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Landed in SLC on the 29th around noon and met up with Saltwaterbucks.
He gave me a tour of the city while we waited for BOX to land. The airport had plenty of nice "does" browsing around, so the wait wasn't too bad.
When Marty arrived we headed south to the headquarters for the week. Emery County Utah. They took me through a beautiful area in the Manti-lasalle mountains.
We made a quick stop at Saltwaterbuck's house and headed out to scout/hunt.
We glassed a number of areas, and ended up watching deer #1 leave a cornfield as the sun went down.
Peerow joined us Thursday morning we headed south to an area that had been scouted previously, and set up looking over a beautiful ranch. Very few deer were seen. We think the full moon and recently cut fields full of livestock changed the patterns of the deer.
We headed to another area that some bucks had been seen recently, and sure enough there they were. A mess of does, and a few bucks. At least one shooter.
Peerow and I headed to one end of the bottom, and BOX and Saltwaterbucks went to the other.
Irrigation sprinklers helped cover our noise, and a cross wind helped us sneak up to a hopeful ambush of the bucks. We worked our way through the bottom spotting some does. BOX and SWB spotted a nice 3x, but nothing in range, or worth taking.
After a mid day rest, we returned to the cornfield from the night before. BOX, Swb and I headed to the end where the buck had been seen a few times to sit and wait. We sat in the standing corn and weeds and waited for some point blank action. The mosquitos were happy enough to take about a pint of blood from all of us, so when Peerow called us on the radio and said the buck and a doe had come out of the other end of the field about 200 yds away, I was thrilled. The strong SW wind allowed us to use the standing corn to block our movement, and sound, and sneak up the edge of the field. SWB took the lead, and BOX told me to take second. I knocked an arrow and we started into the wind, and towards the deer. The buck was on the opposite side of a wire fence, and was feeding his way into the wind along the fence. We slowly made our way to within 100....60....40....30....20.....15 yds. SWB and I were nearly to the now bedded buck when I had to get on all fours and sneak through some low weeds.
We were ready to try a shot when my rangefinder hit my bow, and sent the deer off into the field.
STALK OVER
We didn't booger him up too bad, and we hoped he wouldn't be spooked out of the area.
Friday morning brought us back to the same area. We glassed a few fields as the sun came up, and decided to check on our friend from the corn. Sure enough he was there, but out in the field a few hundred yards from the corn. We knew he would be headed to the protection of the corn before it got too light, so SWB and I got dropped off on the backside, and hoofed it to the end of the field where we expected to get a shot.
Halfway there BOX and Peerow called us on the radio telling us we'd never make it in time, and to turn around. Phew....we didn't blow it!
We covered some ground during the day on friday scouting, had a little lunch, took a nap, and headed back to the corn.
We set up just like the night before. This time the wind was calm, and the skeeters weren't quite as bad. I doubled up on clothes and used a little bug spray. The pheasants were cackling and geese were flying....a beautiful night.
Around 7:00 some noise came from out of the corn. A doe headed out and fed around 15 yds from us. SWB stood to my left in some tall corn, and I sat on a stool in the high weeds/corn. When she came out, I stayed hidden, and he let me know what was going on with whispers and hand signals.
She turned away from us and jumped back into the corn. About 30 min later the noises from the corn started again. This time we could tell it was him. He walked to within 10-15 feet and looked out into the field. SWB and I were shaking like leaves as we watched the rack, and counted nosehairs. The buck didn't see us b/c of the cover, but I still can't figure how he didn't smell us. After about 2 min he broke for the field and SWB told me 5 yds....Draw and stand.
As I stood he jumped out of the weeds, turned to the left, and jumped a few times. I swung with him thinking this was my only chance, and let an arrow fly. I put it just in front of him, and thankfully he didn't really see me, and only spooked to about 15-20 yds. I kneeled back down, knocked a new arrow, drew my bow and stood. The sun was just above the mountains and right in my face. I took my time, settled in, and let an arrow fly. THWACK....he's hit and headed back into the corn. SWB got on the radio and informed the others, and BOX came over to us.
Peerow came out to us and the tracking began. The arrow was covered from one end to the other in good blood, and was laying in the grass. Phew....he's hit good.
We started into the corn and found the blood trail without any trouble. He was spraying good. One of those trails a blind man could find.
About 50 yds later there he was. Deer #1 was down.
TBC...........
-D
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Damn nice buck can't wait to hear the rest of this story!!
JIG STRONG
Pertty work Dave...
