LAST EDITED ON Feb-24-18 AT 09:58PM (MST)[p]As my rifle shot echoed off the canyon walls I saw the buck of my dreams drop dead less than one hundred feet from where my good friend Corby had seen and video-taped it for the first time two years earlier.
It all started one week before the 2013 rifle opener, when I received a text message from Corby, the text said that he had just found a huge buck while scouting with Tom, another good friend and hunting partner. Corby said the buck had cheaters on both sides and one cheater had a fork in it. Corby didn't have a tag in 2013 and I had already filled my tag during the muzzleloader hunt; however, we were both planning on helping Tom, my cousin John and our other good friend Paul try to get in on this buck. We also knew of another great buck in the area that we had trail camera pictures of, which we named ?Eddie?. We were hoping that someone in our party would get a shot at either buck.
Opening day found my hunting party and another hunter surrounding the canyon where the ?Cheater?s Buck? had been seen by Tom and Corby the evening before. Tom?s son and Paul?s brother also came along in hopes of finding any buck to put a tag on. Tom had a chance of taking a 250 yard off hand shot at the ?Cheater Buck? but didn't feel good about it. He didn't want to risk wounding and not recovering it. That would be the last time anyone of us would see that buck for the next two years. Another hunter ended up killed the "Eddie" buck a few hours into opening day just up canyon from us. He ended up being a 34" wide 8x7.
In 2014, we hoped to see how big the ?Cheater?s Buck? ended up. We set up several trail cameras in the same area as the year before but didn't get a single picture of him. In fact, we didn't get many pictures of bucks at all. I ended up spending most of my hunting season looking for another giant buck in a different part of the unit. Unfortunately, I never did find where he was hiding out.
When 2015 came around, most of my time during the archery and muzzleloader hunts was spent looking for one particular buck, that we had called the ?Bush Buck?. He was tall, heavy and had about a 25-26? wide frame. He had several cheaters and inline points on each side, making it look like he had a bush caught in his antlers. I never did get to see the buck live, only video that my friends had taken on a scouting trip. During the rifle opener, my cousin John and I went looking for a neat 4x7 with an 8? split cheater on its left side. Our friend Paul hunted one canyon over, looking for a great buck he had seen on the archery and muzzleloader seasons and our other partners hunted another mountain. John ended up getting the buck with the 8? split cheater and my other hunting partners struck out on the opener. I made plans with my friend Tom to hunt together on the following Tuesday. We decided to look for a buck he saw during the archery hunt. Tom had only seen a side view of the running buck and could tell it had cheaters on each side but couldn't tell how wide it was. Our plan was to have Tom start hiking an hour before me on the opposite side of the canyon and I would slowly work my way up canyon towards his location. Hopefully, I would be able to push a few nice bucks past him as they tried to use their escape routes.
About thirty minutes after sun up I was working my way up canyon, side hilling the ridgeline. I went back and forth looking into each canyon adjacent to the ridgeline I was on. I finally spotted a deer with no visible antlers, so I kept glassing the surrounding area. Then I saw it: a buck?s face with wide, sweeping antlers. I instantly knew it was a really big mature buck but it was hard to see much detail because of where he was bedded. I quickly sat down and pulled my tri-pod and spotting scope out of my pack and got a better look at the majestic buck across the canyon with his snow white muzzle and charcoal forehead. I could see several cheaters on each side and knew the buck was well over 30? wide. I quickly ranged it at 425 yards but with a strong 20+ MPH down canyon wind, I felt uncomfortable with the shot and knew I could get closer. If I could get to the other side of a small draw between me and the buck, I would be in a good position to shoot. I quickly packed up my stuff and snuck back over the ridgeline out of sight. I tried to get hold of Tom on the phone but he had no signal at his location. I tried my two way radio but the batteries were about dead. I was able to use a tree to keep between me and the buck until I was 325 yards away. I couldn't get any closer, so I set up for a shot. Using a dead tree for a shooting rest, I put my video camera on a monopod, which I leaned against the tree to film the event. When I took the first shot, the tree shook violently. At the shot, the buck stood up in his bed and looked very intently up canyon. I'm guessing the bullet must have clipped a branch, sending it somewhere up canyon. I settled down, checked the camera, and squeezed the trigger again. This time the buck dropped in its bed and was dead within seconds. After gathering up my things, I called my wife and told her I had just shot a really big buck. She commented that it must be really big because of the excitement in my voice. Without even seeing it up close, I told her it was by far the biggest buck I had taken in my life and I would surely want to get it mounted. I thought it had 6 or 7 points on each side. After I hung up with her, I called my cousin John to see if he could get off work and come help me pack it out and enjoy my success. Even though it was nearly four hours to my location, John didn't hesitate to come and bring a radio with fresh batteries, so we could make contact with Tom.
When I reached my buck, I couldn't believe it--he was even bigger than I had thought! I took some pictures using a tri-pod with the self-timer, then started to cape and bone it out. While I was capping my buck, I heard a crashing sound somewhere down canyon. A little while later, another louder crashing sound echoed off the canyon walls. It was the sound of a big boulder bouncing to the bottom of the canyon just a few hundred yards away. I knew it must be someone rolling rocks trying to scare deer out into the open. I yelled out, ?Hey, someone?s down here,? letting them know where I was at. I didn't hear another rock roll after that.
A few minutes after I yelled, Tom finally got a cell signal and called me. I explained where I was and filled him in on the action. Tom and John arrived at my location about ten minutes apart. We all came to the same conclusion--I had without a doubt killed the ?Cheater?s Buck?. We took more pictures and finished up deboning the deer. After splitting up the meat between us, we started off the mountain. As we crossed the canyon and looked back, we saw two guys standing on the ridgeline in the same area where I heard the rocks rolling earlier. By the time we got back to our vehicles, it was a couple hours before dark. We had seen eight other hunters in the same area and later found out that three of them were specifically hunting my buck. It's hard to believe that this deer was able to survive the extreme hunting pressure the area had received the past few years.
In many ways, I feel like my buck?s days on the mountain were numbered; I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I am so grateful for the hunting partners that I have. They are very unselfish and always willing to help others out, even at the expense of missing out on hunting time of their own. I have found several very nice bucks while scouting and hunting over the years but this is one special buck, which I probably wouldn't have been able to harvest without the help of my good friends. The buck ended up being a 10 x 8 and 37? wide. When people ask me what it scored, I answer ?100% in my book,? although many people guess somewhere in the 215-220? range.
She had cut the tendon and they had to wrap the hand all the way up to about the middle of her forearm. 
