1998--A FANTASTIC PERSONAL
HUNTING SEASON!!
WHITETAIL WITH BOW
IDAHO MULE DEER
MONTANA WHITETAIL DEER
WYOMING WHITETAIL DEER
155-POINT WHITETAIL WITH BOW!
My 1998 hunting season got off to a big BANG!..........or should I say WHIZZZZZ!............when I arrowed this 155-point whitetail deer. This is my biggest whitetail with a bow to date. This deer was shot on October 19. The area I hunted harbors some of the finest whitetail deer I've ever seen. In fact, in 5 days of hunting and scouting, I saw no less than 5 bucks that would exceed 150 points, with 2 of these sure to score in excess of the magical Boone & Crockett minimum of 170!!! And the hunting was very slow! The bucks were not running the does yet, and there was tons of cover to hide them. Add in the fact that it was very warm, and I can only imagine the bucks I would have seen the middle of November! I plan on finding out for myself during the '99 season. If you are a whitetail fanatic, and appreciate huge bucks, DON'T SCROLL DOWN THIS PAGE AND CAUSE YOURSELF HEART FAILURE!! If you decide to ignore my advice, I won't be responsible for any heart failures as a result! Truthfully, I have NEVER SEEN BIGGER WHITETAIL BUCKS TAKEN FROM ONE PLACE MY ENTIRE LIFE!! In 1997, there were 4 bucks taken. The smallest scoring 148 and the largest scoring 168!! It has been a long time since any bucks have been taken that scored less than approximately 150 points!! By the way, these are free-ranging deer.........NO HIGH FENCES HERE!! If you're wondering where my hunt took place...................you'll just have to wonder! IF I TOLD YOU WHERE I HUNTED, I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU!! O.K., I'll give you a hint................it was in North America. Allright........I'll narrow it down further..............IT WAS IN THE UNITED STATES!!
This buck weighed 200 POUNDS FIELD DRESSED and was hog fat!
UNBELIEVABLE BUCKS!!
I asked the owner of the property I hunted to bring out some of the "better" bucks from his house. After more than 2 hours of photographing, this is the results. How many Boone & Crockett bucks can you spot in these pictures?
The following is a front view and rear view of the "booner" on the far right!!
Think THIS might get your heart pounding seeing this guy in the wild???
The following are side views of the 2 bucks above. More HEART STOPPERS!!
BEST OF ALL!!!!! Both the mounted sheds and the sheds located on the ground were
ALL FOUND IN THE SPRING OF '98!!
In other words........these BIG BOYS ARE STILL ALIVE!!!
IDAHO MULE DEER
This hunt took place in Idaho in a unit that I've applied for the last 5 years!! The odds of being drawn for this hunt are 5%!!! For the first time ever, I applied with 3 other fellows as a group. We all drew! The other 3 had no idea of the jackpot they had just won! As for the hunt, we were a bit disappointed. Fred and Dan arrived 5 DAYS BEFORE the hunt opened, in order to begin scouting. Tony arrived the day before the season opened. For some background on these guys.................Fred is a sheep guide in Wyoming, and can outclimb and outhike most horses!! Dan is a big game guide here in Alaska, specializing in Dall Sheep. Tony is a local fireman, and has trees for arms. To put it mildly, these guys are ANIMALS when it comes to the physical abilities to leave no ridge unclimbed!! And that's exactly what they did. We were all up at 4 a.m., in the field before daylight, and never returned until well after dark, EVERY DAY!! I have no doubt that between the 4 of us, we put in more man hours in the field than any other hunter holding a permit, resident or nonresident. Each night, we would return back to town, and share notes on the day's sightings. It wasn't uncommon for each man to see upwards of 100 deer a day!! Unfortunately, we might have to look at 40-50 does before spotting 1 single buck!!The department "claims" that the buck to doe ratio in this unit is 25:100. NOT!!! All of us have taken our share of "trophy" mule deer, and were looking for bucks that would score a net of 170 or higher. This area is supposed to have the potential of producing bucks in this class, as evidenced by the ones we've heard about in past years, as well as the ones we "heard" about during this season. HOWEVER, of all the man hours the 4 of us spent hunting, we only spotted a total of 4 bucks in this class. Fred spotted a buck he estimated would score in the mid-180's, passed on it, hoping to get Tony a shot at him the next day. We were unable to find him the next day. Tony drove right up on one while riding the 4-wheeler, that he figured would score in the mid-170's. Only problem was............he had killed a buck the day before! And by the time he caught up with me, it was too dark. Dan actually took a beautiful buck! One that will net in the mid-180's!! And yours truly, had a chance at what I believe was a solid B&C record book buck!! I missed him!!!! Missed him twice!!!!! I was sick! That's hunting. I wound up shooting the above buck on the last day of the season, at 2 p.m. In fact, all my partners had already pulled up and left. I stayed to the bitter end, and could just not find the buck I'd missed several evenings earlier. An explanation for the lack of big buck sightings could probably be summed up with the following: COUGAR EVERYWHERE!!! I've never seen more cougar tracks on a hunt before in my life!!! The nature of the cougar's hunting tactics are he or she will seek out solitary animals by choice. It's easier to stalk and kill a single animal, than it is a group of animals with many eyes looking out for danger vs one pair. Guess which deer are the MOST SOLITARY? The BUCKS................PARTICULARLY THE BIG BUCKS!! I have followed up with the game department, sharing our findings, and concerns over the lack of true, trophy bucks, in an area the department itself "claims" it manages for "trophy quality."
THE GROUP WITH TONY'S BUCK
from left to right: TONY, FRED, DAN, and ME.....A FINE FIGURE OF A MAN!
THIS IS WHAT MULE DEER HUNTING DREAMS ARE MADE OF!!!!!
LOOK AT THE MASS OF THESE ANTLERS AND DEPTH IN THE FORKS!!
MONTANA WHITETAIL DEER
For the third year in a row, I've ventured to Montana to hunt with my good friend and outfitter, DOUG GARDNER, POWDER RIVER OUTFITTERS, BOX 678, BROADUS, MT, 59317, 406-427-5721. If you want to go on a great deer hunt, contact Doug! Doug leases in excess of 900,000 ACRES OF PRIVATE RANCHES! And the quality of deer hunting is great! As usual, I was pressed for time, and showed up at Doug's ranch at midnight, Thanksgiving Day. This left the last 3 days of the season to find a deer. NOT TO WORRY!! At 3 p.m. on November 28, I shot the buck above. Doug, his son, Ren, and I were driving and spotting deer, when Ren said he'd spotted a good buck down by the river. Doug and I both whipped out our spotting scopes, or, should I say.........our Swarovski ST-80, High Definition, 20-60 power, spotting scope, mounted on a 1st class Bogen tripod, with pistol-gripped swiveling head. You have to describe it like this, so that maybe some day, one of these manufacturers will give me a FREE one......................FAT CHANCE!!!! Anyway, back to the hunt................it didn't take any of us long to determine that this was a real shooter. It was approximately 1/2 mile to where the buck was. Staying out of sight, we made it to within 80 yards of the buck, crawling the last 30 yards on hands and knees. We took up a position on a berm overlooking the willow patch that the buck was in. The willow patch branches were thin, but numerous enough to make it very difficult to see anything of the buck, except his antlers. I spent the next 30 minutes glassing him to determine which direction he was facing. After deciding that he was facing to my left, and bedded down, Doug crawled in front of me, offering his BONY, BENCHREST BUTT, as a rest to shoot from. Instead of waiting for the buck to stand up, possibly later in the evening, I told Doug to hold his breath, and I would pop the buck right in his bed. One shot to the buck's neck and it was all over. I've never shot a whitetail in his bed before. This buck was a real old, fighting monarch. His right main beam has a few inches broken off from fighting. After field dressing the buck, we spent the last couple of hours looking for a buck for Doug. We stopped to glass a sorghum field that bordered the river bottoms. BEFORE DARK, WE SAW NO FEWER THAN 30 WHITETAIL BUCKS WITH 8 POINTS OR MORE!!! SEVERAL OF THESE BUCKS WERE 10 AND 12 POINTERS!!!! AND THIS WAS THE DAY BEFORE THE SEASON ENDED!!!! And that's not counting the numerous MULE DEER BUCKS IN THE FIELD!! If you've ever wanted to have a great hunt for either MULE DEER or WHITETAIL DEER, GIVE DOUG A CALL!! I know for a fact, that his hunters killed MULE DEER SCORING UP TO THE MID-180's, and WHITETAIL UP TO THE MID 160's!!!!! This is as good as it gets anywhere! Needless to say, if I draw again in '99, I'LL BE B-A-C-K!!
WYOMING WHITETAIL DEER
I left Montana at 6:00 a.m. on November 29, and drove the 6-hour drive to Wyoming to hunt whitetail deer.This is the same area I drew a permit for in '97, that resulted in a 30-inch whitetail buck with my muzzleloader!! I arrived at noon, changed into my "huntin' costume", and began my hunt. As luck would have it, I spotted the above buck running does along the river bottom at 2:00 p.m. I left my vehicle and executed a stalk that put me into a position to intercept the buck as he made his way out of the river bottom. He had about 20 does with him, along with a couple of smaller bucks. At 3:00 p.m., this buck had travelled from the security of the river bottom, and passed by my position, for a 200-yard shot. At the shot, the buck folded, and my '98 hunting season came to an end. I had been gone from home for 3 weeks, hunting Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. This was a great buck, with long beams and heavy antlers. I believe this buck is a son of the buck I killed in '97. Notice the split eye guards, and the cheater point coming off the rear point on his right side. Then, go look at the 30-inch buck I killed in '97. It's neat to see the same genes in the area, and look forward to hunting these deer again in the future. GOTTA' GET DRAWN FIRST!!..................................
When you're as big as I am, every animal looks smaller.
Take a look at the MASS and LENGTH on this fine buck!!
for more information:
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