As we stood looking down into the deep ravine, Colby gestured towards where he felt our buck would be. As he did so, the buck sprang from his hidden bed approximately 250 yards in front of us. Obviously, he had been watching us and had decided to get out of dodge by scrambling like a goat up and over the top.
When I started to think about planning a mule deer hunt for 2018, my thoughts were to find something with terrain not too challenging, use my rifle, and not have to walk long distances. This was due to the fact that I had torn my ACL skiing in Utah in late February with my family and my hunt would take place only six or seven months after my surgery. I was very fortunate that a world-renowned surgeon, Dr. Freddy Fu, resided in Pittsburgh and was able to quickly work me into his schedule soon after my accident. I pushed hard to do the best I could with therapy, but I would be wearing a knee brace and would have to be careful with my partially healed knee. I knew my friends at Huntin’ Fool would help as they always have since I joined many years ago when they had just begun with a paper trifold publication. They recommended that I call Alan Fowles, the owner of Trophy Creek Outfitters. During our first conversation, I realized that although I’m known to be a talker, this guy could give me a run for my money. The plan sounded simple enough. He would pick me up in town each morning and we’d drive through some private and public land, looking for a trophy. There would be walking involved but nothing too crazy, or so I thought.
I have owned a kitchen design center for 35 years, and Alan owns a custom kitchen shop. With that in common, and the many life stories we had to share, the time that we talked while glassing and traveling from one place to another was shaping up to be just the kind of hunt I had hoped for. Although we were seeing some very good antelope, many nice bucks, and even some elk, we were not finding the kind of buck I was looking for. With two days left, Alan informed me that his son, Colby, was finished with his hunt in another area and was going to join us the next morning.
Alan and I went to the south side of a canyon and began glassing at first light the next morning. Colby was up on the north side, glassing. After a while, he found the kind of buck we were looking for – wide, heavy, and high. Alan and Colby came up with a plan to find a position with the buck in range. I felt pretty comfortable with the 500-yard shot since I had taken their advice in utilizing a bipod for my custom 7mm. Once we worked our way around, Alan and Colby went to the edge to glass with me just behind. The calculations were perfect as the buck was directly below us. Unfortunately, he caught us skylined, and as I moved up to get a shot, he disappeared. Undaunted, the father and son team decided it would be best to work our way down and hunt until they could spot him again to hopefully get me a position for another opportunity. This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but he was a very good buck and it certainly wasn’t the first foolish thing I had done while hunting.
After working our way down and tracking for some time, we got to an area that was mostly solid rock and it was difficult to determine exactly where the buck went. I stayed with Colby as we split up to really buckle down and pick up on the tracks again. After a while, Alan spotted our buck with another one, but unfortunately, they saw him as well. The fact that I was 30 yards or so below and feeling my knee injury prohibited me from getting in position quickly enough to take a shot. They had gone out of the canyon. I thought that was the last we would see of that buck.
We regrouped and worked our way back to the trucks for lunch. I was surprised when Alan and Colby informed me that, in their opinion, that buck would just turn and come right back. They turned out to be right. After my guides had a good discussion, they informed me that they felt our best bet was for me to go back down into the canyon alone with Colby traveling light with just my rifle. The idea was that I would need to do nothing but concentrate on making the best of an opportunity that Colby felt he could produce.
Colby, true to his word, got on the tracks. We proceeded to move our way down the canyon. Several times, we climbed up on top of some of the rock formations to get a better view. I was nervous but was actually doing just fine. It was getting later in the afternoon when Colby’s sixth sense had him revise our plan once again. He felt that we were getting very close, but with the terrain, it was too likely that we would jump our buck and getting an accurate shot would be too difficult.
We caught up with Alan, who was glassing for us, and Colby tried to determine approximately where the buck had gone. It was then, as he was pointing to an area shaded from the sun, that our prize decided to head up and over the top. I quickly dropped to the ground and got set. In seconds, he had reached the top. He paused for a second, and I made my shot. He slid back off the edge and fell approximately 40 yards to a thin ledge, hung there for several more seconds, and continued to fall to the bottom. Alan, who was watching through his binoculars, informed me dryly that he had broken his antlers. As I stared at him, he began laughing and told me he was just kidding. What a day! Now all we had to do was go back down into the canyon for the third time and get the buck out.
After the congratulations and picture taking, my guides decided to simply cut him in half and Colby would carry out the front, I would carry out gear, and Alan would drag the back half until Colby could come back down and carry it up. It was an impressive way for my new friends to get my trophy and meat out of this badland.
My adventure had been an amazing transformation from what was supposed to be a laid-back hunt to a determined, dogged, and intense effort resulting in victory. My buck had good mass and good length and the back points came out way down on the main beams, so when he was looking straight on, we could see everything he had. It was a great hunt and a pleasure to be with my new friends, Alan and Colby of Trophy Creek Outfitters.