2007 Deer Hunt

We hunt down in southeastern Utah near Moab up in the La Salle Mountains. I think the La Salle Mountains are some of the prettiest mountains I have ever seen in my life. They are very tall as well. I really need a better camera to catch the beauty of them a little better. That is something I would like to purchase this year. Not anything to special, but something that will grab a great picture.

Two years ago, my dad, brothers Andy, Matt, and Mike along my dads work friend called Worker Boy took our annual trip on the deer hunt. We used to hunt up in the northern region of Utah but since there is a rediculous number of hunter, few deer, little public land and a bunch of idiot DWR officers, I simply quit hunting until a friend introduced me to the area 4 years ago. Since then, I have filled my tag every year. The best part is, the deer have been bigger and bigger every year and I keep seeing bigger and bigger deer every year.

It has taken some time, but we have learned some pretty good area in and around the La Salle's. After a couple days hunting last year and passing a couple bucks (two mediocre 3-points), we decided to move camp to another location. Right off the bat we noticed a difference. We were seeing deer off our ATV's right away. On the first night in our new location, got three shots at a nice 26" 4-point buck. I saw him tucked at the base of a clearing. When I jumped off the 4 wheeler, I left my trusty monopod on the bike which I haven't done since. From 100 yards with my Thompson blackpowder I missed three times. Still the deer didn't move. He didn't see us. Byt this time my brothers were trying to hit them as well with no luck. Still the deer didn't seem to care we were trying to kill them Then a loud pop!!! Dad sounded like he was shooting a .22 pistol at them. When his cap went off, the deer spooked. Dads gun which he neglected to clean as thorough as needed misfired making it sound like a .22 pistol.

I went back and cleaned my rifle and shot it a few more times because I felt like I was still fairly steady. I found when using a dead rest, my gun was about 4 inches low and 4 inches to the right. I don't know how that happened. I fixed it for the following morning. In the morning I decided to head up the mountain where we'd been shooting at those deer. No deer to be found! I decided to keep going up and up and up and up and up. Sometimes when I get hiking, I just need to see whats over the next ridge or mountain. Kind of like the song playing in the background of the diner on Dumb and Dumber. "The bear went over the mountain to see what he could see, the other side of the mountain was all that he could see." This is usually what happens. So I hiked to the top of this huge rock slide. I don't know what I was expecting to see, maybe this sweet watering hole with a 32 inch 5X5 waiting for me. When I got to the top of the slide, naturally it began to blizzard on me. Keep in mind this is in September. But, the top of that rock slide according to my GPS is 11,000 feet in elevation. Since it was snowing, I thought I should start heading down. I was not prepared for snow. I saw a large clearing on the way up and thought I would drop into it. As I was coming into the clearing, I was talking on our Motorolla two way radios with dad. Being the pro hunter that I am, I didn't notice the 5 deer 70 yards walking into the clearing right away until it was to late. Leading the herd was what I estimate to be that 32 inch 5X5 followed by about a 28 inch 4-point. Then there was a pretty nice 4-point looking about 24 inches, then a doe (weird I know) then this dinky 2-point. I thought of my 2-point killing friend Brandon when I saw it.

Since the deer busted me, the two really big ones in a mad dash busted over the top of the mountain 700 feet above me. The other 4-point was interested in the walking tree though. So naturally I set my shooting stick down and got ready to shoot. Thats when the previous day came to mind and I picked up my shooting stick and rested my gun on it. Boom..... Then the cloud of smoke disipated. The deer stood there still looking at me. I thought I missed, cussed at myself and began to re-load. While re-loading, the deer tumbled 12 feet down the mountain. After a short trail I found him in some pines and tagged him. Man I wish I were paying attention when I came into the clearing.