I had a hunters dream of having enough tags to hunt continuously from the Deer Archery opener Aug 23rd to the end of the Cow hunt on Jan 12th. There was a stretch of about 2 1/2 months where I could have killed a Buck, Doe, Cow or Bull with my bow.
Michael Jewkes (my brother-in-law) and I hunted the state wide Archery Deer season hard during every weekend of the hunt. During Labour Day weekend, below Elk Camp in the quaky draws, we chased a big 25in 4X4 all three days without success.
Then came the Deer muzzle loader hunt. This was my first taste of success. The year before we had chased a big group of bachelor bucks (see video below) in the foothills above Orangeville, UT. So I convinced my wife to let me hunt yet another weekend by closing the deal when I told her we could go to her Dad's house in Orangeville for the weekend and that I would happily take on the task of getting our 2 boys bathed and ready for church Sunday morning.
Saturday morning before sunrise we got up and drove 20 min to the parking lot and then walk 3/4 of mile to our spot. The spot is a out cropping with barely enough room for 2, so I carefully set my muzzle loader a couple of feet from where we were glassing. 10 minutes went by and then out of no where Mike spotted 2 Bucks on a dead running directly at us. One was a 4 point shooter. They were 200 yards away when I realized I still needed to get my gun. As a stood up to grab my run, I was spotted by the deer. They stopped dead in their tracks, did a 180 degree turn and ran back from the same direction in which they came. I was frustrated with my self to see them running off into the horizon when all of the sudden they stopped about 1/2 mile away. Mike and I then realized that the Bucks had only 2 choices; go back to the valley where they were already spooked from or come back to the foothills in a different route. We knew they were coming back, so we dropped all our gear except for Mike's cam cord and the gun. We ran a 1/2 mile back to where the canyons funneled to a plateau that is no more the 30 yards wide. We planned for an ambush by sitting crossed legged Indian style under a juniper. Again like clock work, within 3 minutes of getting set up, I see the legs of a deer coming through the bushes. I whispered to Mike "Deer". Then the buck steps out into the open at no more than 20 yards. Looking through my 1X power scope I count 4 points on each side, then without hesitation I move the cross hairs the top of the should blade and "BANG"! The gun goes off and all I can see is white smoke. When it clears I can see the Deer's legs flailing and then I know he is down. Dropped dead in his track. My excitement was abruptly interrupted by Mike. You see we had only one gun between the 2 of us. Mike also signed up for the dedicated hunter and he had a muzzle loader tag, but no gun. He ordered me to re-load it ASAP so he could go try for a shot at the other Buck. I re-loaded and Mike ran out to find the other Deer. We found him running up the hill side across the canyon at 250 - 300 yards. Mike had time to take 3 pot shots and came close once but no dice. After the dust settle and the excitement wore off, Mike was glad to not have taken that deer as his was a smaller 3 point.
Unfortunately, I left my camera behind and the only picture I have was taken by my cell phone with the buck in the back of Brian's truck. I had the antler mounted European style.
It is 12:30AM and I need to get to bed, so in the next day or 2 I will finish the Spike and Cow Elk stories. Also I am still waiting for Mike to get me the muzzle loader footage. Once that happens I will post it.BTW...I don't know why my wife choose pink as the back ground color. I guess if she wants me to post more she will have to change it.
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