I have been a member of Huntin’ Fool for over 21 years, way back to when it was a 10-page newsletter, and I have been building points in most of the western states for sheep, goat, elk, deer, and antelope for most of those 21 years. After years of applying and trying to pick and choose what states and units to apply for and accumulating “points only” out of fear of drawing too many tags, in 2020, I went all in and applied for many limited-entry hunts. This strategy paid off big time as I drew a Wyoming Rocky Mountain bighorn tag in unit 1 with 19 points, a Utah mountain goat tag in the Beaver unit with 21 points, and a Colorado fourth season unit 55 mule deer tag with 21 points. I know it sounds like a broken record, but you can’t draw if you don’t apply, and someone has to draw!
Drawing one premium tag in the West when you live on the east coast is intimidating enough, so drawing three tags in the same year and figuring out the logistics of travel, outfitters, etc. was pretty overwhelming. Huntin’ Fool was a big help in putting me in contact with the right people.
I was able to head west in September for three straight weeks. Back in 2013, I drew a limited-entry late season elk tag in Wyoming, and at the time, Huntin’ Fool highly recommended Meade Dominick of 7D Ranch Outfitters. I hunted with Meade and had an incredible hunt. Meade and his wife, Andrea, and I have kept in touch over the years, so my Wyoming sheep outfitter was a no brainer. Huntin’ Fool gave me some names of goat outfitters in the Beaver unit, and after talking to Bryant Johnson of Gone Hunting Outfitters, I had my goat hunt lined up. I also got some names of outfitters in Colorado’s unit 55 near Gunnison, and after talking to Steve Guerreri of Lazy F Bar Outfitters, my fall lineup was set.
I headed west on September 4th, flying into Cody, Wyoming. We headed to Meade’s home in Cody to pack for the 15-mile trip into the wilderness. The temperature hit 96 degrees on the 5th and Meade and Andrea had a funeral to attend, so we decided it would be easier on the horses to wait until the 6th to pack in. Our pack in was through some of the most amazing mountain country I have ever seen. We got camp set up and were finally ready to hunt. We woke up on the morning of the 7th to three inches of snow and 25-degree temperatures, a huge change from the 96 degrees two days earlier!
On day one, we put in many miles on horseback and on foot, with many hours behind the glass. We spotted around 30 ewes and lambs and 3 rams but no mature rams. Day two was more of the same, riding between glassing spots. At one of our vantage points, we were glassing a mountainside a few miles away when one of the guides, Tom, looked back totally in the opposite direction into the timber and spotted a big, mature lone ram bedded in a tiny opening on a saddle 1,300 yards away. The chase was on!
Meade and I rode a few miles on our horses to get around the drainage and above the ram. We got set up 300 yards above the ram with a pretty steep, narrow window to shoot, and just as I got on the ram, he jumped up and came straight at us. The ridge in front of us blocked the ram, so I had no clean shot. The ram disappeared into the dark timber, and I was sick. Meade said we needed to pull out so as not to spook the ram.
On the way back to the horses, we found a small clearing in the trees about 250 yards below us in the general direction the ram was headed. Meade thought it was a good idea to set up there and wait. After 30 minutes of staring at that opening, Meade said, “There he is!” I had a steep downhill shot at a tiny opening and made it count. Of course, the ram ran straight down the mountain into the drainage that Meade had previously said we didn’t want to get down into because it was such a nasty spot. After a long tracking job in the patchy snow, we finally recovered my ram. A super heavy broomed 9-year-old loner ram was more than I could have hoped for. Thanks to Meade Dominick, Tom Dickens, and Spencer Strike for the hunt-of-a-lifetime. Now leg two of the adventure was on.
Bryant Johnson picked me up in Salt Lake on September 10th. We stayed at Bryant’s house in Monroe that night, and on September 11th, Bryant, guides Cory Elmer and Rusty Edwards, and I headed to camp on Beaver Mountain. We shot my rifle and got camp set up, so we decided to do a little scouting. We found the group of six billies we were looking for but couldn’t quite get within range, so we put them to bed at dark.
The next morning, we hiked for hours straight up the mountain and relocated the billies. We couldn’t get any closer than 600 yards, so we set up and waited. The billies stayed bedded for hours, and the two biggest wouldn’t get up at all. Bryant was at the top of the mountain above them, and after hours of waiting, Bryant radioed that he was going to roll some rocks to get them on their feet. I expressed my concerns to Rusty, but he assured me their plan would work. One rock, nothing. Two rocks, nothing. Third rock, goat rodeo! It’s hard enough to judge bedded goats at 600 yards, but when they bunch up and run in circles, it’s almost impossible. Finally, the billies started to line out across the open slope, and we picked out a mature billy and made the shot count at 589 yards.
Huge thanks to Bryant Johnson, Cory Elmer, and Rusty Edwards for an awesome experience. My 15 days of hunting that I was booked for was done in three hunting days. My wife and some friends were meeting me after my hunts, so my wife moved her flight up a week and we spent almost two weeks exploring the Mighty Five national parks in Utah. What a great end to the trip-of-a-lifetime.
Fast forward to hunt number three. I flew into Gunnison, Colorado on November 17th. I found out the night before I left that Steve and all of his guides had tested positive for Covid after being exposed by their previous group of hunters. I would be hunting with Steve’s daughter, Molly, since he and all his guides were quarantined. Molly had guided for Steve for years and had taken this year off, but she was gracious enough to guide me on my hunt. On the night before the hunt, we headed out to do some scouting. We located one of the target bucks, a 180" class buck with a big inline. We wanted to get a better look at him in the morning.
Opening day, the 18th, we got set up where we saw the buck from the night before. The buck ended up with a group of does on private ground, and by late morning, he followed the does further onto private. We decided to cover some ground to see what other bucks were around. We spotted a big heavy framed buck in a thicket with some does. We tried to get above them, but they gave us the slip into a patch of heavy timber. We hunted the rest of the day, seeing some pretty good bucks but no first day shooters. Right before dark, we set up below the timber patch where the buck from earlier in the afternoon had disappeared, and sure enough, he followed his does out just before legal shooting light ended. A 160-yard shot anchored the old, heavy 4x4 on the spot. He was exactly what I was looking for – a massive bodied mature buck with heavy, dark antlers. Thanks to Molly and her dad, Steve Guerreri, for topping off an incredible year.
Three hunts, 61 total years of applying, and four total days of hunting. I couldn’t be happier with the outcome of my hunts. Not only harvesting three mature animals, but for meeting some great people and spending time in the mountains.
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