Thar I Wuz

The day was September 8 1997. My archery season had already been a success, because two weeks prior I had several chances at two trophy class antelope. And although I was unsuccessful in filling my antelope tag it proved to be a indicator of what lay ahead. Ron Walker, Larry Fuch's and I pulled into the large parking space with heightened anticipation of the evening hunt.

Although the area we were hunting received alot of hunting pressure, it contained deep ravines and thick vegetation which allowed the deer the security cover they needed to escape the pressure. We left the parking space with a breeze in our face blowing 9ut of the North, as we hiked up the mountain we decided to hunt one of the ravines that had several small meadows at the bottom. We setup on the south side of the ravine in a west to east fashion about 200 yards apart with Larry at the top, Ron midway and me at the -bottom. We -hunted until about one hour before dark without anyone seeing a deer. I left my ground blind and made my way up to Ron, we then decided to find Larry so we could still hunt a couple of the other ravines on the way back to the truck.

As Ron and I were making our way towards Larry's position we spotted two bucks, a respectable 3x3 and a trophy 4x4 feeding up the mountain about two hundred yards away. From the position we were in the deer were downwind but to the west of me and Ron but if they stayed on course they would be directly downwind of Larry so we knew we had to act fast.

Using the available cover we were able to close the gap on the two bucks to 60 yards. Ron and I then decided to split up with him sneaking to the downwind side and me trying to sneak up from the bottom. As Ron got into position I began my sneak from the bottom after closing to within 50 yards the deer became alert and began looking in the direction of Ron's position. I could not see Ron but I knew they had detected him as they became uneasy and began moving around the side of the hill. With only one opportunity left I moved as quickly and quietly as possible to try and get ahead of the deer. As I came out into a small opening I noticed the 3x3 about forty yards away walking past a clump of sage brush with the 4x4~ehind

Him, he was paused and looking in the direction of Ron. I knew that if the 4x4 stayed on the same path I would have a shot, so I drew my PSE thunderbolt (which by the way was an excellent deal from Grover Cassada of Archery Hut Sports I can't remember if I ever thanked him or not. oh well, back to the hunt) and settled my 40 yard pin just ahead of the clump of sage brush the 3x3 had just past. As the big 4x4 cleared the sage brush my 2512 tipped with a 100 grain Vortex flew true and the big buck stumbled then began slowly walking downhill and eventually expired about 60 yards from where he was hit. A clean and humane kill, although I harvested the buck. The opportunity to harvest such a great animal I owe to God. The buck's unofficial score was 166 P&Y.

P.S. Keep a eye out for other hunting adventures from Ontario and Idaho as I pursue black bear, whitetail, elk, and mulies.