king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Hunting Illustrated Magazine Dec/Jan 2008 - Coyote Crazy! - Index

L ast
December, I contacted
Dave King, editor at Hunting
Illustrated, and informed him of
a last minute cancellation opening
for mule deer with my outfi t in
Sonora. He graciously posted the
information on the company website
which yielded immediate results. A
man named Scott Simons called and
quickly booked the hunt. Here is
the story of his South of the Border
adventure.
Scott informed me that he’d
been on one prior Sonoran hunt in
2002. Even though he’d connected
on a decent buck, it wasn’t what he’d
been searching for. This particular
outfi tter obviously over-hunted his
properties. Bucks in the twentyinch
range were the norm on that
particular ranch. In fact, Scott was
the only one in a group of eight to
connect on a buck.
28 HUNTING ILLUSTRATED.com
Arnold Sandoval
SOUTH OF THE BORDER
Cancellation Hunt Success
Perseverance while tracking a trophy.
Even though Scott’s last hunt in
Mexico was disappointing, he knew he
wanted to return - but life got in the way.
Finishing school, getting married, starting
a career and fi nances took precedence and
caused a delay in those hunting plans.
Finally, Scott and two buddies booked
a Sonoran hunt for January 2007. As
the hunt approached, some unexpected
fi nancial issues arose and Scott had to
cancel his trip. With less than a month
before the start of the hunt, he was able
to resolve the issues and could go again.
Unfortunately, there were no openings
left with the same outfi tter.
Scott then saw my posting on
the King’s website and the rest is history.
A few weeks later, he was on the road
driving from his home in Utah to Tucson,
Arizona. There, he was introduced to
the other hunters in the group, Mike
O’Connell and Martin Baker. We then
headed south, across the border and to
(left to right) Scott Simmons, Arnold
Sandoval, and Martin Baker with two
Sonoran trophy bucks
of the
5SOUTH BORDER5
our camp. The rough bumpy roads
seemed to stretch endlessly for the
newcomer. When we fi nally arrived at
our destination, a fi ne meal thankfully
awaited us and everyone settled in for
the night.
The next morning, Scott and
his tracker Freddy were off on foot on
one of my hunting leases. Over the
years, many of my hunters have found
great bucks in the area, so hopes were
high. Due to limited visibility of the
terrain, this particular area is best
hunted on foot with good trackers.
The fi rst day ended
uneventfully and none of the hunters
found any bucks. The next day
seemed much like the fi rst. After
an almost twenty-mile hike that day,
Scott was beginning to get frustrated.
I reassured Scott that he was in a
prime area and not to worry because
things can change in a matter of