December 2001 Newsletter

Curses!  Foiled again!
“Sneak down the hill for 100 yards, then start pussy-footin’ across the mountain,” I told Bruce Duncan.  “If I jump something out, it should go downhill to either you or Alan (Zeutschel).”  I gave Bruce 5 minutes to get below me, then I started walking slowly across the mountain.  We were near the top of Maniac Mountain (you gotta be a maniac to hunt it) at 10,000 feet elevation in the scrub pines that eke out a precarious existence in that terrain of rock, snow, cold, and perpetual wind.  Big bucks always inhabit that peak, mainly because of the difficulty of hunting them there.  I hadn’t gone 75 yards when suddenly there was a huge trophy buck lying in his bed looking at me.  I pulled my Swarovski binoculars up and stared at him for perhaps 10 seconds, my mind racing at what I could do to give Bruce or Alan a shot at him.  I quickly recognized this buck as the one I had seen in almost the same place last year, as he had very distinctive antlers which went up and then flared out for the last few inches.  I immediately began kicking myself for not having Bruce right with me.  It would be such an easy shot—a real ‘gimme’.  As soon as I lowered my binocs and began to move, the 32 inch buck jumped from his bed and raced down the hill.  Bruce only got a glimpse of it and later killed a young 27 incher by mistake while tracking the whopper.  So many times I have had the experience of making a drive and walking right up on a huge buck.  In analyzing the situation, I believe that when you don’t have a rifle you are not as stealthy, being more casual in your actions and hunting speed, and the bucks somehow sense that you aren’t dangerous.  I’ve got to learn how to throw rocks to stun them until I can go get my hunter.  Maybe a slingshot………
Hot & Dry
The first part of the deer hunt was hot and bone dry.  That, combined with opening weekend hunting pressure (the hunt started on Saturday this year), made for some tough conditions in the early part of the deer hunt.  We had to literally dig the bucks out of the timber.
Step on Them!
As Grant and I hunted with Brad and Brian, we agreed that the bucks were holed up in the 80 degree heat, so we had to go in after them.  We spread out and sneaked through the timber.  Brad Ingram was sneaking along in an arid place we call the Badlands, when he walked right by a small patch of ‘snowbush’ that was only 2 feet high and barely 12’ by 12’.  The hiding buck jumped out and barreled  down the hill.  Brad took a quick snap shot and downed the running buck.  The buck was 24 inches and very heavy, no—massive, and high.  He is probably 8 1/2 years old.  The way he hid in such a small patch of brush makes us wonder how many times we have walked past him in his lifetime.
‘Magazine Cover’ Buck Downed
You remember last December how I told you about the buck that Dan Johnston missed that looked like a whopper magazine-cover buck, framed by trees in a small opening?  Craig Holworthy killed a buck 300 yards from there and is a dead ringer for that buck, probably the same one.  Guide Brian took Craig into that remote canyon and they saw several bucks, passing on some pretty good ones.  Craig passed up a 30 incher in order to kill this massive 26 inch buck.  Massive bases of 7 inch circumference carry the mass clear to the first fork.  Several cheater points make this 6x9 a whopper trophy in every sense of the word.
Ken Scores Big!
Ken Brown killed his 40 inch moose on the 3rd day of his hunt, then turned to hunting the big bucks.  Ken has hunted with me several times, killing some really nice ones, but not ever finding the 30 incher.  Finally on the 8th day of his hunt (5th day deer hunting) he and guide Brian were riding along and bumped into a huge buck and some does.  Ken stepped off, took a quick look, and then dumped the 30 1/2 inch buck at 200 yards. He had a couple of cheater points to beautify that beautiful rack.  Tremendous buck!!  As I’ve mentioned before, we use the Safari Club scoring system (which is Boone & Crockett gross) as it is the most fair way to score a buck.  It gives him credit for what he has grown without penalizing him for extra points.  For instance, on this buck he scores 202 3/8 typical (official), 205 7/8 non-typical.  He has 3 1/2 inches of non-typical points and under the B&C system they would be deducted from the typical score.  Under SCI you just ignore the extra points for the typical score.  Much more fair.
Bret is redeemed.
Bret Ingram is infamous for missing an incredible non-typical buck at 50 yards because his scope was on 18 power.  We (his brothers and us guides) have ribbed him unmercifully about it for the past two years.  This year he was sneaking through the timber and shot a huge 31 1/2 inch buck.  Ah, revenge is sooo sweet!
The Kid Kills King Kong with .243!
Mark Glover has been a long-time friend and hunting client.  This year he brought his 21 year old son, Davy, for a trophy deer hunt.  We spotted a lot of deer during the first day, seeing 16 bucks and about 40 does.  About 5:15 pm we spotted two average bucks feeding, watched them a while, and were just ready to leave when a big boy joined them.  We didn’t have time to really analyze his rack, knowing he was good enough and also knowing we would have to beat approaching darkness with a tough stalking job.  We raced back down the mountain to our horses, rode a mile, and then Davy and I inched across a dangerous cliff ledge for 200 yards to the saddle just this side of where the bucks were feeding.  Mark stayed behind to direct us, if needed and also to tell the tale if we should perish on the cliff face.  After several minutes of nervous searching for the bucks, Davy finally spotted them.  The big one trotted away and stopped at 250 yards, very nervous.  Davy flopped down prone, took careful aim as I whispered, “Kill ‘im”.  Then the .243 cracked, the 75 grain Hornady Hollowpoint did its job and the buck rolled down the hill, not merely dead, but truly and sincerely dead.  I whopped Davy on the back and exclaimed, “You just killed a 30 inch buck!”  I hadn’t told him how big it was before, not wanting to put pressure on him.  The buck measures 33 1/2 inches and is 7x8 non-typical.  Tremendous buck!!  Couldn’t have happened to a nicer kid of a nicer guy.  Mark watched the whole thing through his binoculars.  That 75 grain Hornady Hollowpoint is the same bullet I use to kill deer, elk, 2 bears, and 2 moose.  Deadly when aimed straight.  Mark fills the brass with 4831 powder while I use 42.5 grains of 4895.  It goes about 3500 fps.  We had a very tough job, caping and quartering by flashlight, a tough packing job, both by hand back up to the saddle and down a precipitous mountain to the horses where Mark had had a tough job just getting the horses within reach of us, and tough getting back to camp at midnight.  Then Jonesy was up again at 3:30 am to hunt with someone else.  Just another day at the office.
Thanks for Donations!
Thanks for those who donated to our outfitter causes by purchasing raffle tickets.  We are trying to push through legislation to get preference points, which will help not only outfitted hunters, but anyone who is trying to draw Wyoming.  We also are trying to save our elk feedgrounds from those who think feeding elk is unnatural.  Never mind that we have built homes on most of their native winter range, the wackos still think we shouldn’t feed them.  To my knowledge no one has volunteered to plow up their home and return it to winter forage.  We are raffling off a nice elk rifle.  Tickets are $10 each or 5 for $40.  Drawing in December.  We also have a huge beautiful bronze, valued at $9,500 entitled “The Last Hunt” which shows a cowboy shooting at a running buffalo which has its horn hooked in the horse’s rein and is dragging it off a cliff.  Tickets are $25 each or 5 for $100. Drawing December 2002.  Make out your check to WYOGA, send to me, and I’ll make sure you get your tickets. 
Darrin Finally Scores Big
Darin Kerr has hunted with me for 3 years, without killing a buck.  He’s seen some good ones, but wanted one better.  This year on the last hour of his hunt he and Greer spotted a huge buck, made a great stalk and killed the trophy.  It scores 197 7/8 and is 28 inches wide, heavy and high.  Great buck, great effort.  They finally got back to camp at 2 am.
Elk Hunt Good, but Missed Opportunities!
I brag a lot on our deer, but we also have excellent elk hunting.  I’ll stack our elk hunting up against elk hunting anywhere as far as numbers of elk seen and trophy bulls seen shot at, and killed.  Paul Bayne has hunted with me for 6 years and had killed 3 elk including a big six-pointer.  Because of health problems he seldom hunts more than a day or two.  This year I took him and sat with him and my son, Trenton, on a likely looking stand where we had pre-scouted a herd of elk, including two big six-pointers and a huge 7 pointer.  At first light we saw some elk on top of the ridge 1000 yards away.  Some other hunters from our camp were up there and they soon shot at the elk.  A big bull looked hit, so I went up to give guide Sparky and them a hand in tracking it, leaving Trenton with Paul.  During our tracking job guide Grant and his hunter, Paul Geissler, killed a 6x5 and while talking with them I heard a shot from Paul Bayne’s direction.  Returning to Trenton and Paul, they said a cow elk had come within 40 yards of them and Paul had shot offhand and missed it because he was somewhat winded from having to run up a small ridge to shoot.  Paul just didn’t see how he had missed.  Trenton said he followed the tracks a ways and didn’t find any blood.  So I went back to the tracks to check it out.  20 yards past where Trenton quit, the cow lay dead.  No blood, no sign of a hit.  This happens often enough that you guys need to make sure you follow up a “missed” shot to make sure.  Paul was sure happy.
Bull Elk Get Lucky!
We had more whopper bulls get away than any other hunt I can remember.  No less than 4 black-horned-ivory-tipped monster bulls lucked out.  Three of them were only 20 or 30 yards away and still didn’t get killed.  Bud Monnen and I spotted 3 bulls way down a canyon.  It was quite a hike to get there and the three bulls went into the timber before we could get close enough for a good shot.  So we went in after them.  We climbed a heck of a mountain, following their tracks.  Then suddenly this huge bull was just 30 yards away, getting out of his bed and heading out in a hurry.  Bud quickly raised his rifle, but the bull disappeared just one second too soon.  Franz Schober had a huge bull just 20 yards away in the timber.  He could see its rack, but a bush prevented a clear shot.  Read the success report to get the details on some of the other ones that got away.
Price Rollback!!, before it began.
Last spring I announced an increase in my hunt prices, mainly because of the top quality trophies we are killing and that I am underpriced with comparable outfits.  With the economy slowing down I’ve decided to reduce my price increase.  My deer and elk hunts will be $2,800 instead of the $3,000 I announced.  The first week of deer will be $3,200 simply because of demand and not necessarily because it is better. (some years it is, most years it is not).  As always, the $300 kill fee applies to all hunts.  I hope this reduced increase will help some of you that are affected by this recession.  I’ve shopped around on the internet and I am still cheaper than many outfits who do not have the quality camp or trophy animals that I have.
Bin Laden, Beware!
You remember the State Department dropped my newsletters on Sadaam Hussein’s troops to demoralize them?  They have now contacted me to see about getting some of my warped humor for Bin Laden and crew.  Send SASE to me if you want a copy of what I am sending them.

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