I talked with a man last night on the phone, who drew the same tag that Dry Dog has.  He has been hunting since the opener, last Saturday and has come off the mountain for Thanksgiving with his family.  His boy also drew the tag this year and has been with him some, but not all the time.  Here is his report.

The mountain had some snow and it made for some slippery conditions.  The depth was not an issue, more of an ice issue.  He and his brother chained up the truck and have been getting around pretty good.  Other hunters are not chained up and can get around to most places just fine.  He says there could be a bit more snow dropped and it would help the situation out.

The forecast for tonight and tomorrow (Friday, Nov. 25) is calling for 1 inch of snow in the Bear River Valley (Randolph) and up to 4 inches in the mountains.  Now this does not sound too bad.  The bad part is they are also calling for winds to 25 mph!  YUK!  It was the winds combined with about 10 inches of snow that got us last year.  Let’s hope it does not work out the same this year.

Paul went on to say there are loads of bucks on the mountain.  And with them are a bunch of nice 4X4 typical bucks in the 22 to 24 inch class.

3X3 (Thanks Bo from Mo for the picture)

Not something a hunter with a limited entry tag wants to put his tag on.  But they are nice to view and get pictures of.  He has seen some “shooter” bucks but only dropped the hammer on one of them.  His story:

He located this buck “down in the bottom” (where ever that is) and put a great sneak on it.  (He did not say how long the shot was)  When he touched the trigger only the cap went off…POP!  Unknown to him and the other hunter, before Paul could get another cap on his nipple, the other hunter shot the big buck!

Paul and the other hunter know each other and I am sure they both would have honored the others presence at sneaking up on this buck, had they known the other guy was sneaking up on it.  But, they were approaching from different directions and neither of them knew the other guy was anywhere close.

The other hunter tagged the 32 inch wide buck!  I’m sure we will see pictures of it when we get up there.

Now then.  Will Dry Dog get a chance at a 32 inch buck?  Maybe.  There aren’t a lot of 32 inch bucks around.  Will Dry Dog “see” a 30 inch or bigger buck?  Maybe.  30 inch bucks are not that prevalent either.  At any rate, Dry Dog has never shot a buck that was 24 inches wide and so our job is to make sure he is settled down enough to rationalize the prospects of something bigger than that.  We all know that even though he is trusting us with his tin of caps, that he will have some reserve caps on his person that we do not know he has.  I’m telling you this now, if the 24 inch buck does not have some “kicker” points sticking out and about, Dry Dog will forever kick himself in the rear if he shoots it.

24 inch bucks look really big, and by all rights they are big.

But, the antler shrinkage begins in earnest once the buck is on the ground.  A view of a 24 inch wide buck going straight away from you is an awesome site and it makes the buck look like a 30 plus inch wide buck, even to a trained hunter who has seen them all.  But, when one sees a truely big buck, there is NO QUESTION as to if it is a “shooter” or not.

These pictures were all taken by my friend Bo Wendleton from Boonesville, Missouri a few years back while he was hunting this same limited entry unit.  As you can see there are some very respectable bucks up there.  Take a look at his downed buck from sort of a back view.

Boy what a nice trophy buck!  How wide do you think it actually is?  Looks like a solid 30 incher to me from here!  Beautiful buck, there is no mistaking that.  Typical 4X4 with eye guards, deep forks, mass…it has it all.

Well this buck measured just short of 27 inches.  It sure looked bigger on the hoof.  Over 200 pounds of animal laying right there!  Would a round ball have killed it?  Probably, but I believe Bo used a bullet that weighed over 300 grains to bring this bad boy to the ground and it took a couple of shots to do it.  Just saying.

So, here we have a decision to make.  I do not know how big this buck truely is, but it sure looks like it could be a shooter.  Certainly a shooter to someone out there.

Magnificent animal!

Tomorrow my friend!  It could be yours!

Bears Butt

Nov. 2011