my dad grew up hunting a ton with my grandpa, and has killed more deer and big game up to this point in his life than i ever will due to everything being a lottery now. but living in so cal where the hunting isnt great, and having two boys who love motocross, (as does he), hunting kind of took a backseat to motocross. ive always loved hunting but have gotten much more serious about it in the last few years. last weekend my dad got his first buck in almost 20 years. we went up to southern utah for the general season, in a unit we are very familiar with. opening day we saw no bucks and only a handful of does. next day we went to the canyon where i got my last buck. its a very deep, steep canyon with no access except on foot, so very few people hunt it. about 20 mins after first light we began seeing does, and lots of them. about an hour later i spotted a buck about 600 yds away. we made a plan and began the stalk. about halfway through the stalk i spotted a bit bigger buck higher on the ridge. i motioned to my dad about the buck but he was not in a great spot to stalk so we continued on. when we got in position we couldnt spot the original buck, but the larger buck was in a better spot, but it would be an awkward shot with my dad facing downhill but the buck was across the canyon and uphill. i ranged him at 290yds, a very makeable shot for my dad. now we just needed him to turn broadside. when he finally turned broadside he squeezed a round off. the buck jumped and ran downhill, apparently unhurt. when he stopped, i said "hang on, let me get a range"...BOOM! followed by the unmistakable sound of the bullet finding its mark. "hes down" i said. "really? sweet were taking home some meat!" he said. after getting the deer taken care of we packed him out, which wasnt fun but well worth the effort. this was the first time my dad had taken a deer while i was hunting with him, and it was really cool to see and help out after all hes done to help me out.
walking up on his first buck in quite some time
not a monster, but we'll take it
walking up on his first buck in quite some time
not a monster, but we'll take it
