My first muzzleloader mule deer hunt was this last September, but it actually started seven years ago. I met my neighbor, Guy Torres, seven years ago as he was loading up his ATV for a hunt. Instantly, I recognized his passion for the outdoors, conservation, and hunting. He seemed like a nice person with a big heart. Never could I have realized the magnitude of his giving heart until that brisk morning on September 17th as the sun was rising.
Over the next seven years, Guy took me under his wing and taught me a lot about hunting. Actually, the first year I met him, I received my first issue of the Huntin’ Fool magazine as a gift from my new friend at Christmas. The journey followed with our monthly anticipation of the magazine and the time to put in for tags. Guy taught me about odds, statistics, and what areas I should put in for as he shared his wisdom and passion for this great sport. He taught me about the importance of equipment, safety, and preparing for the hunt. I quickly learned that for Guy it wasn’t about the hunt but the experience to share with his boys and friends.
As I became more excited about big game hunting, Guy arranged for me to go on a landowner rifle elk hunt in Utah with a guide since I had not drawn any tags yet. He always said, “James, we are going to get you a big elk.” Sure enough, he delivered a big 6x6 that is now hanging in my man cave.
Guy has hunted the world, and his name is listed in many hunting record books. He loves hunting, but his main passion is mule deer hunting. Unfortunately, after years of hunting for trophy mule deer, he has only taken a mule deer with a score of around 170". Still, it’s not a bad deer by any stretch of the imagination. For the last seven years that I have known Guy, he has purchased a Nevada landowner tag for mule deer in search of that ultimate trophy. And, for the last seven years, he has had to make “tag soup.” He says, “James, it’s not about the hunt but the experience with the people around me.”
Fast forward to the morning of September 17th. We had hired a guide named Dayne Barnes from Barnes Outfitters in Nevada, and we had been hunting with him for three days. We saw some nice bucks but nothing in the 200 class range. I was hunting with Tyler, one of Dayne’s guides, when he received a phone call from Dayne. I couldn’t hear anything until Tyler said, “We are on our way.” Tyler informed me that Dayne and Guy had found a shooter and that Guy wanted me to have the opportunity to take this huge buck.
As we drove for 20 minutes on our way to meet Dayne and Guy, I was nervous and had butterflies in my stomach. I told myself this was Guy’s deer. He had spotted it and had waited years to take a huge buck. I calmed myself down, and when we met up with Guy, he had a huge smile on his face. He wrapped his arm around me, looked at me, and said, “This is for you.”
I couldn’t argue. I knew it what coming from his heart and it was what he wanted. At this moment, I truly understood what it meant to have a hunter’s heart.
It wasn’t over. I still had to calm myself down and finish the race. What if I missed and disappointed my friend? Dayne and I proceeded on a two and a half mile hike up the canyon to the place where they had last seen this monster. We came closer to our destination approximately an hour later with sweat coming down my face. We stopped to glass once again. Nothing. The canyon was huge, and he could be anywhere in the ravines. He didn’t get that big by being dumb. As we quietly and slowly walked and glassed, we came upon a ledge looking down into the canyon.
Dayne immediately dropped to the ground and said, “He is right there thirty yards below us. I can see his horns. Get ready to shoot.”
I looked over the ledge and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The horns almost looked fake as I had never seen a deer that big in the wild. I took a double take to make sure those were really horns and not branches.
Dayne said, “Get ready. You need to make the shot because he is going to get up.”
My heart was racing as I put my sights on the deer, squeezed the trigger, and missed. It happened so fast. In my mind, I could hear Guy telling me to reload, calm down, take some deep breaths, and focus. I focused and squeezed. As the smoke cleared, I realized I had taken my first deer with a muzzleloader.
I am honored to call Guy my friend, and after taking seven years to draw this deer tag, I am forever grateful to him for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Most importantly, I learned the real meaning of friendship and what a true hunter’s heart looks like. The width of the buck’s antlers measured 32 1/2". I sent a picture to my wife, and she said, “The smile on your face said everything.”
Guy has a heart for helping others. He is also a surgeon who has dedicated his life to saving people’s lives, which could not be more evident than on the evening of October 1, 2017 with the tragic shooting in Las Vegas. When Guy received the call, he responded without hesitation and spent the next 36 hours working in the ER triaging victims and working in the OR saving lives. There are no further words to describe my friend.
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