08 Utah muzzleloader season (long, with pics)

kellen23

kellen23

New member
As I lie in darkness I roll over and turn my alarm clock off.....4:30 am. I crawl out of the warmth of my bedroll and fumble in the dark for my flashlight. I finally find it and start getting a fire going. Putting paper and kindling in the stove Im able to get a small flame. After a few minutes the flame grows bigger and finally gets going. I put a small log in close the door, set the damper, crawl back into the warmth of my blanket, and tuck down inside. I stare at the flickering light of the fire dancing of the wall in my tent. Lying in my bed the crackling of the fire makes my close my eyes. My mind starts to drift back to this same morning in years past and the events that have unfolded. As the chill slowly fades away and gives room to warmth I open my eyes crawl back out of my blankets and fumble for the flashlight.....again, and get matches to start the lantern. As light fills the tent I look at my clock....5:00 am. I kick aroung and find my camo and put it on. By now the fire has warmed the tent and made getting dressed more bareable. I get my boots on and load my muzzleloader. I check my pack and make sure I have everything...looks like its all in place. I put it on grab my binoculars and throw my gun over my shoulder. I look once more at my clock....5:20 am, right on time. The fire has slowly died down in the stove as I turn the lantern off, again darkness. I open up the tent and step out into the chilly star filled sky. I've been waiting a year for this morning. It's finally here opening morning of deer season, and the anticipation of light.

Kinda lame but something I made up as I was hunting. It took me back to hunts Ive been on when I was writing it. Hope it does the same for all who read it.
 
Anyways, opening morning found two of my brothers, a friend and myself on the hillside. As it got light I was able to spot 6 bucks feeding up from the fields. Me and one brother got in position and watched the for about and hour before they crossed the fence and stared heading out way. Glassing them we was able to spot two nice bucks, a 3 point and a small 4 point. My brother decided on the 4 point and we was now waiting. The 3 point and two small forked horns crested a knoll about 75 yards away. At that time a truck had stopped and wouldnt you know it they all take off running, so my brother wasnt able to get a shot on the 4 point. Bad luck on the first few hours. Nothing really went on the rest of the day, and nothing really happened that evening. Thursday morning found us again in the same spot, with the same bucks feeding up to us. My other brother was right where me and my one brother sat the following morning...perfect. His boy told him to take the 3 point and at 176 yrds the crack of a muzzleloader sound and we had one deer down. Nice 3 point at 17" wide and 20" tall. Friday morning the same thing....minus me. My brother with the first deer and his friend walked over a rise and bam, a nice buck standing in the sagebrush. He gets set up, my brother tells him the yardage at 162 yrds. Again the crack of a muzzleloader tells the fate of another deer. This one is a 4x5 with a 23 1/2" spread, cant remember heighth.
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I make it back to camp Friday night just in time for the night hunt, its my turn. We head for another piece of ground where the landowner had seen a few nice bucks. We spot two decent bucks feed along a small hill. We ride alittle closer to them to where they wasnt spooked. I head up the road on my four wheeler to where I was above them. I hiked to a old two wheeled road and started to sneek in to where I was straight above them. I was able to sneek to 114 yrds and from there I didnt have the shot. I had no idea how I was gonna make it down to them. Well by now the sun had barely went behind the hill and how lucky was I, they start to move towards me. I stand there as still as possible as a doe starts to move in. She stops and looks right through me and she moves on. Here come the other two bucks, and small 3 point and finally the one I want, and nice little 3x4. He makes his way through the sagebrush and into an small hole where I give him the whistle of death....40 yrds. The crack of a muzzleloader seals the fate of another deer. 19" wide and 20" tall
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The story continues tomorrow.
 
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That night we celabrate with three nice bucks on the ground. We go over a game plan for my brother. We get the plan to go over where the other two had gotten there deer. Saturday morning rolls around. We was alittle late getting out and that hurt us alittle. The deer was coming up already and we had to hustle to get in position. Me and the brother got to a spot where we had a 180 yrd shot. I whistled to get the 4 point to stop but instead he takes off running pushing the other 5 bucks up the hill. They didnt take long to get on the mountain. We hustle over to where we are directly below them. I range him at 270 yrds. I tell the brother to try it what the heck. He steadies the gun and pulls the trigger. I was looking through the binos and when he touched the trigger, whack down he goes. I didnt know what to say but holy sh#! you got him. To say the least I was happy for the shot he made so was everybody else high fives all around. All in all this year was the very best year we had ever had. The first year since Ive been hunting that everybody had filled their tag all within four days. Now theres plenty of meat and the next thrill is coming up at the end of October when we head elk hunting.
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The wife enjoying the deer camp.
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The mountain we hunted.
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Great stories and awesome bucks! Sounds like you guys had a great hunt and it makes it better to share it with your wife too. Good luck on the elk hunt and we'll have to get together and slay some coyotes after the big game hunts.
 
Yeah it went by fast when you kill bucks almost everyday of the hunt. Tho they arent real monsters Im glad everyone filled their tags. Hopefully the next few years will see bigger bucks.....
 
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