Wiszard
Long Time Member
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- 11,244
When I drew G3 with my max points, I was ecstatic. I had made plans several times throughout the past five years to take for five days and spend in the unit looking at deer. It’s not very often that I have the opportunity to go see a bunch of deer chasing does and rutting. Every trip I planned never came to fruition, whether it be because of work or family things. When I drew the tag, I knew that it was my year to do what I’ve always been saying I’ve wanted to do. When I hunt, I’d rather see a lot of deer and kill a smaller buck instead of seeing very few deer with the hopes of killing a bigger buck. That’s just me. I figured on this hunt, I’d have the best of both worlds. I know that future tag holders will find this post and I’m going to break down every aspect that I know of the unit through my experience Hunting it.
First off… My intentions were to hunt out of the way places where I would not run into many other hunters. I figured that being able to get off the road, I can always is always the best bet, but I can’t say that this was true on this hunt. I got there two days prior to the hunt starting. I pulled my fifth wheel and was able to pull into the Valero and Independence and they let me fill up my water tank… For $10. That was the bargain of the century. I ran into two other guys, one of which had a tag. That was Blake and Doug… Father/son. Blake is tek here on monster muley‘s. I would keep in touch with them throughout the hunt and I’ll let you know at the end why this is important. I set up my camp below Baxter pass, and I really had a beautiful spot next to a river with a pond. I had figured that I was going to spend most of my time in the Baxter pass area, but after seeing numerous vehicles at the trail head every day prior to opening day, I decided maybe that’s not The place I want to be. Before season, I drove around the unit and checked out all of the hotspots… Division Creek, Baxter, pass and onion Valley Road. I always thought it was going to be good to stay away from Union Valley Road because I heard that that’s the area that gets hit the most and will always have the most traffic. That was not the hunt I wanted. However, the day before opening day that area is where I saw 90% of the deer that I had seen. That is the area where most of the deer are congregating.
I spoke with lots and lots of hunters that had the tag on this hunt or had it previously and I got lots of good information of where to hunt. I will tell you that there are big deer still in this unit but you have to work to find them. Everybody’s seen the giant, that Dave, High Sierra, killed this year. Dave worked his ass off to go find the big deer. After he filled his tag, he told me where to go because he had seen lots of better than average deer. I was very appreciative, but my outlook on this hunt was to enjoy my time, not have to work my ass off and be happy with the deer that I put my tag on. That was all that was important for me. Everybody wants to kill a big deer, but at this point in my life, that’s not what’s important to me.
Because onion Valley Road held a majority of the deer, I thought I’d be tricky and come in from the low onion valley through south Oak Creek… Opening morning had me walking several miles in the lower stuff with nothing but one doe spotted. I knew that Wasn’t a good plan and I won’t be doing that again. Over the next three days I spent the mornings on onion Valley glassing and finding nothing but does, forked horn’s and 3x3’s. I was enjoying myself because I was seeing lots of deer and quite often I was seeing some of the same box as well as some new ones every day. The second morning I glassed a really wide 3 x 2 that had a really crabby front right side and decided to pass on him. His width was very attractive to me and his left side was pretty nice. I ended up seeing him the third day in the same canyon, and again, passed on him. Later that morning, I saw a couple of hunters exactly in the spot where I had seen him so I figured he’s probably gone now. The hunters were a couple of guys I had met two days before opening day up near Baxter pass. Good guys and the tag holder ended up killing a nice wide 3 x 3 that same evening. It seemed as though when the sun started to hit the valleys, the Deerwood moved the thicker stuff, but late morning on the third day, I witnessed two bucks fighting. That was incredible. It is amazing the aggression these bucks have towards each other. I’m surprised more deer don’t break legs or die from being gorged. Watching those two box fight and seeing one, literally push the other down the hill over bushes and eventually run off was something I’ll never forget.
I had yet seen a deer with four points on either side and I was thinking it was time to start thinking about killing a deer. Again, I don’t wanna have to work hard… I don’t need to hike 1000 vertical feet defined that next class of deer. That’s not why I’m hunting. That night I had made the decision that I was going to try to find that wide three point with the crab claw and kill him. He’s in a video on this post along with all of the other pictures that I took throughout the seven days that I was there.
The fourth morning came and the wide three pointer never showed up. As a matter of fact… I think I only seen two does that morning which was surprising because in the bowl I was glassing, each morning prior I had seen at least 20 does and three or four bucks. At about 915 I look to my right and see a deer standing there. He’s a small fork at horn that I’ve seen the day before. I glass a little bit farther to the right and there’s a familiar three-point but his right side is busted off. Something triggered me when I saw that broken three-pointer. I had had conversations with another guy that I spent quite a bit of time with on this hunt and we talked about passing on deer that maybe you’d shoot later in the hunt. Eventually, most of them are gonna get busted up or broken off and then it makes that deer not shootable. The next 45 seconds, all happened very quickly. As I’m thinking about this broken buck glassing looking for more deer in that vicinity, my binoculars passed by a bush that instantly catches my eye. I see a nice tall rack on a buck laying there, staring at me. I deploy my bipod, get in the prone position grab my rangefinder… 268 yards downhill… and I pull the trigger. I hear the WHOP of the bullet, hit the target and get back on my scope, only to find the buck dragging his backend down the hill. I quickly jacked another round in and put it right behind the shoulder and pull the trigger. Again heard the WHOP and the buck was down for good. It all happened so quickly and the realization sets in that I just killed hey, three pointer on arguably the best tag in the state.… I said arguably. Lol.
It took me a while to locate the buck as the train was quite a bit different down in the bowl and it was up on top. It took me about half an hour to find the deer but in the meantime, I had texted my buddy Don, who I’ve been doing a lot of glassing and communicating with, and he ended up, leaving where he was to come help me pack my deer out.
Here’s what I’ve got to say about this hunt… There are big deer, but you’re gonna have to work to find them. People may have gotten lucky off of onion Valley Road and killed some really nice deer and that might’ve had a lot to do with the weather. We had no snow and so some say that lots of the deer were still love Chai. I talked to three different guides and each one of them said that there just are no more big deer on the unit and that fish and game needs to do something about it. My thoughts on this unit is that they need a serious, serious management hunt. The amount of three-pointers that I saw was incredible. It was almost ridiculous and anybody that’s hunted there. I’m guessing, in the last five years, will say The same thing. I physically put my eyes on one 4 x 4, the entire hunt. I saw pictures of other big deer taken, but Dawn was able to kill a 4 x 4 on the sixth day. That was the morning. I was packing up and going to head out, but he texted me at 7 AM Saying that he shot one. What was I to do? I ended up putting my dirty clothes on and helping him quarter and pack his deer out. He helped me… It was my duty to help him. Point is… I’m in the unit for seven days and I lay my eyes on only one four-point? I think it might be a good idea to have a youth hunt and make it three point only. I really think the three point genetic is a predominant gene there.
So… If you draw this tag and think that you’re going to go drive onion Valley Road and kill a 26 inch 4 x 4… I think you’re going to be disappointed. If a hunter is going to enjoy the hunt and not work hard, the expectations need to be lower on the class of deer you’re going to find and be able to kill. Now, if you’re willing to bust your ass and hike into areas that no one else is getting into, you will find the bigger deer. That’s evident.
I really enjoyed the hunt and my time spent here. I met so many good people and everybody I ran into was willing to help. This brings me back to Blake and Doug. They had put some trail cameras out and the day before the hunt opened. We were talking and they were showing me pictures. They showed me a picture of this big three pointer that they named blade runner. The deer in the picture looked like a stallion… Just a big beefy deer that looked like he was it. Turns out that the deer I killed was blade runner. Blake ended up taking a nice 4 x 4, which she was very stoked on. It was a pleasure meeting them… They are just flat out good people. I met Bill And Joy, Gary who ended up killing a 29 3/4 inch freak that was cool as hell. Don was the guy I spent a lot of time glassing with and discussing specific deer on the unit and at what point do you kill a lesser deer that’s not all broken up. It was a pleasure meeting him and helping him pack his gear out. I met Tim and Cliff, owners of dry Creek outfitters… Very nice guys and one of the videos that I’m adding to this post is of a golden eagle on a carcass. The carcass that these eagles were on was that of the three point that Tim killed. It’s within 20 yards of the last sighting I had of the wide three-point that I would’ve killed on the fourth morning. There were a lot of others that I spoke with like Danny, Mike, Terry and I hope I didn’t let them down by killing the deer that I did. I’m sure they understand that. I just wanted to enjoy it and be happy with the buck that I kill.
So, that’s my hunt in a nutshell. I will continue to put in for G3 as my number one choice because you never know when you’re going to draw one of those random tags. For those of you in the future that find this post, p.m. me if you’d like and I’ll help you out as much as I possibly can.
I’m doing this for my cell phone and it’s not letting me load up all the pictures and videos that I want. I’ll have to do that a little bit later. Sorry for the tease…
First off… My intentions were to hunt out of the way places where I would not run into many other hunters. I figured that being able to get off the road, I can always is always the best bet, but I can’t say that this was true on this hunt. I got there two days prior to the hunt starting. I pulled my fifth wheel and was able to pull into the Valero and Independence and they let me fill up my water tank… For $10. That was the bargain of the century. I ran into two other guys, one of which had a tag. That was Blake and Doug… Father/son. Blake is tek here on monster muley‘s. I would keep in touch with them throughout the hunt and I’ll let you know at the end why this is important. I set up my camp below Baxter pass, and I really had a beautiful spot next to a river with a pond. I had figured that I was going to spend most of my time in the Baxter pass area, but after seeing numerous vehicles at the trail head every day prior to opening day, I decided maybe that’s not The place I want to be. Before season, I drove around the unit and checked out all of the hotspots… Division Creek, Baxter, pass and onion Valley Road. I always thought it was going to be good to stay away from Union Valley Road because I heard that that’s the area that gets hit the most and will always have the most traffic. That was not the hunt I wanted. However, the day before opening day that area is where I saw 90% of the deer that I had seen. That is the area where most of the deer are congregating.
I spoke with lots and lots of hunters that had the tag on this hunt or had it previously and I got lots of good information of where to hunt. I will tell you that there are big deer still in this unit but you have to work to find them. Everybody’s seen the giant, that Dave, High Sierra, killed this year. Dave worked his ass off to go find the big deer. After he filled his tag, he told me where to go because he had seen lots of better than average deer. I was very appreciative, but my outlook on this hunt was to enjoy my time, not have to work my ass off and be happy with the deer that I put my tag on. That was all that was important for me. Everybody wants to kill a big deer, but at this point in my life, that’s not what’s important to me.
Because onion Valley Road held a majority of the deer, I thought I’d be tricky and come in from the low onion valley through south Oak Creek… Opening morning had me walking several miles in the lower stuff with nothing but one doe spotted. I knew that Wasn’t a good plan and I won’t be doing that again. Over the next three days I spent the mornings on onion Valley glassing and finding nothing but does, forked horn’s and 3x3’s. I was enjoying myself because I was seeing lots of deer and quite often I was seeing some of the same box as well as some new ones every day. The second morning I glassed a really wide 3 x 2 that had a really crabby front right side and decided to pass on him. His width was very attractive to me and his left side was pretty nice. I ended up seeing him the third day in the same canyon, and again, passed on him. Later that morning, I saw a couple of hunters exactly in the spot where I had seen him so I figured he’s probably gone now. The hunters were a couple of guys I had met two days before opening day up near Baxter pass. Good guys and the tag holder ended up killing a nice wide 3 x 3 that same evening. It seemed as though when the sun started to hit the valleys, the Deerwood moved the thicker stuff, but late morning on the third day, I witnessed two bucks fighting. That was incredible. It is amazing the aggression these bucks have towards each other. I’m surprised more deer don’t break legs or die from being gorged. Watching those two box fight and seeing one, literally push the other down the hill over bushes and eventually run off was something I’ll never forget.
I had yet seen a deer with four points on either side and I was thinking it was time to start thinking about killing a deer. Again, I don’t wanna have to work hard… I don’t need to hike 1000 vertical feet defined that next class of deer. That’s not why I’m hunting. That night I had made the decision that I was going to try to find that wide three point with the crab claw and kill him. He’s in a video on this post along with all of the other pictures that I took throughout the seven days that I was there.
The fourth morning came and the wide three pointer never showed up. As a matter of fact… I think I only seen two does that morning which was surprising because in the bowl I was glassing, each morning prior I had seen at least 20 does and three or four bucks. At about 915 I look to my right and see a deer standing there. He’s a small fork at horn that I’ve seen the day before. I glass a little bit farther to the right and there’s a familiar three-point but his right side is busted off. Something triggered me when I saw that broken three-pointer. I had had conversations with another guy that I spent quite a bit of time with on this hunt and we talked about passing on deer that maybe you’d shoot later in the hunt. Eventually, most of them are gonna get busted up or broken off and then it makes that deer not shootable. The next 45 seconds, all happened very quickly. As I’m thinking about this broken buck glassing looking for more deer in that vicinity, my binoculars passed by a bush that instantly catches my eye. I see a nice tall rack on a buck laying there, staring at me. I deploy my bipod, get in the prone position grab my rangefinder… 268 yards downhill… and I pull the trigger. I hear the WHOP of the bullet, hit the target and get back on my scope, only to find the buck dragging his backend down the hill. I quickly jacked another round in and put it right behind the shoulder and pull the trigger. Again heard the WHOP and the buck was down for good. It all happened so quickly and the realization sets in that I just killed hey, three pointer on arguably the best tag in the state.… I said arguably. Lol.
It took me a while to locate the buck as the train was quite a bit different down in the bowl and it was up on top. It took me about half an hour to find the deer but in the meantime, I had texted my buddy Don, who I’ve been doing a lot of glassing and communicating with, and he ended up, leaving where he was to come help me pack my deer out.
Here’s what I’ve got to say about this hunt… There are big deer, but you’re gonna have to work to find them. People may have gotten lucky off of onion Valley Road and killed some really nice deer and that might’ve had a lot to do with the weather. We had no snow and so some say that lots of the deer were still love Chai. I talked to three different guides and each one of them said that there just are no more big deer on the unit and that fish and game needs to do something about it. My thoughts on this unit is that they need a serious, serious management hunt. The amount of three-pointers that I saw was incredible. It was almost ridiculous and anybody that’s hunted there. I’m guessing, in the last five years, will say The same thing. I physically put my eyes on one 4 x 4, the entire hunt. I saw pictures of other big deer taken, but Dawn was able to kill a 4 x 4 on the sixth day. That was the morning. I was packing up and going to head out, but he texted me at 7 AM Saying that he shot one. What was I to do? I ended up putting my dirty clothes on and helping him quarter and pack his deer out. He helped me… It was my duty to help him. Point is… I’m in the unit for seven days and I lay my eyes on only one four-point? I think it might be a good idea to have a youth hunt and make it three point only. I really think the three point genetic is a predominant gene there.
So… If you draw this tag and think that you’re going to go drive onion Valley Road and kill a 26 inch 4 x 4… I think you’re going to be disappointed. If a hunter is going to enjoy the hunt and not work hard, the expectations need to be lower on the class of deer you’re going to find and be able to kill. Now, if you’re willing to bust your ass and hike into areas that no one else is getting into, you will find the bigger deer. That’s evident.
I really enjoyed the hunt and my time spent here. I met so many good people and everybody I ran into was willing to help. This brings me back to Blake and Doug. They had put some trail cameras out and the day before the hunt opened. We were talking and they were showing me pictures. They showed me a picture of this big three pointer that they named blade runner. The deer in the picture looked like a stallion… Just a big beefy deer that looked like he was it. Turns out that the deer I killed was blade runner. Blake ended up taking a nice 4 x 4, which she was very stoked on. It was a pleasure meeting them… They are just flat out good people. I met Bill And Joy, Gary who ended up killing a 29 3/4 inch freak that was cool as hell. Don was the guy I spent a lot of time glassing with and discussing specific deer on the unit and at what point do you kill a lesser deer that’s not all broken up. It was a pleasure meeting him and helping him pack his gear out. I met Tim and Cliff, owners of dry Creek outfitters… Very nice guys and one of the videos that I’m adding to this post is of a golden eagle on a carcass. The carcass that these eagles were on was that of the three point that Tim killed. It’s within 20 yards of the last sighting I had of the wide three-point that I would’ve killed on the fourth morning. There were a lot of others that I spoke with like Danny, Mike, Terry and I hope I didn’t let them down by killing the deer that I did. I’m sure they understand that. I just wanted to enjoy it and be happy with the buck that I kill.
So, that’s my hunt in a nutshell. I will continue to put in for G3 as my number one choice because you never know when you’re going to draw one of those random tags. For those of you in the future that find this post, p.m. me if you’d like and I’ll help you out as much as I possibly can.
I’m doing this for my cell phone and it’s not letting me load up all the pictures and videos that I want. I’ll have to do that a little bit later. Sorry for the tease…
