Beautiful late Alta experience

[BOOM!!]

My son and I drew partner Alta muzzy late tags and we headed up last Monday morning for a week of trophy buck hunting. We had a wonderful time, the weather was amazing, beautiful crisp sunny days with the bluest of skies and no snow on the ground. No wind, no rain, no frost, perfect conditions unless you are hunting for trophy bucks. We saw neither hide nor hair of the Cabelas style trophy bucks I was hoping to see. I had a feeling it was going to be tough to tag a nice 4 point or better but I had no idea we wouldn’t even see a 4 point. But this hunt was far from a failure, we had a great time and met some great people. The first morning we started down low in the south part of the unit, we had talked to some guys a couple weeks earlier during the rifle draw hunt that were chasing around some nice bucks and had put one down. We saw quite a few bucks in this area but all were way too small. Around 1:00 we went farther north to check out some spots. We spotted some does and a decent 3 point up on the hill and decided to take a stand for a while. As we are glassing the hill and spotting more does , a buck comes up the little draw on right side heading up the hill. That’s a nice 2 point, no that’s a nice 3 point, wait a minute that’s a very nice 3 point! I’m going after it Andre says and grabs his gun. The buck is about 250 yards away and heading up the hill at a decent pace. I tell Andre his only chance to catch up is if the buck stops with the does at the top of the hill about 700 yards away. Don’t get busted by the does! Andre loops around to our left to head up the hill and takes to wide a sweep in my opinion, he’s never going to get there in time. I keep watching the buck, he’s going to fast, I hope he stops when he gets to them does. I look over at Andre and he’s only half way there, never going to make it. The buck is up just to the right of the does now nosing around with the smaller 3 point, Andre is still about 100 yards away. The buck moves to the left into some tall brush, I can’t see him now, Andre is about 60 yards from the does, they are going to bust him. It appears the does are looking right at Andre but he somehow edges into position behind some brush about 30 yards below the does. One is looking right at him. Where’s the buck? Another doe walks to Andres left and stops to look right at him then continues on. I can see a deer in the brush, has to be the buck. He follows the last doe and walks right out in front of Andre and stops to look down at him. Shoot Andre, common SHOOT! SHOOT! Nothing, oh no Andre can’t see him, the buck turns a quick 90 and starts up the hill, Andre’s not going to get a shoot. The buck turns to his right and stops, BOOM!! The buck runs about 5 yards and falls over, OMG.

[buglebuster]

Pics or it didnt happen

[BOOM!!]

Here is a few pics of Andres Buck

[teanawayslayer]

Looking forward to some pics. Heard you got a nice whitey

[teanawayslayer]

That's a great buck and deffinetly a trophy for that unit!

[buckfvr]

Fine buck anywhere !!!!!!!!!

[blackveltbowhunter]

Great buck!! WTG

[Fowlweather25]

Heavy sucker!

[bowhunterforever]

That's one heavy 3 point Congrats to your son

[Boss .300 winmag]

Love those banana beams, nice buck!

[duckmen1]

Wow
Congrats on a massive buck. May not being the point number you had hoped for but he is huge and better than a lot of bucks with more points.
Good job

[jackelope]

That's a great buck. Amazing 3 point.

[Natures Way]

Nice buck congrats!

[BOOM!!]

After not seeing much on Tuesday we decided to try the high country on Wednesday. We went for a 5 mile hike almost all the way to the top of look-out Mountain. There was a couple of inches of very crunchy frozen snow on the ground with very little track in the snow. In fact the higher we went the fewer tracks we found. No wolf track either. In fact I am convinced that there is no longer a wolf problem in the Alta unit, the wolves have probably moved on due to lack of food. Andre needed to come home Thursday night so I either had to take a mediocre buck on Thursday or come back by myself for the last day and a half. At first light we spot a large bodied buck, an old buck with a tall 2 point on one side and a small 2 point on the other and he walked stiff legged, no way he can fend off the wolves. We watched were he bedded and I figured I might come back for him latter in the day. Probably taste like an old boot though. We decided to go back to the south end where we were the first day. We spotted a couple of white tail does and glassed them and found a nice whitey buck with them.  I pull out my permit to make sure I can shoot a WT. Yup species: Deer, any buck. I sneak in as close as I can get and set up for a shot.  Nice WT. we are tagged out!

[BOOM!!]

Looking forward to some pics. Heard you got a nice whitey

I think its a nice whitey, only my 2nd one ever. I can always shoot an average muley. Thanks for all your input, it certainly helped make this a very memorable hunting experience!