king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Hunting Illustrated - October/November 2007 - Index

BY STEVE ALDERMAN
It is January 3rd, 2007. As I make
my way through the federal
check station, I realize that a
dream of mine is finally coming
true. Any trophy mule deer hunter
knows that Sonora, Mexico is a hot
spot for trophy mule deer, but this
muzzleloading story starts twenty
years prior in rural Idaho.
It was November 1987, and
I was headed out for a muzzleloader
deer hunt with a friend of mine. I
didn't even own a smoke pole at the
time, so Jim Kast took me into his
bedroom, pulled out his old Hawken
rifle and gave me the lowdown on
how muzzleloaders work. For the
next couple of years, Jim was kind
enough to loan me his gun and every
year I was able to tag out with a nice
four-point muley. Back in the late
eighties, it was not uncommon to see
a thousand deer a day on our hunt,
with mature bucks tending to every
herd.
Deer hunting was at its
prime over the next few years when,
out of nowhere, deer hunting in
Idaho took a turn for the worse. The
devastating winter of 1992-93 took
it toll on the deer herds. Deer were
lying dead in the fields instead of our
freezers. The deer couldn't come
back from a kill off like that without
a little help. So, in 1995, I joined
the Deer Hunters of Idaho where I
was thrown into the vice president
position. My passion for mule deer
and my desire to help them recover
put me on a roller coaster for the next
couple of years. On a personal level,
I committed to trophy hunting only
as this would allow young deer to
make it though to the next year and
strengthen the herds. For the next
four years I would go home with tag
soup.
In 1999, now as the
president of Deer Hunters of Idaho,
I was finally rewarded for all of my
hard work for Idaho's deer. I was
starting to see an increase in the
number of deer in the field. For the
last five years, I had been reading
everything I could get my hands
40 HUNTING ILLUSTRATED.com
on about mule deer including biology,
conservation, ecology and even hunting
stories. I was absorbing as much
information as I could and studying
anything that would make me a better
hunter and conservationist.
I had bought a new front stuffer
and was eager to get hunting. One
night on the way to a friend's house,
I saw a mature buck in my headlights
headed to an alfalfa field. For the next
two weeks I made this buck my quarry
until I finally got a break as I noticed
some does heading to their bedding
area. In the middle of the herd was the
most awesome four-point I had ever laid
eyes on. Forty-five minutes later, I was
belly crawling into position. I watched
the buck for the next ten minutes as
he tended to his does before splitting
off and heading right towards me.
Fifteen minutes later, I was standing
over the biggest deer I had ever had the
opportunity to harvest. He was a 188gross
mule deer with spectacular mass
at over 21 inches per side. I then vowed
to be a short range weapons trophy
hunter for life. There was no better
feeling than stalking within 100 yards
of a mature buck, on the turf that he had
called home for over six years. This
deer had every advantage, whereas, I
had luck on my side.
A good friend of mine once
told me a quote from Luscious Senaka
- "Luck is when preparation and
opportunity meet.? I had put luck on my
side with all the research and studying I
had done over the last five years.
During the next seven
years, I would continue my research,
volunteering and good deeds for Idaho's
deer herds. During that time I took
over the local chapter of the Mule Deer
Foundation to help raise money and
educate people on the plight of mule
deer. Those seven years put some great
bucks on the wall. Four of those bucks
were in the upper 180's to low 190's
- not too bad for a "know it all? and
his muzzleloader. However, the 200inch
mark had eluded me so far in my
journey.
During all those years of
research, I learned where all the hot