Once in a Lifetime in 2013

SageHunter29

Active Member
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126
This year started like any other year. I get really excited thinking of all of the possibilities for hunts that I could potentially draw. I struck out in Arizona for Elk first, and then I struck out for all four of the species I applied for in New Mexico. Next up was Utah... On the 14th of May I checked my bank statement to see a pending charge for my usually 40.00$ Deer hunt, but underneath that was something that made me start to shake. I had a pending charge for 513.00$. I hurried and checked to see if that could possibly be my Antelope Island Deer hunt ( I also put my brother in for the draws) , but needless to say- it was not. IT WAS A SHEEP TAG!

At first, I was positive that I had drawn my Once-In-A-Lifetime Desert Sheep Tag, but I quickly remembered I had also put my little brother in for a Rocky Bighorn. So needless to say I was stuck not knowing whether I had a tag, or my brother did. Honestly I was happy either way. And the more I thought about it I thought I would rather it be my brother's tag. I've been lucky enough to draw some great tags across the West over the last few years, and really wanted my brother to have a good hunting experience so he could catch the hunting bug that I've got. I knew it was either Escalante for me or Antelope Island for my brother. I somehow hoped that I would be finding out sooner than May 31st, but the DWR stuck pretty close to the date and made me suffer for a little more than two weeks. Let me just say this, it was the longest wait of my entire life. I knew we both had about the same odds, I had 5 points going into the draw, and he had 4 (Sorry to all of you who have been applying for 20 years). So when it came down to it we both were looking at about a 0.2% chance of drawing. I spent the next couple weeks researching hunts on the Escalante, and finding out it was one of the toughest hunts there is. I looked at several pictures of the desolate, but beautiful country, and also I had decided regardless of the draw I needed to go see this place.

On May 29th I was notified that some people were getting emails. I was hitting refresh throughout the day with no luck. I ended up having to leave for class about 5 and got home a little after 8 that night. I was pretty sure I would have the email by then, so I called my brother and told him I wanted to open the email while he was on the phone. Once I got home I raced to the computer and jumped onto my email. There it was, the email I had been waiting for. The excitement really never left as I was once again shaking. I opened the email and to my surprise- it was me who drew the tag! My brother congratulated me, and I thanked him and told him sorry that it wasn't him. I knew this year would be one I would never forget.
 
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