My 2013 Utah Archery Buck

UCNELK

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My 2013 Utah general season Archery deer hunt.

My season started out slow with work and other commitments keeping me from getting out hunting. My older brother had been taking his son out scouting and hunting an area where we grew up running around the hills. They had some success finding and hunting a number of deer during the opening weeks of the Utah archery hunt. I had put in for this area thinking it would be one of the easier draws and with the plan of hunting the Wasatch front later in the season. He convinced me to head down with them the third weekend of the hunt after hearing some of his stories about the bigger bucks he had been seeing. It seems like it had been raining for about 2 weeks prior to getting to the hunting area. My family and I pulled in to the camp spot with the rain still coming down. We got camp set up and my brother started to set up a plan for the evening hunt. We would take the four wheeler to a place where he had been seeing deer then start hiking up to and around a mountain peak. The rain had somewhat let up but the waist high grass was still soaking wet. It made for some quiet hiking but also for some wet clothes. We started out hiking together and then decided to split up. My nephew would stay up high and skirt the peak and I would drop down into the canyon and circle around with plans on meeting back at the trail head at dark. I have hunted this area most of my life and have never had the experience that I did that night. I don't know if it was the deer getting sick of hiding in the thick trees trying to get out of the rain or if the stars just happened to line up just right. Before the first night was over we counted 19 different bucks. We usually see a few deer and over the years my family has had a lot of luck but I have never experienced so many bucks in one afternoon of hunting this area. I found myself a few miles from the trail head with light fading fast. As I decided to stop glassing the bucks and start heading to the meeting place I realized I was drenched from head to toe and another storm seemed to be rolling in. As I began walking down the canyon I noticed two 2 points coming over the ridge to my left. I watched them as they came towards me and skirted the hill 45 yards away and slowed to a walk then disappeared into the thick forest just in front of them. I notice another buck on the opposite hill as I was waiting to see if anything else would come my way. Something caught my attention as I was watching the other buck I turned to see a 4 point come down the same trail that the 2 points had been on only moments before. I drew my bow hoping he would stop or at least slowdown in the same spot the other bucks had, to my luck he did. As he slowed I settled my 40 yard pin on him and took one step to the right to clear a tree branch and let the arrow fly. I heard the sound of impact and new that I must have hit it but with the fading darkness did not see the arrow and was not sure where it had hit. The buck immediately changed directions and disappeared into the trees. I went to the spot where he had been and could not find a drop of blood. After 10 minutes of looking around and questioning whether I had missed. I started following his tracks in the dirt and as I came to the last spot I had seen him I noticed the first sign of blood! The next 50 yards had blood everywhere. I decided to leave him until the morning so that I didn't jump him if he had bedded. I got the flash light out and followed him for a bit more to get an idea of what direction he was traveling. I was worried I would lose the blood trail if it continued raining that night. I headed to meet up with by nephew and come to find out they had shot at the bigger buck that was with mine and had pushed the deer over the hill to me. The next morning my wife and my three boys came with to find the deer. I hiked them into where I had shot the deer and as my 6 year old walked down the trail ahead of us started screaming that he found blood. I stayed back and watched as he would check the ground and find the next spot of blood. We followed the trail for about 75 yards from where I had first shot and the next thing I hear is my 6 year old scream there is the deer. He had only gone another 25 yards from where I left the trail the night before and had piled up on the back side of a downed tree. The hunt was more than I could ask for and having my family there to recover it with me was just icing on the cake. I think my little boy is part blood hound! This is my second deer with a bow and my biggest to date.
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LAST EDITED ON Nov-19-13 AT 06:46PM (MST)[p]http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos/5048rhett_1.jpg
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Fantastic that you had your family with you. I also appreciate how you propped your youngest up on the downed tree. :)
 
From what i know, this came from an area that rarely produces big bucks, but sounds, and looks like that could be changing. Glad UT got on the CO train... I think it will pay dividends in 3-5 years... Nice buck, for a girly man...
 

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