king' s outdoor world - Index

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

T he
largest mule deer bucks exist
in hunter’s dreams. You know
what kind of buck I’m talking
about, a buck that could cradle your
gun safe in its rack. My friends ask
me, “So, what are you holding out for
this year?”
I usually respond with
something like, “Mr.Big - I think this
is my year, boys!” The guys
all nod, believing…I think.
I’ll be the fi rst to admit, I
more often than not (with a
really big emphasis on the
“more often”) don’t shoot the
biggest buck on the mountain.
I shoot good, mature bucks
- just not those legends that
bring widespread attention.
It’s truly effortless to stand in
front of your peers pre-season
with your bold claim that this
is the year you will take a book
buck. But, what I have learned
is that as the year unfolds
and hunting season is upon
me, my hope for a bona fi de
record-class rack slowly diminishes,
one inch at a time. Before you call
me a cynic, let me explain.
The fi rst let-down of the
year usually arrives through the mail.
I’ve read the words “un-successful”
so many times that it’s beginning
to give me a complex. Look at the
odds at drawing a coveted mule deer
86 HUNTING ILLUSTRATED.com
“Holding Out”
tag and you’ll see that your chance of
hunting some of the West’s best units isn’t
getting any easier. In fact, many of the
units are becoming much more diffi cult
to draw. Want a couple examples? The
Henry Mountains; although the total
deer herd has not increased much on this
southeastern Utah unit in the past decade,
the state has limited buck hunting to
The author and his 2007 muzzleloader buck
the point where it maintains one of the
strongest buck to doe ratios in the state
- and it’s no secret. Good luck drawing
it with 4,574 other hunters (me included)
pressing their luck for the 34 total tags
in 2007. The Arizona Strip, famous for
its open, expansive country and monster
bucks. In 2007, 6,671 hunters (me
5MULE DEER WATCH5
Michael Burrell
www.muledeernet.org
included) applied for 75 tags in the
Strip, unit 13B. I will have to resort
to over-the-counter tags or secondchoice
hunts; still enjoyable hunts,
but a major blow to my probability of
killing Mr. Big.
It never fails, each year
before hunting season we all get a
little irrepressible kneeling over piles
of maps, snacking on pretzels,
having a drink, and running
our fi ngers over the areas we
plan to hike and hunt hard.
“I think I’ll start at the head
of this canyon and work this
ridge up until it gets dark,” my
friend Tyler broadcasts while
dragging his greasy fi nger
across eight, one-mile sections
of my map. The rest of us nod
our heads in disbelief. A word
of guidance: the canyon’s
contour always looks much
less signifi cant on a map when
you are snacking on pretzels
in a warm, dry room, with a
drink. It never looks quite
the same when you actually arrive at
the head of that canyon. It’s always
much, much, much bigger and more
inhospitable in person.
Fall 2007 was no different.
Finally, there I stood in the frosty
morning light the day before the
season opener looking up at my ridge.
The mountain’s topography seemed