With the eastern horizon starting to take shape with the first signs of light, I crested the top of the ridge. Walking in the dark for over an hour, I was where I wanted to be. Being a non-resident and never having the opportunity to hunt the unit, the game plan was simple – get on the highest point and glass, glass, and glass. Living over eight hours away in Idaho, I never had a chance to do any scouting. I did all the research I could by making calls to local biologists, studying all the maps, and conducting internet research for as much information as I could find. I was exactly where all my research pointed me to, but unfortunately, it was right where everyone else was as well. As I sat on a small rock outcropping, I watched a dozen headlights coming up the canyon and another half dozen vehicles spread throughout different drainages below me.
As the sun started to peak and having the advantage as I was already on top of the ridge, I settled in behind my Vortex Razor spotting scope to begin glassing all the draws and mountainsides around me. After glassing for several hours, there was no sign of any deer, not one shot heard, but hunter orange was scattered along every draw and ridge in sight. With frustration, I packed up and headed back down the ridge toward camp. After a quick bite to eat, my father and I decided to go for a drive to get a better lay of the unit. We drove almost 100 miles of roads that day, covering all types of terrain, along with stopping and glassing multiple canyons. We came across what seemed like every hunter in the unit but not one deer.
With limited time to hunt, we had to be open to different options, so we decided to drive up to the other end of the unit. Throughout the day, we drove to where there were very few hunters around, glassed a ton of new country, and still had yet to see a deer. Only a few people we talked to had even seen any deer, let alone harvest anything. I was completely frustrated at this point as I had limited days to hunt, and it seemed that success was out of reach.
On the third day, Dad made the decision to go home. It looked like I was going to be hunting solo. After studying BaseMap on my phone the night before and reviewing all of my research, I decided to pack up camp and head as far away from people as I could find. With goodbyes said and the truck loaded up, I headed to town to gas up and call my amazing wife. She has always supported my hunting obsession, ensuring everything is taken care of at home as I was away. A quick call to my love, some words of encouragement, and a full tank of gas, I was off to find an area full of deer and no hunting pressure.
After driving for about an hour, I was getting close to the other side of the unit. Terrain had gone from steep rock mountains full of oak brush and aspen trees to rolling grass hills and draws of very thick juniper trees. After turning off the main road, things started to look more like I wanted to be as I only passed one other deer camp. I have been blessed to have 28 years of hunting experience and taken 37 deer from multiple western states. I feel that I’ve become extremely successful, but this hunt was definitely becoming one of the most challenging hunts I had been on.
With half a day left, I quickly set up camp and took off on foot through the dense junipers. I walked up and down draws through some of the thickest brush I had ever hunted. It didn’t take long before I started to run into more and more deer sign, including a big fresh buck track heading down a dry sand draw. With light fading, I decided to quickly jump up on the highest point I could find and glass until it became too dark. With minimal daylight remaining, I gazed across to a juniper-filled canyon and suddenly saw movement in the trees. Quickly dialing up the glass, five does walked through a small opening in the thick cover. Finally, deer!
As the does passed through the opening, I started glassing around the area, vigorously looking for any other sign of movement. After several minutes, I found myself looking into the opening the does had crossed in over and over. After 10 minutes of no other activity and light practically faded away, I threw the glass up one last time into the same opening. Just as I got the spotting scope focused, a doe came running back through the opening and a giant framed buck appeared into view, chasing her right into the upper juniper patch. With deer out of range and daylight gone, I decided to start making my way back towards camp.
Once in camp, I warmed up my Mountain House dinner and started studying the BaseMap app looking for a better way to get across the canyon in the morning. It didn’t take long to find an access road a mile from camp that would get me on the other side of the canyon, but it was not much closer to where I had seen the big buck. The night was cold, and I was restless as all I could think of was the buck I had seen. I decided to drive down to the access road I had found on the map the night before. The drive was short, and I was quickly around the canyon and nearly out of road. It was quickly starting to turn light, and the solid walls of juniper trees had slowly opened up to a small grassy meadow. I grabbed my gun and pack and started heading across the opening toward the canyon where I had last seen the buck. As I got to the tree line at the top of the ridge, I realized I was a lot further away from the opening I was watching the night before than I thought I would be.
I quickly climbed to a small point overlooking the meadow and canyon. This spot would have to do for now, so I set up and started glassing. After an hour, all the momentum I had seen from the night before had disappeared. With thoughts of packing up and calling it a season running in my mind, my focus started fading. Suddenly, there was movement walking along the tree line on the other end of the meadow. Quickly pulling up my binoculars, I could see a heavy, dark-horned buck walking away from me and heading back towards the trees. It was a stud!
With all my years of experience, this was a deer that I knew was a shooter from a quick glance. I quickly ran down the hill 20 yards to get a rest on a dead tree. With the buck walking directly toward the trees, I knew I only had a matter of seconds until he would slowly fade into the thick junipers and tall brush. I pulled up with a quick range of 534 yards. As I dialed in my scope and settled in, all I could think was make a good shot as I only get one. Just then, the buck turned broadside and the first gunshot I had heard all season rang out followed by a familiar thump. Done deal! As I was walking over, I kept telling myself I had just killed the biggest deer of my life. The typical framed heavy-horned bruiser grossed 202 5/8".
Login