07 Buck

J

J_Dub1

Guest
This year was a different year for hunting. I drew an antelope tag, but was unsuccessful in drawing a southeastern deer tag. I have only ever hunted the southeast unit, and have had great success. When I got the results I decided to focus on the antelope hunt and save deer hunting for next year. Well, one day when I was working in Saint George on a whim I decided to buy a northern tag and give it a try. Not really having any expectations as I had never hunted this unit before. Didn?t get much time to scout as I was putting my efforts into the antelope hunt I had drawn. As the hunt approached, I did a little scouting on Google Earth and decided I would go aver near Whitney Reservoir and see what we could find over there. When the big day arrived, so did the big storm. When we got up to the pot I had decided to try there was some snow on the ground and a lot more coming. By 8 am it was snowing pretty hard. We saw a total of 8 deer all day, one may have been a little two point, but he was traveling too fast to get a good look. Spent most of the day in the truck trying to stay warm and dry. Not a real successful hunt, but we did see 12 moose, which was neat to see.
After the great hunting on the opener, I decided to head the other direction out west and see what we could find out there. We traveled about as far west in Utah as you can before entering Nevada. We had never been out this way before so we were going off the maps and Google Earth to find a spot to hunt. Early in the day we found a mountain pass with lots of signs of deer and elk, but not animals. We spent about four hours hiking around and looking for deer, with no success. Around lunch time we decided to head to the north end of the mountain range to see what we could find. As we were traveling we spotted a large herd of antelope, with some real monsters in the group. Boy I wished I had drawn this unit, they were some nice sped goats out there. Well after dinking around the north end for a while we decided to head back to the pass where we had been during the morning to see if something would come out of the juniper trees in the evening. We arrive at the pass around 4 pm and settled in to glass the hill sides until dark. From where we were you could easily pass between the west drainage and the east drainage without drawing much attention to yourself. We had been watching the east drainage for about a half hour when I got tired of the rock I was sitting on and decided to work my way over to the other side of the pass to see what was going on over there. As I come over the rise I spotted a deer feeding on the edge of a ravine. I quickly checked it out and noticed it was a doe, I could also see there was at least one other deer in a small group of junipers next to the doe. Luckily there was a large lone juniper between me and the two deer I spotted. I carefully worked my way to the large juniper making sure the tree was between me and the deer the whole time. When I arrived at the juniper I noticed a third deer in the bottom of the ravine. Another doe and she had spotted me. She had not spooked yet, but I could tell she was getting uncomfortable. I quickly moved into position to check out the two I had spotted on the other side of the ravine. As I looked them over with the binoculars I confirmed that first one was a doe, so I moved to the one that was standing in the trees. He was looking right at me, I could tell he was a nice deer but could not see how big he was because of the sun in the back ground and the fact that he was in the trees and shade. I thought he was going to be a good three point, so I decided to take him. I slowly took the gun off my shoulder and got into shooting position. He was facing directly towards me so I put the cross hairs on his chest and fired one round. After the shot I looked for where he was going to go, but didn't see anything, he had disappeared. The two does were confused and stammered around for a few seconds before taking off down the ravine. I continued to watch for the buck just incase he came out of the trees and I needed to take another shot. Nothing. I decided to work my way over to the group of trees where I shot and see what had happened. As I approached I could see that he had dropped right were he had been standing and had fallen behind some brush, that is why I could not see anything. Well as I arrived I was pleasantly surprised to see it was not a good three point but a lot better. All in all a great hunt, considering it was an over the counter public land hunt in an area I had never been in before. I think I may have a new area to hunt. Enjoy the pics.
J_Dub


472f9218690c54c2.jpg


472f9320716bb039.jpg


472f93c074ccd7ec.jpg
 
That is a great buck and story. I like that you went out and figured out the new area all on your own.

Tony
 

Click-a-Pic ... Details & Bigger Photos
Back
Top Bottom