my dedicated year!

hhunter23

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so far this year i only drew my dedicated hunter permit. so i have a good deer season ahead of me. i will probably buy a spike tag or general bull and also put in for an antler-less tag.

I should draw wyoming, according to odds i have 100% chance... but who knows. thats the hunt im most excited about. new country big deer and hopefully i get to tag out.

I also get to tag along with my brother in law to hunt the paunsaugunt rifle deer this year. im pretty excited for that tag.

so over all its shaping up to be a busy fall. im staying in shape by hitting the gym 3 times a week and playing both softball and basketball once a week.

My goal this year is to try and top my 2012 buck he ended up being real close to 200 but didnt quite pass the mark. should be tuff but im all in this year!!

My 2012 buck.


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here is my 2012 buck

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i went and shot my rifle the other day at a buddies range. the first picture is 500 yards and the second is 600. my max range is 700, although i don't care to take a shot that long on a deer its still fun to shoot targets and maybe a coyote that far. my rifle set up is a series 1 weatherby vanguard, chambered in .270 win. it has been glass bedded and has a timney trigger installed. the scope is a Leupold VX-ii 3-9x40 LR duplex. i had the CDS turret installed and calibrated to my ballistics. its a good shooter and i have loved this set up. ill get my bow out soon and start shooting that again and post some pictures of that also.

500 yard 3 shot group
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600 yard 3 shot group
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well Wyoming just posted their results and looks like ill be hunting Region G! i cant wait. this is the first year that i will be hunting Wy. with my own tag. man i am pumped!! also im not sure if i mentioned it or not that my wifes little cousin drew cache antelope tag so we have that one also. its going to be a great year!!


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i finally got a few cameras up in my hunting area. im planing on going a few times this week to set one more camera and to glass one area. ill be sure to take pictures and post them. im still shooting my bow every day usually. im pretty confident in my archery skills, i just have to get close enough now.

this is our camp as of two weeks ago. im sure its melted now.
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LAST EDITED ON Jul-10-14 AT 01:13PM (MST) by Founder (admin)[p]i found this guy last night while checking some cameras. he seems pretty wide and might be a great archery buck!



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here is a little video that i did this morning.



the first two cameras were a bust.... first camera had 450 pictures of small 4 points. not mature bucks. although on the second camera we get this two point that we have been seeing for 3 years now. he is very distinct and doesn't seem to change much. here is a picture of him.

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the last camera showed some potential. we have two possible shooters for archery and muzzy tags, but i might pass with the rifle. here is the best buck so far.

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got out and did some glassing and set a few more cameras. found a good buck that has some good mass. i would like to watch him and see what he turns into come archery hunt, he is probably pretty close to being done growing, but he might put on another inch or two. here is that video


also here is a few more deer that i videoed. nothing big but i like to watch deer so enjoy.



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Im headed to wyoming this weekend. ive got two areas i want to check out but will probably only hit one this weekend and the other later. hopefully i can show some horn porn when i get back.

Utah is going good. i have a few cameras out right now working for me and ill check them next weekend. hopefully ill have a good buck on one of them i can chase on the 16th.




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well i made it back from a short trip in Wyoming we did one night and one morning. we saw about 30 different bucks with 3 shooters. i have one that i will try and find next time i make it up. i got a lot of video of him but will share this clip as it is probably the cleanest. we saw this buck that night and in the morning. the buck is 0ver 1500 yards away so its a little fuzzy and it was late at night when i videoed him. he is a 4 point main frame with an inline on both sides. inlines are something i have always wanted in a buck so he would be VERY hard for me to pass up. here is the video.

without further ado: the Backscratcher buck.


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i made it out saturday for some scouting and checking cameras. my cameras only seemed to produce elk.... im not having great luck with my trail cameras this year and seem to be doing better glassing and getting video of bucks. i was able to find the bigger utah buck again and got some good footage of him. we also saw two other bucks, but i wont pursue them.

[youtube]www.youtube.com/embed/5m7YAIS24tI?list=UUSV-77sV4dLED-sQegEqU5g[/youtube]


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well this weekend was a little frustrating. this is honestly the first time i can say i had a rough hunt in utah. between people everywhere and a herd of sheep getting involved i was kinda discouraged. we were able to find some deer to look at and an elk or two. we never found the buck i was after and never found one for my buddy. ill head back up this week in pursuit of him and hopefully ill be able to see him again. no pictures worthy of posting...


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not much to report. i had a weekend full of honey do's.. ill head back to wyoming part of this weekend and hunt the other half in utah. we will see how it goes??!


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i got out and did some hunting/scouting. we found a few bucks but nothing i wanted to shoot. i have noticed they are starting to rub their velvet off a little. i will hunt it one last time this Friday-Saturday and then its off to Wyoming for my G tag. ill make a good picture infested post of that hunt, and hopefully with a field photo of the backscratcher buck.

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i made it out a bit this last weekend. stalked a decent 3x4 that i got video of, i also pulled 3 cameras. i saw the biggest buck of my life while checking my last camera.... all i can say is cheaters and drop tine..... ill try and hunt him with my muzzy and see what happens. here is the link to the video.


Also here is a really good typical we have been hunting, i posted pictures of him earlier in this thread, but here he is fully grown. he has great length and an awesome frame!

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this weekend i help my wife's cousin try and kill an antelope. then its off to Wyoming. ill try and video and take lots of pictures. stay tuned hopefully my next post will have field pictures!!



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well im back from wyoming and from the antelope hunt. everything went great!

saturday morning:
5:00 AM my buddy chet and wifes cousin dillon leave my house headed for the east side of bear lake. we were all pretty fired up about this antelope hunt and how fun its going to be. as we were driving i asked dillon what he was looking for, and he said a decent buck. none of us had really hunted antelope up to this point so a decent buck was probably the first one we see. we turned down a dirt road and were only on the road for maybe 5 minutes when i spot a buck on the skyline only 50 yards of the road. only it was 6 am and was WAY too dark to shoot. i backed down the road away from him so we wouldnt spook him too bad. we found a good spot to make out stalk and parked and we waited for what seemed like forever. it was finally time to make our move. we slowly moved around the knoll and glassed as we moved and crept through the sage. we crested the knoll and couldnt see him anywhere. so we moved to another point that would look over another bowl that he couldve went down. sure enough there he was at 519 yards, way too far for dillon. so we backed down the knoll and moved around to a better vantage point. we crested and were at 188 yards. PERFECT! only he had us pegged and was facing us straight on. i told him to wait a minute to see if he will turn. the buck never turned and i asked if he was comfortable with a chest shot like that. he said yes. so i said whenever your ready. at that he shot and the buck dropped! the only thing i said was "Done". as we walked up to him we realized he was bigger than we thought. and that his shot was "a little" high... right in the bridge of the nose... but after the skin and cape job. the 243 didnt break the skull so will have an awesome euro mount. i pulled my phone out and looked at the time. 6:50 AM. all this went down before 7! it was a good time and we had a great short quick hunt. we scored him at 75" which didnt even matter because of how much fun it was. but he did kill the first and only buck we saw. we were home by 9:45. he was excited to say the least.

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Wyoming!

we headed out around 11:00 after helping get the antelope skinned and hung. we rolled into the area about 3:00 after a stop in afton to say high to relatives.
we didnt camp too far from the truck the first night and had a great view of the basin we wanted to hunt.
our view from the living room.

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that night we videoed some good bucks including the backscratcher buck that i was after.


here we are glassing and having a good time together. im on the right my buddy chet to the left.

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sunday morning we videoed and watched the two big bucks again until they bedded for the day and packed up and moved camp up the canyone a mile or two. we got things set up and headed up to start glassing for the night hoping to see the two big'ns again. on our way up chet spotted a bear up the mountain from us. it was a sow with 3 cubs! that was really neat to see and watch her for a minute. we got to the top and the bear came back and we got to video her.


that night we did not see the two big bucks but a lot of other good deer. not much pictures of them or video because i was looking for the big buck and didnt want to take the time to set up.

opening day!

its finally here! we were up early and ready to go. we hiked to the top of the ridge and started seeing bucks within minutes of sitting down. i spotted the backscratcher buck bedded with his buddy at 850 yards. WAY too far for me. i was in the process of trying to figure out my best route to get to him when they both spooked and took off headed away from us. chet than says backscratcher just got shot! i said "WHAT!!" and watched him roll down the hill, then i heard the shot. i was absolutely sick! i was so shooken up i wasnt sure what to do... i started to look for the big 3x4 that was with him but we could never locate him. i was bummed, wind taken right out of my sail. trike kicked in the ditch.... i do want to say congrats to the lucky hunter. you killed a hell of a buck. we decided to look for the inline 4 we called him. he was a buck we had dubbed the 3rd choice buck. well we saw him on someones pack headed down the mountain also. man!! we were striking out left and right. we got to talk to the guys who killed him and they were great guys. congrats to the lucky hunter.

we then take a lunch break and try and decide what to do, we were so undecided on what to do. we finally decided to wait it out and sit all day on the ridge and glass our eyeballs out. we did just that, but not for very long.

i spotted a buck to the south of us that was laying at the base of a pine sunning himself. we looked him over and decided he was a good buck and that everything was set up perfectly. he was bedded facing away from us and was currently at 565 yards. we packed up and closed the distance to 400, then to 375 where i was finally comfortable to take the shot. first shot missed and made him stand and turn perfectly broadside. second shot hit him and knocked im right down! i was pumped and stood and looked at chet who was still looking at him through the spotter. i asked, "is he dead" he said "ya" i was pumped first wyoming buck down at 2:00pm. we got to him and saw that he rolled down a steep ravine and ended up breaking his skull plate and his back fork (G2&G3)off. i found the points and started taking pictures. not the biggest but a trophy in my book. he rough scored 171.

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excuse the width, i was trying to manage holding the deer from rolling with my leg, holding the broking tines in place with my left hand and hold the width right with my right hand... ha ha talk about juggling act.

we had him quartered out and back to came in an hour and 20 minutes.

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we decided to pack up and head out the 4 miles or so to my truck. my pack ended up weighing 95 lbs with out my rifle. over 100 with my rifle.

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a huge thanks to chet! he was awesome during the whole weekend and helped a ton during the whole hunt. his pack was 85 lbs. and i never heard one complaint from him! you are an awesome friend!


next week we are headed up for the muzzy hunt! check back for more hunting adventures!















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utah muzzy opener!

I took the day off and hunted all day solo. i hunted one of my favorite basins and saw 17 bucks that morning. the best being a 170 class 4 point with a big hook cheater on his right G3. he was a very cool and tempting buck, but i was hunting 2 particular deer. i did get to assist a guy and his boy in spotting and directing his son to a buck that he ended up shooting right in his bed. it was way cool start for the day. i stayed glassing until 11 or so. i ate lunch around 12:30 and started glassing for some bedded bucks or for a few movers. i struggled to find mcuh deer the rest of the day. i did see a lot of elk and a few bull moose. i ended up putting about 15 miles on my feet and got back to my truck at 10:30. it was a good day and i had fun. i didnt take many pictures as i was concentrated on finding a good buck to hunt. ill head back out saturday morning for half a day as i have other commitments i have to do.
thanks for following along!!


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sorry for the delay! i made it out a few times for the muzzy hunt. i had a chance at a really nice buck one night that i went with my buddy, but i missed him. this is the first year ive hunted with a muzzy, so i am still learning the gun. i mostly hunted with my boy who is 5, we didn't hunt too hard but they were better than most hunts because i got to share it with him! he LOVES hearing the bulls bugle! so we played mostly with bugling back and forth with the elk. i did see one buck with him. i asked him if he wanted me to shoot, but he said "no, he is too small daddy. don't shoot him". that was the last night and i was headed to the uintas for the general bull hunt the very next day.


we headed out friday october 3rd for our trail head. me my brother in law and his dad and two horses. we finally arrived at the trail head a few hours later. we got the horses loaded up and started towards our camp. everything went without a hitch. we got things set up just in time to see if we can find an elk or two. we saw a few cows and heard a lot of bugles, so we were excited that the elk were in the area. right out of camp was a moose that hung around all weekend. here he is.

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not a huge bull but he was fun to watch and see.

opening morning!!

Saturday finally rolled around and we were excited to get out to hunt. i hunt this general bull hunt just for the meat. so i was going into it with the attitude of, if it has antlers im shooting. well at 8:00 i got my wish and was able to connect on a very up close shot at a mere 25 yards. i whacked me a spike!

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right after i shot him, there was a bull that started bugling within a few hundred yards, so i told my bro-in-law to keep hunting and ill get him quartered out and ready for the horses.
they kept hunting and i got the spike taken care of and went back to camp for the horses. everything packed back to camp fine and i was done by noon. my bro-in-law and his dad kept hunting all weekend until monday morning with only a couple chances that slipped past with out any shots being taken. kind of a bummer, but we filled one tag and still had a great hunt and an awesome weekend.

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the pack out.

Next up is rifle deer here in utah. im going to try and take a few more pictures of our camp and us while hunting. no guarantees though, i tend to get too caught up with the hunt that i never take time to take pictures.
Thanks for following along!




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October 17.

me and two buddies packed into our usual camp spot that we have hunted from for the last 4 years. this has been a very good spot for us and has produced some awesome memories. we left at 2:00 pm and got to camp before dark.
Hiking into camp. Austin on the left. me in the middle and Chet on the right.
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after getting set up and relaxing for a minute we cooked some dinner and talked about past hunts in and getting our anticipation up a little for the mornings opener.
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after we went to bed Austin informed us of his "snoring" problem.... i was thinking oh, he probably only snores if he is on his back or something... boy was i wrong! if that kid is asleep.. he is snoring no matter what sleeping position he was in.... we didn't catch much sleep that night. we were all VERY happy when the alarm went off, although i don't think any of us needed it.

we talked a little about what everyone's goal was for a buck to shoot and Austin wanted a decent 4 point, Chet is originally from Idaho, so this would be his first buck in Utah. he wanted a 4 point also. i decided that i was looking for a fun hunt with friends and that i didn't want size or numbers to get involved. so i told them that if it feels right and is a good situation i was going to fill my tag.

opening morning we got to our ridge and split up. Chet continued down the ridge about 100 yards from me and Austin. we glassed some small bucks right off and then found a cool 4 point that Austin ended up pursuing. we met up with Chet and showed him the buck that was feeding 1000+ yards from us. Austin headed off towards the buck in a roundabout way as to not spook him. me and Chet continued glassing and found a lot of different deer. nothing that really caught Chet's eye until we glassed a 4 point a ways away that we both liked. we watched the buck awhile as he and his 6 buddies fed about. in the bachelor heard there was the 4 point with, what looked like a cheater off his left antler. 2 3 points. and a couple small 2x3's and 2 points. we were trying to decide what to do and i kept asking Chet if he wanted to shoot the cheater buck. he never would give me a for sure answer. two other hunters ended up pushing the deer right to us. the shot at the one deer and after deciding that they missed after checking for blood, they headed off. well the deer continued to walk right to us. from 1000+ yards away they made their way to 230 yards. Chet finally decided he wanted to shoot the 4 point after i said to him, "if you shoot that 4 point with the cheater, ill shoot the 3 point". that got him excited so he got his gun ready and i said the 3rd buck and just then he stopped and Chet smoked him. down he went. the two deer in front of his buck bolted. the two 3 points behind him just stood there. so i grabbed my rifle and asked Chet which one! he said the one right by that rock. i found him and found his shoulder and boom. two dead deer within seconds of each other. 20 yards apart!

we doubled up!! we couldnt get a hold of austin as he decided not to pursue the buck we glassed for him. which turned out to be a good thing with two on the ground already. 3 wouldve been too much where we were. we got down to the deer and started taking pictures and gutting them.

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Austin showed up just as we got them gutted and started to quarter and bone them out. it was a grueling pack out. my pack weighed 95lbs. and Chet's was 90lbs. Austin didnt have a pack that could support much weight so he got off with both our back straps and inner loins.

over all it was a great hunt and so much fun! i was so happy for chet to finally kill a decent buck that i felt like thats what its about. he has hunted hard and been so persistent and it finally paid off! congrats Chet!

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its time to close my HAC. i went 3 for 3 this year. a Wyoming buck a Utah buck and a Utah spike. i filled the freezer and have a ton of jerky. i enjoyed the HAC and enjoy reading others. thanks for following along and reading my adventures. pretty average and nothing special, but i had fun and did my best! thanks and good luck on future hunts!

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