In 2016, I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and was told that I would no longer be able to do many of the physical activities I have done all my life. A regimen of heart medications, a very low sodium diet, and moderate exercise improved my health to the point that I was cleared by my cardiologist to go hunting. I was able to cash in my Wyoming preference points and take a 185" mule deer, the largest deer I had ever taken in my 50 years of hunting.
In early 2017, I had surgery to implant a pacemaker, which greatly increased my ability to walk and exert myself. To me, this meant only one thing. It was time to go hunt large mule deer. At age 67, I knew I had to cash in my Arizona mule deer preference points. Even though I had 16 preference points, it was obvious that I would probably never draw a Strip tag or a late season Kaibab hunt.
I told Huntin’ Fool of my situation and my desire to hunt mule deer in Arizona in 2017. They put me in touch with Kevin Call of High Point Outfitters. High Point Outfitters provides a hunt in the early season in the Kaibab unit, and it lasts for the full 10 days of the early season. Kevin assured me that with my 16 points I would get drawn for this hunt. He also said that if I was patient and didn’t shoot a 150-170" buck, I would have a very good chance of getting a 180-200" buck. I booked the hunt.
I was drawn for the hunt and began to look forward to another hunting adventure. About a month before the hunt, I received a call from my guide, Lester Finney. After talking on the phone with Lester, it became obvious that he enjoys hunting big bucks as much as I do. Lester also enjoys preseason scouting. He called me several times before my hunt just to tell me what animals he was seeing.
Lester explained that there would be two hunters in camp. The second hunter, James from Pennsylvania, would be guided by John Adams who is the co-owner of High Point Outfitters. Lester had bet John Adams a cookie that I would kill a bigger buck than his hunter. What this really meant was whichever guide won the bet would have bragging rights until next year’s deer season.
My first day in camp, Lester explained that the deer had really been pounding the waterholes since it was so hot and dry. He showed me pictures of a waterhole that he had found that had no other trail cameras on it. There was a heavy-horned 180-190" 4x4 that had been coming in as well as a non-typical 8x7 that was about 30" wide but not nearly as heavy horned. He was probably a 200" buck. It was decided that we would spend two to four days sitting at this waterhole. My goal was to shoot either of these two bucks if they came in during daylight. If this did not work, we would try to spot and stalk for other large bucks in the deep surrounding canyons.
Opening day came, and we sat at our waterhole without a blind. It became obvious that the does and smaller bucks smelled us. They began to snort and change their movements.
John’s hunter, James, bagged a 4x3 buck with several additional stickers on opening day. It measured about 160". Lester and I now knew what we needed to shoot to ensure he could get his cookie and bragging rights for the year.
Before daylight on the second day of our hunt, we set up a Double Bull ground blind near our waterhole. We also sprayed scent removal spray all around our blind. As we waited for one of our two big bucks to come in to drink, we watched several other deer come in and get very close to us. They were not aware that we were even there. I passed on a couple of medium 4x4s that were in the 160" range, but I was content to wait.
Lester felt that the heavy-horned buck had been coming to the water about every three days and would probably be back to drink the next day. Late that afternoon, Lester left me in the blind to continue to watch our waterhole while he went to scout a nearby canyon. About half an hour before dark, I spotted the heavy-horned 4x4 sneaking in to the waterhole. As soon as I could see him clearly, he noticed that something was not right and whirled and ran. I made a snap shot but did not know if I had hit him or not. Lester came back, and we checked but could not find evidence of a hit. We decided to come back to look in the morning light for anything indicating a hit.
The next morning, Lester found a tuft of hair but no blood. After following the tracks for about 100 yards, Lester began to find blood. We tracked the buck for about half a mile further. Our search paid off. There in front of us was my buck – dead. Lester was even more excited than I was. This was an enormous buck! He turned out to be 25" wide and very tall with mass all the way up. The buck later measured out to be 191 5/8".
John made good on his bet with Lester and presented him with a cookie the next morning at the Jacob Lake store. Lester said, “This is the sweetest cookie I’ve ever tasted! At the game check, Arizona Fish and Game estimated the buck to be six to eight years old. Arizona Fish and Game took a picture of the buck to put on their website. They said it was the oldest buck they had checked in for the season so far.
My advice to anyone who is looking for a great hunt is to consider hunts that are limited but do not take the maximum preference points. Do your research and talk to the guys at Huntin’ Fool. There are a lot of premium hunts out there that do not require maximum points. In my case, I drew two really great hunts in two years without maximum points. Life is too short to keep on waiting and to not go hunting.
I would also recommend the early season Kaibab and High Point Outfitters to anyone. Their hunt is definitely a personalized hunt with guides who love to hunt and would be glad to hunt hard for all 10 days of the season if that is what it takes. Plus, by going on the early Kaibab hunt, which does not require maximum points, you could possibly have two really good hunts in the same period of time it would take to get drawn once for the late season Kaibab hunt. Just start accumulating more points after your first hunt.
I have decided that no matter what happens, I will continue to hunt. In fact, my hunting adventures for 2017 were not over. I also had a general buck tag and a cow elk tag in Wyoming. In two feet of snow in Wyoming, I took a cow elk and a medium 4x4 buck.
I had another great adventure and got my biggest buck ever in Arizona despite major health issues. Keep on hunting; it is what I live for.
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