It was 1988 and I was 15 years old. It was the last day of the Utah general season deer hunt and my dad, my two uncle's and I decided to go for a last minute burn up the canyon.
There was 8" of fresh snow on the ground, it was snowing sideways, and the wind was blowing like crazy. My old man told me to get out of the truck and pointed up the canyon that is known to us as "buck knoll". He gave me and my uncle instructions to side hill up the canyon through a few mahogany patches and then to work our way down the canyon where he would meet up with us.
I thought he was crazy and that it quite possibly could be considered child abuse to kick your kid out of the truck in these conditions.
My uncle and i were slipping and sliding all the way up the canyon. My uncle had fallen in a rock slide and landed on his rifle. We were just getting to about 300 yards from the top when it happened. My uncle yelled "big buck" and pointed. He went to jack a shell in and his stock broke in half from the hard fall he had taken earlier (lucky for me). I was shooting an old 308 Savage lever action topped with a Redfield fixed 4X scope. Buck fever kicked in and the first 4 shots were clean misses. I remember thinking to myself this is your last shot you had better make it count. I squeezed off and the buck dropped. The shot was not fatal so i had to dig another shell out of my pocket. I remember shaking so badly that i dropped the shell two or three times in the snow before i could finally get it loaded and put my buck down for the count.
I looked over at my uncle to see if he had witnessed what had just taken place and vividly remember him standing there with his gun stock in one hand and his barrel in the other shaking his head.
It was quite a chore getting this buck off the hill. Finally i had got to the road and remember sitting there shaking from "buck fever" or quite possibly hypothermia while i was waiting for my Dad to come pick me up.
Right before dark my Dad had finally made his way back to me and had no idea what had taken place. When he saw the deer he was one proud Dad to say the least.
I won the High School big buck contest for the widest deer measuring just shy of 31", and won a 30-06 rifle.
This buck is definitely not the biggest buck i have taken but is definitely the most memorable. My life has revolved around mule deer hunting ever since this great day. There is definitely no cure for "buck fever"
