Well, I would be lying if I said I wasn't glad that this season is over. It proved to be tough as expected. There were not a tremendous amount of big deer to start with and most of the better ones has intense hunting pressure on them. We did manage to kill a few that were off the beaten path and once again proved that our aggressive scouting pays off on tough years like this one. I am still compiling all the pictures from our crew but here are a couple of the better bucks we killed.
The buck below was a buck we followed all summer. He was dubbed "Curly" by a good friend that bowhunted the buck in August. In November he lived in a place that gets road hunted hard but seldom does anyone get out of the truck and hunt around. Due to the vehicle traffic this buck stayed in the thick until the eve of the 6th day at which time he stepped out into Rick's waiting cross hairs. One 320 yard shot and the long slow week was over. Rich showed a ton of persistence and patience during his hunt and we thank him for that. Curly's 4x4 frame was 211.6 and his total 4x5 gross was 220.3. A true giant by any one's standard.
"Curly"on water at 3:00pm on day 4 of the hunt!
Rick and Curly together at last!
Rick and his son Travis
Rick and I with the customary skull shot.
This second buck was harvested by Jennifer R. This was Jennifer's first Strip buck and in fact it was her first animal harvest ever! She made a couple great shots and collected the awesome 5x6. She was accompanied by her husband and AZSB friend Michael. We scored the buck at just under 200" in camp and Jennifer's husband informed us later that an SCI official had grossed him at 202.7" An awesome deer either way and quite a little larger than the first Mule Deer buck I harvested at 11 years old!
Jennifer's buck in early summer.
Jennifer,Stephen,Devin,Matt,Jason,and Bryon
I will update the blog with the other bucks when we get the pictures downloaded. We killed a few more great deer including a 4x4 whopper that 14 year old Tevon H. harvested after 7 long hard days of hunting. As usual we find our success as team. I want to thank every member of our crew. This includes guides, friends, family, and friends that are like family. The list is long and distinguished. Here goes. Byron Goswick, Bob Dykeman, Casey Carr, Tyler Tyree, Stephen Vohs, Bill Vohs, Devin and Bill Beck, Benny Wells, Ron Halford, Tory Brock, David Virostko, Johnny Casner, Jason Campbell and all the rest that contributed in any way throughout 2012. Thanks again gentlemen!
