Wiszard
Long Time Member
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- 10,891
I shot this buck at the top of Little Valley on the 4th day of the hunt. I had passed on him 2 days prior to me killing him on Tuesday evening. He was with 4 does and was rutting pretty good. When I first saw him, he was skylined, standing on a rocky outcropping with his nose in the air sniffing. It was a pretty cool sight. He was about 385 yards. I knew I could get closer to I backed off out of sight and popped up a bit up the hill from him. I got prone, bipod out, scope cranked up to 10X just watching him feed towards me. I debated for half an hour whether or not to shoot this buck. At one point, I had sat up deciding to pass on him again. I found myself back on the ground in the same position ready to pull the trigger, he was 260 yards at this point....just waiting for him to turn broadside. He finally did and put one right behind the shoulder. He ran towards me about 60 yards, stopped, did a little dance and tumbled down the hill landing in a thicket of buckbrush. I originally thought he was a 3x3 so I was a bit surprised when I got down there to him. I snapped some pics and got to work. Field dressed him and pulled him down the hill to the bottom of the canyon. drug him another 300 yards to the nearest ATV trail to pick him up. I hiked up to my quad where I ran into a couple of guys who offered to help me get him out (Mike, a red head who had won his tag at the Expo, and another guy named Kolby). I want to thank them for their help as they had two little kids with them and they could have not offered to help. I was by myself on this hunt so I was very appreciative for their help. We got the buck back to my camp where I skinned him out on a tarp. I worked on him until about 10:30 that night. Got him in my truck and went to bed. It snowed that night which really helped keep him cool. I ran him into Garys meats the next morning where they put me first in line for processing. My meat was ready Thursday morning. I headed home.
On the second day, I hunted the cedars on the north end of Little Valley and passed on a 24-25" 3x2. That was probably the highlight of my trip as I NEVER pass on deer. I had lots of time to access that deer and really enjoyed just watching him leave after passing on him. In hindsight, I should have shot that buck as he was the biggest buck I saw on the hunt. I found out the next night that a guy had gut shot the buck, bumped him out of his bed and never found him. That made my heart sink as I came back to try to find that buck and kill him.
This hunt was not what I had expected. it seemed everyone I talked to just werent seeing the bigger bucks. I saw a handful of small bucks being taken simply because the big ones werent being found. I need to thank a lot of guys for the advice and help they gave me prior to the hunt. Thanks to Seth King, Darrell Holden, Taylor Edwards, Mike Dutson, Danny Karren, Travis Ryan, travismadden.......and I'm sure I'm missing a few others. I thank you all for taking the time to make my hunt successful.
Here are some pics of my hunt....
Steve
Holder of a 2012 LE Utah Deer Tag!!
On the second day, I hunted the cedars on the north end of Little Valley and passed on a 24-25" 3x2. That was probably the highlight of my trip as I NEVER pass on deer. I had lots of time to access that deer and really enjoyed just watching him leave after passing on him. In hindsight, I should have shot that buck as he was the biggest buck I saw on the hunt. I found out the next night that a guy had gut shot the buck, bumped him out of his bed and never found him. That made my heart sink as I came back to try to find that buck and kill him.
This hunt was not what I had expected. it seemed everyone I talked to just werent seeing the bigger bucks. I saw a handful of small bucks being taken simply because the big ones werent being found. I need to thank a lot of guys for the advice and help they gave me prior to the hunt. Thanks to Seth King, Darrell Holden, Taylor Edwards, Mike Dutson, Danny Karren, Travis Ryan, travismadden.......and I'm sure I'm missing a few others. I thank you all for taking the time to make my hunt successful.
Here are some pics of my hunt....
Steve
Holder of a 2012 LE Utah Deer Tag!!
