sneakem
Well-known member
I'll start this off with a little background on this story. I met Paul years ago as I was guiding. I pulled into the local meat processor to drop off and elk and a deer. There was a man, with his wife in front of us dropping off their animals with another guide from our ranch. In the back of my truck were two really exceptional animals. This man walks over and says "WOW" those are huge, congratulations." My client responds "Well, They are not as big as I expected, but they'll do." Meanwhile this man lowers his head and slinks away back to the truck containing his raghorn bull. I look at my client then approach the man at the truck. I say " Man, that a great bull you've got there, congrats. Not everyone walks away from a hunt successful". His eyes lit up as I could tell it meant the world for him to hear that. We introduce ourselves to one another. We chat for a while about hunting and he asks how he could get an animal like that. I explain to him that while some people get lucky and are in the right place at the right time, most people that get big animals usually earn them. They are willing to go farther and work harder than most. They have to dedicate the time and effort in to finding and pursuing them, because even in the best of areas they are few and far between, and even in the worst areas they are there, you just have to give it your all to find them. You have to go to the places that you think you can't go... He shakes his head in agreement and smiles and say to his wife... " I'm going to have to work at this. You see he was a big man about 6'4", pushing 270 pounds.
The next hunting season rolls around and the man wanders into camp with his wife. Only he is much thinner than I remember. Still a big man but maybe 50 pounds lighter. He walks over and says, " I thought about what you told me, so I've been working out and training. I've requested that I hunt with you, I hope that's ok. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to be successful." I smile and say... " Absolutely!" In many years of hunting as guide and client we had pushed ourselves and taken some incredible animals, He had pushed himself to incredible limits with me, at times even when I knew it was hurting him to do so. We developed a respect for one another, a friendship, a bond between us that made us feel like brothers, family.
Fast forward to today. I have since retired from guiding and have a "Real Job"...lol Paul and I are still extremely close. I've been to both his children's weddings, he's watch my kids grow up. We spend time together in each others respective states, we talk regularly, much like I spend time with my own family. I guess that you can say we adopted one another...
We still hunt together, only not as client and guide, but as best of friends, sharing hunts together in each of our states.
Paul calls me earlier this spring and says "Lets hunt deer this year"..... I say "Okay, lets use our 24 deer points to draw the best unit in the state"...lol Okay... so maybe we didn't use any points, nor was it the best unit in the state. There is no way I can bank points for deer, I just love those bucks and I'd rather hunt every year I can...
We both draw our tags with ease and our season rolls around. I'm just happy to be spending time with my friend again. My friend Matt and I are talking, and he mentions that he's not doing anything 3rd season and I mention that he should come along with Paul and I. Matt and I love to film hunts. I film him... he films me... We have a great time. So we are set, 3rd season rutting deer, here we come, Its going to be fun.
Opening morning rolls around and we all head out at 3 am for a 2.5 drive to our hunting spot. I had a friend that has a small little piece of property in the unit that backs up against some public access so we would have a good amount to hunt. He allows other people to hunt it as well, so its not like it was totally limited access but it was also not a zoo. We are positioned on a little lookout at day break ready to spot these rutting mulies, light breaks.... not a single deer. I'm perplexed, there are usually plenty of deer around and there are none. We sit for a while and eventually deer start to pop up. We are spotting mostly bedded deer and as the light grows some of the deer stand up and start moving around. We move around a bit the first day from high point to high point glassing deer, watching bucks trailing does, Some bigger bucks wandering sniffing does as they pass, standing up, laying down, constant action through the day. This is the kind of action when the rut is going to pop at any moment. we were getting some pretty cool footage, it was fun. We pass numbers of smaller bucks, even a buck that may have been 28" wide and fairly heavy, but had poor back forks. We had decided to search far and wide for good bucks considering the rut was near and some weather in the forecast prior to the closing week. We cover about 7 miles round trip and decide to maybe hop in the truck for the last hour and a half of the hunt. We just wanted see what is wandering around the area on neighboring ranches and BLM lands. We spot lots of deer, Including a couple of good bucks on a neighboring ranch. We watch one in particular, a narrowish deep forked, extremely heavy buck with a cheater on his G3. Paul comments, "I like him, I might of thought about shooting that one if he was on our piece of ground." I mention to Paul, "He's only 400 yards away from the fence line, it not unreasonable to expect that he could cross in the next couple of days to investigate some does." we laugh and decide to call it an evening.
The next morning we decide to check out some burn areas that we had seen a number of deer the day before. We are making out way to our spotting point when Paul point out a deer coming out of the brush. We look and to our disbelief its the buck from the previous night, only he moved almost nearly a mile. We decide to move in for closer investigation. We agreed that it is indeed the deer from the previous night. Paul looks him over and decides that he's going to take this buck. We range him at 263. We set up, he asks me to come back up against him so he's stable and we wait for the buck to present a good shot. He continues to walk away for a while and feed, and sniff the air, and the bumps a bedded doe, then turns and BAM!! He smokes the buck, he runs and cartwheels. We hug... we high five... we laugh... Awesome! We sit there and chat for a minute, occasionally glassing the downed buck. I spot some more deer moving around after the shot. Does.. more does....little buck... more does... Holy S#!T... I spot a really nice buck, less than 200 yards from the buck we just shot. We frantically scramble and really look this deer over. He's a solid buck, heavy, deep forked, fairly wide. We chat back and forth and I decide even with the impending rut and bad weather on the way, I'd be a fool to not shoot this deer. Paul gives me a range... 257... I think to myself, I shoot a .257... it was just meant to be! I get prone and get steady and Boom! I connect! I feel as though I flinched during my shot though, and the buck run 15 yards and pauses. Is he going to fall? He looks around frantically and turns toward the brush. Not wanting to risk the chance that I didn't make a clean shot I send another round as he tries to slip into the thicket. Crack!! Down he goes...
We Hug... We laugh... we shout.... AGAIN! Nothing like pulling a true double on two great bucks with one of your best friends. We are only maybe a mile from the truck, its first light and we've got two great bucks down. We decide to return to the truck quickly and dump our gear, grab the good camera and pack frames and go get our bucks.
I can't actually think of a better way for a hunt to go down....
Oh wait... remember my friend Matt that was tagging along. The camera was running the entire time....:hump: It will be a while though before we get the video all put together though as there is over an hour of footage to compile. So for now you'll just have to live with the pictures...
The next hunting season rolls around and the man wanders into camp with his wife. Only he is much thinner than I remember. Still a big man but maybe 50 pounds lighter. He walks over and says, " I thought about what you told me, so I've been working out and training. I've requested that I hunt with you, I hope that's ok. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to be successful." I smile and say... " Absolutely!" In many years of hunting as guide and client we had pushed ourselves and taken some incredible animals, He had pushed himself to incredible limits with me, at times even when I knew it was hurting him to do so. We developed a respect for one another, a friendship, a bond between us that made us feel like brothers, family.
Fast forward to today. I have since retired from guiding and have a "Real Job"...lol Paul and I are still extremely close. I've been to both his children's weddings, he's watch my kids grow up. We spend time together in each others respective states, we talk regularly, much like I spend time with my own family. I guess that you can say we adopted one another...
We still hunt together, only not as client and guide, but as best of friends, sharing hunts together in each of our states.Paul calls me earlier this spring and says "Lets hunt deer this year"..... I say "Okay, lets use our 24 deer points to draw the best unit in the state"...lol Okay... so maybe we didn't use any points, nor was it the best unit in the state. There is no way I can bank points for deer, I just love those bucks and I'd rather hunt every year I can...
We both draw our tags with ease and our season rolls around. I'm just happy to be spending time with my friend again. My friend Matt and I are talking, and he mentions that he's not doing anything 3rd season and I mention that he should come along with Paul and I. Matt and I love to film hunts. I film him... he films me... We have a great time. So we are set, 3rd season rutting deer, here we come, Its going to be fun.
Opening morning rolls around and we all head out at 3 am for a 2.5 drive to our hunting spot. I had a friend that has a small little piece of property in the unit that backs up against some public access so we would have a good amount to hunt. He allows other people to hunt it as well, so its not like it was totally limited access but it was also not a zoo. We are positioned on a little lookout at day break ready to spot these rutting mulies, light breaks.... not a single deer. I'm perplexed, there are usually plenty of deer around and there are none. We sit for a while and eventually deer start to pop up. We are spotting mostly bedded deer and as the light grows some of the deer stand up and start moving around. We move around a bit the first day from high point to high point glassing deer, watching bucks trailing does, Some bigger bucks wandering sniffing does as they pass, standing up, laying down, constant action through the day. This is the kind of action when the rut is going to pop at any moment. we were getting some pretty cool footage, it was fun. We pass numbers of smaller bucks, even a buck that may have been 28" wide and fairly heavy, but had poor back forks. We had decided to search far and wide for good bucks considering the rut was near and some weather in the forecast prior to the closing week. We cover about 7 miles round trip and decide to maybe hop in the truck for the last hour and a half of the hunt. We just wanted see what is wandering around the area on neighboring ranches and BLM lands. We spot lots of deer, Including a couple of good bucks on a neighboring ranch. We watch one in particular, a narrowish deep forked, extremely heavy buck with a cheater on his G3. Paul comments, "I like him, I might of thought about shooting that one if he was on our piece of ground." I mention to Paul, "He's only 400 yards away from the fence line, it not unreasonable to expect that he could cross in the next couple of days to investigate some does." we laugh and decide to call it an evening.
The next morning we decide to check out some burn areas that we had seen a number of deer the day before. We are making out way to our spotting point when Paul point out a deer coming out of the brush. We look and to our disbelief its the buck from the previous night, only he moved almost nearly a mile. We decide to move in for closer investigation. We agreed that it is indeed the deer from the previous night. Paul looks him over and decides that he's going to take this buck. We range him at 263. We set up, he asks me to come back up against him so he's stable and we wait for the buck to present a good shot. He continues to walk away for a while and feed, and sniff the air, and the bumps a bedded doe, then turns and BAM!! He smokes the buck, he runs and cartwheels. We hug... we high five... we laugh... Awesome! We sit there and chat for a minute, occasionally glassing the downed buck. I spot some more deer moving around after the shot. Does.. more does....little buck... more does... Holy S#!T... I spot a really nice buck, less than 200 yards from the buck we just shot. We frantically scramble and really look this deer over. He's a solid buck, heavy, deep forked, fairly wide. We chat back and forth and I decide even with the impending rut and bad weather on the way, I'd be a fool to not shoot this deer. Paul gives me a range... 257... I think to myself, I shoot a .257... it was just meant to be! I get prone and get steady and Boom! I connect! I feel as though I flinched during my shot though, and the buck run 15 yards and pauses. Is he going to fall? He looks around frantically and turns toward the brush. Not wanting to risk the chance that I didn't make a clean shot I send another round as he tries to slip into the thicket. Crack!! Down he goes...
We Hug... We laugh... we shout.... AGAIN! Nothing like pulling a true double on two great bucks with one of your best friends. We are only maybe a mile from the truck, its first light and we've got two great bucks down. We decide to return to the truck quickly and dump our gear, grab the good camera and pack frames and go get our bucks.
I can't actually think of a better way for a hunt to go down....
Oh wait... remember my friend Matt that was tagging along. The camera was running the entire time....
:hump: It will be a while though before we get the video all put together though as there is over an hour of footage to compile. So for now you'll just have to live with the pictures...
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