king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Best of 2007 Feb-March 2008 - Index

PHOTO: AUTHOR
I
used to think, when I was younger,
that the day would come when I
got “old” that I would fi nally have
the time and money to retire and then
be able to do and see all the things
that I’ve always dreamed of doing.
However, the older I get, the busier
I become. Even now that all of my
kids are married, I don’t seem to have
even half the time I used to have
(twenty years ago) to hunt and fi sh.
Society seems to be on a much faster
run today than we were on even a
year ago. We all used to burn on just
regular, then we moved up to regular
plus, then premium - and now we
seem to be on rocket fuel to get us
where we think we need to be. Boy
how times have changed!
As I was running to and
from the hunts I had planned for this
year, my rocket fuel was running just
a little bit low. My body was telling
me, “Whoa, slow down and rest.” I
got to thinking about how much time
and money I was willing to give up
and spend just to have those three
seconds to see, shoot and hopefully
kill another big muley buck. How
much money are you willing to spend?
How much time do you invest in your
hunt(s)? I remember when I was in
high school, there was a very popular
song called ‘That Magic Moment.’ I
have always thought about that song
when it came to my hunting and how
much of my time and money I give
up for those ‘Magic Moments’ that
come my way.
Case in point! My fi rst
hunt was on the fi fteenth of October
in big and wonderful Wyoming. I
drew a tag in a new area that I had
never hunted before, but I knew that
18 HUNTING ILLUSTRATED.com
MULE DEER
Quest for a Big Buck in 07’
My year runnin’ and gunnin’
for a big buck.
there was a good chance of seeing and
hopefully killing a Mr. Big if everything
came together. So, in September, my
wife and I went on a little scouting trip.
Three days later and $800.00 dollars
spent on gas, motels and food, I made
it back home. The trip gave me a little
more peace of mind. I had scouted the
area and knew where a few good spots
were so that when the hunt started, I
could start hunting. On the fourteenth
of October, I got up at 4:30 a.m., picked
up my hunting partner, and drove 500
miles before the sun had set. On opening
day, we were right where I wanted to
be as the fi rst hint of daylight appeared
in the eastern sky. The fi rst two hours
we saw three bucks, two of which were
little four-points. But, no Mr. Big. The
area we were hunting was mostly winter
range and, since it was still 70 degrees,
not much had moved in from the high
country. So, day two we went higher.
Wow! It has been quite some time since
I have hunted a steep, rugged, hard to
get into and even harder to get out of,
‘ball barring basin.’ It made me tired
just remembering. But, I did see a few
little 18-inch to 20-inch bucks and even
a few that had been killed but, no big
boys. Day Three (higher again), right at
daylight I spotted fi ve bucks feeding out
in a big sagebrush fl at. But, here again,
the biggest one was only a 23 to 24-inch
4x4. As we sat there glassing, two other
hunters drove up and told us about the
fi ve bucks out in the fl at. Yep, we had
seen them. “Are you going to shoot?”
“No.”
“We will then.”
“OK, go for it.” We watched as
they put on the big sneak. They walked
right on top of the ridge in plain sight,
never walking on the backside to conceal
5MULE DEER5
Dennis Wintch
their movements. I said to Shad,
“Bet you 10 to 1 that they don’t kill
anything.” Sure enough, at 300 yards,
the bucks slowly headed for the trees.
Mind you, they were 400 yards out
in an open sagebrush fl at. As both
hunters laid down to shoot, I thought
the Fourth of July was about to start.
I was wrong, 400-300-200-100-
50 and still, not even a shot. At 25
yards the fi rst shot rang out, but was
four feet behind. Then shot number
two – three feet high and that was
all she wrote. Oh well, maybe next
time when they have them out in a
more open fl at. I should have had all
this on fi lm. Day Four (high again),
a big storm had moved in and it was
snowing hard but raining down low.
The fog was so bad that we couldn’t
see anything, so we decided to hunt
low. However, the mud was so bad
that we couldn’t go anywhere. Just
to go off the oiled road was to get
stuck - I’ve been there and done that
one, so we went back to our motel
and checked out. Maybe next year
those three magic seconds will come
my way.
The regular deer hunt was
on the twentieth of October in Utah,
so I had to hurry and get a few things
done because I only had one day until
the hunt began. Work, work, go, go,
run, run... At midnight, I fi nally got to
where I needed to be for opening day.
Since I was all by myself, I slept in the
back of my truck. At daylight I was
off, but found nothing. Not even one
fresh track. Since most of the hunts
in Utah are only fi ve days this year
(which I think is a great idea), I knew
I had a lot of turf to cover and cover
it I did. Now, I haven’t personally