Utah Mule Deer Hunt - Drama As Usual

 My son Eric came along as an observer on this hunt and we stayed at the Bar W lodge near Morgan Utah. I was hunting with R&K Hunting Company and made the booking via Justin Richins.  Here's the link R&K Hunting Company.  I hunted with them before but things have definitely changed and this time I hunted a different property.  This is the link to the last hunt 2011 Utah Elk Hunt

 Here I am sighting in my muzzleloader shortly after arrival.  The lodge used to be a recreation center with a basketball court.  When we stayed last time it was pretty rough.

 The property that I hunted this time was directly behind the lodge and runs right up the mountainside.  The last hunt was on a nearby lease called Bear Springs.

 The weather started out beautifully with lows in the mid 40's and highs in the mid 60's.  The sun was out and it was gorgeous. We got around on UTV's - in this case a Can Am with a roof and a windshield (came in handy later in the week).

 Our guide was "Red" who also works for a related gunsmith/long range shooting company  SubMOA Firearms  He was great and knew how to get us on animals.

Here's a few more shots of the improved lodge.  Eric and I had this bunkroom to ourselves.  They also had smaller rooms and stand alone cabins outside.

Here's a view from outside thru the new picture windows into what used to be the basketball court. It's a nice, high ceiling living/dining area now.

Upper hallway along some of the bedrooms.

 When we stayed here last time, I had no appreciation for the ranch that was right above it.  It is a great piece of property starting out as meadows and foothills and ending in steep rocky canyons.

 The UTV goes in some amazing places but we did manage to bury it one day in a slop hole.  Red wasn't phased in the least and had it winched out in no time.

 We spent a lot of time in high lookouts glassing for animals.

 Red has amazing eyes and can pick deer and elk out from miles away.  He then gets out the spotting scope and decides if it is worth putting on a stalk.

 In this case, he picked out some deer on a steep rock face out there under the red arrow.

 His IPhone has a case/adapter to fit onto the spotting scope.  If you look closely at the phone screen, you'll see deer way out there just below one of those half-dome bumps. He saw about 9 does and 3 bucks and determined that it was worth a stalk.

 So we started the long slow climb up there to get close to them.  We watched them move over into a high box canyon to bed down for the day.  We basically spent most of the day hiking up there (missed lunch).

 A break on the hike.  This property has good cell coverage (which has it's + and -).  We snacked on granola bars and peanuts.

 Up, up, up we went.

We got up near the mouth of the box canyon and could see where they had bedded earlier in the day.

So we went up farther to try to catch them on their way out.

We spent a couple of mid-day hours on this knob watching for them and waiting for them to get up.  Eventually we climbed up to the left to the mouth of the canyon.

 When we got there we couldn't glass them.  We watched for awhile and then moved to a new spot to try to intercept them on the way out.

 Eric did some tracking of our path on some IPhone app.

 We did a lot of waiting and glassing and it got to be late in the afternoon.

We moved down to an overlook to try to catch them on the way out - never saw them.  We did see some does further below us - same ones or different group?  Decided to move downhill. We spotted a large group of does and were sure the bucks would be with them.

 We set up on the does at about 130 yards.  They sensed us and bled into the trees.  Red was sure the bucks were there somewhere.  Eventually he spotted them on a steep hillside to my right.  They knew we were there as I tried to set up on the first one.  By the time that I had him in the scope he was moving out of sight.  Red said the second one was just as good and I acquired him in the scope.  He turned broadside as he was getting ready to leave and I rushed a shot - 102 yards straight uphill.  I shot directly over him, they bolted over the hill and were gone.

 Eric's activity summary for the day - the equivalent of 144 flights of stairs.  I was whipped and kicking myself for missing an easy shot.  I never had time to study either of the bucks but Red said they were 24" to 26" 3x3's.

 We did more spotting but didn't see another buck to chase for a few days.  We did see multiple elk, moose, does, beaver, golden eagles, grouse.  The bull elk were bugling.

 On day 4 the weather turned.  It got colder and rained.

 We resorted to improvised methods to keep the barrel dry.

 There was rain, fog, hail, thunder, and a rainbow.

 But we just kept glassing.

 It would come thru in squalls and then the sun would peek out.

 There were multiple fog events where sections of the mountains or valleys would disappear.

 We had hail and snow but no real accumulation.

 On the last day it was colder, with less rain, but the wind was gusty.  We just kept moving and glassing.

 This was a doe in the trail.  Her fawn came out too.

 These stupid cows wouldn't get off the road.

 We chased them for a long time.  We also had a cow moose on the trail like this for a short time.

The beavers built four ponds in a row and were busy doing maintenance.

In the last hour of the last day, we came around a corner and Red spotted a nice buck up on the mountain above us.  We set up once and he moved so we ran down the road and set up again.  280 yards - very long for me.  I never practiced that far.  Red gave me some advice and I took the shot.

We heard it hit and watched him after the shot.  We were hoping for another shot but he didn't give us the opportunity.  We thought he just laid down about 20 yards uphill from where I shot him.

We started the long uphill climb with 30 minutes of light left. He was last spotted by the pine tree uphill and on a line left of me in this shot.

 I was whipped climbing this mountain and Red left me on this rock to take a shot if he stood up as Red moved in.

 He got up to the spot and there was no buck.  Good blood was found in several spots.  The hill was really steep and I was whipped.  It got really dark fast.  The blood trail led out across a super steep section that scared me when I tried to follow Red and Eric.  I crawled back to the tree while they went on.  I kicked a couple rocks on the traverse and they didn't stop rolling for a long time.  Eric kept in touch via text as they followed the trail - my phone was down to 9% battery.  Eventually they tracked the blood to a point where they walked into the bedded buck and he stood up and bolted straight down the cliff.  They gave up and got back to me at the tree.

We worked our way back down the mountain to the UTV.  Then we had the long muddy ride back into camp.  After a long day (no lunch again), we got back to camp at 11:30 but luckily Dalynn still had dinner for us.  What a disappointment but what an experience.  Red says they may find the buck in a day or two when the birds are on it.  If so, he'll get me the head.

There was a TV crew in camp filming an episode of "Best of the West" for the Pursuit channel (can also get it streaming).  It will be interesting to see that show. Best of the West Website

Red says that, although the buck that they took is a 4x4, both of the 3x3's that I had chances at were significantly better bucks.  I had my chances but as often happens, I don't get it done the easy way.