2013 The Lucky Year

anybull14 · Jun 3, 2013

Well, where to begin? Lucky number 13' has been good to us so far this year. So lets do a little back tracking shall we?

I started the 2013 season with sheds and coyotes on my mind. But since I can't seem to kill a coyote to save my life, I was mainly day dreaming about sheds. I wanted to beat my record from 2012.. a yearly grand total of...17. which was by far my all time best. lol
Come march I was on a ride along with Utah's Unified Police Department Canyon's patrol on the Wasatch Front. We were stopped and watching a small herd of deer when I spotted tines poking up off a small hill 40 yards in front of us. sure enough it was the first shed of 2013 a small white 4pt.

anybull14 · Jun 5, 2013

the next trip was okay. scrub oak killed my arms, found a small dead buck but no sheds

as you can see scrub oak and I are no good friends lol

3rd trip was a quick trip after work in the rain, right before dark I picked up a small 3 and nice 4

sorry for the shaky pic, I had a case of "Shed Fever"

anybull14 · Jun 6, 2013

I made it up two days later in search of the Big 4's other side, and right off the bat I found this small 2

I stumbled apon this old 3

I took a couple steps and looked down the hill. 10 yards away was its match. Now I know this isn't no giant buck but I was whooping and a hollering because its my very first set. I've been shed hunting since i was 6 years old (20 Now)and finally found my first set!

The really cool part is, 40 yards away I found a skull to a buck that has already shedded. I put the sheds on the skull and they fit like a puzzle! That was just the cherry on top!

The next day I took my little brother up with me looking for the match to the big 4, I found the right side to a small 3. On the way back to the truck, just before dark him and I dropped into a ravine and walked up on a shed at the exact same time. turns out it was the match to my 3 point

set #2 for the year!

The Next trip looking for the match to the big 4 my little brother went with me again. except this time he had all the luck and picked up a massive 4pt and nice 3pt.

Little bro with his biggest shed to date

The next shed trip was a quick one after work again. I hit it solo, the area was full of steep rocky ledges and thick scrub out. I nearly died getting up there. But in the end I didn't leave empty handed.

Stay tuned, the story gets better

anybull14 · Jun 7, 2013

By this time it was mid march and I was already up to 8 sheds, to most? not a lot but to me i was doing better then years past. So I was pretty happy.
The next trip was in an area i've never shed hunted before, a buddy and I hunted it for coyotes in January and and saw nearly a dozen bucks in there. I was almost Positive that it has gotten hit hard.
I woke up late, around 11 am Saturday not sure where to go, my sister said "Just go! I have a good feeling about that place"
Thank god I listened to her. I climbed up the ridge and immediately glassed up a small goofy 2pt.

I was excited that i wasn't going to leave empy handed

I crossed over a ravine 100 yards away and spotted this in the green grass

a gnarly 2pt elk shed

I started gaining altitude, climbing some steep terrain, finally when I got to the top this nice palmated 4pt was waiting for me in a burn

I crossed over the ridge, and started down the other side when I walked up to the most beautiful 4 point shed i've ever picked up! I was going crazy! This was shed #4 for the day, I never have luck like this!

I picked it up in Awwwe, I flip it over and there is a one inch cheater, I lost it.. I started cheering lol
I've never picked up a cheater shed before and here in my hands was my first cheater shed haha its crazy what just one inch of antler growth can do to a guy hahaha

Now my goal was to match it up, not having the best luck ever when it comes to matching up sheds I was nervous.
I started thinking "if i was a buck where would I go.."
so I started walking the ridge line back.
I picked up shed #5 a long the way.

I got 100 yards away from where I picked the shed and stopped to take in the scenery, I couldn't believe the day I was having

I turned around to continue hiking and their.. 10 yards away.. laid the bucks left side! I freaked!

This buck has a 3inch kicker on his left side and a 1 inch kicker at the base. This was the biggest set I have ever found and the only two sheds with cheaters I have ever found lol

After celebrating, and sending pics to all my buddies and my dad I continued hiking. picked up 2 more 2 point sheds making it my best day shed hunting ever!
Right before dark i walked up on this perfect 4 point.

It looked like the typical version of the cheater set i just picked up!

I began to search for his other side, covering as much ground as I could before dark.
With no match made that day I picked up a 3pt right at dark. Making it 10 sheds in one day, my first time hitting double digits!I hiked out in the dark and didn't get home until 10:30 that night. Man was I sore but on cloud 9

I hiked into this area hoping to turn up a shed, but ended up having my best day ever

Stay tuned there is more to come!

anybull14 · Jun 12, 2013

LAST EDITED ON Jun-16-13 AT 12:02PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Jun-16-13 AT 11:57?AM (MST)

LAST EDITED ON Jun-15-13 AT 09:28?AM (MST)

The next weekend a buddy invited me to hit a WMA in Northern Utah. I knew it was going to be hard to beat my last trip. But he ensured that it was possible for me to hit double digits again. We started hiking at 5am and my goal was to not leave the mountain empty handed.
By 7am I walked up on this nice brown three

I was pretty happy with just my 3. I was glassing a small hill top in front of me when I thought I seen an old chalky tine sticking up out of the sage. when walking down over to it found this old chalk

Finally I reached the area and sure enough it was a chalky 2 pt. with the other side laying 10 feet away!

Set #4 for the year

While walking up a canyon I looked up a old trail and spotted tines. sure enough! Another 3!

Old 2

The coolest 2pt i've ever found! Sweet browtine on him

2nd Elk shed of the year!

The ugliest shed i've ever found lol

(some not pictured) After 13 miles, I hiked off the mountain that day in the Pouring rain, Drenched to the bone with my badlands pack full of double digits

another 10 shed day

I got home that night, recovered and planned my trip for the next day. I was heading back up to the "Secret Spot". The place where I first hit double digits. I was planning on heading back up and matching that beautiful 4 point I found. I got up there and started glassing a ridge. I immediately glassed up white tines

I thought I found a decent 2pt. But when I walked up, it was a buried 4!

I was pretty dang happy that i wasn't leaving empty handed, I crossed over the ridge top, through some nasty terrain mixed with cedars. I was taking a breather and was glassing through the tree's below me when... I spotted a brown shed laying tines down

I was stoked! I carefully made my way down the steep hill. When I walked up to the shed there laid its match 8 feet away! I could not believe it! Set #5 for the year!

One of The biggest 2X3 sets I have ever held

On his 2 point side he had this gnarly hole going on.

After picking up the set I continued climbing the ridge. Going from ridge top to ridge top and glassing.

This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen

A matched 4X3 set laying side by side

Could not believe the luck I was having! I climbed to the top of the ridge and walked past this 3 point. Thank god I looked back lol

I climbed up to the ridge, into the area where I found that perfect 4 point. 20 yards away from where I found it laid its match. somehow I walked right around it the trip before lol

With my "Mission Accomplished" I started my hike out.
on the way I out I picked up this nice white 4

glassed up this side by side 3X3 set

and stumbling upon one of the biggest four points I have ever found!

I hiked out with it being my best shed hunt to date!
With 11 sheds and 3 sets strapped to the badlands pack I hiked another 13 miles

Here is the perfect 4 point finally matched up and the 4X3 set was his set from the year before!

With the snakes and mosquito's coming out along with the New green grass it was getting harder and harder to shed hunt. So made one more trip up into the "secret spot" again. Boy was it hot! I finally climbed to the top to find these.

I glassed these up on the same hill, all within 30 yards

I though I found 2 sets on the same hill... Turns out all 4 singles from different years LOL

The match to my Big 3

a little 2

Just before I dark I glasses up this big fork

my third cheater shed ever!

while loading up the cheater shed I figured out I had a match!

After 9 miles I packed out 9 sheds. 2 sets

The four best trips

anybull14 · Jun 12, 2013

LAST EDITED ON Jun-14-13 AT 03:14PM (MST)[p]With the tempts getting hotter so does the fishing! Besides being a shed addict I am also a fishing NUT!
So a couple buddies and I decided to go fish Utah Lake for some channels. On the way we stopped at Cabela's and I bought some New lures.
After finding the right spot we parked and unloaded. While everyone else was rigging for bottom monsters I was throwing on a New lure.
I kept at it for about 15 minutes then Something hit my lure and was fighting big time, first thing I did was yell to my buddy " Grab the net!" he comes running over as i'm fighting this monster, I set the drag and let her pull until she got a little tired then I fought her back into shore. I couldn't see exactly what it was because of the murky water, we saw a little flash then the fight was back on.
"D***it its a carp" I thought to myself. Then her back end came up to the surface and we saw the distinct Large Mouth bass lines, that is when I started shaking. This thing was huge! My Buddy scooped down with the net and brought her onto shore. Him and I looked at each in disbelief. This was the biggest Large Mouth we have personally ever seen.
To say we were excited is an understatement.
She weighed in at 6 pounds 20" long and 16 1/4 girth!

All within this mess of Adventures of picking up sheds and catching fish, I went up to Wilde Arrow Archery Center in Farmington and bought a 2013 Hoyt Charger. This bow is AMAZING! Any bow from the 2013 Hoyt line up are Great bows.

anybull14 · Jul 17, 2013

Early one morning in late May my dad calls me and says "You and Braiden both drew your archery deer tags but We have a pending charge for $570 and $30, What cost $570? And $30?"
After discussing it over for a little bit I pulled out the calculater. $285+$285=...... We both drew our Wasatch Limited Entry Elk Tag!!!! And my little Brother Drew his Youth Any bull Elk tag!

Emmediately we began scouting that next weekend. We dropped a trail camera off at a wallow and seen a handfull of elk. We began scouting every weekend in new and old areas

Scouting trip #2 produced over 20 cows and new born calves but no bulls. We checked the camera that had 293 pictures of cows and calves. When replacing the dead batteries the camera Fried up and quit working. That was the first time we used it too.

Scouting trip #3 was into an area that my dad knows like the back of his hand. With the temps high our goal is to find water. And that we did!

We snuck into a herd of 20 elk. There was one bull Bugleing but he stayed down low.

It was now early July and I still haven't recieved my tag in the mail. I was begining to get worried when my dad hands me this.
A Christmas card in July?

my tag was bought and paid for as a gift for Christmas. I gotta say that is the best gift I have ever recived

Thanks dad

anybull14 · Aug 11, 2013

August 11th 2013
6 Days from Opening day and we are beyond stoked! We have found cows calves and rag heads but nothing big. we have been shooting none stop and are dead on with our bows. Here our some pics from scouting as well as Trail cam pics

Going in to check the camera

While scouting we have found a lot nice little bucks

Can't Leave out the old Cemetery Buck

A Wasatch Front Bull Moose

Within the mess of Fishing scouting hiking and day dreaming I bought a New Hunting Rig

With those high mountain lakes I can't resist from fishing
here is a handfull of some beautiful fish my girlfriend and I caught