One of my lifelong dreams and goals had been to harvest a 200" mule deer. I think every mule deer hunter probably has a similar goal, but this was more like a commitment that someday, somehow, it would happen. I’d been on numerous hunts and had harvested several 180" type bucks but had never been in range of anything over 200". In fact, I think I’d only seen two bucks that would come close to 200".
I was super excited when Josh from Huntin’ Fool reached out to let me know that I had been drawn for the Arizona Strip. A piece of luck was getting Clay Bundy Outfitters as my outfitter. They had one spot left, and I was able to secure it.
We were supposed to head out a couple of days before the hunt to get there the evening before, but a buddy, Jimmy Dimanoff, and I couldn’t wait, so we left a couple of days early. Clay was accommodating and told us we could stay at his house in St. George. As we got closer, we noticed storms were covering everything below the Strip from a hurricane that had pushed a weather system up. We ended up getting rained out and were not able to scout the first couple of days we were there.
We finally got down to the Strip a day and a half before the hunt started, so we got some scouting in but could not find any giants. Clay had shown me a giant 4-point that was the heaviest buck he recalled ever seeing. Best guess was he would have scored 225" in velvet. He was known as “TJ” and was a mainframe 4x4 with a couple kickers on one side. There were talks about other bucks that had been seen briefly or that they thought would exceed 200", but it was decided that TJ was definitely our target.
We hunted the first couple of days without success, but on the third day, TJ was spotted, and around the same time, I spotted another buck. It looked really big, so Clay checked him out and got super excited. I knew he was a big buck. It was later determined that this was one of the bucks that had been discussed as being seen briefly. We estimated him to be mid 230s and later named him “Splitter” based on how his tines split and how he would outsmart me and split amidst my stalks. We decided to leave a spotter to watch Splitter while I went to stalk TJ. By the time we got over to the other area where they had spotted TJ, he and “Goal Post” had gone over a ridge and disappeared. The spotters had not seen them come out, so the assumption was that they were in there. Clay and I stalked in as close as we could together and then I would creep forward 10 to 20 yards, spot, and once I cleared the way, Clay would come up and join me. After going into the area, perhaps 400 yards, I finally spotted TJ. He was an absolute giant. I was somewhat exposed, so I lay down behind a cactus. TJ was grazing about 250 yards away from me and went to bed down under a big cedar tree. Much of the path to stalk to him was exposed, so I had to crawl on my belly as slowly as possible to avoid detection. It took me four hours to get within 35 yards of him. I then sat behind a bush, waiting for him to make a mistake. I knew that I was about to kill a giant! After about 10 or 15 minutes, I felt the wind swirl and then I felt a strong gust hit my back directly towards him. I watched closely through a bush, hoping he would get up and slowly walk away, offering a shot. Instead, he bolted out of there like a rocket and did not offer a good shot opportunity.
We regrouped and decided to go put a stalk on Splitter. Clay helped figure out the best path around, and I ended up accidentally stalking in too close. As I came over a ridge, I saw part of his tine sticking out and I was only 25 yards away, so I sat there for approximately 30 minutes. Once again, the wind swirled and I felt it blowing on my back straight towards him. Within a few seconds, he bolted out of there, not offering a shot opportunity. Even though I didn’t get a shot on either of these two bucks, I was still humbled that I got to stalk two 220"+ mule deer in the same day.
I would guess it was day eight that I got another chance to stalk Splitter. As I was moving in on him, he got up and moved down into a little canyon. I peeked over the edge, and he was at 120 yards. We had quite a stare off, and at one point, he actually walked back towards me. He then cruised over a ridge and bedded up about a mile away. I ended up putting another stalk on him that afternoon and got within about 300 yards, but some coyotes pushed him and the old 4x3 out of the area.
Day 12 came, and we finally spotted Splitter again. It was early in the morning, just after sunrise, and Clay stalked out to the end of a point, trying to see where some other bucks I had spotted had gone. Clay reached out and told me Splitter was approximately 200 yards below him. I hightailed it over there, and we figured out a game plan for me to stalk in. I had to go around and through a canyon, drop down, pop up, and try and get in a small little crevice to come out and then make a stalk 40 yards to get to about a 60-yard shot. Everything went relatively seamless until I got to 70 yards. The old buck got up and started grazing, and then Splitter got up and started to follow him. The old buck kept going away from me, but Splitter came back around the tree. All I could see was his neck and head. I hadn’t told Clay, but I was planning on heading out that afternoon for at least a few days, so I decided that I would just take the shot. I drew back, stepped out beside the cedar I was behind, and let it fly. Splitter was facing me, but after I shot, he started to turn, so it hit him in the side of the neck. I heard the ominous “Thwack!” and could see the arrow hanging out of his neck as he ran. Both bucks took off running and dropped off the ledge.
Shortly thereafter, I saw the old buck running but did not see Splitter. I assumed this meant that he was dead. When Clay and I connected, he showed me where Splitter had headed, and we were able to glass him up again. He was bedded down in a fairly open area on the side of a steep cliff about a mile away. That was not like him, so I knew he was hurt pretty bad. Once I hiked over there and got in position, my range showed he was 90 yards below the ledge but only 58 yards based on the elevation. I tried to judge the wind properly as it was blowing pretty hard left to right. After a shot, he jumped up to try and run but was limping. I got a good look but could not see any blood around his vitals. He then limped half a mile and disappeared under a big cedar tree.
Once Clay got set up to see the tree, I stalked over and approached behind another cedar. All I could see was Splitter’s face and part of his back. I tried to squeeze my first shot between his antlers to hit his back and there was another huge “Thwack!” He lunged out of the tree and then went right back into it. I drew again as I had a slightly better shot between his antlers and struck him in the top of the back.
I wasn’t sure how well I had hit him, so I shot my last arrow at the only thing I could see. It hit him between his eyes. He stuck his two front legs out and tipped over.
What I learned was to be physically and mentally prepared. Be able to shoot 80 yards consistently with your bow. Clay Bundy truly is a legend and same with Tavin Fails as well as both of their families.
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