# Headed to the books!



## bigpapacow

Well, i decided to cash in 11 points and head to the books for deer this uear woth my bow in hand. I have been shooting my bow and having fun. I am still trying to decide where I will end up hunting. I will head out there for a 4 day weekend over the 4th of July to get the lay of the land on the roaded area. Then in late July head back and explore the roadless area. That is where I have always wanted to go so am excited to go check it out!


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## AF CYN

PM sent


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## bigpapacow

Here is some fun news. I took my bow into Jake's in Monday to have new string and cables installed. I am trying to get all tuned up and shooting great well ahead of the hunt. I got the call saying it was ready and went to pick it up last night. They came out with an old hoyt instead of my mathews drenalin. That lead to some head scratching. They checked again in the back and no bow! Looks like they swapped our tags and sent my bow home with some guy's wife that picked it up before I went in yesterday. Needless to say, I got a bit hot under the collar about it. They called back and said the other folks will bring it back in (fingers crossed) So, I am waiting to hear back on when they get it back in so I can go pick it up. Anyone else ever had tha happen?! Makes a guy want to invest in his own press and other tools to do it solo. Hopefully today it will be back so I can keep shooting this weekend...

On a brighter note, i have all my maps set now for the Books and was checking out the roadless area. The place looks great. Has anyone ever tried fishing those creeks in there? I saw a DWR report talking about restoration projects putting cutthroat back in there. I may have to make is a combo scouting/fishing trip.


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## bullelk7

That's a crazy story about your bow being sent home with someone else. I have had that happen with luggage before and was lucky enough to get it back. My brother had that archery tag 2 years ago, lots of deer to look at for sure. All you have to do is drive the roads on top and you will see deer all over the place, super fun. Hard part is it is thick cover and you will be close to deer but not have shot opportunities. Your sneaking abilities will be tested. Can't wait until I draw that tag. The creeks are too far away for me, those are some steep hills to get down to them.


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## bigpapacow

Well, I feel lucky to get my bow back tonight. The other guy brought it back in thankfully. Needless to say, I wont be dealing with Jakes archery again.


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## Critter

A few years ago a lot of the streams in the Books were closed to fishing. You might want to check. I doubt that you would ever get checked but who knows?


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## bigpapacow

Getting excited for the hunt! I am going to spend 2 days this weekend at the snowbird shoot getting some real world style practice in to supplement what I have been doing so far and next weekend I am headed to the books to scout. I am going to hit as much coutry as possible to get the lay of the land and head back in another 2 weeks for a 2nd scouting trip. Then I have 10 days slated for the hunt! I will post up pics of what I run into.


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## bigpapacow

Well, I took my daughter to snowbird today and got a little work in in the lower courses with her. We had a good time. She is a trooper at 6 and likes shooting the cobra and dino the best. Good times. I am headed back tomorrow for the upper courses. I feel like I am shooting pretty good and it will be fun to put it to the test with some real world steep shots! For some reason this site is flipping my photo sideways...


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## bigpapacow

I am all loaded up and headed out today for a scouting trip to the books. I am excited to get out there and get the lay of the land. 

I will post some pics after I get back next week.


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## bigpapacow

We had a good trip to the books and mostly just rods around getting a lay of the land. That is some huge country! We did see a few decent bucks too. Mostly after we hiked away from roads a mile or two. I will head back in a couple weeks to try and see more of it. That place is packed full of elk too by the way. It was fun to see them everywhere and also spotted a group of bison. No bears though unfortunately.


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## AF CYN

Those are some nice bucks, especially that third one! Good luck on your hunt!


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## bigpapacow

yeah, I really liked the mass on him! That is my number 1 characteristic I am hoping to bring home. A really heavy buck. I hope to find more shooters for the list next weekend!


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## bigpapacow

I didnt get pics up from last weekend yet, bit did get out and find a few shooters. I am excited to get out there next week. I will head out Wednesday and get a couple more days pre-scout in. Finally saw some bears too! Had one young one at about 15 yards. Time is dragging til Wednesday!


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## Clarq

If there's one thing I envy about you archery hunters, it's the early start date. Good luck! It's going to be a good time.


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## bigpapacow

I was able to arrow a nice buck on the books this morning! A big thanks to AF CYN on the solid advice on how to tackle such a big area. I am gonna hit the hay for now in a real bed and will post up details of the hunt tomorrow. 

Here is a hint: I was able to find the mass I was looking for!


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## bigpapacow

Another teaser...


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## cdbright

coooome oooooon show us already :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:


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## AF CYN

Congratulations! I can't wait to see the pics!


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## bigpapacow

Okay, sorry for the delay! Leading up to the hunt, I scouted both roaded and roadless but in the end felt my knee was good enough 9 months out of acl surgery that i was gonna do it on the boots instead of quads lile I always had planned. I made it out there wednesday night and scouted around for a couple days back in the roadless area to check on some bucks we had seen over the previous month. 

Here are a few I had my eyes on, but in the end were taken by other hunters. The 3x4 with stickers was no. 1 on my list, but the guys who ended up taking these two on Sunday were great guys and I was happy with him.


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## bigpapacow

I headed back in 5 miles or so and saw some good bucks on the way in. Here is a freak buck that fell into my last couple of days catergory. 3 with a sticker on 1 side and on the other side he had 7 total points with most coming up right off the base!


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## bigpapacow

I settled in and scouted around in there trying to turn back up these guys I have been seeing back in there...


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## bigpapacow

I had some other guys come back in and set up right close to me. I saw this buck come out at prime time but he spooked out after the other guys walked in. I chatted with them and decided to leave that section to them as I had other options.


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## bigpapacow

On my way back out the next morning I saw the wide 3 again, but he had really short tines and wass not near the top of my list. I did get eyes on this big 5x5 again though!


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## bigpapacow

A couple miles from there I got a good look at this guy too. I called him the diamond buck as he flares out then back in. Pretty crabby up front but i loved the mass! Mass is the no. 1 deal I was looking for and i liked the look of him. Score didnt really matter but mass no. 1 and width no. 2. I bedded this guy down at 9:30 in a very stalkable spot. I hoped to see him the next morning. Shortly after that, I had a great 4x4 with matching stickers that probably went 28 wide walk by me at 40 yards! I didnt get a chance for a pic but he was a dandy.


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## bigpapacow

Here is a giant 3 that was also near the top of the list I had seen thursday morning as well. Forgot to mention him earlier!


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## bigpapacow

There was a myriad of other deer around too that were smaller than what I was looking for, but it was fun to see so many around. It did make me think twice about how putting a stalk together would work out with so many other eyes around. My brothers rolled in Friday afternoon and we got some final scouting in Friday evening. We found this 4x5 that evwning that looked interesting too.


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## bigpapacow

So for the opener, we split up and i headed back in to where I had bedded the diamond shaped buck the day before. The deer were feeding up top on the night then moving over to the west and north faces at first light pretty much every day. Unfortunately, that didnt happen that morning since a squall was blowing in and it was blowing about 20 mph and spitting rain. It passed after an hour or two, but most of the better bucks stayed on the thick side of the ridges away from the wind. We shifted over a ways and located the diamond shaped buck along with a nice 4x4 that was 27-28 wide. A buddy had been seeing that buck while bear hunting but it was the first I had seen of him. I would have been happy with either of them. They started to look like they were gonna settle into beds and i was getting amped for my first stalk! It wasnt meant to be though as they busted out and down into a crazy deep hole! I wasnt sure what caused them to spook loke that until we saw a bear moving through 100 yards upwind. They did not like that bear scent and vacated quickly! I moved around to that ridge but couldnt relocate them. We had the 4x5 bedded down but i didnt want to go after him quite yet as I was after something a bit better. So, with no better options, we tucked in and rested thru the middle of the day. In the evening, i decided to go sit the ridgeline the bucks bailed off. I spotted this guy just off the edge and it was tempting but not quite big enough on a limited tag.


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## bigpapacow

We spotted a buck a couple miles off that looked really big so I took off after it trying to beat the sunset. When I got out to the ridgeline, i peeked over and saw a sea of oaks and nothing else. By then it was too dark to do anything, so we headed back to camp. That was it for the opener. I was feeling a bit down after not pulling off a single stalk, but had another week to go so, was gonna keep after it. We took Sunday off and I was glad to have a rest day since i had been on the go since wednesday night. We saw a couple guys bring out these two bucks we had seen scouting. It was cool to see up close


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## bigpapacow

So, monday morning, the plan was to split up again and try to turn up the big three point with huge spears in back. I ended up at the head of the ridge the bucks bailed off the day before nice and early. Once it started to get light deer started popping up. My bros had located the 4x5 again and a nice looking 4x4 as well in that same wide as his ears catergory. As I was considering whether to go after them, i spotted some deer on a knoll a mile or two out and had my bro check them out as i could tell there were some bucks in the group but wanted his better spotter on the task. He got glass on them and there were a few that looked to be possible shooters. I decided to burn some leather and get over there!


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## bigpapacow

I was a bit worried as there was not a lot of cover and at about 500 yards out I had a nice 25 inch 4x4 bust out in front of me into a side basin. I paused long enough to look him over at 170 yards. There were 5 other smaller bucks in the side basin, but i knew there were bigger bucks at hand so I slipped past and decided to leave them for a back up plan. At about 250 yards out, i dropped my pack and slipped on my moccassins and crept up to the edge of the side basin the initial group I was after moved into. About a dozen deer were in the group and i was now about 200 yards out and I could account for 8 or 9. I was able to see a 4x4 with a sticker and a tall 3x4, but the focus for me was a wide, heavy buck that was a 3x4. The more that I looked at him the bigger he got! I really wanted to get an arrow into that buck! They were feeding deeper into the basin and I started to drop in from the opposite side hoping to get in range. The wind had been good but started to swirl so I backed out. One of my bros got then there and i had him leep an eye on them as I circled back around to try and get around the open saddle at the head of the basin. My bro radioed me and told me he lost sight of them and had to back out too due to the swirling wind. I had worked around to the middle of the saddle and thw wind was good. Just then, i heard a deer bound off a few paces maybe 20 yards behind a nearby oak. I hotfooted it up to the edge of the oaks as I felt I was running out of time. As I peeked around the oak all I saw was swaying antlers as a buck walked out in front of me. It was the wide heavy buck! I tried to range him but kept hitting a dead bush at 15 yards and mixing it in at 66 yards on his head. I ranged the beush behind him at 75 and knew he was the only thing that could ping back at 66. I set my pin at 66, took a step left and drew. My movement drew his attention, he was slightly quartering away as I released the arrow. He whirled at the shot and as he bounded away, i saw my arrow was buried about 75% and was at a good height on the body, but since he was straight away, i couldnt see if it was foward, back, or just right. He tore away thru the brush and made a huge racket and just over the other side of the saddle I heard a big crash! I was hoping it was the sound of him piling up, but decided to give it an hour before tracking. My brother came sown and said ge saw a buck run thru the saddle so we settles in and waited. In the meatime my other bro arrived and we filled him in. I was antsy and it was a long hour. We kept an eye in the other deer around just to make sure he didnt show up with one of them as I couldnt be sure the deer that crossed the saddle was him or not. After an hour my bros held back and i headed down to where he was at the shot. I found his tracks where he blew out of there. A few yards into his tracks, i started to find a good blood trail. That was a relief in the thick oaks! I followed it and sure enough it headed up hill to the saddle. My bros caught up and we kept tracking as the bloodtrail really started to thin. We werw over looking the steep backside of the saddle and the blood and tracks just ended. We checked down a coupke side trails thru the tall oaks bit came up with nothing. I went back to the last set of tracks and drop of blood and was down low looking at all the individual oak leaves on the nearest patch to the tracks. As i studied them, i suddenly realized i was looking at the rump of a deer several feet into the scrub patch. It was my buck! Looks to have dove straight into the middle of the patch and was really buried from sight! He had expired already and I grabbed my bros and we circled around and tugged him out. My arrow entered on a steep quartering angle behind the ribs, looks to have passed thru the liver up and into the far side lung. 

What a buck! We had debated on whether he would touch 30 inches as we waited to track him, but now we were pretty sure he would. We dug out a tape and sure enough, outside frame was right at 30! What really blew me away was his mass! I could not get my hands around his antlers right beow where he forked and he kept the mass all the way up! This was truly the buck of a lifetime for me. Crazy heavy and wide. I love everything about him. After a phot session, we broke him down quickly as it was pretty steamy out there, eclipse or not! It was handy having those brothers with me so I didnt have to haul him out solo as I have had the fortune/misfortune to do before! High fives and hugs went all around and we hit the trail. We loaded everything up and headed for home. The books had really cleard out as i seemed most left with the weekend. A big old burger at rockys in roosevelt hit the spot and then on to home.

As a recap, i mostly put in for the books archery to get out of the deer point game. I was too far away from the premium units and wanted to grt into elk. I had somewhat low expectations going in, but just wanted a fun hunt. That is exactly what i got and more. 

There are some great deer running around out there. You will have to wade through a lot of smaller bucks to find them, skirt the wild horses and bears that like to get in the way, but that is half the fun. 

Hope you enjoyed the adventure and here is a few final pics to finish this off!


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## bigpapacow

I am going to have him done up as a velvet euro and hang him next to my mid 170s colorado buck done the same way from last year and he is going to dwarf that buck although his score will probably be less. After dropping him at the taxi last night, I got a call back later from the taxi. Turns out he has a broadhead embedded up under the back of his skull! He said the post and just the tips of 3 blades are sticking out and the bone has grown around it pretty good. He thinks there is a good chance it will stay in ok as he preps the euro, so I cant wait to see that too!


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## bigpapacow

One more pic packing out!!


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## Baron83

Nice buck! Congrats!


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## lucky duck

Good read, and good job!! Almost makes me want to dump my points on that hunt.......


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## bowhunt3r4l1f3

Awesome write up and great buck! 

Neck was hurting, so I fixed it for ya...


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## copple2

Fun hunt and great buck, Brother! Can't wait to see what the rest of the fall has in store for us!

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk


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## AF CYN

Awesome job! That is a great buck!


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## kdinkel

Fantastic buck and story!


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## cdbright

great story !!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Shunter

Wow. Great story and great buck. Thanks for sharing.


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## ridgetop

Dandy buck, congrats!


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## kdog

congrats, sounds like you had the time of your life!


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## Raptorman

That is a great buck! I love the Books, there isn't another place quite like it.


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## 2full

Nice buck. 
Congrats.


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## bigpapacow

I just got my buck back and think Mike at Sage Basin did awesome with him.

I was having a tough time trying to see where to put him, but my wife offered up a wall in the front room for him! The bradhead in the back of his skull actually penetrated the brain about .5 inch or so. Best I can tell it is a rage 3 blade cut on contact. Must have been there a while as the bone was grown back around it. That was a tough buck that must have had some serious headaches! You would not have known it seeing him though. Looked healthy and fine on the hoof!

It was a great hunt with a buck I was tickled to bring home. Wish I could head out there next year and do it again!


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## CPAjeff

Congrats on a great buck - that mount looks fantastic!


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## 3arabians

Thats awesome!!

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## ridgetop

That turned out great. Congrats.


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## pollo70

Congrats ..nice buck cool story and pics thanks for sharing8)


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