Lady Luck 201" 13B Mule Deer

[Santana Outdoors]

I know my wife is going to kill me for posting this before she finished editing so please forgive my mistakes.

 

“Lady Luck”

Earlier this year my Eric son came to me and said that Jonnie his wife who has never put in for any hunt before wanted to put in for elk. We put her in for 22 south and she got drawn. She was so excited she now wanted to hunt deer. We’ll my daughter Stevi also got drawn for a trophy early rifle bull elk tag and I knew between both of these elk tags we were in for a lot of scouting time. Because we had too much going on this year already, I told him “Let’s put her in for 13B so she won’t get drawn”.

She got drawn! I wanted to run out and buy her a lottery ticket. When we told what she got drawn for she said “That’s nice!”. She had no idea what she had. After a few videos of the bucks in 13B I think she finally got it and was scared that she couldn’t keep up with the expectation of the hunt. We assured her that we were going to just go camping and if she got a deer that would be great!

They were not ready to hire a guide and wanted to know if we could do this on our own. So I got on the phone and called a few friends that have hunted 13B who were more than willing to help out and the others just said “Good Luck”. I have hunted 13A before. I came home empty but my hunting buddy Mike Conway took a nice 186” 4X4. Don Martin a good friend and a guide out of Kingman told me of an area that holds decent bucks and lots of deer. Not an area known for monsters but on the strip there is always a chance.

After months of planning we were on our way. Eric my son, his wife Jonnie, her dad Joe Lopez, Mike Conway, Seth Orrs and myself went on this hunt. We never had an opportunity to make it there to scout but with all the help we were confident we would enjoy the hunt. As we drove by Kanab Utah we had to stop in Muley Crazy to see the monsters on the wall. A good friend of mine Wes Macalester lives in Fredonia, AZ met us there and also happens to be good friends with Ryan Hatch. Ryan was gracious enough to tell a few stories and help us with a few spots. Amazingly enough one spots was very close to the one a few others told us about.

Thursday afternoon we got to camp and set up our tents and went out for some glassing. Immediately Eric my son picked up a nice buck about a mile away, we estimated him to be about 180” and about 28-30” wide. The buck moved on over the ridge and before the evening was over we saw a few more bucks about 170” class and lots of does. That evening we decided that buck was worth hunting and it may have been bigger than we thought.

Opening morning we went back and couldn’t find the bigger buck or any deer for that matter. The wind was blowing hard and it was cold. So Eric, Jonnie and I went up the road to a tank. We got out above it and glassed for a few moments. Got back in the vehicle and started to drive away when I decided to turn around and go check the tracks at the tank. We got to the tank, Eric and I got out and checked for tracks. We looked back and saw Jonnie running around the truck, Eric said “What’s up” she said “We ran over the gun”.

We didn’t know that Jonnie set the gun on the hitch when we got out glassing. We drove back up to the spot where we were and there was the gun, Eric jumped out and picked it up. It had a tire track across the butt and one across the barrel. The gun is Jonnies dads, it’s a Christensen Arms 7mm Ultra mag with carbon fiber barrel a Swarovski scope and a muzzle break, you know about $4,000. My first though was trying to calm her down, I told her “Look the damage is done, we have another gun and there is nothing we can do about it, let’s enjoy the hunt”.

We got back to where her dad was and told him. He just looked at it and said,” lets shoot it and see if it is still on”. Eric took the gun and shot it at 300 yards and nailed the target, so he shot it again and nailed it again. We all decided the gun was fine. Now it is time to get back to the hunt.

That evening we went back to the spot where the big buck was and again there was no deer at all. Saturday morning we got back out there and only saw a spike and 2 does. Wow, we went from about 20 deer to almost none. This is going to be tough, where did they go? Saturday evening the wind died down and it just felt perfect. Jonnie, her dad and I went west about a mile and got up on the hill to glass. Eric and Mike went to check out a different spot and Seth glassed from our usual spot.

I walked around the mountain glassing and soon Jonnie come running over and said her dad found a buck. When I came back over it was him. The big buck, but this time we were only 700 yards away. Jonnie and I took off to a knoll about 200 yards closer, by this time he had joined 3 does and was chasing one of them. Jonnie set up but wasn’t comfortable with the distance. The deer was across a wide open hill side with no cover for us and we would have run out of daylight to try get closer. We decided to give it up that night and try to get on him in the morning. Later at camp by the fire, the more we talked about it I wanted to kick myself in the butt for not pushing harder to go after the buck. Big bucks like this appear and disappear daily.

Don Martin found our camp and stopped by to see how we were doing. We chatted a little bit, told some stories and hit the hay.

The next morning we were back up on the same hill as the night before. Eric, Jonnie, her dad and myself. It wasn’t long after daylight Eric picked up a buck, it was a 3X3. Then I found him, “There her is” he was about ½ mile away. He didn’t move far but his does were gone. Then he disappeared over the ridge. We radioed Seth to see if he could pick him up and he couldn’t. He said he had a narrow 9X7 buck headed towards us. We took off and got set up. The buck came within 300 yards but he was just too narrow and Jonnie said it wasn’t what she wanted. So we passed on him. This buck was bigger then most of us have ever seen I can’t believe she passed but glad she did.

With no luck we spent the rest of the morning trying to locate the big buck. At lunch back at camp we talked about the next plan and then it started snowing and got even colder. We decided that we would hunt until Monday morning then come back the next weekend if we didn’t have any luck. Great time for a nap. We got up about 2pm and headed back out and it was still snowing, sometimes so hard you couldn’t even see 100 yards.

We got back to the spot where we could glass the mountain he was on but it is about ¾ of a mile away and with the snow there was no chance of picking him up. About 4pm it started to clear up enough in between the mini blizzards we could start to see the mountain he was on. We all started to get a little discouraged knowing we were headed home in the morning. Then Joe saw a buck! At this point Eric, Jonnie and I had taken off down the road to glass another spot. So they sent Seth to come and get us.

We checked out the buck and felt it was him. We ran straight towards him. Poor Jonnie, she is 5’ tall and had a hard time keeping up but I knew if we didn’t push it hard we would blow this chance like last night and Jonnie was more than willing to get to him.

We got to a little knoll, Eric set up the tripod and ranged the buck at 500 yards. I could now see him in my binos and knew it was the big buck we have hunted the last 3 days. Because of the snow and distance Jonnie wasn’t comfortable with the shot so we had to move closer. Again, we had to cross an opening to get to him, this time the snow was in our favor. We just went for it and crossed. She got set up. Eric ranged him at 325 yards. With it snowing Jonnie was having a hard time picking him up in the scope. Then she said “I found him”. After a few seconds but it seemed like minutes she shot “Boom”and missed him. The buck lifted his head and looked behind him like what was that? I said “You missed him, shoot again”. She picked him up again and shot! “Boom”, down he went. “He dropped, he dropped, load again, load again”. I said.

We watched as he tried to get up then fell over. We radioed the guys, he’s down! Everyone was so excited. Our first trip to 13B we were hoping for a monster and would be satisfied with anything over 180” for her first buck. We had Clay score it for her and it grossed exactly 201”.

A BIG THANKS to everyone who helped. This became a hunt of a lifetime for all of us. For Jonnie, it was a hunt of a lifetime but she is only 21 so I am sure she will get this tag again.

 

Eric

 

little Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNGIXFlyiLk

[Pine Donkey]

Thats a great buck! I love the story, it is amazing the gun was ok after being run over. Congratulations to all!

[tjhunt2]

Congratulations on an amazing buck of a lifetime. Great story. I hope to just see one like that in my lifetime.

 

TJ

[cramerhunts]

Congratulations on a great buck! Super job on staying after him and closing the deal!

[bonecollector]

Congrats on a fantastic buck. Glad the gun was still ok to shoot.

[SDHunter11]

That is one beautiful buck! Must be one tough rifle.

[Coach]

Wow - Great buck and Great story! I sure hope one day I'll get a chance to go hunt up there!

[WHT_MTNMAN]

Congrats Jonnie and Eric and all involved. Congrats on a super hunt and a super buck. I love those big ol strip bucks. Nice job

Houston Davis

[200"mulie]

Congrats on a great buck!

[Coues&Bass]

Great buck!

[Wildcatcoueshunter]

I know my wife is going to kill me for posting this before she finished editing so please forgive my mistakes.

 

“Lady Luck”

Earlier this year my Eric son came to me and said that Jonnie his wife who has never put in for any hunt before wanted to put in for elk. We put her in for 22 south and she got drawn. She was so excited she now wanted to hunt deer. We’ll my daughter Stevi also got drawn for a trophy early rifle bull elk tag and I knew between both of these elk tags we were in for a lot of scouting time. Because we had too much going on this year already, I told him “Let’s put her in for 13B so she won’t get drawn”.

She got drawn! I wanted to run out and buy her a lottery ticket. When we told what she got drawn for she said “That’s nice!”. She had no idea what she had. After a few videos of the bucks in 13B I think she finally got it and was scared that she couldn’t keep up with the expectation of the hunt. We assured her that we were going to just go camping and if she got a deer that would be great!

They were not ready to hire a guide and wanted to know if we could do this on our own. So I got on the phone and called a few friends that have hunted 13B who were more than willing to help out and the others just said “Good Luck”. I have hunted 13A before. I came home empty but my hunting buddy Mike Conway took a nice 186” 4X4. Don Martin a good friend and a guide out of Kingman told me of an area that holds decent bucks and lots of deer. Not an area known for monsters but on the strip there is always a chance.

After months of planning we were on our way. Eric my son, his wife Jonnie, her dad Joe Lopez, Mike Conway, Seth Orrs and myself went on this hunt. We never had an opportunity to make it there to scout but with all the help we were confident we would enjoy the hunt. As we drove by Kanab Utah we had to stop in Muley Crazy to see the monsters on the wall. A good friend of mine Wes Macalester lives in Fredonia, AZ met us there and also happens to be good friends with Ryan Hatch. Ryan was gracious enough to tell a few stories and help us with a few spots. Amazingly enough one spots was very close to the one a few others told us about.

Thursday afternoon we got to camp and set up our tents and went out for some glassing. Immediately Eric my son picked up a nice buck about a mile away, we estimated him to be about 180” and about 28-30” wide. The buck moved on over the ridge and before the evening was over we saw a few more bucks about 170” class and lots of does. That evening we decided that buck was worth hunting and it may have been bigger than we thought.

Opening morning we went back and couldn’t find the bigger buck or any deer for that matter. The wind was blowing hard and it was cold. So Eric, Jonnie and I went up the road to a tank. We got out above it and glassed for a few moments. Got back in the vehicle and started to drive away when I decided to turn around and go check the tracks at the tank. We got to the tank, Eric and I got out and checked for tracks. We looked back and saw Jonnie running around the truck, Eric said “What’s up” she said “We ran over the gun”.

We didn’t know that Jonnie set the gun on the hitch when we got out glassing. We drove back up to the spot where we were and there was the gun, Eric jumped out and picked it up. It had a tire track across the butt and one across the barrel. The gun is Jonnies dads, it’s a Christensen Arms 7mm Ultra mag with carbon fiber barrel a Swarovski scope and a muzzle break, you know about $4,000. My first though was trying to calm her down, I told her “Look the damage is done, we have another gun and there is nothing we can do about it, let’s enjoy the hunt”.

We got back to where her dad was and told him. He just looked at it and said,” lets shoot it and see if it is still on”. Eric took the gun and shot it at 300 yards and nailed the target, so he shot it again and nailed it again. We all decided the gun was fine. Now it is time to get back to the hunt.

That evening we went back to the spot where the big buck was and again there was no deer at all. Saturday morning we got back out there and only saw a spike and 2 does. Wow, we went from about 20 deer to almost none. This is going to be tough, where did they go? Saturday evening the wind died down and it just felt perfect. Jonnie, her dad and I went west about a mile and got up on the hill to glass. Eric and Mike went to check out a different spot and Seth glassed from our usual spot.

I walked around the mountain glassing and soon Jonnie come running over and said her dad found a buck. When I came back over it was him. The big buck, but this time we were only 700 yards away. Jonnie and I took off to a knoll about 200 yards closer, by this time he had joined 3 does and was chasing one of them. Jonnie set up but wasn’t comfortable with the distance. The deer was across a wide open hill side with no cover for us and we would have run out of daylight to try get closer. We decided to give it up that night and try to get on him in the morning. Later at camp by the fire, the more we talked about it I wanted to kick myself in the butt for not pushing harder to go after the buck. Big bucks like this appear and disappear daily.

Don Martin found our camp and stopped by to see how we were doing. We chatted a little bit, told some stories and hit the hay.

The next morning we were back up on the same hill as the night before. Eric, Jonnie, her dad and myself. It wasn’t long after daylight Eric picked up a buck, it was a 3X3. Then I found him, “There her is” he was about ½ mile away. He didn’t move far but his does were gone. Then he disappeared over the ridge. We radioed Seth to see if he could pick him up and he couldn’t. He said he had a narrow 9X7 buck headed towards us. We took off and got set up. The buck came within 300 yards but he was just too narrow and Jonnie said it wasn’t what she wanted. So we passed on him. This buck was bigger then most of us have ever seen I can’t believe she passed but glad she did.

With no luck we spent the rest of the morning trying to locate the big buck. At lunch back at camp we talked about the next plan and then it started snowing and got even colder. We decided that we would hunt until Monday morning then come back the next weekend if we didn’t have any luck. Great time for a nap. We got up about 2pm and headed back out and it was still snowing, sometimes so hard you couldn’t even see 100 yards.

We got back to the spot where we could glass the mountain he was on but it is about ¾ of a mile away and with the snow there was no chance of picking him up. About 4pm it started to clear up enough in between the mini blizzards we could start to see the mountain he was on. We all started to get a little discouraged knowing we were headed home in the morning. Then Joe saw a buck! At this point Eric, Jonnie and I had taken off down the road to glass another spot. So they sent Seth to come and get us.

We checked out the buck and felt it was him. We ran straight towards him. Poor Jonnie, she is 5’ tall and had a hard time keeping up but I knew if we didn’t push it hard we would blow this chance like last night and Jonnie was more than willing to get to him.

We got to a little knoll, Eric set up the tripod and ranged the buck at 500 yards. I could now see him in my binos and knew it was the big buck we have hunted the last 3 days. Because of the snow and distance Jonnie wasn’t comfortable with the shot so we had to move closer. Again, we had to cross an opening to get to him, this time the snow was in our favor. We just went for it and crossed. She got set up. Eric ranged him at 325 yards. With it snowing Jonnie was having a hard time picking him up in the scope. Then she said “I found him”. After a few seconds but it seemed like minutes she shot “Boom”and missed him. The buck lifted his head and looked behind him like what was that? I said “You missed him, shoot again”. She picked him up again and shot! “Boom”, down he went. “He dropped, he dropped, load again, load again”. I said.

We watched as he tried to get up then fell over. We radioed the guys, he’s down! Everyone was so excited. Our first trip to 13B we were hoping for a monster and would be satisfied with anything over 180” for her first buck. We had Clay score it for her and it grossed exactly 201”.

A BIG THANKS to everyone who helped. This became a hunt of a lifetime for all of us. For Jonnie, it was a hunt of a lifetime but she is only 21 so I am sure she will get this tag again.

 

Eric

 

little Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNGIXFlyiLk

Great buck congrats to Jonnie

[Elkaddict]

Wow! I would love to just see a buck that size! Congrats!!

[coueshunter]

Way to go Jonnie..........great buck, great job everyone..........Allen Taylor........

[buckmaster21]

very nice looking buck

[lucky2hunt]

Fantastic buck! Congrats to Jonnie and all involved! I can't believe she could pass up a 9x7, (Sheesh, I've never seen one close to that ) but then again she was on 'The Strip', way to be patient and get what you want, good job!