# My Vernon muzz buck



## Truelife (Feb 6, 2009)

Well it's come and gone. With 10 bonus points I drew a Vernon muzz tag this year. Including the past 6 days my family, friends and I spent nearly 30 days on the unit spotting deer. We looked over literally hundreds of bucks. In all of that looking I would say that we found maybe 5 that would either go wider than 24", or would score above 160". There are a whole lot of big 2 points, and bucks with very weak forks. We did see a few bucks with extras, or kickers here or there. The largest buck I saw and had as #1 on my list was a big square frame 4X4 with a 3" kicker off of each side on the back making him a 5X5 about 30" wide overall. His forks weren't great but he seamed to have good mass and judging from his body features I would guess he was a little older than most other bucks out there. I know he was on the top of the list for some bow hunters as well. He disappeared during the bow hunt and I couldn't ever locate him again. If anyone knows of anyone getting pictures of this buck, or killing him I would really love to see pictures and/or know any information about him.

So on to the hunt. We arrived on Monday morning and promptly found a pretty decent four point about 26" wide. Come opening morning we were right in the middle of his whole crew but he was nowhere to be found. I'm pretty sure I saw him dive into some thick cover mid-day that day but we tried everything short of burning the place down and couldn't get him out. It took three pass through the place to even get a couple of does out. It was a good hiding place to say the least and I suspect he uses it often.

Later that afternoon it started to snow and it snowed pretty good off and on for the rest of the day. We saw several deer out enjoying the snow including a couple of bucks the caliber of this one I shot. The next morning we had a couple of inches of snow on everything and about 33 degrees. We saw a lot of bucks again and passed on several. Later that day we made a run up into an area we had spotted on Sabie. I knew there were a couple of good bucks in there earlier. At one point we spotted a few deer and I noticed a good buck laying under a cedar tree. He had his head down flat on the ground like I've seen them do when they are trying to lay low and hide. I watched him for a few minutes and could see that he was turning his head now and then to look around a little. I ranged him at 258 yards which is farther than I wanted to try. So I quickly devised a plan and started to move. It was then that another hunter popped up and walked up to the buck. Turns out he had already shot him once and was giving him some time. He had a buddy up on the hill and I'm sure he was watching me and relaying the information to the hunter. That was an extreme let down to finally find a decent buck and then realize he had already been shot. 

Congrats to the other hunter! I don't know who it was and I apologize for trying to make a move on his buck. It was an honest mistake. If anyone knows of this hunter or story I'd love to see pictures of his deer.
Friday morning we had even more snow and less pressure in the area we were in. We tried the area the big 5X5 had been in but found only four 2 points. We did see 15 bucks in all that morning and had a chance to shoot several of them. Later that afternoon I found another decent four point. I made a play and ended up missing on a shot that I shouldn't have missed. He was a little bigger than I expected when he jumped up and I guess I was a little riled. After that we headed back to camp and then off in a different direction. As we headed up the road this buck was standing like an archery target just waiting for someone to shoot him.

So I did. 

He's not the buck of my dreams or anything, but he's a respectable buck. I probably only saw 2 or 3 bucks with forks this good the whole year out there.

50 yards from the truck has to count for something too right! 

I had to edit, I almost forgot to mention a giant thanks to my wife. She spent 6 straight days out there with me in weather that she didn't really enjoy. 33 degrees is cold enough, then add snow, and wind, and some guy dragging you all over the mountains on a four wheeler. Most guys wouldn't be able to get their wife anywhere near that.

Thank you very much Kristy, I love you!


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## kstorrs (Oct 29, 2012)

That's a nice buck! It's a bummer about the 5x5!


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## martymcfly73 (Sep 17, 2007)

Nothing wrong with that buck!


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## utahbigbull (May 9, 2012)

Congrats on a nice buck!


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## toasty (May 15, 2008)

Great buck Troy. I wouldn't hesitate to shoot that buck if given the chance. The size of the buck will fade over time, but those memories with Kristy will last for a long time. Would you spend the 10 points again on this unit if given the chance?


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## BradN (Sep 25, 2007)

I like that buck. Great job. Really nice photo.


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## outdoorser (Jan 14, 2013)

Aint no shame in that deer. Way to go!


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## torowy (Jun 19, 2008)

Nice fronts, that is a cool deer. congrats.


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## Truelife (Feb 6, 2009)

Good question Mike............ Hard to answer. I've got four bucks hanging in my shop right now that I killed on the mountain behind my home on general season hunts. All four of them score a little bit better than this Vernon buck, and range from 20 - 25" wide. My goal on the Vernon was to shoot a 180 buck, but more than that it was to kill a bigger buck than the one's I have. I didn't accomplish either of those goals and from what I saw out there this year I would have had to have a pretty good little cache of luck stashed away to make that happen.

There are big bucks out there, but I think most of them will be seen in November and December, or by the guys that have 90 trail cams out there and spend all of their time and money doing just that.

I hunt pretty hard and the reason I did burn my 10 points on the vernon was knowing I would be able to spend a lot of time out there. We covered the following locations

*Sheeprock mountains - *Horse valley, Little valley, Benion creek, dutch creek, south pine canyon, harkery canyon, and touched briefly on joes canyon and north oak brush.

We also hit the *Simpson Range*

We hit *Sabie* on the east and the west side. Mostly the west side and some along the top.

We also hit *Maple peak* a little AND spent some time around the lowland flat areas between the highways and the mountain ranges.

We saw a lot of bucks nearly everywhere we went. For the type of hunter that is lucky to see a two point on the general season hunts this unit is heavan on earth. ATV access is great in a lot of areas. It's close to where we live compared to many other units and most of the terrain isn't going to kill anybody.

For the type of hunter that is fortunate enough, crazy enough, or works hard enough to kill larger deer on the general season hunts the Vernon unit probably isn't going to provide what they are looking for.

The problem is our state doesn't have much in between units that will consistantly produce 140" bucks and the premium units that realistically we don't have a real chance of ever drawing.

I could have gotten a book cliffs tag and had a slightly better chance at a 180 buck than on the vernon. But I would have been pushing it to get more than 1 or 2 spotting trips down there because of the distance and expense involved. For me I consider all of the summer experiences associated with having a tag as much part of the fun as the actual hunting so I wanted more spotting trips.

Now that I've told you the long version. YES, I would burn my 10 points again because there aren't really any other options that were a whole lot better. I don't think it's a 10 point unit, but I don't think we have a 10 point unit other than maybe San Juan and you can't get it with 10.

I'm sure others will have differing opinions on that.


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## toasty (May 15, 2008)

Truelife said:


> Now that I've told you the long version. YES, I would burn my 10 points again because there aren't really any other options that were a whole lot better.


That is what I thought, the experience and time in the field is worth a lot more than horns at the end of the hunt IMO. I'd rather go out 30 times for an hour than 3 times for 10 hours. I would cash in my 8 LE points for a hunt that you just shared and be tickled pink at the end of the day.


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## yak4fish (Nov 16, 2007)

Great looking Buck! Thanks for sharing.


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## CurrentCreekHunter (May 4, 2013)

Great story and great buck too!


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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

Congrats! I think that is a great buck. Combine him with the time you got to spend hunting and I'd say you came out a huge winner.-----SS


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

I think your comments about the unit are spot on. Congrats on your buck.


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## mack1950 (Sep 11, 2007)

congradulation s sir on a very nice buck and sounds like you hit just about the whole south end pretty good, wish I would have know were your camp was we were done by noon first day and monty (my friends handy capped wife) was tickled pink if if she did shoot the wrong buck of the three a nice 5 by 5 with nice but not great forks 26 inches wide with 18 inch g-2s I ll post a pic if I can figure out this format but a sound congradulations the folks I talked to out there were havng problems but most were not getting off there 4 wheelers. :grin::grin:


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## Truelife (Feb 6, 2009)

Thanks Mack - I'd love to see pictures of her buck. We camped right off the main road going between cherry creek and vernon res. It was a good access spot for a lot of areas. I was in my blue 4 door dodge, my dad with a black 4 door dodge and we had two yellow hondas. I know what you mean about the wheelers. We rode them a lot but then did a whole lot of spotting as well, and then I hiked my poor little legs off to go along with that.

I just wish it wasn't over!


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## mack1950 (Sep 11, 2007)

yep drove right past your camp wish I would have known it was you we went past your camp at about 3 opening day in a gray 2012 Silverado and a green gmc


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Nice buck, great story. Thanks for posting.


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