TAM Report post Posted November 27, 2007 I just got back from my late hunt on the Kaibab and wanted to share my story and a couple pictures. After months of preperation pretty much everything I planned for got thrown out the window. During the late hunt the snow and rut is supposed to push the deer down to the lower winter range where the country is more open and a little legwork can put a hunter on a ridge top overlooking miles of country. I scoted the winter range and studied topo maps to look for good glassing points where I could hike in and get away from the crowds. I exercised in preperation for the long hikes in the morning darkness over rough country to get to a good vantage point to glass. I spend countless hours handloading the perfect load for pin point accuracy. I shot hundreds of rounds at ranges out to 700 yards in preperation for that long cross canyon shot. I was prepared with high powered German glass to find the perfect buck at distances over a mile away. I even brought a shovel and tow chain in case the roads were sloppy with mud from foul weather. The simple truth is that none of my preperation mattered one bit!!! The weather never came and the deer never moved. For the most part the deer were still in there summer range on top of the mountain. After the first day of hunting down low we realized we had to change our game plan if we were to be successful. Most of the deer we were seeing were up high and they were concentrated around water sources. As crazy as it souds we decided to sit water. After the first evening I had 9 does and 2 bucks come in but no shooters. One of the other guys in camp had 7 different bucks come in including a nice 170 class four point which he shot at about 5:20 in the evening. The next morning I sat the tank where the buck was killed the night before and had 11 deer come in, but no shooters. After a short break at camp to stretch my legs and get a bite to eat at camp I was back at it, sitting in my bright blue camp chair some 70 yards away with my rifle rested on my tripod kind of like a turkey hunter. At 4:40 in the afternoon six does came in followed by my buck which I proceeded to shoot at a mere 72 yards! I didn't even think to range the distance until after I killed him and I was curious how close he was. Kind of ironic I guess, all the preperation in the world didn' matter one bit in the end. We just had to tweak the game plan and make a few adjustments. Our camp went four for four in three days killing four nice four point bucks in three days. My buck is 27.5 inches wide with a score of 182 inches. We also weighed it guts and all at 236 pounds at the G&F check in station. I never would have imagined getting a late season Kaibab deer tag and killing a big buck off a water tank on the summer range at 7500' elevation in late November. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
longshooter Report post Posted November 27, 2007 Thats a awesome carp. Gottalove those extra points Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
out2hunt Report post Posted November 27, 2007 Bada$$ Man that is a stud buck!!!!!Love the trash!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
daryl_s Report post Posted November 27, 2007 Great buck, congrats. It seems in vain all the hard work but I'd much rather be over-prepared than under-prepared anyday. Once again, congrats. Daryl Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kilimanjaro Report post Posted November 27, 2007 great looking buck!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mattobertin Report post Posted November 27, 2007 Karp my a$$! That is a heck of a deer man! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
111 Report post Posted November 27, 2007 Congrats, Awesome buck!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snapshot Report post Posted November 27, 2007 One heck of a nice deer! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Huntn coues Report post Posted November 27, 2007 Dadgummit TAM nice buck you got there. Gotta love all that trash Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
crazyaboutcoues Report post Posted November 27, 2007 Yes congrats on a great Muley...Mexico hunts just around the corner. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firstcoueswas80 Report post Posted November 27, 2007 very nice! gotta ask though, why did you take it guts and all to the check in to get weighed? is that requested by azgfd? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TAM Report post Posted November 27, 2007 FCW80, I was just curious how much he would really weigh. since he died right there on the burm of the the water tank I backed my truck right up to the burm, put down the tail gate, drug him about 20 feet and loaded him in. Seems like people do a lot of guessing when it comes to "Live" weights and I thought it would be kind of cool to know for real. AZG&F did not require that I brought it in whole, but since I shot it with a lead bullet the lady at the check station practically begged me to bring her the gut pile. She even gave me the trash bags to bring it back in, and also entered my name in a raffle for a $500 Cabelas gift card. I never thought I could make a girl so happy by bringing her a fresh gut pile!!!! I even made the comment to her that if all of us hunters work together and shoot lead bullets and bring in our gut piles that perhaps the Condor population will sky rocket and they'll start issueing some condor tags? Her expression was priceless!!! Crazy, I had kind of blocked the Mexico hunt out of my mind while I was focusing on this hunt, but thanks for the reminder!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Red Rabbit Report post Posted November 27, 2007 Tim, Way to adapt to the conditions. I like the stickers off the left side of his rack. You didn't cut the cape a little short, didja? With 500 schmolas, guess you could buy lotsa lead bullets and trash bags. Doug~RR Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TAM Report post Posted November 27, 2007 No short cape there. I left the entire hide from the tail to the neck/head. He had a big swelled up neck with real thick fur that there's no way I'd let go to waste! You just can't see it behind the log. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bowhuntinmaniac Report post Posted November 27, 2007 Man, what a great buck........too bad you didnt have yer bow with ya. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
