Practice with his bow is about to become a real deal!  One week until the opener of the Mule Deer bow hunt in Utah.  Conner has a tag for the Cache area and we are heading up on Thursday to set up camp and do a little scouting before the hunt begins.  We have a pretty good idea where we will find the bucks and the day or so of scouting will only prove our theory correct (or not).  We will find bucks before the hunt.

There will be four of us, Conner, Weasel, Cody and myself.  Cody will be there for moral support and to enjoy a hunting camp the way the “boys” do it.  Last year he got to come up with his mom and sister and they had a blast for the two days they were there.  This one will be different as we plan on being out for a full week.  Unless of course Conner fills his tag.  Then we will be coming home early.

Weasel tells me that Conner’s groups are about the size of a paper plate at 40 yards.  We all know that shooting paper is one thing, while shooting at a live animal is an all together different challenge.  I hope he gets a chance to be that close or closer to a buck deer and gets to experience Buck Fever…..Every hunter I know has had it at least once in their lifetime.  I got to witness Wapiti go through it on a mule deer hunt with his rifle one time.

The snow from the night before had stopped falling right as day light was coming for the day.  We hiked away from camp and up a draw, it was very quiet walking and we were taking our time.  I looked to our left and there laying next to a large clump of pine bow bushes, was a very large 4 point buck.  Wapiti had not seen it and so I hurried up and tapped him on the back and whispered the location of the buck.  We backtracked the few yards it took for Wapiti to see the deer laying there.  He used a tree to steady the rifle and proceeded to empty the gun in the direction of the buck.  It was after the second shot that the buck stood up and after the 4th shot it jumped over the pine bows, never to be seen again.  Completely missed by all 5 shots.  Buck Fever at its finest.  I think I was about 14 at the time.

When I was able to hunt (16 years old), my friends dad took me with them on a hunt in a coveted area (now private and very much guarded property), I had the biggest 4 point I had ever seen standing less than 50 yards from me and I shot my 5 shots at it in “Rifleman style”, completely missing the buck and it walked away after the 5th shot…not running, but walking.  I could not believe I missed that deer, but we found all 5 bullet holes in the dirt below where the buck had stood and in the trees high above its standing position.  Less than 10 minutes later I shot a 2 point right in the neck where I aimed.  Buck Fever on buck number one, and completely calm on buck number 2.

I’m very excited to get to accompany my oldest grandson on his first big game hunt and I sure do hope he gets in close to some animals.

Bears Butt

August 8, 2014