December 2000 newsletter.
     Boy do I love to hunt!  This was a good year for having great guys in camp and getting a few big critters.
Whopper!
     During the archery hunt guide Steve Clonts and I were making a drive for David Siefert, trying to push a buck to him.  As we just about completed the drive and came back together Steve said, “Did you see that buck!?”  I hadn’t.  He said, “I just saw the biggest buck I have ever seen in my life.  32-36 inches and massive!”  So opening day of  rifle season I put myself, three guides, and 5 hunters in the area, hoping to get lucky.  It was fitting that Steve Clonts and his hunter, Justin Giangrasso, were watching the right game trail.  When Justin shot they couldn’t see how wide, just that the buck was heavy and high.  But after the shot he turned and went away from them, showing that incredible 34 inch spread.   (see picture at top of letterhead).  The buck was in full velvet, making his antlers seem even more massive.  This incredible buck scores 215 1/8 SCI (which is gross B&C)  A Master Measurer ranks this buck #4 in the all-time Safari Club Record Book.  What a whopper of a buck and what a lucky hunter.  Justin made a great shot and has a trophy to be really proud of.
SCI is now the standard for scoring.
     In years past when someone said their buck made the SCI book it was almost a joke.  The minimums were low and they didn’t include mass measurements or width.  However, many outfitters and hunters complained about their system, including me.  They changed it so it is basically Boone and Crockett gross score, with a couple of important differences that make SCI the best scoring system.  If you are going to score the buck as a typical you simply ignore any extra points.  Cheaters do not deduct from a typical score.  Why penalize a buck for growing extra?  Also, they don’t deduct for non-symmetry.  With B&C, if the buck has a long tine on one side and a corresponding short tine on the other side you have to deduct the difference.  SCI has no such unfairness.  SCI simply gives a buck credit for what he grew.  Great system and I urge all to use it.  Contact Safari Club in Tucson, AZ.
The perfect spot, stalk, and shot.
     I’ll get to the perfect part later.  First the most imperfect spotting job on a buck, no stalk, and the most imperfect shooting. Grant Gertsch guided Brian and Brad Ingram.  They climbed a mountain, then sat on the edge of a basin and glassed for an hour or so, not seeing anything. Then they got up to resume their climb and two bucks jumped out of their beds not 50 yards away.  Brad pulled up and fired, or at least tried to.  No shell in the chamber!  By the time he chambered a round the bucks were moving fast, but across an open hillside.  I don’t know exactly how many shots Brad and Brian fired, but when Grant and I climbed the mountain a few days later we picked up 15 spent shell casings.  Brad and Brian, they are under a big rock right at the scene of the crime.  Oh yes, the story has a happy ending.  Brad killed the big 29 inch buck when it was at 400 yards.  From Grant’s standpoint the crime was that it was a terrible packing job from that point whereas if they had killed the buck at the original spot it would have been very easy.
     Now for the perfect part of this story.  A couple of days later I went with the trio of hunting fools, making a party of 4 hunting fools.  Of course we went to one of the worst places we could find.  We were sitting on a ridge, glassing a basin, when Brian said, “Hey, I think I see the fork of an antler.”  He was glassing with his spotting scope and picked out just one fork of a buck’s antler at a mile and a half.  That’s 2,500 yards away!  Within 5 minutes the buck very obligingly stood up to let us get a good look at his rack.  He was a keeper!  So Brad and Grant kept an eye on him with their spotting scopes while Brian and I made the perfect stalk.  We had to go up a tall mountain, down a rocky ridge, across a big basin, down another rocky ridge, climb up another mountain, down a steep rocky ridge (why do I keep repeating myself, it is all rocky and steep there, so just put rocky and steep in front of everything we did).  After a harrowing (that means dangerous) climb across a shale slide we peeked over the edge.  A small ridge kept us from seeing the buck in his bed, although we could plainly see the tree he was bedded under.  So we climbed another rocky steep ridge, sneaked out behind a tree and finally saw the buck.  I had already strongly cautioned Brian that he had to nail that buck to his bed with a perfect neck shot.  If that buck moved a foot it would tumble down the hill and roll off a bottomless cliff.  At the perfect shot the buck’s head slammed down and he didn’t even quiver, except that he started sagging downhill, limp and stone dead.  I ran pell-mell down the steep rocky (how redundant) slope and braced my knee against the buck to keep him on the mountain.  We got some great pictures of this 6x5 buck, 27 1/2 inches wide.  It was a gorgeous day and right on the edge of a huge drainage.  When Grant and Brad showed up, with George the Mule, we had an hour of just enjoying the scenery and truly enjoying the end of a great hunt.  All agreed that a trophy is defined as much by the quality of the experience as by its score in the record book.
 Great success?
     This was a great hunting season, in spite of the fact that we had some really tough days where it was hard to find a critter.  Even on the best hunts there are some dead days, and I don’t mean dead as in kills.  You glass your eyeballs inside-out.  You make drives in the timber.  You go farther and hunt harder.  You do everything right without seeing a horn.  Then suddenly someone kills one and brings it into camp and the mood changes.  One significant thing every year is that after deer season has closed, during the elk hunt, we will get a snowstorm and then when the weather clears we see some whopper bucks.  One day during elk season we saw several monster bucks.  Where were they during deer season??  They were there, just experts at hiding.  Some of those good bucks have learned that staying put and not moving is the safest thing to do. 
Weathered out (almost).
     Rick Collins has hunted with me three times, once in Arizona for Coues Deer, once in Colorado for elk, and this year in Wyoming.  Each time he has generated the worst weather possible.  He came, it snowed and rained.  He had four tough days of hunting, seeing few bucks.  On the last day his hunting partner stayed in camp and Rick and I went out in the rain.  As we climbed the mountain the rain turned to snow and fog.  We tried to hunt, but eventually we sat under a tree and nursed a fire for several hours, having a good visit. Finally gave up and started down the mountain.  The fog lifted so we sat down to glass.  In a few minutes a buck fed out of the trees 500 yards away.  We started a stalk but the buck saw us, so we quickly made a good rest and Rick shot from 470 yards and missed.  The buck went back into the small clump of timber.  We went forward and made another rest about 50 yards closer and then I went around into the small patch of timber to push the buck out.  That buck held tight even when I got within 75 yards of him.  I could have easily killed that 26 inch buck.  When the buck finally moved Rick got another shot at him but he was moving too fast and too far away.  Just tough luck.
Royal Straight Flush of Elk.
     Opening day of elk season Aaron Johnson  kept hunter Farley Warren near a pond while I took Farley’s son, Jesse, further up the mountain.  We bumped into a herd of elk who hadn’t seen us, and passed up a spike, a forkhorn elk, a small 5 pointer, and a four-pointer.  Then when they left we went a bit further and here came some others across the hillside.  Jesse passed up a 3 point and then when a big 6 pointer came through he busted it.  Meanwhile Farley had killed a huge 7 pointer.  So we saw 1,2,3,4,5 pointers and killed a 6 and a 7 point elk.  Incredible!
Jonesy kills an elk!!
You think that shouldn’t be a headline?  I haven’t killed an elk in 10 years.  Always too busy guiding you guys.  While trailering the horses back to camp, with Farley and Jesse’s elk in the back, Aaron spotted an elk standing in the middle of the river.  It was a small five-pointer with a broken leg, soaking it in the cold water.  No other hunter was around, so I borrowed Jesse’s .270 and went after him.  He ran out of the river and lunged up the bank just as I shot, causing me to shoot behind him.  We took horses across the river and Jesse got to guide me for a change.  Tracked him for 45 minutes and a half mile before seeing him standing in the timber.  One good shot in the neck and he was done for.
Dejavu Day Two; another Double.
     On the second day Sparky and I went to the same area.  I left him and Gordie by the pond while Larry Johnson and I went up.  We bumped into a herd of elk, same place as yesterday.  Larry shot a 7x7 at 375 yards.  Gordie and I continued to hunt and just at sundown he killed a 4 point bull.
Heartbreak!
Every year some tragic tales play themselves out.  Grant Deary had a big 30 inch buck broadside at 180 yards.  His gun wouldn’t fire!!  A very snowy morning, his action had ice in it.   Dan Johnston missed a huge 30+ inch buck at 395 yards, a “magazine-cover“ buck.  In the excitement of the moment he held right on instead of allowing for drop. 
Last Day Heroics;
John Jackson and Roger Frank had a tough elk hunt.  Lots of tracks, not many elk.  The 7th day, guided by Brian and Grant, and with help from hunter Bob Neunzig who had already killed his 4-pointer, they got into a herd of 65 elk, including 6 bulls.  Roger missed a big six-pointer, then killed a smaller 6 pointer.  Strange to say, of all those bulls, John was shooting at the same bull.  Way to hang in there, guys!
Bring the gal for luck!
Darin Felice brought his wife, Geralie, as his lucky charm.   We climbed Grizzly Mountain and spotted a big buck at 394 yards, straight up.  Using a tall bipod rest he made a great shot.  It was a very tough climb up to him, a difficult place to dress him, and a tough packing job back down.
“Greatest hunt of my life!”
That’s a direct quote from Butch Franklin.  He and his son, Chad, hunted hard for 4 days with tough luck.  On day 5 guide Tom found them a lot of elk.  Butch was aiming at a spike, waiting for Chad to shoot a five-pointer.  At Chad’s shot Butch killed the spike at over 300 yards, offhand.  Great shot!  Great guys to hunt with.
Another Double, almost a Triple!
Dennis Dong killed a two-point bull using my shoulder as a rest, I immediately ran with Chris Stetz down the ridge to where I thought the rest of the herd was going.  Right on cue they came and Chris shot a spike.  Meanwhile, Sparky and Todd Clyatt were chasing some other elk from the same herd.  Todd passed up a spike because all he had was a “Texas Heart Shot“, you know, that little hole under the tail.
Beginners Luck.
     Ray Miller’s friends talked him into hunting with them. He hadn’t hunted in 40 years. The first morning they tied their horses and eased out to the edge of a basin.  Ray  spotted a buck, then made a great 370 yard shot.  The buck is 30 5/8 inches wide, heavy and high, and is non-typical 8x9.  GREAT buck!!  Ray’s first!
Read the success report for some other brief stories about some of the successes and failures of the season.  All in all it was a great year.  I can’t wait to be out in the mountains again riding Shadow, matching wits with bucks and bulls. 

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