PineCountryHunter

really nice deer!!! Congrats

Nice buck! congrats

Nice deer, congrats on your success!

Awesome, congrats on a nice buck

Nice heavy Buck!

Thank you, wish more people would post on their hunts. Like to read about peoples experiences. Score isnt everything to me. I’ll only draw so many tags and just like to enjoy my time out in the woods with my good friends. I did put a tape on him for fun and he was about what I thought. Good enough for me

That is a nice buck, was a tough hunt for sure. Congrats.

Nice last day 3x….congrats

Thanks….the late hunt should be awesome this year. We saw quite a bit of deer down on the winter range munching on the cliff rose treatments. Good luck

I was fortunate to draw and early 12AW rifle tag with my good friend and hunting buddy Dan. He was guaranteed to draw with all the points he had and I just happened to get lucky. I was not able to get up before the hunt to scout due to work and my sons baseball commitments but was not to worried about that. I have spent quite a bit of time up there in the past and had some good friends provide some great info. My buddy Dan drove up the Sunday before the hunt to get familiar with the unit. He had never been up on the Plateau before so this was a whole new experience for him. I arrived on Wednesday with a couple of my good friends that made the trek up to help. We got camp set up before the rain started and got a good night sleep. Woke up Thursday morning to scout and were greeted with Thunder snow and rain. We ran a lot of roads, glassed lots of fingers and points but did not turn up a mature buck, just lots of younger 4x4's and does. Opening morning we greeted by a parade of guides and helpers cruising the roads at 3am spotlighting trying to find a good one for their clients. this would be a common theme throughout most of the hunt. we hit the areas we wanted to hunt hard and saw several deer but nothing that we wanted to fill or tag on. For the first 3-4 days we hunted everything from the Warm Fire (a zoo opening weekend) at 8800ft down to Sowats in the winter range. We saw and passed may deer in all the areas we hunted. By Tuesday of the hunt I made the decision to stay in the area i felt gave me the best chance a mature deer. I really didn't have a number in my head of how big it had to be, I just knew i would know when I laid eyes on a good one. We continued to run and gun, glassing every point in the burn we could and picking the country apart. It was starting to become a little frustrating to be this far in the hunt and yet to lay eyes on a good mature deer. I just kept tell my buddy Dan and myself that we just needed to be in the right place at the right time and good things would happen. Friday the 31st comes and neither of us had laid eyes on a decent buck. I told my Buddy Dennis that this would be the day and we would finally get lucky and tag out on a Halloween buck. We hit several good looking glassing spots and picked them apart but nothing. Dennis decided to take a two track that looked like would get us out into some smaller cuts in the burn to glass. As he parked and got out to glass I saw a deer bedded about 100yds from the vehicle on the edge of a cut. I through up the binos and immediately knew that it was a decent buck and by far the biggest one we had seen thus far. I grabbed the Seekins 7mmPRC and chambered a round, got settle in on him and let a round fly. The buck jumped out of his bed and started to run, he made it about 30 yards before he piled up and expired. It all happened so fast that my buddy an I were in shock and could only laugh at what just happened. All the work, time behind glass, miles on the boots and to have it happen just like that off a two track road was unreal. We got the buck taken care of and checked in pretty quickly. My buddy Dennis and I decided to stay Friday night and Saturday morning to help my friend Dan try to fill his tag before heading to flag to drop the meat. Unfortunately we were unable to turn up a good one for him. We headed home and as I was cleaning up and putting stuff away I got a text from the guys and Dan was able to fill his tag on a cooler older buck. When you think of the Kaibab you instantly think about the land of giants. I was never fortunate enough to lay eyes on one of them, neither did my buddy Dan. We did have a heck of a hunt with great friends that we will remember for many years to come. Hopefully in a few years luck will strike again and we will get a second chance! only time will tell.

Awesome! look a great time had by all! looking forward to heading up there next Wednesday

That’s good to hear. Know that area pretty well from archery hunting that area for years

Definitely looking forward to it, friend and I have the tag. Got all our good buddies coming up to help glass and help with camp chores. Going to be a good time

That’s for the recommendations, will be up there for 2 weeks and just want to okay it safe. Going up early to scout and hunt the whole hunt or until a good one gives me a shot

I drew an early 12a rifle deer tag that opens on 10/24. I know from years of hunting archery up there that cell phone service is scarce and very limited. I have no knowledge of information on sat phones. Are there options to rent a sat phone for period of hunt? Does onstar on Silverado work with limited to no service? Just want to make sure I can check in and keep tabs on my wife and son or have ability to reach out if something happens. I like to play it safe and be able to contact help if need be and or family.