B
bbentley392t
Guest
How goes it,
Well I just wrapped up my 2007 Archery season here in Utah. I drew a tag for the 'Thousand Lakes' unit in Southern Utah, just northwest of the coveted 'Henry Mountains' unit. 'Thousand Lakes' is an 11,000 ft. limited entry unit right in the middle of the red & rugged desert. The state of Utah only allows 7 tags each year...so when I recieved the news that I had actually drawn a tag with only 2 preference points, I was ecstatic! I started my pre-season scouting about 3 months before the start of my hunt. Most of my pre-season scouting was done with my father-in-law, who has hunted extensivley in this area for the past 20 years with a muzzleloader.
By the eve of the opening my dad and a friend of mine from Wyoming had set up camp and were ready to get after it the next morning. The dry heat of August in Utah can be brutal...but atop an 11,000 ft. peak the temperatures were in the mid to high 70's...absolutley beautiful hunting weather. It had rained the night before so the gound was perfectly soft...which is great for those long stalks that we do out here. We spent most of the weekend 'glassing' hillsides through our spotting-scopes trying to get a better idea of where the deer that we hadn't previously seen were going to be later that evening. We noticed a good bachelor group that we had never seen before and our plan was to come back and put a good stalk on a decent typical in that group. While I was sneaking up through a wash, another hunter on an ATV was flying down a trail nearby us and spooked the bucks...ruining my chances for the night. Sunday's hunt didn't go quite an anticipated as well...we were on a good group of deer until one of the buck's "watchdogs" ( a doe), had us pegged. She spooked and then proceeded to take all of the bucks with her! That weekend we had seen over 50 bucks...about 12 of which would've scored in the 150's to 170's.
I had previously used all of my vacation time from work so I had to wait until next weekend to travel back down to 'Thousand Lakes' and give it another go. This time my dad and I were planning on camping in a different spot closer to some smaller groups of bucks that we had seen the previous weekend. By the time we had got off work, finished loading up and driving down there it was almost 11:00...so we decided to just hit the sack and worry about setting up camp the next day during lunch. At 6 am we were up and ready to start another day of hunting. Right from the get-go we started to see some bucks, right off the side of the road. A little later I noticed a small 2-point about 46 yards away...I almost didn't even notice the buck standing about 15 yards behind him. I started to watch him feed through my binoculars and determined that he was good enough buck to stalk. I knew I had to be extra quiet since he had a smaller buck with him who would definitley let im know I was there. After a quick and quiet stalk, I managed to get within 32 yards of this deer. I waited for him to take one more step forawrd and to the right...if he did so he would be right in the center of my shooting lane covered with pine limbs and quakie's. With an arrown already knocked I was waiting for the right moment...finally it came. I drew back, put my 30 yard pin on his motor...and before I knew it I had an arrow in the air and on it's way. With an 80lb. draw wieght and an arrow speed of 307fps...it didn't take my arrow long to do it's job. I seen my little black arrow and 85 grain 'ThunderHead' hit the buck and heard it it some brush behind him. Even though I knew my arrow was on the mark..I thought that I had missed because the deer didn't act like he had just been hit. He calmly walked about 25 yards from the location of the shot, and tipped over. He died without any struggle or fight, which made my job a lot easier by not having to wait 15 minutes from him to die. After we'd found my arrow and walked up to the buck...I was pleasantly suprised. I knew he was only a 3x3...but a very decent 3x3. We measured the buck at 24" wide and about 20" tall...not a monster or record by any means, but a very solid archery buck! I harvested this animal at 7 a.m. and by 11 a.m. was hanging him up at my friends meat shop/ taxidermy studio 100 miles away to be worked on. Completeley dresses without the cape and head, the buck weighed 140lbs...which would've made him a 200lb. buck on the hoof. There were a lot of bigger deer on that unit than the buck I had taken...but I could'nt pass up a perfect shot like the one he presented me with. I'm happy with him and I can't wait until next season!
I need to thank everyone who was involved with me and helped me to bag this good buck:
-My dad (Troy Bentley)
-My Father-in-Law (Vance Brown)
-My Good friend (Kenderick Wilson)
-The Crew (Jakes's Archery & Hot-Shot Release Co. -- Orem, Utah)
Thanks again to everybody for all of their help and support. Later, Brad Bentley.
Well I just wrapped up my 2007 Archery season here in Utah. I drew a tag for the 'Thousand Lakes' unit in Southern Utah, just northwest of the coveted 'Henry Mountains' unit. 'Thousand Lakes' is an 11,000 ft. limited entry unit right in the middle of the red & rugged desert. The state of Utah only allows 7 tags each year...so when I recieved the news that I had actually drawn a tag with only 2 preference points, I was ecstatic! I started my pre-season scouting about 3 months before the start of my hunt. Most of my pre-season scouting was done with my father-in-law, who has hunted extensivley in this area for the past 20 years with a muzzleloader.
By the eve of the opening my dad and a friend of mine from Wyoming had set up camp and were ready to get after it the next morning. The dry heat of August in Utah can be brutal...but atop an 11,000 ft. peak the temperatures were in the mid to high 70's...absolutley beautiful hunting weather. It had rained the night before so the gound was perfectly soft...which is great for those long stalks that we do out here. We spent most of the weekend 'glassing' hillsides through our spotting-scopes trying to get a better idea of where the deer that we hadn't previously seen were going to be later that evening. We noticed a good bachelor group that we had never seen before and our plan was to come back and put a good stalk on a decent typical in that group. While I was sneaking up through a wash, another hunter on an ATV was flying down a trail nearby us and spooked the bucks...ruining my chances for the night. Sunday's hunt didn't go quite an anticipated as well...we were on a good group of deer until one of the buck's "watchdogs" ( a doe), had us pegged. She spooked and then proceeded to take all of the bucks with her! That weekend we had seen over 50 bucks...about 12 of which would've scored in the 150's to 170's.
I had previously used all of my vacation time from work so I had to wait until next weekend to travel back down to 'Thousand Lakes' and give it another go. This time my dad and I were planning on camping in a different spot closer to some smaller groups of bucks that we had seen the previous weekend. By the time we had got off work, finished loading up and driving down there it was almost 11:00...so we decided to just hit the sack and worry about setting up camp the next day during lunch. At 6 am we were up and ready to start another day of hunting. Right from the get-go we started to see some bucks, right off the side of the road. A little later I noticed a small 2-point about 46 yards away...I almost didn't even notice the buck standing about 15 yards behind him. I started to watch him feed through my binoculars and determined that he was good enough buck to stalk. I knew I had to be extra quiet since he had a smaller buck with him who would definitley let im know I was there. After a quick and quiet stalk, I managed to get within 32 yards of this deer. I waited for him to take one more step forawrd and to the right...if he did so he would be right in the center of my shooting lane covered with pine limbs and quakie's. With an arrown already knocked I was waiting for the right moment...finally it came. I drew back, put my 30 yard pin on his motor...and before I knew it I had an arrow in the air and on it's way. With an 80lb. draw wieght and an arrow speed of 307fps...it didn't take my arrow long to do it's job. I seen my little black arrow and 85 grain 'ThunderHead' hit the buck and heard it it some brush behind him. Even though I knew my arrow was on the mark..I thought that I had missed because the deer didn't act like he had just been hit. He calmly walked about 25 yards from the location of the shot, and tipped over. He died without any struggle or fight, which made my job a lot easier by not having to wait 15 minutes from him to die. After we'd found my arrow and walked up to the buck...I was pleasantly suprised. I knew he was only a 3x3...but a very decent 3x3. We measured the buck at 24" wide and about 20" tall...not a monster or record by any means, but a very solid archery buck! I harvested this animal at 7 a.m. and by 11 a.m. was hanging him up at my friends meat shop/ taxidermy studio 100 miles away to be worked on. Completeley dresses without the cape and head, the buck weighed 140lbs...which would've made him a 200lb. buck on the hoof. There were a lot of bigger deer on that unit than the buck I had taken...but I could'nt pass up a perfect shot like the one he presented me with. I'm happy with him and I can't wait until next season!
I need to thank everyone who was involved with me and helped me to bag this good buck:
-My dad (Troy Bentley)
-My Father-in-Law (Vance Brown)
-My Good friend (Kenderick Wilson)
-The Crew (Jakes's Archery & Hot-Shot Release Co. -- Orem, Utah)
Thanks again to everybody for all of their help and support. Later, Brad Bentley.
