browtine
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LAST EDITED ON Oct-29-16 AT 08:38AM (MST)[p]
Back in January I put in for the book cliffs with 11 points. I'm more of an elk nut and coming off the waiting period I wanted to use those points. I ended up drawing the book cliffs north rifle and the plan was using Utah's "Mentor" program to let my 16 year old son Oakley, fill the tag. I was hoping he would have a lot of opportunities and just sort through deer until he found the one he wanted.
Fast forward to the hunt. We had never stepped foot on the book cliffs prior to October 21st. I made some phone calls to friends during the summer to get an idea of where they suggested we start. A lot of great advise was given and I'll be forever grateful. We used the night before the hunt to glass from vantage points and look over lots of country.
Day 1 and 2, we found lots of deer and several bucks.
and this freak 3x2.
We sorted through what seemed like an endless amount of deer. It really was an amazing experience to see so many. We heard a few shots and by day three could see the camps starting to pull out.
Day 3 found us again glassing. We had hiked in to vantage points and looking over a ton of country. More and more deer seemed to be moving in.
On day 3 we found the right buck. We watched as he fed with other smaller bucks and does in to the cedars and bed down. We put on an hour and a half stalk to get within 200 yards..
We had the buck bedded and Oakley was just setting up when the buck jumped out of his bed and took off. I didn't think we had spooked him and just then I could hear people talking. Off to our left we saw three other hunters set up on where the buck had been and they were watching him too. We decided to go over and talk to them. They had been hunting the buck for the past couple of days. We talked for a while and Oakley decided we would back out of the area and let them hunt the deer. They were extremely grateful and I was pretty proud of him for making such a tough decision. Those guys stopped by camp two nights later after taking the buck. Congrats to them!
The next couple of days we looked over bucks and bucks....
The rut was kicking in! We hunted hard looking over country and deer until the morning of the 6th day. From a couple miles away we spotted this buck.
We decided to get a closer look after he disappeared out of site in to the canyon. We figured he had bedded down. After a long couple of hours stalking in to the buck, we were within 100 yards of him bedded. We looked over the Buck and Oakley decided he was the one. He shot the buck right in his bed at 80 yards and the rest is history! I couldn't be more proud as a dad and watching him follow right in my foot steps throughout this entire hunt will forever be part of my greatest memories.
Back in January I put in for the book cliffs with 11 points. I'm more of an elk nut and coming off the waiting period I wanted to use those points. I ended up drawing the book cliffs north rifle and the plan was using Utah's "Mentor" program to let my 16 year old son Oakley, fill the tag. I was hoping he would have a lot of opportunities and just sort through deer until he found the one he wanted.
Fast forward to the hunt. We had never stepped foot on the book cliffs prior to October 21st. I made some phone calls to friends during the summer to get an idea of where they suggested we start. A lot of great advise was given and I'll be forever grateful. We used the night before the hunt to glass from vantage points and look over lots of country.
Day 1 and 2, we found lots of deer and several bucks.
and this freak 3x2.
We sorted through what seemed like an endless amount of deer. It really was an amazing experience to see so many. We heard a few shots and by day three could see the camps starting to pull out.
Day 3 found us again glassing. We had hiked in to vantage points and looking over a ton of country. More and more deer seemed to be moving in.
On day 3 we found the right buck. We watched as he fed with other smaller bucks and does in to the cedars and bed down. We put on an hour and a half stalk to get within 200 yards..
We had the buck bedded and Oakley was just setting up when the buck jumped out of his bed and took off. I didn't think we had spooked him and just then I could hear people talking. Off to our left we saw three other hunters set up on where the buck had been and they were watching him too. We decided to go over and talk to them. They had been hunting the buck for the past couple of days. We talked for a while and Oakley decided we would back out of the area and let them hunt the deer. They were extremely grateful and I was pretty proud of him for making such a tough decision. Those guys stopped by camp two nights later after taking the buck. Congrats to them!
The next couple of days we looked over bucks and bucks....
The rut was kicking in! We hunted hard looking over country and deer until the morning of the 6th day. From a couple miles away we spotted this buck.
We decided to get a closer look after he disappeared out of site in to the canyon. We figured he had bedded down. After a long couple of hours stalking in to the buck, we were within 100 yards of him bedded. We looked over the Buck and Oakley decided he was the one. He shot the buck right in his bed at 80 yards and the rest is history! I couldn't be more proud as a dad and watching him follow right in my foot steps throughout this entire hunt will forever be part of my greatest memories.
