king' s outdoor world - Index

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

58
all for that matter. After pushing
some brush patches and only seeing
small bucks, I was wondering if
what they were calling a monster
buck was really a monster. Around
3:00, Chuck drove up and said that
his wife had made some fresh apple
pies and wanted to know if we would
like to go and visit for a bit and make
a new game plan. Well, we got to
the ranch house and Jesse hadn’t just
made apple pie, she had an entire
meal laid out for us. “Awesome” is
the best way to describe it. I can’t
explain in writing how nice and
hospitable these folks were. After
enjoying the great meal and pie as
well as lots of great hunting stories,
we decided that our best bet was
to head back out and glass for the
HUNTING ILLUSTRATED.com
evening. If that didn’t work out, we
would make plans to meet up the next
morning before light and catch the buck
moving from his feeding grounds to his
bedding area.
As we were leaving the
ranch house, we decided to glass the
surrounding sage hills that bordered the
corn fi elds. Within a couple minutes of
glassing, Dallas had spotted the buck.
The buck had just stepped out of a patch
of Russian olive trees and was heading
into the cornfi eld in hot pursuit of a doe.
The stalk was on. My brother and I
jumped into the empty ditch that skirted
the cornfi eld the buck was in. I couldn’t
believe that this was how it was going
to end. After walking miles and miles
of sage and lava fl ats, I was going to
shoot my monster muley in a cornfi eld!
So, after coming up over the bank
and getting the camera and myself
set up, I fi nally took a good look at
this monarch of a buck. Wow! I
shouldn’t have done that because,
for the fi rst time since I was a kid,
I started to get a bit of buck fever. I
told my brother that I needed to take
a second and gather myself. I took
about fi ve seconds and turned and
squeezed the trigger. For security, I
put a second shot in him even though
it wasn’t needed – the buck was on
his way down. I couldn’t believe it,
I had fi nally gotten my “Wow” buck.
The entire hunt and kill scene can be
seen on Burly Bucks 3. The buck
unoffi cially scored 219-inches B&C,
and is 34 ½-inches wide.
Now it was time to
celebrate and take pictures. I can’t
thank Lou Anderson, Chuck Shenk,
and Jesse Shenk enough. Without
their help none of this would have
been possible. I also need to thank
all of my friends and family for their
help in taking this incredible animal.
Special thanks to my brother, Dallas
Smith, for everything. Thank you
Tina, my wife, and Candice, my
brother’s wife, for understanding
this crazy passion that my brother
and I have of hunting mule deer.
Hunter: Ryan Smith • Location: South Central Idaho • Area: Private land • Guide: Self • Date: November 3, 2007 • Time:
Late afternoon • Days scouted: July-September • Days hunted: 18 • Weather: Clear • Temperature: 50’s • Moon: 31%
waning crescent • Terrain: Lava & sage fl ats bordered by corn and alfalfa fi elds • Gun: Remington 700 BDL • Caliber:
.300 Win Mag • Bullets: 150grain Winchester Supreme • Scope: Leupold VX I 3-9 • Spotting scope: Swarovski 20-60x
65mm • Binoculars: 10x42 EL • Range fi nder: Nikon Buckmaster • Footwear: Danner Pronghorn • Pack: Badlands 2200
• ATV: Bomadier 800