LAST EDITED ON Oct-16-17 AT 01:52PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Oct-16-17 AT 01:52?PM (MST)
Well with Utah getting tougher to draw and watching my boy go without a deer tag his second year, I've been playing the odds game to give them every opportunity I can to hunt. The North Slope Limited Entry is not the best unit to apply for considering you're hunting with every open bull hunter in the state but it's guaranteed draw so why not. We scouted it this summer seeing a few bucks in the high country knowing they'd move by the opener. With that being said we headed to camp a couple days early to try and turn something up. Opening morning found us hiking into an area we had seen some deer but apparently that was an elk hot spot because when the sun came up it sounded like World War 3 was starting. So we backed out and went to an area that we'd seen a few deer in. We seen 1 buck and the boys decided he needed to walk. A small 1x2 with a couple does so we headed back to camp. The evening hunt we went back to the same area with the entire family in tow. As I sat there teasing my youngest waiting for the deer to start moving, my wife about lost it. She started pointing and saying big buck. From where I was sitting I couldn't see him so my oldest boy jumped up and went to a better vantage point. As I moved to get closer he shot and I could see the buck and new he was hit well. He made his way to the buck and jumped up and down when he seen just how big he was. It ended up being a 24" 5x5 that scores 182 1/8. It's his biggest buck to date and it's a hunt that the whole family will remember.
Well with Utah getting tougher to draw and watching my boy go without a deer tag his second year, I've been playing the odds game to give them every opportunity I can to hunt. The North Slope Limited Entry is not the best unit to apply for considering you're hunting with every open bull hunter in the state but it's guaranteed draw so why not. We scouted it this summer seeing a few bucks in the high country knowing they'd move by the opener. With that being said we headed to camp a couple days early to try and turn something up. Opening morning found us hiking into an area we had seen some deer but apparently that was an elk hot spot because when the sun came up it sounded like World War 3 was starting. So we backed out and went to an area that we'd seen a few deer in. We seen 1 buck and the boys decided he needed to walk. A small 1x2 with a couple does so we headed back to camp. The evening hunt we went back to the same area with the entire family in tow. As I sat there teasing my youngest waiting for the deer to start moving, my wife about lost it. She started pointing and saying big buck. From where I was sitting I couldn't see him so my oldest boy jumped up and went to a better vantage point. As I moved to get closer he shot and I could see the buck and new he was hit well. He made his way to the buck and jumped up and down when he seen just how big he was. It ended up being a 24" 5x5 that scores 182 1/8. It's his biggest buck to date and it's a hunt that the whole family will remember.
