# General Season Buck



## 10000ft. (Oct 29, 2007)

I have been lucky enough to have taken three nice bucks in the last four years in three diffrent areas all during the general season on public ground.

This was the first time I have taken a deer out of the pines. I would not have hunted this pine stand had I not jumped two nice bucks (diffrerent bucks) that I watched sneak up over a steep South sloping face and over into this North slope pine forest. The next day I was in the same area and after all the deer had bedded down I decided to go up over the ridge and move slow through the pines when I jumped my buck out of his bed for a 40 yrd shot. I pulled up and shot then quickly radioed to my dad and said "I have a nice four point down". To my surprise I got up to my deer and found he was a three point (glad we don't have 4x4 or better). When you are looking at a thirtyone inch buck bounding away from you, you would never guess he is a three point.

2009 Southern Unit, 4x4, 24.5 wide










2010 Northern Unit, 5x5, 25 wide










2012 Northern Unit, 3x3, 21 tall 31 wide


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Very nice. Well done!


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## Nambaster (Nov 15, 2007)

stelar bucks!!!! im jealous. If I was in your position I would be out of wall space.


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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

Great bucks. you're on a heck of a run, hope you can keep it up!--------SS


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

nice string


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Boy, those are gooduns.


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## elk22hunter (Sep 7, 2007)

...........So do you find your results of your string of good luck to be "Opportunity" or Quality? I cant see how it could be the lack there of in either case.


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

youre obviously doing something right. congratulations. you get them mounted or do europeans?


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## 10000ft. (Oct 29, 2007)

elk22 - The places I have taken these deer, people see relativly few deer and other hunters are always bagging on the area for no good bucks (poor "quality"). I started hunting on occasion with an older, wiser hunter who takes nice bucks out of this area on average every two out of three years. He taught me a lot about how to hunt it and find deer. I personally believe any mountain or hill side that has a dozen does on it also has a nice buck somewhere close by that few people see and is for the most part nocternal. All I want is the "opportunity" to go find him. 

35whelen - I have euro mounted the two and will euro my buck this year as well.


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## wyoming2utah (Sep 12, 2007)

10000ft. said:


> I personally believe any mountain or hill side that has a dozen does on it also has a nice buck somewhere close by that few people see and is for the most part nocternal. All I want is the "opportunity" to go find him.


You are obviously a better hunter than I am (no sarcasm intended)....so what is your secret in finding these bucks? On opening morning this rifle season, I hunted an area that I suspected some good bucks were holding in. And, as I expected, I was able to jump one that morning. Because of the nature of the area I was hunting, I figured that this buck would not leave...and he didn't. Starting in the early afternoon of that same day, I started zig-zagging through the area where I jumped this buck and where I last saw him. But, unfortunately, I never saw him again. But, my hunting partner who I had stationed in a clearing near where I jumped him did. My partner ultimately saw the buck close to where I had jumped him that morning; he too jumped him from a bed. To my dismay, I had zig-zagged through this same little spot several times without seeing the buck or knowing he was there...was I just unlucky? Or, did I approach things the wrong way? What should I have done differently?


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## duckhunter1096 (Sep 25, 2007)

GOOD GAWD, MAN!!! Those are some incredible bucks! If you read on here, you'd truly believe that bucks like this do not exist in Utah anymore, unless on LE or CWMU units... ESPECIALLY in the Northern end of the state. 

I'm with the guy above who said he'd be out of wall space, but I bet these guys look incredible as Euro mounts.


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## 10000ft. (Oct 29, 2007)

Wyo2ut, it sounds like you figured out where the mature bucks go in your area and you hunted effectivly enough to even get a look at one, that is 80% of the battle right there.

Like I said "I've been LUCKY" the last four years. I hunted hard and didn't get so lucky in 2011 (never saw a nice buck). I had missed opportunities at great bucks in 2006, and 2008. But like many things in life I beleive hunters can create a lot of their own luck. 

Like you said, I find deer don't go far when you spooke them. They often run out in front of you and will stop to get a second look at you and even ofen circle right back to where you saw them. Some bucks will hold tight and let you walk by, others will bolt at first sight or sound (this is were some luck comes in).


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

You just reminded me of one of my earliest hunting experiences tagging along with my Dad. We had harvested a 3 point at daybreak and after gutting and hanging it in the tree, we went back after the rest of the group. That group of deer circled back three different times. Once, stopping right next to our old Willys Jeep Powerwagon, while we were 100 yards away watching them. Dad wouldn't shoot out of fear of hitting the jeep in a pass-through shot. I must have been about 11 years old. He'd have me tag along and hold the shells if he needed them. He told me that day that if you shoot and miss, to just hang tight and more often than not, the deer will either stop and give you another shot, or will circle back to the same spot within a few minutes. The old man had it right.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Very nice!


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

Nice bucks, all three of em! I've often said if one hunted hard and smart they could kill a nice buck in this state EVERY year with a rifle. You're walkin talkin proof. 8) I too think you make your own "luck". Some call that statement ****y or arrogant, but it's true. Luck is what happens when hard work and preparedness come together. Congratulations on your accomplishments.


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## SteepNDeep (Sep 11, 2007)

Nice bucks! I would say 3 years of that is pretty special but the difference is you've learned the ropes. It's the same with fishing, bird hunting, school, business or anything else. We are certainly our own best advocate when we put in the effort and carefully execute. 

Thinking about earlier posts where one walks right past a deer...one of my favorite deer stories was as a young kid in some rotten steep country with my dad and brother. It was around 11:30 or so and we kind of were thinking the hunt had been a bust though we were still way up on a ridge line preparing to drop down for camp. We were in a tight canyon, the kind that narrows into a short set of cliffs that eventually we lowered a deer down with the help of a rope - that was drama, we would do it differently now. 

But my brother and I were goofing around ahead of my dad, descending and making a bunch of racket in the process. The whole time we're doing that a buck was bedded and just watching us. He held his ground such that by the time my dad saw him we were below the buck and my dad was above it and it was perhaps 80 yards to our right. We kind of made a triangle between our locations and my dad got our attention and asked us to hold still. The buck was frozen and had to have been aware of us for awhile. He was basically just slightly quartered in his bed, but with his head closest to us. My dad can shoot and rarely needs more than one, but his first shot hit the dirt just behind this buck, just right over his backside. He didn't flinch. I don't remember now if he stood or if he was hit in his bed, but I will never forget how still he was. The bottom line was had he not been seen we would have walked right past him. It was a good lesson about being careful and never ceasing to look and look specifically for those places where a buck might bed. It's like stream fishing, you can catch a nice fish in all kinds of water, flat, fast, the dark green riffles, the edge of the riffle, behind the boulders in eddies, on top, at the bottom, big river, tiny stream and while they can be in any of those places....each day you begin by trying to find where they are that day, what are they doing based on food, weather, temp, and mood. 

Dang - now how am I supposed to concentrate on work!?


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## klbzdad (Apr 3, 2012)

Very good! Congrats!


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## hook (Aug 24, 2009)

Nice bucks. I agree if you put in enough time you can see good bucks on general areas. This year I saw a dandy buck and just flat out blew it! Next year he will be even bigger!


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## hunter_orange13 (Oct 11, 2008)

That's a sweet buck, especially how he forks on opposite sides to be a 3x3. Congrats! I'm sure he'll look better being a euro then a shoulder mount. Post pics of him when you get him back from the taxidermist!


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## silentstalker (Feb 19, 2008)

Nice bucks man! Congrats!


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

Very nice bucks and a great post!


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## 10000ft. (Oct 29, 2007)

> hunter_orange13
> 
> That's a sweet buck, especially how he forks on opposite sides to be a 3x3. Congrats! I'm sure he'll look better being a euro then a shoulder mount. Post pics of him when you get him back from the taxidermist!


I just got him back from the taxidermist.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Lookin' good in the hood!


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

Oh WOW! Awesome mount! And just the perfect place for it.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Looks good


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## Mountain Time (Sep 24, 2007)

Looks nice....will it stay there?


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