Took this buck on the second day of the Utah general hunt. He was the one and only buck I saw. Used my '57 vintage Winchester Model 70 .300H&H and a factory 180gr Silvertip that was also from the '50's. He's a typical 4x4 that goes 23" wide. Not a monster by any means, just a good, solid buck.

That's a dandy buck you killed. Tell us a bit more about your hunt/stalk-great gun too!

-Ron

I agree, very nice buck! Thanks for sharing.

Grizzly1, I wish I had a great story to tell about about a tough stalk and a long shot across a deep canyon, but the truth is, I was headed back to camp for breakfast about 10:00am on my fourwheeler when I saw him hunkered down in a clump of oak brush right off the dirt two-track. By the time I got off my wheeler, got my rifle out of the gun rack and jacked in a shell, he was off to the races. Luckily, I pounded him on the run with my first shot. And as they say, the rest is history.....

I had the whole thing made into jerky. I picked it up from the processor on Monday and it's some good stuff.

Every now & then luck smiles on us hunters-good on you for making the most of it.

-Ron

nice buck!! and you where worried about finding something to shoot LOL. what general area did you shoot that?? just got down from the mountain above draper, helped my b in law track a wounded deer he shot the night before, the blood trail went cold no luck, did see some other decent bucks tonight, but we bumpped them too soon, stupid arrow flickers

Buster, great going. I'd shoot that mule deer.

Buster -- Very Nice Buck. I take it you didn't put in for the draws, didn't matter anyway, did it. Where did you get to hunt? I took my son out on the Yellowstone, out of Duchesne, across the reservation. Great weather, we heard some shooting going on but only saw a few doe. I bought a Rhino660 this year, I have diabetic neurophaty in my legs and have a hard time walking, I absolutely love the Rhino, great riding side x side and plenty of cargo area. Keep up the great hunting.

Thanks for the comments, guys (and gals). As I said before, I hadn't seen anything other than does and bull elk until I ran across this guy on Sunday. I was getting a little discouraged, so I was thrilled to get him.

I hunted the Central Region, down by Birdseye. I'm not eligible to put in for limited entry deer for one more year because I drew a Bookcliff's muzzleloader permit last year.

CC, that's too bad about your BIL's deer. At least he gave it his best effort. I'm sure there's guys who stick animals and never bother to look very far.

AI22-250, If I had the $$$, I'd have myself a Rhino! They're sweet machines. I have an '03 Honda Rincon 650 4x4. It's nice, but I wish it had a different tranny (no low range and limited engine braking). I sold a '02 Rubicon to get it, and if the Rincon had the Rubicon tranny, it'd be hard to beat. The independant suspension sure is nice though...

Congrats on your buck!

dth

That's a great part of the state. I hunted the Bookcliffs every year since 66'. Drove 60 miles of dirt every year, each way, snowing or not. I hated it when the state made it a draw area. The best hunting out their was during the years that it was 3 point or better. I really wonder sometimes if the people at wildlife know what they are doing. Oh well, my son took his first buck out their 3yrs. ago when he drew out. I haven't drawn out in trying every year since it went draw. I have managed a couple of Elk tags out their,they are very easy to fill, but I really miss my deer hunt. There were only our camp and one other on the ridge those many years. Never had to worry about too many hunters that far away from pavement.

I hunted with both a recurve and compound bow for a lot of years when you could hunt with all weapons down in the central part of the state. Anywhere from Delta, Milford to Beaver, Richfield, Fishlake, Joes Valley, along the ridge south. I love every inch of the State.

By the way, I have many payments left on the Rhino and when not making payments I'm buying "little extras", a Camo cab, engine goodies, winch, etc. I was a little leary about the size but I was never able to take it anywhere that got it in a bind and that is saying alot. The trails around the Yellowstone were very steep and rocky, deep sand and cobblestone climbs, sometimes very steep, The Rhino went everywhere without a whimper.
I bought it so I could continue to hunt, my health has gotten bad and I can't walk much anymore, I think I've made a good decision with it.
Again, May all you hunts be as good as this one.

The Bookcliff's is an awesome area! I think there's more trophy potential on the Henry's, but I think the overall numbers are higher on the Bookcliff's.

IMHO, the only thing the DWR is concerned about in this State is money. I'd love to see them cut the overall numbers of permits, break the State into smaller regions, which are more easily controlled, and to stagger the hunts similar to what Colorado does. I personally wouldn't even mind drawing a permit only every other year or so if the trophy potential was higher.

The Vernon unit is a prime example of poor management. It had the potential to be the best unit in the State, and was great the first two years after it was re-opened, but it's been way overhunted. I'm sure there's a few nice bucks out there, but nothing like there could've been.

Just my .02$, but I also think moving the general muzzleloader deer hunt to September was a big mistake. I know the DWR's reasoning was because they said too many big bucks were being harvested in November, but I guarantee the overall numbers of deer harvested has at least doubled. When the hunt was in November, I could go all nine days and see maybe one or two other hunters, but now that it's in September, there's guys everywhere because it's good camping weather. The threat of a bad weather and a little snow on the ground does wonders for keeping people out of the hills.

Sorry for the rant...

By the way, I hear the new Rhino 450 will sell for about $1500.00 less than the 660, and if that's really the case, I just might have to see about getting one...

buster, did you shoot anything on your bookcliffs tag???

I have pretty much exclusively switched to muzzleloader for deer, here are my reasons, there has only been the archery hunt before the ML comes along the animals aren't stirred to crap, they are mostly where they are in the late summer time.

If you see how many bucks are actually taken by the ML people you will realize the rifle people are put at a serious disadvantage, I actually see more deer taken on the ML hunt where I hunt than on the rifle, so that leaves that many less bucks to hunt by the time the rifle hunt comes along.

rifle hunting is a circus here, orange everywhere, people sighting in their rifles on opening morning, target practicing etc, people tromping like a herd of elephants all over the mountain, archery hunters say rifle hunting is too easy, I saw BS, just like any other hunt you either get really lucky or you do your homework and spend tons of time in the field.

lastly the weather and the fall colors are peaking during the ML hunt just an added bonus.

CC, I killed a 24" 4x4 out in the Bookcliff's. I saw a ton of bigger bucks on our scouting trips, but couldn't find them during the hunt. The buck I killed was the biggest I saw.

Believe me, I know there are a bunch of deer killed on the general ML hunt. That's my point. The DWR tried to pass it off as a way to limit harvest numbers, but it had exactly the opposite effect, and now they're not likely to ever change it because they sell a ton of permits.

I don't blame a guy for wanting to get out when the weather's good and the colors are best, it'd just be nice if more bucks had the chance to reach 3-1/2 to 4 years old, or more. I'm not saying all the blame lies on the ML hunters shoulders, but I think the earlier season has definately had an impact...

Before the State started pushing the Elk, transplanting many elk into the bookcliffs, the deer population was wonderful. There were huge heards of health deer. Great bucks, young and old. I know there were several years of drought out there, but I see heards get bigger and smaller due to weather. This had nothing to do with weather. It had to do with the State wanting the revenue from "Throphy Elk", that's what did in the heards out there.
I taken deer from 30+" to 18" in the cliffs since the mid 60's and only since the State has tried to "Manage the area" as a Throphy area has hunting gone to pot. I've hunted when we had to chain up all 4's just to move, some years couldn't even get to PR springs, the snow was so deep, and yet the heards were just fine the following year. You will never change my mind that if the State had not tried to manage the area that things wouldn't have been much better. Here are a few pics of deer from the Cliffs over the years, there have been many many more.A few bookcliff deer
Just another BuckChris st deer
Bad pic/ needs to be rescaned /deer 28" bookcliff
These are only a few, I'll try to scan some others and put urls in, hope you enjoy.

quote:

Originally posted by Buster:
... 300H&H and a factory 180gr Silvertip that was also from the '50's. ...

Hey Buster, Congratulations on a fine Deer. And using that fine old ammo to kill it with sure makes it a memorable one.

Good hunting and clean 1-shot kills.