kennyazman Report post Posted November 25, 2011 we got back late wednesday night from being up on the kaibab since friday the 18th. All together we had 3 tags in camp ( my dad, a friend, and that friends wife). The hunt was absolutely incredible!! Friday the 18th-Day 1: my dad and i were meeting the rest of the hunting party up at camp. they had been there since tuesday the 15th. we ended up leaving wickenburg a little later than we would have liked to at about 5:00 am and with the long drive up to the kaibab we were going to miss the opening morning hunt, but thats ok, we were prepared to stay until the big one was down or the hunt ended. We pull into camp at about 12:30 or so and the other hunters were just coming back in from the morning hunt and were so excited from all the good bucks and lots of deer they had seen. their advice to my dad was " you need to decide right now what you want, because there are going to be lots of good bucks come in front of you." and thats just what he did. we quickly set up camp and get into our camo and get ready for the evening hunt. we go out to an area that looks promising, and almost immediatly we are looking at deer through our binos nothing worth shooting though. we start to creep through some thick junipers on our way to our next glassing point and jump up some bedded deer. one of them is a huge 4X4 and i tell my dad to get ready to shoot. it was only like about a 100 yard shot but it was incredibly windy and i think that may have had something to do with why he had a clean miss. day 1 in the books. Saturday the 19th-Day 2: we drove about 12 miles or so from camp to get to where we were wanting to hunt this morning. we found ourselves glassing a big canyon as the sun was coming up and again immediatly we are looking at deer. there are deer down the canyon to our left and deer down the canyon to our right. i notice by the size of the bodies on the ones to the left that there are a couple of bucks in this group so we decide to creep in closer for a closer look. as we get to where we are within range of these deer we notice a real nice 4X4 buck was raking a cliffrose bush. my dad raised the gun and clicked off the safety waiting for the buck to present a broad side shot. as the buck was taking its time to present a shot it gave us a chance to talk about wether or not this was "the one" or not. My dad asked me "Kenny, what do you think?" i said " I dont know man, he is a good buck." then i realized if we have to ask what do you think then he is not "the one". when we see "the one" we will know. I told him not to shoot. and he lowered the gun shaking his head saying "man, i hope we dont regret that". i told my dad "hey, if you want to shoot a great one, your going to have to pass up on the good ones." this one was a real good one and very hard to let go but we did. So we got to the edge of the canyon and by this time its about 10:00 or so. i told my dad that i never really got a good look at those deer that were down the canyon to the right and who knows there might be a good buck with them, so we get back to the truck and my dad grabs a roll of toilet paper and tells me he will meet me back at our glassing point where we first spotted those deer. As im glassing it doesnt take long and im looking at what i know is "the one". this buck was also raking a tree and he looked incredible. he had real deep forks and some junk on both sides. it seems like an eternity before my dad comes back and when i see him coming over the hill I motion to him to get his butt over here! he could tell by how enthusiastic i was that i had spotted a good one. after we looked at him for a little bit we decide to make a move on him. we stalk to within about 200 yards of him, and now im having a hard time finding him amongst all the other deer. There are like twenty deer in front of us amongst the sage and junipers inluding 4 other bucks, one of them being pretty good. im looking at the one buck that was pretty good and im thinking to myself, he sure looked alot bigger from back there, did i misjudge how big he was? just when i started to really doubt whether there actually was a shooter in this group, he steps out from behing a juniper and i feel so much better. I say to my dad " there he is! he is the on all the way on the top, are you on him?" he says "yeah i see him" and then BOOM! he shoots and i can tell the deer is hit but it just stands there so i tell him "put another one in him!" BOOM! he hits him again, this time he comes running down into the bottom of the canyon and out of sight into the thick juniper canyon bottom. all the other deer ran up the other side of the canyon and started feeding again like nothing happened. we stand there for a little bit and just kinda watch all of the deer running everywhere. he asks me if i can see if amongst the other deer and i tell him no. i said to him" i think you hit him good, hes probably down in those trees down there" we gave him as long as we could before we start to make our way down to where we think he may be. we spread out and start to zig zag throught the trees and i see him laying dead. i yell to my dad " i found him man!! hes over here! you just shot yourself a big kaibab buck!" it was all high fives and hugs and the rest is history. we ended up getting the other two tags in camp filled as well. i will post pics of the other two bucks when i can, but for now here is a pic of me and my dad with his buck. this picture really doesnt do him justice to how big and massive he actually is. we never got him measured but we had more than one guide stop by our camp to take a look at him and tell us he would easily go mid 190s give or take a few. score is not what is important but this was definately the buck of a lifetime for my dad and im just glad i was able to be there to share in the moment with him. sorry for the long right up and finally here is that pic i promised earlier. i cant seem to get the pic to come up very big. any help with this please? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Willyhunts2 Report post Posted November 25, 2011 Awesome deer and awesome hunt congrats! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kennyazman Report post Posted November 26, 2011 here is a better pic of me and my dad with his buck. also one of just him and all three bucks next to each other. not a bad year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coues krazy Report post Posted November 26, 2011 Awesome deer. Congrats to your dad. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coueshunter Report post Posted November 26, 2011 kennyman, what great deer. Glad it was such a great hunt for you and your dad.......Allen Taylor........ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chef Report post Posted November 27, 2011 WOW! Very very nice buck your pops got. Congrats to your Dad! Congratulations to all of you on your success. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SDHunter11 Report post Posted November 27, 2011 Congrats! Those are some really nice bucks. I love the little kickers coming off the sides of him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
buckmaster21 Report post Posted November 27, 2011 very nice looking deer Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kennyazman Report post Posted November 28, 2011 Thanks for all the kind words everyone and for taking time to read such a long story. It really was an amazing hunt, i was just happy to be there and be a part of it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coues Archer Report post Posted November 28, 2011 Wow congrats to your dad! That is one toad of a buck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
200"mulie Report post Posted November 28, 2011 Congrats to all!! Very nice bucks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
izquik72 Report post Posted November 29, 2011 That is awesome Great job guys. I was up on the kiabab Champ hunt we got about 20" of snow it was neat to see the migration routes. We found a few mature bucks but couldnt make it work out. We never saw anything like your dads buck though. Great job Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CEI Report post Posted December 2, 2011 Great Story Man!!! Congrats to all of you! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
