I can still feel the shock from picking up the phone call from Huntin’ Fool and hearing the words, “I am calling to let you know that you just won the Expo Paunsaugunt rifle tag!” I am fairly certain my wife was questioning my sanity as I rattled off the story to her. She calmed me down a bit, and I immediately called my closest friends to tell them my good fortune. It’s hard to believe this all happened from purchasing a few $5 raffle entries at the Western Hunt Expo in February. It didn’t take more than two seconds for my friend, Davie Zimmerman, to jump at the opportunity to video the hunt for me.
I had already decided to hire an outfitter, and after some recommendations from Huntin’ Fool, I settled on Wade Lemon Hunting. They put me in contact with Brady Larsen who would be my guide for the trip. He kept me updated and informed of the phenomenal antler growth due to the good moisture in the area. I started receiving the trail cam pictures from him in August. It seemed as if October would never arrive.
Davie and I took the evening flight to Las Vegas on October 19th. We spent the night and headed up to Kanab, Utah Sunday morning and met Brady around noon. After a short but formal introduction period, we discussed my goals for the hunt. I really wanted to break 200" and would stay the whole season if necessary. He responded, “Excellent! We will be done by Thursday!” Although I was scheduled to start Monday, we headed out Sunday evening at around 4 p.m. to see what we could find. The cameras at the waterholes didn’t show anything worth sitting for, so after glassing a few spots, we headed back to camp. Wade Lemon Hunting also sent along Brent Jeffries to help with glassing and finding us a giant to shoot. We met up with him back at camp and turned in for the night.
It was a beautiful but chilly Monday morning as we headed out to glass some flats. The temperature rose from 19 degrees in the early morning to 70 degrees by midday. This reduced the deer activity to nearly zero. Mid-morning, we met up with Brent and he showed us a video of a 190" deer he was able to spot. Since it was smaller than what I was looking for, I tucked him in the back of my mind for a last- resort option. The only amazing thing we ended up seeing was the gorgeous sunset that ended the day.
Tuesday, Brent alerted us about a buck he had spotted. It took us no more than 10 minutes to head over and check it out. After inspection of the video, we labeled him as a shooter and made a plan to put a stalk on him. Unfortunately, we never turned him up again and we were back to square one.
Wednesday was a slow morning, and we saw just about as many hunters as deer. We took some time to pull cards and look over the camera pictures. There was a giant non-typical that last hit the water three days ago and a big 200" typical that was pretty regular at the water. Davie and I set up there about 40 yards away from the water. This was closer than we wanted to be, but it was our only option for a good view and proper wind direction. We set up some branches around a tree and got as comfortable as possible.
Thirty minutes into our wait, the first group of does came in about 5 yards beside Davie, who was on the opposite side of the tree as me. The evening continued, and we saw about 30 deer; however, none of them piqued my interest. At 6:15, I heard Davie whisper, “Don’t move! Shooter behind us!” As the adrenaline started pumping, I was wondering which one he meant, the typical or non-typical that we had seen on trail cam.
I whispered, “The shooter?”
He replied with a hushed, “Yes,” and all fell silent again. We heard him walking in, and Davie had an eye turned back to keep an eye on him. He didn’t trust trying to turn the camera for fear of spooking him. The shooter came in to about 8 yards but immediately sensed something was wrong and paused for quite possibly an eternity. He finally dropped into a draw and out of sight about 20 yards to Davie’s right. He got the camera positioned, and soon enough, the buck ambled up.
“He’s right here. Do you see him?” Davie whispered to me. From my position, I could only see his legs moving through the cedars. As he kept coming slowly forward into sight, I raised my .300 Win Mag and got ready to pull the trigger. Finally, about 40 yards out, his head cleared the cedar and I laid eyes on him for the first time. I just needed him to take two more steps forward so I had a clear shot at his vitals. With calm clarity, I got the crosshairs lined up behind his shoulder and squeezed the trigger. All I could hear was my heart beating as the bullet struck him right in the lung and the echo of the shot as it faded away. He bolted straight for us but fell 3 yards in front of us, allowing Davie to capture the entire event on video.
We stood up, our adrenaline rushing through our veins. I just shot a giant! I got the non-typical! Thoughts raced through my head, and we eventually just started shaking from excitement. I texted Brady, “Buck down,” and waited for them to arrive. The celebrations started again once Brady and Brent arrived and we realized the enormity of this animal I had just taken down. He taped out at 239 5/8" with 43" of extra points.
A big thank you to everyone at Wade Lemon Hunting, and a shout out to Brady, Brent, and Davie for helping to make it possible. Davie and I are both so blessed to have wonderful wives who graciously allow us to pursue our addictions to these great animals. We give all the praise and glory to God for his amazing creation and allowing us to have these opportunities!