I still remember being in the back of my dad’s Toyota 4Runner in my car seat, heading down a dirt road to our deer hunting spot. I’ve always been passionate about big game hunting and have some of my fondest memories out in the woods with my dad and grandpa. It was back in those days that my dad saw this passion and began putting me in for bonus points all over the West. I was fortunate to have been brought up in a tradition of hunting and remember the excitement of my dad coming home from his yearly elk hunts in Colorado; I couldn’t wait to put my hands on those antlers and hear the stories to go with them.
Fast forward to now. I’m 28 years old, and I had accumulated a good amount of points in Arizona. My dad had hunted the Kaibab Plateau five years previously, and I knew that’s where I wanted to use the points I had accumulated over the years.
After doing my research, I went with Arizona Strip Guides as they know the area as well, if not better, than the rest. Missing Thanksgiving Day and leaving the wife home alone with a two-year-old and a two-month-old was not ideal, but she understands my passion and the chance of a lifetime that stood before me.
I wanted to make the most of this opportunity, and I knew I needed to be out shooting and training on a regular basis to increase my chances of success. I would wake up before the dawn, drive out to the range, and be all set up by the time the sun began peaking over the mountains. By the time the hunt came around, I was feeling very confident in my fitness and shooting.
The weather was unseasonably warm, and it hadn’t rained on the Kaibab Plateau for over 60 days. This made the hunt hot and dusty and gave us very short windows where the deer were out feeding, not what you would expect for a December hunt in northern Arizona. The rut was kicking off, but the deer just weren’t out like they should be that time of year. After a couple days of seeing a lot of deer but no quality bucks, we caught a lucky break.
My dad and cousin were helping out for the week, and my dad happened to catch a glimpse of what we thought would be the class of buck we wanted to chase. This buck was a tank. He had mass like you couldn’t believe and the length that one looks for in a trophy mulie. To top it off, he had matching hook cheaters coming off his G3s. We hunted this buck for four solid days, and despite seeing numerous other good bucks, we just couldn’t turn up this sly ol’ monster.
Day five always seems to sneak up on me quicker than I think. The weather had taken a favorable turn, and we knew the morning was going to be a good hunt. We went back into the same country, and despite seeing over 25 bucks in the morning, we couldn’t turn up the one we were looking for. We got word from another guide whose hunter had tagged out earlier that he had found a shooter about 30 minutes away from where we were hunting. We booked it as quick as we could but turned up just as the buck was harvested by another hunter. Fortunately for us, we found another shooter bedded down less than a mile from where we had seen the other buck get shot. One of the guides made an out of this world spot when he saw just the antler tips of this buck above the sagebrush about 700 yards out.
We began our stalk on the buck and jumped him at 420 yards. All of the practice in the world can never fully get you ready for a moment like that. At that moment, I realized this shot would be nothing like the dozens of times I had shot from a bench all of those quiet mornings in my hometown. I had about three seconds before this buck would bolt. I quickly sat down, jacked a shell in, and shot two times, hitting him in the neck on my second shot. Then he bolted. After a good mile and a half of sprinting after him with all of our gear, we caught up to him in a tight ravine and I was able to seal the deal three shots later. To say “It Got Western” would be an understatement. Shooting at a buck five times is something I would have never planned or expected, but we had a good laugh as we walked up to it knowing I got my money’s worth.
It’s amazing when it all comes together like it did. We sat around for a good 30 minutes, talking, laughing, and enjoying the success we had just experienced. There were moments in that hunt where I experienced some of my highest highs, along with discouragement and frustration, but ultimately total contentment in accomplishing what I had set out to do. A huge thanks to my dad, Ben, my cousin, Aaron, and guides Layne, Landon, Collin, and Josh who helped make my dream a reality.