My Daughter drew Paunsaugunt rifle

257Tony

Long Time Member
Messages
4,165
My wonderful 20 year old daughter drew the Pauns rifle tag with 1 whole bonus point :oops:. Never hunted the unit before, obviously wasn't planning on her drawing the tag, ever. We are heading down for Memorial day weekend to "get the lay of the land" so to speak. Never hunted it myself. I think we'll spend most of our time looking for glassing spots and learning the roads on the south end, where the deer will likely be come late October.

I've been reading all I can about the unit the last few days, including some migration study reports by USU. I've got several spots I want to check out already, but if anyone has some recommendations I'm all ears.

Here she is with a few animals she's killed already. She can hike, shoot, and had nerves of steel. I love hunting with my boys for sure, but she is definitely my favorite to hunt with.

IMG_20161022_080050.jpg
IMG_20181026_182449.jpg
IMG_20201113_162458.jpg
IMG_20211024_103458.jpg
 
Wow-that girl has some luck drawing that tag with 1 point, but good for her!! She has already killed some dandy animals-this will be an awesome experience to try and kill a monster. I have never rifle hunted the Paunsaugunt, but did bowhunt it in 2003 and loved everything about that unit.

Of course, the deer were up top on the plateau for my hunt and I am guessing they will be migrated or migrating during her hunt. I think you are approaching it right to get down there in the summer and learn the land/roads where they will be in late October. Definitely spend some time up top to see some deer near Tropic Reservoir and south from there - some of the prettiest and coolest country I have every spent time in.

I hope she slams a monster and you all have a great time doing it!
 
Congratulations to you and your daughter…….. I hope she has a mule deer hunt for the ages……..looks to me like she’s paid her dues……… have great a year on the Paunsugunt, it’s a spectacular place to hunt mule deer..
 
I shot my first deer down there in 1958 when it was an open season. Now that is showing my age. During the third week in October most of the deer were on top, around the park and by Tropic res. until they were pushed down by hunters, My wife and sister-in-law drew the unit the first year it was opened and shot a couple of really nice deer, again by Tropic Res. - - - not so now. Most of the deer are clear down to Mill Creek, Nephi Pasture, John R and below during the rifle season. Going scouting? Scout those areas.
 
Tony, I have hunted that unit a couple times and I would be happy to help. Shoot me a PM and we can talk.

Hawkeye
 
Getting close now! I'm heading down Wednesday or Thursday, any ideas where the migration is at this year? Most of the camp spots I picked out earlier this year are down low, anybody have good spots up above the whites?
 
Getting close now! I'm heading down Wednesday or Thursday, any ideas where the migration is at this year? Most of the camp spots I picked out earlier this year are down low, anybody have good spots up above the whites?
Skutum and Glendale Bench have lots of spots to pull off and camp. As warm as its been they will be scattered from the top to the bottom still. Looks like you will get weather which will help, but those roads can get snotty. I would bring chains, wheeler, sxs, if you got them. Have fun, quite a few 170-180 bucks running around. A slim few bigger than that, but that next level 190+ just don't seem to be there in any numbers. You might get lucky though! Have fun!
 
Looks like the stars might be lining up for you with the storm which is expected Saturday night. It has been quite a while where we saw snow on the plateau before the regular hunt. That will push the migration. No sense in fighting the snotty roads when it rains, go to the sandy areas that is where most of the deer will be anyway with a good storm. Usually the roads dry up fairly fast anyway.
 
Snow on top hunt lower.
Did the Cowboys get all the cows down yet.
sometimes the cowboys can help ya by moving those cows hard to reach area's.
 
Got here safely. Grabbed a spot down low off kitchen corral wash, at least until the storm passes and we see what that brings. Checking out the country south of 89 tonight. Lots of deer tracks on the road, and tons at the guzzlers. In case your wondering, the goldfish look to be doing well this year lol

IMG_20221020_153911.jpg


IMG_20221020_165605.jpg
 
Good camping location.

For what it may be worth: Hunt normal early and late hours:

North of Highway 89 near,
Mill Creek
Bald Knoll
West and East sides of Skutumpah Ranch
Timber Mountian Top.
Nephi Pasture on the North End, Toolie Point, Fin Little Canyon on the south side of Nephi Pasture.
John R Flat.
Sieman’s Point.
Any where south the Red Cliffs and north of Highway 89 and east of Johnson Canyon, on public land, at daylight and again a hour before sun set in evening.

South of Highway 89.
The High Pole Power Lines by the Arizona border.
Burn areas near AZ border and the same Power Line as above.
Any water tanks or dirt water holes.
Guzzlers.

And, any where a half mile south of Highway 89 for an hour after morning day light.

If you hunt the water holes, tanks or guzzlers, the deer use those watering areas all day long, but they can hear a vehicle coming from many minutes/miles away. As soon as they hear a vehicle coming they simply wander back into the cedar trees. By the time you arrrive or even get anywhere near the water, they have been gone for ten/fifteen minutes already. When get out and check the water for tracks and you will tracks everywhere, but rarely see more than a doe or two, at the water or going to the water. When you drive off, after checking the water for tracks, the deer are listening. About 30 minutes to an hour after they can no long here the vechile, they wander right back to the water, to drink and hang out. This scenario plays out constantly, all day, everyday, during the deer hunt, especially on this lower end of the unit, with hunters constantly checking those water sources for deer. They rarely see any unless the park a couple hundreds away, out of sight and set behind cover, down wind from the water. The further south you are on the unit, the more consistent this is.

Of course, the older more mature bucks are more cautious than the others, so they are less frequent until the rut reaches its peak.

All the best to your daughter and any other youth or first time Paunsaguant hunter. It’s a magical place, thanks to those Utah sportsmen and especially the local hunters who bust there butts to keep it magical.

If you go and have a special experience, hunting these amazing mature mule deer, please do all you can in the future to help the rest of our community of hunters appreciate the thrill of hunting mature muleys, on every unit.

Mule deer are the lynch pin to long term big game hunting in the west. They are more than a piece of venison, they are what has built and preserved all big game hunting in the west and their survival as an abundant hunting animal is absolutely critical to the long term survival of our much loved lifestyle.
 
Last edited:
Good camping location.

For what it may be worth: Hunt normal early and late hours:

North of Highway 89 near,
Mill Creek
Bald Knoll
West and East sides of Skutumpah Ranch
Timber Mountian Top.
Nephi Pasture on the North End, Toolie Point, Fin Little Canyon on the south side of Nephi Pasture.
John R Flat.
Sieman’s Point.
Any where south the Red Cliffs and north of Highway 89 and east of Johnson Canyon, on public land, at daylight and again a hour before sun set in evening.

South of Highway 89.
The High Pole Power Lines by the Arizona border.
Burn areas near AZ border and the same Power Line as above.
Any water tanks or dirt water holes.
Guzzlers.

And, any where a half mile south of Highway 89 for an hour after morning day light.

If you hunt the water holes, tanks or guzzlers, the deer use those watering areas all day long, but they can hear a vehicle coming from many minutes/miles away. As soon as they hear a vehicle coming they simply wander back into the cedar trees. By the time you arrrive or even get anywhere near the water, they have been gone for ten/fifteen minutes already. When get out and check the water for tracks and you will tracks everywhere, but rarely see more than a doe or two, at the water or going to the water. When you drive off, after checking the water for tracks, the deer are listening. About 30 minutes to an hour after they can no long here the vechile, they wander right back to the water, to drink and hang out. This scenario plays out constantly, all day, everyday, during the deer hunt, especially on this lower end of the unit, with hunters constantly checking those water sources for deer. They rarely see any unless the park a couple hundreds away, out of sight and set behind cover, down wind from the water. The further south you are on the unit, the more consistent this is.

Of course, the older more mature bucks are more cautious than the others, so they are less frequent until the rut reaches its peak.

All the best to your daughter and any other youth or first time Paunsaguant hunter. It’s a magical place, thanks to those Utah sportsmen and especially the local hunters who bust there butts to keep it magical.

If you go and have a special experience, hunting these amazing mature mule deer, please do all you can in the future to help the rest of our community of hunters appreciate the thrill of hunting mature muleys, on every unit.

Mule deer are the lynch pin to long term big game hunting in the west. They are more than a piece of venison, they are what has built and preserved all big game hunting in the west and their survival as an abundant hunting animal is absolutely critical to the long term survival of our much loved lifestyle.
Wow! Lots of good info there, thanks Lumpy!
 
With the snow hitting the high country this weekend. The deer are really going to be moving south big time. Many of them make the journey all day long. As of last weekend, most of the deer were still high above the red cliffs. Should be a great week for you guys.
 
Went up to the Nephis pasture area the morning. Lots of tracks in the white sand below the cliffs. Seen a few groups of deer, does and small bucks. Going to check out the area below fin little tonight.

Thanks for all the help and encouragement, we are looking forward to getting to know this beautiful country a little better.
 
Went up to the Nephis pasture area the morning. Lots of tracks in the white sand below the cliffs. Seen a few groups of deer, does and small bucks. Going to check out the area below fin little tonight.

Thanks for all the help and encouragement, we are looking forward to getting to know this beautiful country a little better.
Good move. Patrolling the road that follows the base of the White Cliff, below Timber Mountain, especially at first light in the morning, can be very productive.

The deer that move off the top, during the last couple of hours of darkness, often get kind of caugh on the trail down, just as it begins to get light enough to see. They keep moving until the reach the base of the cliff and we have occasionally caught them still moving, in the light, trying to reach cover and bed down until it get dark again……. then they get up and continue to move out through Nephi Pasture in the dark. Then…,.. they are long gone by the next day because, come night fall they’ll generally move across Nephi Pasture and drop off the Red Cliffs, from Sieman’s Point to the east, through Toolie Point and or down Fin Little Canyon.

There are very few migration trails that come off the top of Timber Mountain. I wish I could pin point those trails for you but I never have taken specific coordinates that I can share, BUT, if you can’t find the actual trail, that’s still okay, because as soon as they get to the base of the White Cliffs, they fan out and across Nephi Pasture in many different directions, headed south to almost straight east, that 90 degree fan is where a lot of the deer cross and drop off the Red Cliffs at some point during their migration to cross Highway 89. Some go slower than others, depending on how cold it gets. it’s been our experience that almost everything comes off the top of the Pink Cliffs, the White Cliffs and the Reds but not absolutely everything crosses the Highway before the rut.

Don’t over look either the Bald Knoll or the Mill Creek area early morning and last evening, the first few days of the season. They got to cross that country first!!!!
 
South and East of bald knoll will have deer moving through it. Also Check the clear cuts along the Glendale road from the Alton road east to about five miles east of the Johnson canyon road.
 
A lot of generous good information being shared here. Nice to know some are still very helpful.
With the possibility of only drawing one of the magical mule deer hunts, maybe twice in your life, if your luck and you’re not outfitting for a living, why wouldn’t everyone share as much as they possible can, to allow others a special experience too? Keeping information to oneselfs on these Limited Opportunity tags is like trying to take your billions with you to the grave. What possible good can it do you?

It makes me feel good to try an give someone a helping hand, when I can. Lots of other sportsmen are the same way. If I was feeding my family from outfitting I might be a little more protective of my supply chain, even then some guides are very generous with free information also. More than one has certainly offered me valuable assistance over the years. A few have helped me a great deal.
 
With the possibility of only drawing one of the magical mule deer hunts, maybe twice in your life, if your luck and you’re not outfitting for a living, why wouldn’t everyone share as much as they possible can, to allow others a special experience too? Keeping information to oneselfs on these Limited Opportunity tags is like trying to take your billions with you to the grave. What possible good can it do you?

It makes me feel good to try an give someone a helping hand, when I can. Lots of other sportsmen are the same way. If I was feeding my family from outfitting I might be a little more protective of my supply chain, even then some guides are very generous with free information also. More than one has certainly offered me valuable assistance over the years. A few have helped me a great deal.
2lumpy is correct about drawing it maybe once in a lifetime… I drew muzzleloader back in 1998, I’ll never draw it again..,
 
With the possibility of only drawing one of the magical mule deer hunts, maybe twice in your life, if your luck and you’re not outfitting for a living, why wouldn’t everyone share as much as they possible can, to allow others a special experience too? Keeping information to oneselfs on these Limited Opportunity tags is like trying to take your billions with you to the grave. What possible good can it do you?

It makes me feel good to try an give someone a helping hand, when I can. Lots of other sportsmen are the same way. If I was feeding my family from outfitting I might be a little more protective of my supply chain, even then some guides are very generous with free information also. More than one has certainly offered me valuable assistance over the years. A few have helped me a great deal.
I agree 100%. Not everyone agrees with us.
I like hearing about others offering help. Hope they post their success.
 
Enjoy your time!! Tomorrow morning will be crazy. Let the crowd work it’s way out. In a few days there won’t be many people and you will have the place to yourself! Good luck! Thx for sharing your adventure!
 
Opened morning tally:

1: amazing sunrise
1: Buck
12: Does
364: groups of people scouting for their buddy :D

Wind currently blowing 30ish right now, probably going to cover some ground and learn a new road or two from the truck tonight. Hoping to see some snow capped peaks in the morning!

IMG_20221022_074909.jpg
 
Those deer can since this storm coming, I’d be up on the east side of Bald Knoll or at the head of Mill Creek tonight, and hour and a half before sun down, if I where coaching somebody. ?
I haven't been up there before, is that a place we can drive the truck to fairly easily? Or load up the SxS?
 
I haven't been up there before, is that a place we can drive the truck to fairly easily? Or load up the SxS?
Yes for sure a sxs would get you around in there. That's where I would be as well, there were still a lot of bucks up high and that country will be the first place you can get at them as they come off the top. If you arent seeing bucks down there where you are I would work north until you start finding more mature bucks.

Best way to access that country is from the Glendale Bench road. There is some private to maneuver so keep an eye on OnX especially around Bald Knoll. Mill Creek drains off the top just north of Skutum. That country has been chained/grind and always holds a good buck or two. Stay warm tonight! Next couple days should be awesome!
 
Lots of people all around the public at bald knoll, so we turned around and headed back to the haul road and towards Ford pasture. Saw our first real nice buck, a solid 170 class 4x4. He didn't hang around long enough for me to get any footage of him. Saw several other smaller bucks and some does. The fields in Johnson canyon were loaded with deer also, right at dark on the way out.

Probably head up that way again in the morning.

Also found a couple weirdly shaped rocks this morning:)

IMG_20221022_200345.jpg
 
Lots of people all around the public at bald knoll, so we turned around and headed back to the haul road and towards Ford pasture. Saw our first real nice buck, a solid 170 class 4x4. He didn't hang around long enough for me to get any footage of him. Saw several other smaller bucks and some does. The fields in Johnson canyon were loaded with deer also, right at dark on the way out.

Probably head up that way again in the morning.

Also found a couple weirdly shaped rocks this morning:)

View attachment 90895
Careful if it’s public land they are illegal to pick up…
 
The trapping of hunters from a time long past. Outstanding! Lots of pottery chards spread across the ground under the Red Cliffs east of Siemen’s Point. Course we all know you’ll never remove any of that stuff from the location you came by it. Appreciate showing it to us however.

Sorry I didn’t get an answer to your question regarding the Bald Knoll access but bigwolfy gave you good info. Sounds like you may have good the six senses on alert tonight. Good times.

I agree with your morning plan. May the moisture gods push one your way tomorrow.
 
Lots of people all around the public at bald knoll, so we turned around and headed back to the haul road and towards Ford pasture. Saw our first real nice buck, a solid 170 class 4x4. He didn't hang around long enough for me to get any footage of him. Saw several other smaller bucks and some does. The fields in Johnson canyon were loaded with deer also, right at dark on the way out.

Probably head up that way again in the morning.

Also found a couple weirdly shaped rocks this morning:)

View attachment 90895
Tony:
I sure hope your daughter finds a great buck down there! What a great hunt to be on.

When we were on our sheep hunt we found a big rock that had the same coloring as that top arrowhead. You could tell where it had pieces chipped off of it for arrowheads (at least it looked that way). When you return, I’ll PM you a pic of the rock.

Thank you for the pics and updayes!
 
Bad news right there, Lumpy. What few deer are left are in big trouble.
I get what you are saying, but this is one storm and we need the moisture desperately to actually benefit wild game, so this may actually be a really good thing ??‍♂️
 
Day 2 in the books!

Saw lots more deer than day 1. Roads were pretty rough. Did see a really nice 30" 3x4 I'm a camp, killed by a woman hunting the pauns for the second straight year! Apparently she received a turn back tag last year, and pulled an expo tag this year. I can't even imagine the odds.

Going to try something different tomorrow. Driving the same roads, seeing the same guys (some of them running 40 mph through the mud) got a little old today. Hoping to get away from the crowd tomorrow, even if it means seeing fewer deer. Also don't like the pressure of having 30 seconds to make a decision on shoot/don't shoot.

Pic of the day: pretty cool cactus buck we saw tonight.

Screenshot_20221023-175623.jpg
 
Bad news right there, Lumpy. What few deer are left are in big trouble.
I sure appreciate your concern Shadow. Our poor mule deer need everybody watching out for them.

My empirical observations have been that these fall snow storm are a bonus to the habitat and the mule deer, it’s the late wet spring snow storms, followed by bitter cold that puts a cap of hard ice over the feed and because their body resources are already depleted, they starve to death before the ice melts.

But what do I know for a fact? ?
 
I think the fall storms are great. I just hate seeing them during rifle deer season.
It’ll be a slaughter these next couple days and as you know, there’s not many left to slaughter around your area, especially south of 24.
 
I think the fall storms are great. I just hate seeing them during rifle deer season.
It’ll be a slaughter these next couple days and as you know, there’s not many left to slaughter around your area, especially south of 24.
True that S. There were no left to slaughter after the sun came out yesterday. What’s even more dishearting, there were very few does left to come out either. Buck ratio was sky high however, so all’s we’ll in paradise.

That’s why we must fight for the unit Tony’s daughter’s hunting this week. We need more like it, and we have got to some how convince the magority of our sportsmen that we need a lot more Paunsagunts and a lot less units like those bordering Highway 24.

It’s the Vanilla flavored folks that need to be won over.
 
Last edited:
Not too much to write a out today as far as deer sightings. Started the day low just above the reds, saw very few deer, but also very few people so that was nice.

Spent the afternoon up higher with the intent to hunt Carly knoll tonight. I guess we didn't get there early enough, every one of those little draws had a guy or two parked and glassing it. So, we went up near the haul road/Ford pasture area where we saw quite a few deer/bucks yesterday. Definitely a good new/bad news type of deal. We saw not nearly as many deer, and only 4 bucks. Good news is, one of them actually made me pull out the spotter, problem was he didn't stick around long enough for me to get it set up. He was really tall, with long tines everywhere. He was about 300 yards out, and got nervous almost immediately, when all the other bucks wouldn't even look at us as we drove by.

We're also taking the fact that we saw fewer deer up higher as good news, maybe some are on their way down.

Talked to a Lady at the gas station in kanab, she was hunting 12b and she was also having a tough time locating "the one"

Highlights of the day:

Spending time with 2 of my kids, and my new son-in-law.

Hiking some awesome red rocks

Rebuilding a wash crossing road the old fashioned way

Scored a 2for1 on Ruby Red Squirt, which I haven't seen in stores for a long time!

IMG_20221024_074427.jpg


IMG_20221024_124139.jpg


IMG_20221024_090118.jpg


IMG_20221024_150000.jpg
 
Not too much to write a out today as far as deer sightings. Started the day low just above the reds, saw very few deer, but also very few people so that was nice.

Spent the afternoon up higher with the intent to hunt Carly knoll tonight. I guess we didn't get there early enough, every one of those little draws had a guy or two parked and glassing it. So, we went up near the haul road/Ford pasture area where we saw quite a few deer/bucks yesterday. Definitely a good new/bad news type of deal. We saw not nearly as many deer, and only 4 bucks. Good news is, one of them actually made me pull out the spotter, problem was he didn't stick around long enough for me to get it set up. He was really tall, with long tines everywhere. He was about 300 yards out, and got nervous almost immediately, when all the other bucks wouldn't even look at us as we drove by.

We're also taking the fact that we saw fewer deer up higher as good news, maybe some are on their way down.

Talked to a Lady at the gas station in kanab, she was hunting 12b and she was also having a tough time locating "the one"

Highlights of the day:

Spending time with 2 of my kids, and my new son-in-law.

Hiking some awesome red rocks

Rebuilding a wash crossing road the old fashioned way

Scored a 2for1 on Ruby Red Squirt, which I haven't seen in stores for a long time!

View attachment 91131

View attachment 91132

View attachment 91133

View attachment 91134
Looks like you are having a great time-hope it all comes together on a great buck for your daughter. That is a special place down there.
 
Not too much to write a out today as far as deer sightings. Started the day low just above the reds, saw very few deer, but also very few people so that was nice.

Spent the afternoon up higher with the intent to hunt Carly knoll tonight. I guess we didn't get there early enough, every one of those little draws had a guy or two parked and glassing it. So, we went up near the haul road/Ford pasture area where we saw quite a few deer/bucks yesterday. Definitely a good new/bad news type of deal. We saw not nearly as many deer, and only 4 bucks. Good news is, one of them actually made me pull out the spotter, problem was he didn't stick around long enough for me to get it set up. He was really tall, with long tines everywhere. He was about 300 yards out, and got nervous almost immediately, when all the other bucks wouldn't even look at us as we drove by.

We're also taking the fact that we saw fewer deer up higher as good news, maybe some are on their way down.

Talked to a Lady at the gas station in kanab, she was hunting 12b and she was also having a tough time locating "the one"

Highlights of the day:

Spending time with 2 of my kids, and my new son-in-law.

Hiking some awesome red rocks

Rebuilding a wash crossing road the old fashioned way

Scored a 2for1 on Ruby Red Squirt, which I haven't seen in stores for a long time!

View attachment 91131

View attachment 91132

View attachment 91133

View attachment 91134
I’m with you all the way, less deer is A-LOT better than a lot of humans…
 
Sometimes it goes slow, slow, and still slower………, then quicker than quick.

In that country, with those migrating deer, approaching the pre-rut, it’s an all day, anywhere, 10 second event. It always helps to be in the known areas of travel but it can happen anywhere and time of day…….during this rifle season.

If you love deer hunting, I’ll bet you’re having the most fun you can have with your family. Hope you’re all enjoying every waking minute of it, everyday.
 
On a more serious note:

The main beam looks pretty long and the mass looks exceptional……….. but go ahead and feel free to get some pictures of the hunter and the buck……… then get you butt busy and let’s see a picture with some happy faces!!!

Good job Dad, for keeping the petal to the metal and the young lady for making a hole in the right place. I’ll say it once again, when female hunters point their barrel at something and finally pull the trigger…….you can count on it….they make a hole in it.
 
Wider than the ears, good mass, great buck and congratulations!!!
Could of at least had the shadow of the antlers in the picture so we could guess points on at least one side. Can’t wait to see the grip and grin photos.
 
First off... Huge thanks to all of you that offered words of encouragement, ideas of where to go, gps coordinates of your super secret spots, etc. Definitely helped us both to keep the positive attitude that is required to be successful.

Today we decided to hit Carly Knoll right at first light, then head off into Timber mtn and glass off the top of the whites. We figured and hopes with it being Tuesday, that there would be fewer people at Carly Knoll. I was wrong lol. We stopped for a few minutes right at legal light, saw 2 pretty nice bucks, and just as it was getting light enough to see what they were, I start noticing the orange dots that already out in the chained areas. Even if we had wanted to shoot one of these bucks, no way we could have done it safely. So, off we go!

We got to our first glassing spot, which I'm sure many of you have been to before. It looks down on the west end of Nephis pasture. We spent 2.5 hours there, and only could pick up 3 small bucks, and one doe. By now it's about 10 something AM. We had planned to spend all day out there just exploring and looking for a good spot for the evening hunt. Next spot up is another glassing locations that looks off the whites, down into long canyon.

Just as we are about to the end of the road, I notice out of the corner of my eye, an oak brush limb swinging back and forth. Almost no wind, so something had to have just run through there, towards the drop off. We pull up to the spot, hop out and quickly walk to where we can see down the hill. Immediately with my bare eyes, at over 300 yards away, I can see a big old buck hurrying down the sandy ridge. Throw the binos up, and I know instantly this is the one we've been waiting for. All I see is tall, dark horns with awesome mass. Don't even know or care how many points he has.

Lauren is right there with me, rifle in hand. Open up the bipod, prone out, I call out the range, she dials and praise heaven above, he stops! He knows we are there, but not exactly where. As he tries to figure that out, we have just enough to time for a shot. He's quartering away a bit, perfect shot opportunity. BOOM! WHAP! I see him hunch, and run over the hill out of sight. We go over the shot, she tells me she was steady, level, and held center chest. I've hunted with her enough to know what that means!

We drop all our unnecessary gear and head on down. Got cliffed out halfway, had to go back up and around the other side, found a safe way down by following the FREEWAY of deer tracks in the sand. She spotted him first, that was the teaser pic I posted :D

When we set out for this hunt we had a couple goals. One was to experience the pauns desert style hunting. Sand, cliffs, yuccas, the works. The other was to kill a buck, we used terms like "special" "unique" "something we can't kill at the normal place" We had no goal of score, width, number of points, etc. We were able to accomplish all those goals today!

Definitely mixed emotions. Super grateful for the experience we had, and the awesome buck we took. But, sad that it's over and back to the real world. So, any of you that draw this tag next year, and need a helper, I'm your huckleberry as they say!

Now that the rambling is done, pics.

good 1.jpg


good 2.jpg


good 3.jpg


good 4.jpg
 
Last edited:
Perfect buck and a perfect ending to a perfect father/daughter hunt. Mature mule deer bucks are the absolute best big game hunting has to offer. Wouldn’t trade that experience for another hunt anywhere in the world.

I have three sons, everyone of them have had the exact same experience as you and your daughter just had, hunting the same locations, at the same times in their lives. We each have the same memories that you just made today. Couldn’t be happier for you.

You have a beautiful daughter and she now has a beautiful mule deer buck to go with an outstanding father.

Every child, born into a hunting family, should get to have the same experience. There is no better way to preserve the hunting tradition for many year into the future.

All the best to the 257Tony legacy.
 
Bearpaw Outfitters

Experience world class hunting for mule deer, elk, cougar, bear, turkey, moose, sheep and more.

Wild West Outfitters

Hunt the big bulls, bucks, bear and cats in southern Utah. Your hunt of a lifetime awaits.

J & J Outfitters

Offering quality fair-chase hunts for trophy mule deer, elk, shiras moose and mountain lions.

Shane Scott Outfitting

Quality trophy hunting in Utah. Offering FREE Utah drawing consultation. Great local guides.

Utah Big Game Outfitters

Specializing in bighorn sheep, mule deer, elk, mountain goat, lions, bears & antelope.

Apex Outfitters

We offer experienced guides who hunt Elk, Mule Deer, Antelope, Sheep, Bison, Goats, Cougar, and Bear.

Urge 2 Hunt

We offer high quality hunts on large private ranches around the state, with landowner vouchers.

Allout Guiding & Outfitting

Offering high quality mule deer, elk, bear, cougar and bison hunts in the Book Cliffs and Henry Mtns.

Lickity Split Outfitters

General season and LE fully guided hunts for mule deer, elk, moose, antelope, lion, turkey, bear and coyotes.

Back
Top Bottom