UTAH>>>
Well my Utah Dedicated Hunter Tag will be turned back in a week to hopefully be drawn out this spring for a Limited Entry Tag. Scouting and hunting during the Archery, Muzzleloader and Rifle hunts, I couldn't turn up a buck that got my blood pumping. I thinks I spread myself to thin this fall... a day here and there in Southern Utah, just wasn't enough to find the big ones here in Utah...
With all of the current ideas and focus on Utah's Mule Deer herd, I am sure that in the next couple years we will be able to turn the Deer Herd around here in Utah!
COLORADO>>>>
Well on to my 3rd season tag in Colorado. This hunt I would share with 3 close friends.
After a slow start to the hunt in Colorado, Day 3 I passed a solid 160 + 4 pt. After reviewing the footage with my brother in law and my buddy, they both expressed interest in this buck... but we couldn't turn him back up.
Day 3 in the evening and all Day 4 we couldn't turn up the type of bucks we were hoping for.
Day 5 in the evening my good buddy Mathias tagged out on a beautiful buck that would break the 160 Mark. His biggest buck and a great looking deer.
Day 6 a storm moved in and dumped a light dusting of Snow that really livened things up! From about 1000 yards away my brother in law glassed up a group of does and just as I was getting them in the binos, he got excited and said... big buck! As those words left his lips, he was off and running. Well maybe not running, but he was a man on a mission. He told me, we are going to kill that buck. After the buck had gone over the ridge, we knew their wasn't a whole lot of places he could go and hide. As we got on their trail things seemed to be going to good... I was waiting for these deer to give us the slip. As we closed in, we attached the snipepods. As we were easing over the ridge, two does were standing there about 50 yards away!!! Game on... as they turned and ran down the hill they picked up 5 or so more does and the big buck. Jeff got to the edge where he could get a good shot and as the buck ran up the hillside someone mewed at it and stopped him broadside. Boom! Jeff connected. The buck was dead on the hoof. As he dropped, we hooped and hollered and took it all in celebrated another great buck down!
Jeff's buck is super tall beautiful 160 class buck.
Well after the long pack out we were wiped out tired.
I think I mentioned let's just skip the evening hunt and relax! My buddies would have none of that... Let's go and get you a buck!
That's exactly what we did! We went up to an area we hadn't spent a lot of time looking at since there was a lot of pressure in this area earlier in the hunt... but it looked like it had great potential. As we were glassing the hills I noticed 2 deer and one looked like a buck. They were about a mile away and the wind was so strong on the ridge that we were on, that we had to cut the distance in half just to see what type of buck he was. As we worked our way into 800 yards, I could see that he was a tall good looking buck! As we were looking at him through the spotter, we were shocked to see that 2 four wheelers were on the ridge above them and that they had stopped the four-wheelers to glass. Because of the roll of the hill the deer were about 2-300 yards below the road and were undetected by the hunters. As we repositioned, we passed the four wheelers and watched as they headed off the mountain. As we passed them, we snuck off the top of the hill and could not turn up the buck or does. As we snuck down the hill a little further, we could tell that we had passed the little swell that the deer were hiding in out of the wind. As we realized this, we snuck over to the swell and almost immediately started spotting deer. I attached the snipepod and with my buddies behind me, we closed the distance to about 150 yards. As the does spotted us, they began to bail and the buck was going with them. As they came out of the ravine/swell, I took one last look at the width, heigth and overall look of the buck. He was a good looking buck and he was going home with me. With one well placed shot he dropped on impact.
What a fun hunt!
What great friends and family!
My quest for the best turned into one of the Best Hunting Seasons with family and friends that I've ever been a part of.
Yeah... my wifes still has bragging rights... That is until next year!!!
CS
"Helping turn good tags, into great ones." -
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