2015 Utah rifle hunt, what a week!

ridgetops

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Some times I wonder why and are asked the same thing by others.
Why do I get up at 2 or 3 am, drive for hours and hike into the backcountry for several miles to the point my body hurts for days afterwards?
Hike into the backcountry during a mid-summer heat wave to get eaten alive by gnats and mosquitoes. Wait out a severe lightning storm under a tarp or poncho or have a close encounter with an anger rattle snake. Sprain an ankle or twist a knee miles from the closest trail head. Only to push through the pain and do it all again the following week. When I have a hunting season like this past one, then it's all worth it.

2015:
This year my hunting partners had some very close calls with some really nice bucks on the archery and muzzleloader hunts but it wasn't until the rifle hunt that things really came together. (Except for my cousin John's son, who shot a 20" wide 4x4 two days after he turned 12 on the muzzy hunt.)
During the rifle hunt I was able to help pack out four different big bucks, each being a minimum of 1.5 miles from the road.
Each was the biggest buck that the hunter had taken in their life.
 
Day 1, buck #1:
Opening day of the rifle hunt John and I hunted an area where I had seen a nice 4x7 two weeks earlier. This same buck had been seen by my friends Paul and Jason several times before and during the archery hunt but disappeared during the muzzleloader season.
I spotted the buck within a 100 yards of where I had seen it two weeks earlier and after it fed into some pines, I was able to push it out to my waiting cousin who made a great shot.
Paul was in the next canyon, which was loaded with people and he didn't see much at all.
The hike out in the rain and mud is so much more enjoyable when your carrying a big ole buck.
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Day 2: Buck #2

After recovering from the opening day pack out and getting things at work in order for the week--
A big decision needed to be made: Where to hunt on Tuesday?
Most of the mature bucks would surely be deep in hiding from the opening weekend onslaught.
I remembered that my friend Tom had seen a nice buck on the archery hunt. He didn't get a real good look at it but he said it looked big and had several cheaters.
This was a buck I felt we should try and get a better look at.
The plan was to have Tom hike up the far side of the canyon and get as high as possible, where we thought the bigger bucks may be hiding out. I would start out lower in the canyon and work my way up towards him several hours later.
I felt if one of us was to get a shot, there was about a 90% chance it would be Tom because of his location.
Amazingly, I found this buck bedded and was able to sneak within shooting range.
I shot at it in its bed and missed. I think my bullet may have hit a tree branch and deflected.
My second shot was true and the buck dropped dead in his bed. I'm sure glad I didn't have to try and shoot at it running away because I surely would have got buck fever.
I tried to call Tom on the radio but my batteries were dead from opening day and I forgot to change them out. I couldn't get hold of Tom on the phone either.
I was able to call my cousin John and he was able to get off work and drive the two hours and then hike in another hour and half to my location to help me pack it out. I asked John to bring his radio so he could try and get hold of Tom.
We finally made contact with Tom and it was awesome to have two good friends there to share my success with. If it wasn't for Tom seeing this buck on the archery hunt we probably would have hunted a different area.
Thanks again Tom and John.
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My buck was 37" wide and is a 9x8.
 
LAST EDITED ON Nov-15-15 AT 05:28PM (MST)[p]Day 3: buck #3.

I went back to work on Wednesday and put in a 12 hour day to get things in order, so I could take the rest of the week off.
This time my cousin John and I where going to try and find his wife Sheena a buck.
Her standards had suddenly risen with mine and John's success.
We planned on hunting some lower country that was a couple miles away from the roads.
It took about an hour to hike in.
We met a couple guys that were planning on hunting the same area but changed their plans do to us being there at the bottom of the canyon first.
I offered that we all could hunt the area but they declined and moved on. Even though they had seen a nice buck in there the night before.
that was pretty sportsman like of them, even thought I really didn't care if they hunted near us.
John and I split up to glass different areas but we both happened to see three bucks above a saddle about a mile away. There was a 2, 3 and 4 point. The 4 point looked a couple inches past his ears. We both thought it was about 24" wide.
John and Sheena ended up sneaking in on it and shot the buck in it's bed at about 80 yards.
The buck ended up being 28" wide with 24" ears.
Pretty amazing we could get three general season, public land bucks like these in three days of hunting.
All were the biggest bucks each of us had taken up to this point and my week wasn't over yet.
I had plans on hitting the Vernon unit the next day to help a neighbor friend on his hunt.
 
Why do we do it? The answer will be hanging on your wall in a few months. Congrats buddy.

Yelum

YBU

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For some reason I couldn't upload a picture of my cousins wife's buck earlier.
I kept getting a page that said there was a problem but it didn't say what the problem was. Weird.
Anyway, here it is.
4587sheenabuck2.jpg
 
Day 4: No buck

I took a neighbor friend George out to the Vernon unit. John also came along to help spot.
We headed out towards the winter range, which was a bad idea.
The deer hadn't migrated yet.
Although we were in a transition area, very few deer had moved through this area at all.
We only saw one small 4 point, which George was going to shoot later in the afternoon but we lost track of it.
So we went home discouraged and empty handed.
I had plans on helping some other friends on their general season hunts on Saturday but I needed to redeem myself and regain my self confidence.
My other friends understood and wished George and I luck in finding a good buck he would be happy with the next day.
 
Day 5: Buck #4

We ended up heading back to the deer's summer range just South of town.
We climbed about a 1/2 mile to a rocky point to glass from at first light.
In the first hour we only saw two bucks, one average sized 18" wide three point and a taller and a little wider 4 point.
A pair of coyotes spooked the 3 point and 5 or 6 does it was with(he was rutting too) to within 100 yards of us. It was a little tempting for George to take the shot but I assured him that the other buck was better and he would be happier with it.
The 4 point was over a mile away and we took out time and finally after a 2 mile stalk, we found ourselves 80 yards above the bedded buck. George made a perfect shot and killed the buck instantly in its bed.
It had taken us about 4 hours to get into position to shoot this buck because of where he ended up bedding.
It was a first of several things for George that day.
First spot and stalk success.
First time to bone out a deer, we were about 1 1/2 miles from the truck.
And it was his biggest buck to date.
Glad I was there to help out.
Congrats George.
What a week of deer hunting!!!

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ridgetops,
What an amazing week/year of hunting.
Hard work and dedication collided with fate.
Congratulations...your buck is a beast!
 
Thanks for the responses guys.
Here's video of the kill shot I took by myself.
I had my camera screwed onto a monopod, which was leaning up against a dead tree.
The same dead tree that I was shooting through and using as a dead rest. That's why the picture shakes so bad after the shot.
You can see the picture shakes a lot worse on the first shot, which is why I think the bullet may have hit an unseen branch on the same dead tree.
The 160 gr. accubond really performed well.




There's always next year
 
Your presentation was awesome, your efforts commendable, and you scored a monster buck! I'd say it don't get better than that!

Joey


"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
 

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