Chef

That looks like a lot of fun! I bet the dogs really enjoy it too.

Nice buck! I "think' I could fathom sitting a tree stand if my hunt would go as great as yours. Congrats!

It was great hunting up there with you Don! Good luck with your clients on the late coues hunt! Ha Ha! Just so everyone is up to speed, Don and I were driving down an icy dirt road. You know the type, slip and slide, no braking whatsoever, drop off to one side. Well, I hit a blind corner that just so happens to also be a crest of a hill. Keep in mind, I'm driving pretty slow, considering the road conditions. i top the ridge only to find a PICK-UP STOPPED ON THE ROAD!! What they were doing there, who knows but I had to act fast! Thankful to prior experiences in years past, I scanned my surroundings to come up with a plan "B." Plan "A" was to hit the truck head on, and that wasn't going to fly. I sliiiiide and point my rig towards the drop off. Once I am perpendicular on the road, with the nose of my truck pointed towards the DOWN side of the ravine, I gas it. We come to a complete stop. I engage the rear locker and drive down and out. The crazy part is, the guys in the truck didn't even roll down a window to see if we were okay! It all happened so fast, I didn't even have time to get nervous. from now on, that corner is called "Chef's Hill" by Duwanes' camp. *Also....Did I tell you guys that one night Allen shows up to camp, late at night, without his pack?! yup, two pair of Swarovski binoculars and his Kaibab tag in it! Hopefully he'll chime in and finish the story. Thanks for all the kind words as well my friends. I and Allen really enjoyed our time up there. I spoke with him today and we both hope we did a good job of relaying our adventure to you all here. .

Congrats on your first bull! The hard part IS drawing the tag!

I met Cole from CMC Skull Works the other day. Gave him a skull to get done. Super nice guy and seems easy to work with. He gave me some insight into his beetle business and it's unbelievable what all goes into maintaining the happy little critters. He seems to be about three months out at the moment and requires half the $ down when you drop off your project. I can't wait to see the end result. thanks again for the support Cole!

Doug, I didn't put a tape to him. When we first saw him across the canyon, and as the frontal pic shows him, he looks HUGE and WIDE. The buck was small! As in kind of a dwarf deer! His skull was small in comparison to the other deer in camp and his ear spread was narrow. If I was to see him again, I wouldn't hesitate to drop him. He just had "the look" and no regrets. I'd measure the G2 but I've dropped him off with Cole at Skull Works (another one of our sponsors) for a beetle cleaning. I'm going to have the skull metalized in copper when he's done with it.

Mmmmmmmm!

Gotta get the rifle in one of em! Shot 140 grain Accubonds at 3030 fps. First blood with this rig and I am very satisfied. Thanks to Doug (Red Rabbit) for turning me onto the .280 Ackley Improved and Cooper rifles!

Trophy shot... trophy shot II!

I can't say enough about the generosity shown to me by Duwane Adams and his entire crew. Top notch guides and a very fun and positive camp. I had a tremendous time and dedicate this hunt to all those whom have passed on the hunting heritage to us. I only hope to light that same fire in as many people as I can. Here are some shots from throughout the trip. Sometimes, it's good to enjoy the view we miss and look up at the mountains as we glass. Cool shot from outside the tent at night. Find the bedded buck... Snow! ICE! The "Grand Bull" from Jacob lake!

Congrats Georgetta! Good luck Lark.

That's a great bull! Congrats and again, welcome.

Fluffy too!

So we drive to the "super top secret spot" and start hiking a ridge that takes us to where we need to glass. Here we are, battered, soaked, and cold, heading down this ridge. Doesn't get much better right? This ridge ends at a great glassing point. Overlooking a bowl that keeps the deer away from the wind. A nice cedar treeline graces the South end of the bowl and the rest was burn patches. No sooner than we get to the end when Rick asks me if I had any lens cleaner. He lifts up his Swaros and shows me what looks like buck snot rubbed all over the objectives. the snow had dried and left nasty rings and spots on his glass. He wasn't seeing anything through those anytime soon and I didn't have any lens cleaner on me. So off he goes, back to the truck to clean his binoculars. I begin to get set up. Wipe off my rifle a bit, set out my chair, and attach my binos to the tripod head. I no sooner than get on the binos with my eyes, point them at the edge of the cedars, pan to the right a few feet and BAM! BIG BUCK! From the moment i laid eyes on him, I knew I wanted to take him! there he was, staring straight at me, head on. Standing on a snow patch with the bright green cedars behind him. He looked majestic. I turn quickly to "whisper loudly" at Rick only to find he was well on his way to reaching the truck! So here i sit, with the most beautiful typical in my view, no shooting sticks, and no one to give me an opinion or call my shots! LOL. I make a plan and SPRINT towards the truck. I'm wide eyed and blazing trying to get Ricks attention. By the time I reach him he can see i'm a bit frantic to say the least. "big buck! i got a shooter! grab the sticks!" We grab the shooting sticks and by then our two other compadres were making their way towards us. Rick tells me to quickly head back down the ridge and keep an eye on the buck. He would grab the rest of our friends and make it my way fast. So here I go SPRINTING back down the ridge hoping to find the buck again. I make it back, rush onto my binos and there he is! he never moved! By now, I'm breathing heavy, heart is racing, and I need to calm down a bit. The guys get to my side and I quickly and quietly tell them where to look for the buck. They find him quick, as there he was, plain as day, with two does by his side. Still, looking right at us. The moment they see him, they all are in agreement..."get ready." I fumble around with the shooting sticks trying to get steady, no go. We decide to set up prone. As I'm getting into position I say, "I need a range" "430" Rick says. "Range him again." "430" he says again. I smile..."perfect." I adjust my parallax to 400 yards, and quickly click the elevation turret to 425 yards. I chamber the first round, and engage the safety. I adjust the magnification up to 10 power and proceed to find the buck in the scope. All the while trying to control my breathing after just running a marathon to the truck and back! I find the buck, and turn the magnification dial to 20 power. I can hear myself think, "That's a good buck. A little thin but look at that frame!" "Let us know if you're going to shoot. I need to know when." Rick says. I place the crosshairs on the bucks chest. Nice and steady. I see his does go into the cedars. I feel good, confident. I let off the safety. "I'm going to take him" I hear Rick say under his breath... "HERE WE GO!" The report of the rifle echoes through the canyon. The recoil pushes me back as I habitually chamber another round. "You nailed him!" The guys all say! "Is he down?!" "He bucked! He's wobbly! He's broadside, put another one in him." I find him again in the scope and place the crosshairs on his vitals. Everything seems to be in slow motion at this point. I squeeze the trigger and fire the round. "He's down!" He dropped like a ton of bricks. "THAT WAS AWESOME!!!" They all start yelling and hollering! Apparently, they saw everything in slow motion as well. Except they saw the vapor trail of the bullet, follow its path the entire 430 yards and saw the ripple effect of the bullet as it hit the buck! A couple of hugs and high fives later we were so pumped on adrenaline we could have lifted a school bus! I can vividly remember saying... "Guys, this feeling right now, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!" ...My buck.

Before I continue, I want to introduce the Weiler brothers. These guys have been guiding for Duwane Adams for several years. They are goats and will out climb, out hike, and out pack most people I know. They are also some glassing machines. I want to take this time and thank them and their buddy Ryan for being up there with me on my long awaited hunt. This guided hunt seemed like I was hunting with some good ol' friends, and in retrospect, I was. I’ve known them for years and have spent many a days behind binoculars with them and enjoyed many a campfire alongside them. Rick Weiler texted me constantly even before the hunt, pumping me up for what lied ahead. I would text him pictures of my groups when at the range, I would go over maps, go through packing checklists with him, you name it. He knew my mindset and he told me he was as excited to guide me as he has ever been. Thanks again, you guys made this hunt that much more special.

Upon arriving at camp, I was greeted by Allen and his pimped out accommodations. Needless to say, I was happy that he offered the space as he had a wood burning stove and even some cappuccino! (no joke) I got unpacked and readily settled into what would be my home for the next ten days or so. Even if I tagged out early, my plans were to stay and help others in camp, as I always do. Allen and I talked a bit on dreams and expectations of the hunt that lay ahead of us. Mostly “what if” scenarios and the like. Our friend Phil (cramerhunts) put it plainly for me…if it’s got “the look”…it’s going down. Good words to hunt by in my opinion. I wanted to take a buck that required no debating on my part. One that was a “no brainer” of sorts. Allen had scouted that same day and they saw two bucks that he wouldn’t hesitate dropping the hammer on. Way to get the blood pumping right before the day ends. …So we acquire two more roommates (Lynton and Bill) and settle in for that first restless night we are all so familiar with. That first day brought a ton of glassing and hiking and glassing and glassing. It was great to be up there. Wondering what lay over the next ridgeline, under every cedar tree, behind every doe. The rut had shown signs of starting which was a blessing. I was finally going to catch the rut in full swing, so it seemed. We started seeing bucks in the beds of pickup trucks that day. Some were beauties; some were small bucks, all trophies in their hunters’ eyes. The hunt was on. Day two brought the WIND! It was blowing HARD. Gusting to incredible speeds and it just didn’t look like it was going to let up. Needless to say, glassing was tough. I even managed to step away from my tripod long enough to have it tipped over…Leicas and all, chipping the ocular lens on my left side. OUCH! Good thing it didn’t hamper my view when looking through them. The hunting was tough that day. The good thing was, the black clouds were coming in, and with them...the snow. It dumped good on us that night. Wind burnt, sun burnt, and cold on day two... watch... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDNJMzDy1j0 Day three started off as windy as the previous day. We now had a blanket of snow on the ground which did wonders for spotting deer. So we start our drive to another “super top secret spot” only to find another truck parked there. Hmmmmm, not so secret after all! We proceed to drive a little further down the now muddy road to a different glassing point. We wanted to find a ridge that allowed us to find deer out of the wind. We set up and get blasted with sleet…cold, wet, sleet. We were soaked, our clothes got saturated, our binos were drenched, my rifle was doused. As I glassed, I could see the angle at which the sleet was coming down, about a 45. It got colder, and the sleet turned to snow again. It started to fall…sideways…slapping our faces. By then we had had enough and we simultaneously looked at each other and headed for cover. After what seemed like an eternity in cold wet clothes, the sun peeked at us through grey clouds. The wind couldn't decide whether to let off or stay for a little longer. We wanted to move around again, to get the blood flowing, mostly to warm up. So off we head again, down the way we came, towards the “super top secret spot!” We luck out, and no one is there. Now the fun begins…

Phil! Congrats again to all you guys! Looking forward to reading your story of Ol Mexico! Jimmy! LOVED the video. The ending was the very best.

Congrats!

That cape on the bull elk is amazing. I saw it in your clients trophy room. Nice.

Way to go bud!

Congrats again guys. That's a really nice and thick two point.

Congrats to the both of you!

Congrats to your brother in law! Hopefully your friend will let you post her deer as well.

You guys are UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!! Congratulations! Stud of a buck!

Too funny!