early kaibab buck

H

huntmancam

Guest
Finally after getting some images uploaded off the camera, I thought I would share a couple of my brothers early kaibab hunt. First, I have to thank everyone that helped out and shared some great info. Also, I spoke to the wildlife manager up there(Todd) and he sure was a great help. I have ran into some great and not so great wildlife managers and by far Todd was the biggest help and a great guy.

On to the hunt...We were up there since the day before the opener and was going to stay for the whole hunt. We did have a job in the Verde Valley Tuesday and Wednesday so other then missing those two days we were hunting. We were also camping with a group of 10 with me being the only one without a tag. So, I was guiding my brother and another close buddy for it was there first big game hunt.

Opening morning we found ourselves glassing up nothing but does. The spot we were glassing seemed very promising but for some reason the bucks just weren't taking that route. We saw 16 does that first morning. This continued for the next couple of days however we did come across a couple smaller bucks in which we either didnt want to shoot or only showed their selves for a few moments.

Tuesday and Wednesday came around and we found ourselves working hard(or hardly working and thinking about the hunt) in the verde valley. After a long day Wednesday we got up to the Kaibab around midnight and jumped into the trailer for a nice couple hours of sleep.

When we got up there that night we saw that 3 of our friends tagged out, one of them being a very nice 4 point. Also for now on it would be only my brother and I hunting as our other buddy I was guiding headed home. So, Thursday morning we were in the same spot as we were on opening morning and just like opening morning nothing but does. Finally we decided this just aint the spot so we hiked back to the truck and decided to go down acouple more canyons and see what kind of activity was going on over there. After glassing a couple different areas we still were spotting does.

As we were driving out of the area to go back to camp I decided to pull over and glass a hill side real quick. By this time it was 11am and with 2 days left to hunt we were feeling the pressure. But what do you know, I glassed up a nice buck at over 450 yards bedded down. I could tell it was a large 2 point on his left side but couldnt tell what he was on the right. I asked my brother what he wanted to do and he said lets go for it. So we snuck up about 50 yards before we noticed he was standing up and not liking his situation. So I told my brother its go time and he sat down, put the gun on the sticks, and let it fly. Whack! I saw the buck stumble behind a bush where we couldnt see. At first we thought it was game over but 20 seconds later that buck was starting to head up hill. So I told my brother to let er fly again. Miss. Two more misses and the buck went over the top of the canyon. I wasnt 100% sure this buck was done for so our thought was to get over there as fast as we can and see what we could find.

We knew there was a road over there so we jumped in my truck and headed over there. As we were driving over there what do you know, a nice 4 point crosses the road 60 yards in front of us. After seeing no shooters this whole trip, we see a big one right after we shot this buck. But without hesitation we kept driving with our minds on the buck that my brother just shot.

We get to the area searching for a certain tree that we marked as a reference point. As we are going through some very thick stuff we hear something down below us crashing through the thick stuff. First I thought it was our deer and told my brother get ready to shoot. Well what do you know again, a monster 5 point comes out 60 yards in front of us. Someone had to be testing our ethics cause if I wasnt raised the way I was, there would have been a total of three deer shot at. This 5 point was the biggest deer that I have ever seen. I havent seen many big deer during my hunting career but this deer was by far the biggest.

So, we finally get to our reference point and right away find blood. Lots of blood and I knew this deer wasnt going far. After 60 yards of tracking, my brother and I see more then we saw in our binos. This deer was a 2X4. An awesome unique buck especially for my brothers first hunt and first deer. We called him home depot. From there we enjoyed the view and most of all enjoyed the time spent together. Great hunt. Great experience(for my brother as well as myself). Couldnt have asked for anything more

Thanks for listening to my long story. Hope you guys enjoyed it. You just can't beat an experience like that.

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Good story and nice first buck!

Glad to see you guys stayed on the original buck until you found him. There's a lot of scumbags who would have been blazin' at the two other bucks jumped in the process.
 

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