blowing her a kiss, he was gone.  He walked straight down into the basalt canyon and out of sight.  The doe didn’t seem to mind a bit.  Me on the other hand…well, I freaked out.

There was only one thing to do.  I strapped my scope to my pack and ran.  The pack I use has a scabbard that my muzzleloader fits perfectly into.  If you’re a musket hunter with a gun short enough to fit into the scabbard, this style of pack is invaluable.  It keeps your nipple clean and dry, and in the off chance you need to run like hell through rough terrain, your hands are free.  After scrambling down countless rockslides and ascending narrow paths between basalt spires I had reached the canyon he had descended into.  I had covered nearly two miles at a dead run without stopping and now I was coughing up lactic acid something fierce.  It would be several minutes before I would be steady enough to start glassing.  After catching my breath I belly crawled to the edge and quickly scanned to make sure he wasn’t out in the open.  From this vantage point I could see three patches of high sage and a portion of the creek bottom bellow.  Unfortunately there was a lot that I couldn’t see because the canyon was a labyrinth of giant basalt spires.  After carefully scanning the high sage for about forty-five minutes my heart began to sink.  Finding him here would be next to impossible.

I would spend the next eight hours playing the wind.  I crept through the stone maze, peeking around corners and peering over ledges.  As the hours passed I began to lose hope.  As evening approached I came to grips with the reality that I would have to return tomorrow.  Maybe I could catch him making another house call.  I had walked about a quarter mile towards camp when something white caught my eye.  There was a three-foot gap between two of the basalt spires that created a window.  Through this opening I could see a lone deer bedded on an open ledge. It was the buck!  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  He had been right there hidden amongst the countless folds in the landscape.  I zapped him at 267 yards.  The waning light gave the situation a sense of urgency.  I quickly adorned my face and hands with camo garments and slid my smoke pole out of the scabbard.  With my windicater in one hand and shooting sticks in the other I was off. After closing the gap to two hundred yards I found myself atop a 15 ft ledge.  I removed my boots and found a gap that I could chimney down.  Once I had reached the ground below I sprinted straight at the buck.  He was lazily staring the other way.  Most likely in a love induced trance.  The ground beneath my feet was gravel that had been compacted into the dry clay below.  This firm surface made it possible to run the last 100 yards without making a sound.  Every few seconds I sent a puff of chalk into the air, insuring the wind was on my side.  The buck was oblivious to my presence.  With trembling hands I lowered my shooting sticks.  As I crouched to get into position my foot slid across the gravel!  The buck was on his feet immediately.  I tried to slow my erratic breathing and squeezed.

Descent

When the smoke cleared he was lying with his back toward me.  I reached into my essentials bag for a quick loader and prepared for a second shot, but it would be unnecessary.  My arms were tingling and my tongue felt swollen.  I had taken many big game animals before this one.  But this was a sensation entirely new to me.  Over the course of the last eleven days I had endured the broadest spectrum of conditions the Idaho desert had ever thrown at me.  Not to mention an emotional roller coaster ride that took me from nauseas lows to heart pounding highs.  Just minutes ago I was convinced I had blown it.  And now I was standing in stocking feet beside the buck that rewarded my efforts.    My 214inch buck was lying less than a mile away from the clearing where I had found my deer hunting inspiration nineteen years earlier.

The buck would gross 214 3/8 inches with 19 inch G2s and 27 inch main beams.

Tina’s big Idaho Bruin!

CUTEY AND THE BEAST

By Bob Mancuso

My 13 year old daughter Tina was lucky enough to draw a coveted Idaho controlled bear tag in 2010. This hunt is spot and stalk only, no bait or dogs allowed. Approximately 500 applicants put in for 75 tags and she scored one.  She surely has her mother’s luck because her mom has drawn this tag twice and has scored nice bears both times.  So having some knowledge of this unit, and knowing that bear numbers would be high, I set the bar pretty high for Tina’s first controlled hunt tag.

We live in the country and have a firing range set up in the back yard which reaches out to 600 meters.  I have started both my kids off shooting and motorcycling at 4 years old. A structured shooting program based on safety and marksmanship has enabled Tina to hit the 400 meter target consistently from various shooting positions with her 7mm/08. I also printed black bear pictures off the internet offering different positions, angles, and sizes and had Tina work on vital hit placement with her 22. I even had her running to the shop and back to get her heart rate up to simulate climbing a hill and then take a shot. So by the end of March she was ready to reliably and comfortably take a shot at her bear.

We took a few family scouting trips to her area prior to the opener to keep an eye on snow levels and to get out and enjoy spring in Idaho. 1 April couldn’t come quick enough, and with it came a weather front that dumped new snow in the hills. By the time it melted school spring break was over so we were hunting weekends only.

The first trip out Tina and I saw seven different bears with one being a good shooter except he was 550 meters away, too far for the little 140gr hand loads so we passed him up.

My brother John flew in the next weekend to help his niece find a bear and pack out the meat. Her 10 year old brother RJ, who harvested his first turkey a few weeks before, would be along as well. So with a fully stocked camper and glassing and packing help in tow we headed out. We set up camp and quickly rode to the bear hills. Uncle John immediately spots a black phased medium size bear which we quickly decide will live another summer.

The next day, I spot a big black dot on the onion patch across a canyon and up a draw about a mile away. After inspecting him thru the spotting scope, I verify this boar is a shooter. Big head, short legs, and the typical “I own this onion patch” lumbering walk tells me this dude is king of the hill. After a quick wind check we formulate an approach plan and haul butt down the hill while John and RJ watch thru the spotting scope. About 45 minutes later, we catch up with Mr. Big as he is grazing in the middle of the onion field. As we set up for the shot, a bull elk spooks out the bottom and moves the bear further up the hill. Luckily, the elk didn’t seem to bother him too much and gets back to feeding quickly. We repositioned across the draw from the bear 200 meters away and after Tina settled down she was ready to shoot. As if on cue, the bear turned broad side and picks his head up. Recognizing a trophy shot opportunity, Tina let one fly for a perfect double lung hit. The bear ran down hill and as he did she fired again for another hit, anchoring him for good. John saw the whole show thru the scope. He watched us get into position, recognized the bear hunch up as a hit, and then heard the shot ring out across the canyon. He saw the bear drop and quickly brought the packs and RJ up the hill.

I knew he was big, but when we got up to him his size really impressed me. What a toad! I have killed big bears before, but this guy is the biggest I have ever seen on the ground. Tina struggled to lift the head, his neck was so big. His coat was perfect, no rubs or scars. I had a hard time moving him onto a photo rock but got him just rite as John and RJ came up for high fives and hugs. With pics out of the way, we caped and boned him out and packed him down the hill. I’m glad John was there to help as the head and cape was at least 100 lbs alone.  It was dark by the time we reached the last hill so we climbed it under flashlight which was a great experience for the kids.  The next morning we revisited the kill site to clean up and pack out the last of the meat. By the way, spring bear is some of the best wild game meat to be had, and we had a lot of it.

Tina was lucky to draw this tag and lucky again to harvest such a big bear. Because it was Tina’s first big game harvest and he was king of the hill for so long, I need to honor this old brute with a wall mount.

Thanks to Uncle John and RJ for the entertainment, glassing, and packing!

Zach’s latest record buck!

Zach’s Latest record book deer.  Scoring in 228 net, Zach’s buck is the new number two record Pope and Young buck for the state of Idaho.  What a great couple of years Zach has had chasing monster mule deer.  Zach will be a guest speaker at the Mule Deer University, this weekend at the Sports show here in Boise.

A photo of Zach’s great buck from August 2009

Zach harvest a second great Pope and Young buck during the 2009 season.  His incredible typical buck would have scored close to the 200 inch mark if not for the 6 inches of broken main beam.

Zach’s state record archery buck from 2001. It good to see he finally upgraded his bow!  Rumor has it that Zach is going to be shooting Hoyt this coming year.  Welcome to the awesome world of Hoyt, Zach. I’m sure you will add some more tremendous bucks to your wall!

New issue of Hunting Illustrated

In stores now…….Until January 26,2010

Mule Deer and Front Stuffers

By Steve Alderman

My heart beat uncontrollably as I saw huge mule deer antlers at fifty six yards. The date was Oct 1st. 8:30 a.m and It was 40 degrees, over cast, with winds gusting up to 35 miles an hour.  I had been watching and filming this buck for the past three months and now wasn’t the time to mess up all of the hard work I had done.  I knew I needed to cover four more yards to get a clean shot, but the buck bedded with his butt into the hill so he could see every movement within the 240 degree field of view in front of him.  My only course of action was to slowly back up a couple yards, lay flat on my belly, then move ever so slowly back into place at a mere fifty two yards from my quarry for a clear shot.  I wasn’t in much of a rush as the deer was now bedded for the day. Laying on my belly with my gun at my side, I started inching forward ever so slowly.  A mature mule deer has  keen senses that can pick up movement at hundreds of yards away,  so how was I  to go undetected at fifty?  Moving as slow as possible was going to be my only choice.  Using knees and elbows would cause to much movement which meant that all I could do was use my toes.  That’s right.   My plan was to use my toes to push my body the last four yards.  Nothing was moving except for my toes which were hidden from the deer by the rest of my body.  Moving two inches at a time worked out to be slow enough as I got to my marked destination without being noticed.  Now, all I had to do was wait for the deer to stand and change his position in his bed.

As I lay a mere fifty yards from the biggest buck I ever have had the chance to harvest, I did something stupid.  I looked back and talked to the camera guy to make sure he was rolling and could see the deer.  That’s right, I moved my head at  fifty two yards from the bedded buck and yes he did catch the movement.  Lucky for me I was camoed out in Kings camouflage  and some 3-d leafy camo from Scentlok.  The buck caught the movement but did not recognize it as danger.  It was a very tense situation as the deer was now staring directly at me with my gun still at my side.   I knew the deer wasn’t going to lay there in his bed and tolerate the movement of something that wasn’t there when he bedded, so I slowly brought my gun into position and I mean slowly.  I obviously did not want to spook the already alert deer.  The deer saw the movement and was curious as to what it was so he stood to get a better look.  I still believe to this the day that the only reason the deer didn’t bolt was that the movement was so slow and that it was windy enough that he didn’t perceive it as a threat.  He just couldn’t figure it out so he stood to get a closer look and that is when the roar of my gun and the smoke from the end of the barrel broke the morning silence.

Writing this story makes me as giddy and nervous as a boy getting his first bike.  It makes me realize why I enjoy hunting with short range weapons so much, especially those stinky old muzzleloaders.  It’s the times at the shooting benches sighting in these replicas of the early years, the blown stalks, the missed shots, the times in camp and in the hills with your closest buddies.  Most importantly, its getting to know the mule deer and his habits like no one else which drives me to hunt this way.  It’s getting close and out smarting these old majestic deer on their ground, in their core areas, and making it all come together with a quick clean harvest.

I know from past experience that lack of patience is where most people fail when it comes to short range weapons.  I don’t think you can teach this when it comes to hunting as every situation is different and people need to figure it out on their own.  They try to push the situation and make the deer stand up for their clear shot, which nine times out of ten doesn’t work.  The deer blows out of his bed never giving the  hunter the shot they set out to get.  Patience is a virtue in this situation.  You must wait for the deer to do what is natural for him.  He will get up and change his position in his bed a couple times a day, sometimes even grabbing a bite to eat in the process.  I have only seen two deer in all my years of hunting not change their beds.  Those two deer would bed at first light and not move from their bed until after dark.  So, there are the rare occasions when a deer won’t leave his bed but generally they will change their position at some point in the day and that is when you take advantage of the situation.  If you are patient,  the deer will be less cautious and simply do what comes natural for them.  They will be less likely to pick up the slight movement of the hunter who is ready for the shot.  You can usually spot a patient hunter by the amount of success he or she has while short range weapon hunting.

Sure, there are many disadvantages to muzzleloader hunting over modern firearms.  First and foremost is the one shot challenge.  If it is an issue, it only takes one shot right?  Yeah, I’ve said that a few times and found my self running back to my pack to get another load on more than one occasion. Secondly, there would be the shot distance issue of 150 yards max with open sites and 250 max with a scope.  You all know someone or maybe even have yourself harvested a deer further than that.  For the most part with open sites, you cover half the deer up with the front site at 150 yards and then it is a guess as to were your bullet is going to hit. You might as well throw your ethics out the window if you are going to try and harvest a buck past this with open sites.  At 250 yards with a scope, there are all kinds of issues  to deal with such as bullet drop, with 20-25 inches being the norm on average and that is  if you use 150 grains of powder, wind drift up to and sometimes over a foot at 200 yards with a 15 mile an hour wind, and then there is the moisture issue.  Moisture is an issue a muzzleloader hunter could go on about for days.

However, four million muzzleloader hunters, including myself, feel that the benefits to hunting with a front stuffer far outweigh the disadvantages.  For me, the first advantage is less hunters in the field which also equates to better draw odds on some of those once in a lifetime hunts.  Secondly, getting close to the game you pursue and out witting a wise old mule deer on his turf at under a 150 yards is arguable the hardest game animal to hunt under these conditions.  Lastly, getting within range of a trophy mule deer with short range weapons will teach you patience,  proper shot placement and most importantly hunting ethics. Ethics, meaning humanely hunting and harvesting the game. i.e. your effective range for your gun and your load.  Hunting with a muzzleloader forces you to get closer to the animal so you can make that one shot harvest.  A muzzleloader hunter must spend more time at the bench getting to know his gun, its capabilities and limitations.  Merely shooting and hitting the target at 100 yards is not acceptable when it comes to muzzleloader hunting.  The hunter must know how the gun is going to preform under all conditions and distances.  There are many more variables to consider when hunting with a muzzleloader which makes it all the more enjoyable and satisfying to hunt with, especially when you are successful at putting your tag on a wise old mule deer.

So back to my hunt.   The roar of my gun and the smoke from my barrel broke the morning silence.  As the smoke quickly drifted to the side I could see my deer high-tailing it down the mountain side.  Could I have missed, I thought to myself?   There was simply no way I missed when he was only fifty two yards away.   To my utter relief, the deer ran about 60 yards were he proceeded to lay down and expire.  I was expecting him to crumble at the shot.  He was only fifty two yards and quartering to me when I put the front bead on his front shoulder and squeezed the trigger.   I guess when I was caught off-guard in the stand off, I forgot to allow for wind drift. Yes, even at fifty yards you will get wind drift.  The wind was blowing 30  to 35 miles an hour and even at fifty two yards I should have allowed for some sort of drift.  My bullet actually hit 3 inches to the left of where I was aiming and missed the shoulder completely causing me to second guess a hit or a miss.  Like I said, I was expecting him to crumble at the sound of the shot.  The best part was even after my slight miscalculation I ended up with my biggest Idaho buck to date.  I guess I’m lucky that the deer wasn’t standing at 125 yards because I could have missed him all together.

That buck ended a great season of short range weapon hunting.  I ended up harvesting three 200 inch plus bucks in three different countries all with short range weapons.   A rare feat that not to many hunters, if any, can say that they have accomplished even with high powered modern rifles.  One of the bucks was a 207 incher in Old Mexico with my trusty front stuffer.  Next, was a 208 inch buck in Alberta, Canada with my hoyt bow, and then back to Idaho to finish it off with a monster 213 inch non-typical.  Once again, it was my trusty muzzleloader that got the job done.  What a fantastic year!  I truly believe that hunting with a muzzleloader since I was 17 years old has made me a better hunter.  I also believe it can make anyone a better hunter.  There is never a substitution for more time spent in the field and at the bench.  Muzzleloading forces you to spend quality time doing both and what a good excuse to get out and have some fun in the field.

This hunt is featured in the new hunting video by Creekside Productions.  Mule Deer Country is mule deer hunting at its finest,  from Idaho to Old Mexico.  Watch as two monster Desert Mule Deer hit the dirt.  One of them is the largest ever harvested in Mexico with a muzzleloader, scoring over 208 inches gross.

Follow wildlife photographer and videographer Vince Martinez as he show cases some of Colorado’s finest mule deer.  Come with us as we take you on twelve action packed hunts, including four from Sonora Mexico.  You don’t want to be the last pearson to discover this radically new video from Creekside Productions.

Christina bags a great 195 inch buck!

A Wife’s Joy………A Husband’s Misery

By Christina Morrow

Why is it that men procrastinate everything to absolute last minute? This is the very question I mutter to Daniel, my husband, every year between 11:00 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. on May 31st. That is usually about the time he remembers that we have to put in for our Idaho Controlled Hunt tags. I guess I shouldn’t complain too much about this family tradition as it usually ends in excellent results……at least for me. One year this May 31st late night ritual resulted in a great bull moose tag for me. In 2009, the ritual resulted in a premier mule deer tag, again for me. Of course the ritual hasn’t really resulted in anything for Daniel, but that is his whiny story (definitely for another day).

Christina, Dan her husband and myself with Chris’ great Idaho buck!  194 gross

When I found out that I drew this particular mule deer tag I was excited!  However, since I really didn’t recognize the extent of my good fortune at the time, I must admit that most of my excitement and joy was centered around Daniel’s obvious misery in that he didn’t draw the tag. As I talked to others and learned more about the hunt my excitement - and my anxiety - grew. At some point, my anxiety surpassed my excitement. By early October, I was just plain nervous. It finally registered that I would only have a couple of weeks for my hunt and in that time, I would only have a few days that I would actually be able to get away and concentrate on my hunt. It didn’t help either that during the first half of October I saw a steady stream of big bucks being brought over to our house. Daniel is a taxidermist and it seemed like everyone was harvesting monster bucks this year. I felt the pressure piling on. Of course, my biggest fear was that I would get up close to one of these big, monster bucks and then would miss the shot. As opening day drew near I also started to realize that Daniel was equally concerned about this issue……..impossibly, he may have been even more nervous about this than I.

My mom flew into town the evening before my hunt started. She was going to spend four days in town with our boys, Dylan and Jake, so that Daniel and I could concentrate on my hunt. Of course, between work, kids, and life in general, we didn’t have time to start packing and getting ready for the hunt until that same evening that my mom arrived. So after a quick run to the airport, Daniel and I both began packing – again something at the last minute.  In our true and typical fashion we finished packing at around 1:00 a.m. the morning of my hunt. So we set the alarm and tried to get a few hours sleep.

Chris with her hard earned buck!

When the alarm went off at 4:00 a.m. I thought……”Well this is it” and then “Holy cow I’m tired!” I jumped into the shower – since I knew I wouldn’t get that luxury for a few days – and we set off. As we were leaving town, it was pouring rain. Not the start we had hoped for, but not something I could fix, so I focused on enjoying my coffee and trying to remain calm. Daniel was not very helpful in the latter; he spent the next two hours reinforcing over and over that I just needed to remember to “squeeze the trigger……..” or that once I did shoot I needed to immediately “get another round in the chamber!” Needless to say, it was a very long couple of hours. I couldn’t have been happier to jump out of the truck into the cold and soggy air.

I just love this pic!  Congrats guys on a great buck.  I had a great time!

I was very lucky and fortunate in that we had several friends going along to help us with the hunt. Daniel’s good friend Steve Alderman came along as well as Joe Pennington. We also had another one of Steve friends, Dave, camping and occasionally hunting with us.  We all met up and headed out for our first day of hunting.

If I had listened to Daniel my hunt would have been over opening morning. I think he wanted me to shoot the first buck we saw…….honestly, I think he wanted me to shoot all of the bucks we saw and we saw a lot that day. At the end of the day, we estimated seeing something like forty bucks opening morning. I had never hunted deer in open country like this before. I grew up hunting white tail with my dad up north. Binoculars were definitely not something you needed up there and we rarely ever would sit and glass an area. I was amazed at the sheer volume of deer we were seeing each day. I got to watch bucks sparing and fighting. We nearly walked right up on top of several does sleeping on the edge of a ravine that first day. It was incredible. I enjoyed every minute of it.

In any event, I don’t think I was being too picky that day. We did see a lot of bucks……several decent bucks………just not a buck that I simply knew I wanted to shoot. We saw several three and four point bucks that day. Of those, there were two that I thought about harvesting. One we jumped up at mid-morning. He was a beautiful four-point.  He was running with a big forked-horn cactus buck. We estimated that he was likely a 170′s class buck. Definitely a trophy deer. I just decided I wanted to pass on him. Daniel kept looking at me and saying “Are you sure?” His questioning me, made me question myself. I kept thinking “Am I being too picky, have I set my expectations too high”…..and a million other thoughts. But I held firm. I wanted something different, an original……a buck with some personality and I decided I would wait for it.

That evening we saw the second buck that I considered. We spotted him shortly before sunset. He was bedded down along the ridge up above a meadow. He was wider than the buck from earlier that day. Another four point. He was taller and his left side laid out more than his right. He was definitely another trophy deer. We left him there that night and headed back for camp.

The second day was more of the same. We glassed and watch any number of deer. That morning we saw several more cactus bucks. One stood and watched us for quite awhile. We also watched a little buck that we named “Tri-pod.” He had in-lines in his rear forks that looked like tri-pods. He definitely had personality and was different. He was slightly more heavy that most of the other bucks we’d been seeing as well. However, he wasn’t as big as the four-point we’d seen the evening before, so again I passed him up.

That afternoon Daniel spotted a buck bedded down in front of a big sage. We watched him for quite awhile. He looked massive laying there, but it was difficult to tell if he was big or if we were seeing sage brush as part of what we were looking at. We ultimately decided to walk in and see if we could get a better look. When he finally spooked from his bed, I was glad we had investigated further. Without the sage behind him, he was much smaller than I’d imagined him to be. Again, another great buck, but not what I was looking for.

Later that afternoon when we got back to the truck we had a voicemail from Harry Knox, one of Daniel and Steve’s friends. Harry knew I had a tag and he said that he had seen a deer that day that he thought we might be interested in. So that evening we went over to visit with Harry. When he was explaining about this deer, I was getting excited. He said it had kickers on both sides and that its front main beam on one side was wavy. He said it was pretty heavy at the base and pretty tall. Harry estimated the deer to be in the 180′s. The deer sounded awesome to me so we decided we would head out in the morning to see if we could find him.

The deer was in quite a ways so we all headed out there together. We set up on a rock ledge overlooking three draws that merged together. We had four spotting scopes together and got them all set up to glass the area.  Out of pure luck when Dave set up his spotting scope and started to focus it in on rocks in the far distance, a buck walked right through his line of sight.  Dave and Joe both started following the buck.  All of the guys were able to see him for a few minutes before he bedded down.

Once the buck was bedded down, he wasn’t easy to see.  We kept watching him though and eventually decided that we thought this was the same deer that Harry had told us about.  We could tell that he had kickcers off both sides and could see that he had pretty tall backs.  When I looked at him in the scope, I knew that he was a definite shooter.

We decided on our strategy for the stalk next. Because of the wind, we had to come up from underneath the buck. Definitely a much more difficult stalk, but we knew if we tried to come in above him, he would wind us. We also decided that we would not need spotting scopes on the stalk and so we emptied out our packs of that gear and some other extra gear that we didn’t need to drag across to the next ridge. We stashed all that extra gear in the rocks and took off down into the ravine. On the way down the hill Daniel somehow manages to spot and pull an old deer shed up out of the tag alders and bushes. We get down into the bottom, manage to cross a little creek and start slowly heading back up through another little finger.

At the top of that finger we figured we would be about 500 to 600 yards below and to the deer’s left. Just as we are breaking up out of the bushes in that finger ravine we hear the awful rattle of a rattle snake. Now this is not something I would normally anticipate encountering this time of year.  Normally it would be way to cold for rattle snakes. In fact, only about ten days before the same area was covered in about six inches of snow. However, that day it was beautiful blue sky and had to be about 70 degrees……….apparently warm enough for rattlers. Steve was right in front of me and started pushing me back while we tried to find the snake. I spotted it just as it slithered into a nearby sage. I thought “Great now we can walk around it.” But that’s not what we did. No, as soon as I point to it, all four guys take off after it. They were using the tripod sticks for their cameras and Daniel was running around with a boulder and they were all talking and making noise. They were so very easily distracted from the task at hand!  The snake ultimatly won the battle. It had a hole or something in the middle of that sage that it crawled into. The boys all recognized their defeat and decided to move on. As we walked away, I hoped the rest of my stalk was more successful than our attempted stalk on that snake.

Just as we started to move forward we saw movement to our right and looked up in time to see two big bucks cresting the rock rim above us. The first one that went over - the one I was just able to see - looked like a beast……but isn’t that how it always works? At this point we couldn’t see “my deer” and we just had to hope that he hadn’t been spooked from his bed.  We kept moving forward.

Another couple hundred yards later and we could see just the tops of “my deers” antlers over the edge of some rocks that he was bedded next to. We hadn’t spooked him….yet. We had to keep moving closer and try to get set up for a shot. Now I didn’t mention this before, but Steve and Joe were both carrying cameras so that they could try and videotape the kill. We had five people, two with cameras to set up and me setting up for a shot. Amazingly, we somehow managed to sneak up to about 70 yards from the deer.  We could see the top half of his rack and then just rocks. The idea was to get the cameras set up, get me set up on shooting sticks on top of my own pile of rocks, then we would get the deer to stand up and finally I would shoot it. A great idea, easy to say, easy to type……not so easy to execute.

First one of the locks on the camera tripods clicked a little too loudly and I watched those antlers turn straight toward us. Why that deer didn’t stand then I have no idea  but I was glad he didn’t. After a few minutes of very shallow short breaths Daniel told me to move forward so we could try to get me set up for a shot. Now, on a good day, at the shooting range, on flat ground, with a cardboard box as a target I have a tough time shooting off of shooting sticks. I was at a complete loss in this situation. Daniel had the sticks set up spanning across a couple of boulders. I was leaning on one boulder and leaning sideways into another trying to shoulder my gun with a backpack still on. To top it all off, right before they made noise to try to get the deer to stand up Daniel says to me, “Now whatever you do, don’t shoot low and hit those rocks because the bullet could ricochet.”  “Holy shit! Are you kidding me!?”  I had so surpassed nervous…….I was terrified. Not only did I have the fear of missing the deer in front of two cameras and four guys, but now I could potentially kill someone to boot.

I know from watching the video that I was only sitting there terrified and horribly uncomfortable for a couple of minutes but it felt like forever! To make matters worse, the deer suddenly developed some sort of deafness. They were making noise and he wouldn’t do anything. Every time they made a noise I would flinch from the anticipation but the deer just laid there. Finally after someone made a loud enough grunt the buck stood up………for once in my life I did what my husband asked me to do. I put the crosshairs on that deer and I squeezed the trigger. Then I went above and beyond, I did a second thing that he had told me to do  – I got another shell in the chamber…..well at least I tried.

Of course, I managed to jam the rifle at that particular time. The deer was bounding away………Dave starts yelling “Do you want me to shoot?” Daniel ripped the gun out of my hands to clear the jam. Everyone was watching “my deer” bound away while Daniel monkied with my jammed rifle. But what they all didn’t know, and didn’t have faith in me to believe was that I hit that deer. I knew I hit him and I hit him good, but I didn’t want to chase him. They all, all four of them, thought I had missed. Imagine their collective surprise when mid-bound thirty yards later he fell over. Daniel, my poor frazzled husband, was so relieved he “teared up”.  Now he will not admit that, but I heard it in his voice, and fortunately we have it all on video.

Once my deer was down, we waited a few minutes and then hiked over. With each step closer he looked bigger and bigger. Definitely a great buck, likely a buck of a lifetime for me. I couldn’t have been more ecstatic. It was awesome!!!  I can’t thank Steve and the boys enough!  What a wonderful adventure.

Editors note….. Tearing up, choking up, or crying like a baby it was very emotional for about 5 seconds, then he realized there was three other guys standing there.  It quickly turned into a kiss and a great job babe.  We know how it went down Dan, we have it on tape tough guy…….  I had a great times guys,  hope we get to do it again sometime.  Maybe I’ll have the tag next time.  11:30 p.m. the night of the deadline,  I will have to try my luck.  Thanks for the laughs!

Steve

Heavy 195 goes down!

Bruce Harvey takes an incredible 195 inch mule deer home after hunting for only three days.  We had a great last week of hunting with good friends Mike Weeks and Bruce Harvey.  Bruce took a great buck on the third day of the hunt while Mike ended his season with a great  cull buck on the last day.

Bruce Harvey with his great Idaho buck!

We watched this buck for three days before he gave us a chance to harvest him. On the second day of the hunt we watched this buck come with in three hundred yards of another hunter.  We watched in horror as this buck narrowly escaped.  The next morning the buck gave us an opportunity and this time he was not as lucky as he was the prior day.

The whole crew, Bruce Harvey, Joe Pennington on camera, Les Gargan on audio, good friend Mike Weeks, and myself on camera

Story coming soon….

Jake Shea Scores!

Jake Shea scores on his biggest muzzleloader buck to date.

After seven fun filled days of hunting Jake found a buck that was worthy of his tag.  IDAHO’S PUBLIC LAND AT ITS BEST!

Jakes great muzzleloader buck scores 198 inches.  It has great g-2s with one over 20 inches long, a g-3 that is 15 inches long, and main beams that stretch the tape right at 26 inches.

On the fourth day of the hunt we woke up to over 10 inches of snow.  By the end of the day we had over 14 inches of the white stuff.

Story coming soon……..

Idaho State Record Muzzy Buck!

New Idaho State Record Muzzy buck Harvest

Dallas Smith is no stranger when it comes to large mule deer.  Over the last few years, Dallas has added three awesome mule deer to his collection each scoring over the magical 200 inch mark. However, none of them come close to the accomplishment he achieved this past week. Dallas harvested the pending new # 4 in the world mule deer with a muzzleloader and it is also the new State Record in Idaho.  The unfortunate part of this story is that the buck will never be recorded in the books.   Dallas has to date decided that he doesn’t want to strip the velvet off the buck to have it officially scored.  I can’t say that I blame him.  It’s a once in a lifetime buck and keeping it the way it was when it was harvested is important to Dallas.

Dallas Smith with his latest monster in his collection

Dallas has watched this buck for the past five years and even tried to harvest it a time or two only to fall short in his quest.  This is ok if you look at the end result which is a 265 inch gross monster.  His Buck has a 204 inch frame with approximately 60 inches of trash.  It has only been unofficial scored, but when I held this monster in my hands, score went completely out the window.  This buck is dense, heavy, wide, nasty,and just plain old incredible.  When I lifted it off the ground, I was amazed at the weight of the antlers.  As shown in the picture above, these antlers felt like they would tip the scales at over 15 pounds which is a true monster in anyone’s eyes.

Comparing this buck to his sheds from the last few years shows this buck has grown into a true giant.  Two years ago his sheds scored in at just over 207 gross inches.  Last year his sheds grossed at just over the 228 inch mark.  Now he has grown into the mega 265 inch giant the Dallas harvested earlier this week.

Dallas With his 265 inch giant

I’m sure you are asking yourself why is this buck in velvet in October?  Well, the truth is still somewhat of a mystery to all.  He did grow a fresh set of horns every year, however this buck held his velvet well into October every year.  Like I said, Dallas knew this buck well.  He watched the buck two years ago shed its velvet at the end of October and last year it shed it in the middle of October.  At the time of harvest, the testicles of this deer were only one-fourth the size of a normal mule deer.  So obviously this buck had some sort of testicular issues whether it be lack of testicles from a birth defect, some sort of trauma, or a genetic defect.  This buck grew his antlers a month and half  longer then normal mule deer.

Is he a cactus buck?  In my opinion, yes.  Anytime there is testicular malfunction that allows antlers to grow at an abnormal rate, it should be considered a cactus buck.  Some cactus bucks never shed their antlers and some shed them ever few years.   In the case of this buck, his deficiency was slight enough that he shed them and grew a new set every year.  He had some sort of testosterone deficiency to allow him to grow his antlers for a longer time period than that of a normal mule deer which would fit the definition of a cactus buck.

Dallas, my hat is off to you and your brother for keeping this buck such a secret.  I don’t blame you one bit!  As far as I know, the only people that new this buck was alive were Dallas, his wife, his three sons, his brother Ryan and a good friend, Tony.  They all kept this buck under wraps until it was on the ground.  Congrats to all of you that were mentioned as you all played a part in Dallas harvesting this spectacular trophy. We can’t wait for the story and field pictures!

Photo Courtesy of Ryan Smith

Bennett Alderman is all smiles as he holds the 2007 set of sheds from the Smith buck

The sheds score 207 inches gross,  This buck packed his antlers well into March

Congratulations Dallas on such a fine trophy and a spectacular last few years of hunting these awesome animals. You brothers have done it again, I’m jealous…..

Steve Alderman

Idaho Monster!

Idaho Buck

After discussing with my good friend and mule deer hunting companion, Neal Myler, where to apply for mule deer tag, I took his advice and applied for the Eastern Idaho unit he had drawn in 2002. He said it was a great area but had been tough because of very little snow. When the drawing results were out I found, that as usual, I had not drawn my elk tag but was excited to see I did draw a mule deer tag.

The area we would be hunting our giant bucks is very dependant on the snow driving the mule deer down but Neal and I scouted as much as our time would allow. By the first week of the hunt there was no snow and few deer. During that week I had spotted a few smaller bucks and Neal had the same report except for a heavy 26-inch non-typical. However, he didn’t think the big buck would score well because of short points. I had to leave town for a few days so I decided to pray for snow and hit it hard when I got back.

When I returned I found that it had indeed snowed and was continuing to do so. That, combined with the rut peaking and the fact that it’s easier to spot in the snow, Neal and I found a lot of deer. I was amazed at the difference. Over the next few days we spotted several bucks, the best was a 26-incher that was “okay” but kind of light with weak fronts.

Leaving the low country we went a little higher where the timber started. Suddenly, Neal spotted a huge typical at 600 yards. We figured he was close to making book. There was a sheer cliff below him and without coming over the other side of the mountain, there was just no way. We watched him walk into the timber and disappear. Later that day, Neal spotted another buck bedded under a tree at 200 yards. As I glassed him, I could see one side of a great typical frame, 180-190 inches. I had a dead rest and the safety off when Neal whistled and as the big buck turned we saw one side that went four inches past his ear and the other side being broke off right above his brow tine. I couldn’t get the safety back on fast enough.

The next morning we parked the truck and started back at it again. Neal and I had just split around a knob when suddenly I spotted a doe not fifty yards away. Behind her a doe, then a small buck. Behind and above him was another mule deer. I moved up a little and waited. When he came between two trees I cold see the back of the left antler and a forked cheater. I knew he was big and that cheater was all I needed. The two does were ahead of me and I watched them walk between some junipers with the big buck bringing up the rear. I didn’t look at antlers once I knew it was him. The shot was only 75 yards and the Sako 300 Remington Ultra Mad did it’s job. Double-lunged, he went to his knees and then backed down into the draw. When I got to him all I could see the rack sticking out of the knee deep snow. Neal had heard me shoot and soon we were celebrating together. The five by nine big buck measured 32 inches wide to the cheaters and had a 28-inch mainframe! With thirteen inches of non-typical points he grossed 193! Special thanks to my good friend Neal for his time and efforts, I couldn’t have done it without your help.

Early, Idaho Rifle hunt!

Early rifle hunt in Idaho

It all started when this new taxidermist moved into town and came in the store asking if we needed any work done. After two months of telling him no I finally agreed to take our town’s newest taxidermist, Mike Allemang, with me on my controlled hunt. Also accompanying us was another good friend, Buddy Yeun. I had hunted this unit for the last five years, either with a tag of my own or taking a family member. The biggest buck we had taken scored around 150 B&C. We just hadn’t seen anything that good…..until last year. This is where my story begins.

The back country road we were on is overgrown with buck brush and is about four miles long. The only way to see is to put someone in the back of the truck. Buddy chose this job because I said it would look really bad if I was to be seen in the back with a gun. Everybody agreed and we had a plan. Mike was to drive and video when the time came, Buddy was to spot, and all I had to do was shoot straight.

We drove ¾ of the way down the road and didn’t see anything, less of 100 head of elk. It was 10:00 before we started seeing deer, but something was different. There were no bucks to be found and very few does. Fifteen minutes later, Buddy asked Mike to stop the truck so he could glass a far ridge. After a few moments of spotting, he informed us that he had spotted a deer but did not get a good look at it. He just knew that it look BIG! We walked up the ridge to get a better look. Buddy and I went on ahead to set up and Mike was behind getting the video camera. We only made it 100 yards up the hill when Buddy motioned me to stop. There were a couple mule deer just up the hill and one was a buck. Still not knowing how big the other buck was, we decided to wait for Mike to work his way up the hill. When Mike got there, we finally spotted the second buck and what a monster buck it was! It made you shake just looking at him. We all knew immediately that this was the one I had been waiting for.

As I lined up my shot, the big buck turned and looked directly at us only leaving a very small section of neck and shoulder to be seen from behind the trees. It was 300 yards uphill when I attempted the first shot. I squeezed the trigger with the world’s greatest flinch, and when nothing happened, my heart nearly stopped. I looked at Mike and told me in a very calm voice to relax, calm down, take my safety off, and try again. The second shot, or the first that actually fired, hit the mark! Down went the big buck and one of my greatest dreams came true. My 2003, public land, mule deer buck grossed 206 and netted 199 7/8ths! I have to give special thanks to Buddy Yuen and Mike Allemang for all the help and support and to my dad for taking the time to teach me the correct and responsible way to hunt. Mike mounted the big buck for me and it is one of the best deer mounts I have ever seen. Valley Taxidermy (208) 871-0785

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