lundellhunting7
Active Member
- Messages
- 616
Was able to harvest my 2024 Utah General Season Mule Deer the other night.
This year has been great. I picked up my Lift 33 the day they released them and have been shooting it weekly since. I have never been able to spend as much time as I have this year behind my bow. Felt more confident then ever.
Watched these bucks as well as a couple others during the summer. Opening day of the hunt decided to backpack in and try for a different buck. Things did not work out with him and decided to switch things up. So went to hunt these two bucks.
Watched them multiple days in places that I did not think I could make a stalk on them or that I would not be able to get into them before dark.
Then last Thursday me and my dad went up to try and locate them. We got up there early and checked for them. Didn’t see them so went to another spot to hurry and check for a couple other bucks. Nothing was there then came back to our glassing spot. I pulled out my spotter and immediately glassed up the inline 5. To my surprise he had stripped his velvet. I immediately decided that it was now or never to kill that buck. I was 950 yards away from him with about 90 min of light left. My dad stayed back to spot for me as I took off. Got about 100 yards away from him and he let me know that there was the wide 3x4 with him also along with the big 4x4. I decided then that whichever buck presented a shot I would take.
I picked my route that I thought would get me into range and started working my way in. I got up to 110 yards from them after working my way up through the oak brush. I could see both of the bucks feeding but I did not feel I could close that distance to where I needed to get a shot. I got behind some oak brush and sat until they fed over the ridge. As soon as they did my dad could no longer see them. I figured that they would keep feeding at the same elevation so I hurried and got above where I thought they would feed to on the ridge. As I got over there I pulled out my binoculars trying to relocate them where I thought they would be. To my surprise I saw some tips of antlers of the big 4 below me. At that point I pulled out my rangefinder all I could hit was the oak brush in front of him at 40 yards I figured he was 10 behind that. I dialed my site to 50 yards. Nocked my arrow, clipped my release, drew back, leveled the bubble, settled my pin, took a deep breath and released an arrow. Heard the arrow hit hard. The inline 5 and 3x4 took off and ran to the other side of the next ridge top 130 yards away and disappeared. The big 4 took about 5 minutes to get to where I could see him again. He stops 100 yards away in thick oak brush and stands for a couple minutes and lays down. At this point I waiting for 10 min and watch his head lay down like he was dead. (At this point had about 30 min of light left)
From here I thought he was dead so started walking into him. At 20 yards he jumps up and runs 30 yards to that ridge top while coughing the entire time and disappears as he runs over.
At this point my stomach sinks. But I go to where he had laid down. Dropped a pin on the blood as well as an arrow and backed out for the night.
After talking with some buddies we figured that I had hit a little back but probably hit liver. I was just sick all night worried how I had messed up by going in and blowing him out of the country with a lethal shot.
The next morning my dad, uncle and Bux N Dux came up with me to try and recover this deer.
We get down to my arrow and pin and start to track him. We get to where I last saw him and my Bux N Dux finds blood on some oak brush.
From this point it opened up for about 30 yards where we could see his tracks and a little blood.
About half way through the clearing I had lost the tracks so I went down to the next oak brush patch to try and find blood. My uncle thought that he had dove out of the clearing and back into oak brush. He went to look there and found blood. I walked up to him and said hmm I think I can smell deer guys. At that point my uncle walked 10 yards down the ridge and tells me. “Phil look right there.” At this point it hits me that we had recovered my best archery deer to date! He had made it roughly 30-40 yards from where I saw him last and piled up.
High fives and hugs all around!
This year has been great. I picked up my Lift 33 the day they released them and have been shooting it weekly since. I have never been able to spend as much time as I have this year behind my bow. Felt more confident then ever.
Watched these bucks as well as a couple others during the summer. Opening day of the hunt decided to backpack in and try for a different buck. Things did not work out with him and decided to switch things up. So went to hunt these two bucks.
Watched them multiple days in places that I did not think I could make a stalk on them or that I would not be able to get into them before dark.
Then last Thursday me and my dad went up to try and locate them. We got up there early and checked for them. Didn’t see them so went to another spot to hurry and check for a couple other bucks. Nothing was there then came back to our glassing spot. I pulled out my spotter and immediately glassed up the inline 5. To my surprise he had stripped his velvet. I immediately decided that it was now or never to kill that buck. I was 950 yards away from him with about 90 min of light left. My dad stayed back to spot for me as I took off. Got about 100 yards away from him and he let me know that there was the wide 3x4 with him also along with the big 4x4. I decided then that whichever buck presented a shot I would take.
I picked my route that I thought would get me into range and started working my way in. I got up to 110 yards from them after working my way up through the oak brush. I could see both of the bucks feeding but I did not feel I could close that distance to where I needed to get a shot. I got behind some oak brush and sat until they fed over the ridge. As soon as they did my dad could no longer see them. I figured that they would keep feeding at the same elevation so I hurried and got above where I thought they would feed to on the ridge. As I got over there I pulled out my binoculars trying to relocate them where I thought they would be. To my surprise I saw some tips of antlers of the big 4 below me. At that point I pulled out my rangefinder all I could hit was the oak brush in front of him at 40 yards I figured he was 10 behind that. I dialed my site to 50 yards. Nocked my arrow, clipped my release, drew back, leveled the bubble, settled my pin, took a deep breath and released an arrow. Heard the arrow hit hard. The inline 5 and 3x4 took off and ran to the other side of the next ridge top 130 yards away and disappeared. The big 4 took about 5 minutes to get to where I could see him again. He stops 100 yards away in thick oak brush and stands for a couple minutes and lays down. At this point I waiting for 10 min and watch his head lay down like he was dead. (At this point had about 30 min of light left)
From here I thought he was dead so started walking into him. At 20 yards he jumps up and runs 30 yards to that ridge top while coughing the entire time and disappears as he runs over.
At this point my stomach sinks. But I go to where he had laid down. Dropped a pin on the blood as well as an arrow and backed out for the night.
After talking with some buddies we figured that I had hit a little back but probably hit liver. I was just sick all night worried how I had messed up by going in and blowing him out of the country with a lethal shot.
The next morning my dad, uncle and Bux N Dux came up with me to try and recover this deer.
We get down to my arrow and pin and start to track him. We get to where I last saw him and my Bux N Dux finds blood on some oak brush.
From this point it opened up for about 30 yards where we could see his tracks and a little blood.
About half way through the clearing I had lost the tracks so I went down to the next oak brush patch to try and find blood. My uncle thought that he had dove out of the clearing and back into oak brush. He went to look there and found blood. I walked up to him and said hmm I think I can smell deer guys. At that point my uncle walked 10 yards down the ridge and tells me. “Phil look right there.” At this point it hits me that we had recovered my best archery deer to date! He had made it roughly 30-40 yards from where I saw him last and piled up.
High fives and hugs all around!
