king' s outdoor world - Index

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

Steve Merritt with his massive 8x11 Wyoming mule deer
that scores 212 gross and has a 30-inch outside spread
and I went to one of our favorite
areas. At daylight, I spotted a nice
4x4 buck, and Mike wanted to try
and get a shot at him. We worked
our way over to where the buck was
and Mike said he would watch the
buck while I went over the ridge to
spot the next big draw to the west. I
heard Mike shoot just seconds before
the far ridge. I got my spotting scope out
and, when the bucks came into focus, I
had no doubt they were both shooters. I
could tell one was a huge typical and the
other one was really heavy with a bunch
of extras. I probably only looked at the
bucks for fi fteen seconds or so through
my spotting scope before I determined
that they were heading for the top of
the next ridge. I strapped my spotting
scope to my pack frame and took off
running because I had to cover about
1000 yards to be within shooting
distance of the bucks. While I was
running, I kept thinking, “I don’t
care which one I shoot, they are
both huge.” I got over to where I
wanted to be in record time, and
prayed that the bucks would still be
there. But, I couldn’t see the part of
the ridge where the bucks were. I
had to cross the draw and work my
way up the ridge. I just knew that
the bucks would be long gone when
I got close enough to see where they
were. Once I got to the ridge, I was
amazed to see that the bucks were
still there. I could only see the big
typical looking at me over the tall
sagebrush, so I threw my rifl e up to
shoot. It was then that I realized that
my scope was all fogged up because
it was cold and it had been raining.
I thought to myself, “You have got
to be kidding me.” I slowly lowered
my rifl e and got a dry paper towel out
and wiped my scope off. I raised my
rifl e again and the big non-typical was
looking at me now over the brush at
about 100 yards. All I could see was
the top of his neck and head. I held
as low as I dared and shot. The buck
disappeared and the big typical just
stood there for a few seconds before
running like I have never seen a deer
run before. I walked up to where
the bucks were and prayed that I had
killed the buck. Sure enough, there
he was - dead. I really didn’t know
how big he was until I pulled his
head out of the sagebrush. There he
was, the buck of my dreams! He was
huge. I couldn’t believe the mass he
had. The buck had eight points on his
right side and eleven on the left with
long, heavy eye guards. I scored the
buck at 212 and the mass is awesome
with a 30-inch outside spread. What
a perfect ending to my Wyoming
hunting season.
I would like to thank my
dad for teaching my brother and me
to hunt and for always having time
to take us. And thanks to mom for
always letting us go.
I spotted the two monster bucks on always letting us go.
December/January
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