2007 was a banner year for me in that I filled all three of my big game tags. It all started in June when I found out that I drew out for a late season Cow Elk hunt near Little Dell reservoir. By the end of July I had 3 tags in my possession; a Dedicate South Eastern Deer tag, a Spike Elk tag and a late season Cow Elk tag. Honestly I was hoping to full just one tag and never would have thought of filling all three.
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 a muzzle loader tag but no gun. He order 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 on 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 did have the antler mounted European style.
My son McCoy holding the mount
It is 12:24AM 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.
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