Beatdown in the Books...

[MuleDeerCrazy]

Between trying to catch up and fighting with photo resizing I didn't get these posted very timely.  Anyway, here's an update on my Book Cliffs trip.  For those of you rallying for a UT tag, if you don't already have a pile of points it's become a tough game of catch up.  My buddy drew the tag with 7 points, it took me 12 points and I was only one point behind him.  The curve is big and steep!  And trips like these are always the proverbial, "Wish I knew then, what I know now..."!

After a 14 hour road trip, we left the last gas station and headed up into the hills.  A 1/4 tank of gas and 2.5 hours later, we were setting up the wall tent on a cool little ridge up in the heart of a "secret spot," along with about 50 other guys... I guess the secret got out.  Anyway, we got the wall tent up and all was going good til we tried to stake it down.  Unbenounced to us, the gravelly looking soil was full of big shaley rock right below the surface.  Try as we might we never got a single stake to drive in, though we busted a few in the process.  Now what?  There were lots of logs and stumps lying around, so we drug a bunch of them around the tent to tie eveything off too.  Wasn't perfect, but it would have to do... hopefully we don't get too big a storm (I'm sure you can all see where this is headed)!  We had a cople hours of daylight left, so we went for a little drive.  Things were looking good, we had only been there a few hours and already saw a half a dozen bucks right from the rig.

The next day it started raining a little.  Oh boy, it didn't take much moisture and the roads were a mud bog rink.  Things turned into a mess real quick and several roads were a one way trip as slick as things were.  Things dried out pretty quick and we were back in business... until the next day when the scattered showers turned to thunderstorms and downpours.  Soon things were much worse than before, with no signs of stopping anytime soon.  By the time we got back to camp that night, water was running through the tent and everywhere you'd step, you'd sink a few inches in the mud.  Not to mention, we were in 4 wheel drive just fish-tailing all the way back cause the roads were such a gumbo mess.  Then came the high gale warnings for that night - that's just beautiful!  Well,after a sleepless night with the tent tied off to the truck, daylight finally broke and the winds died down.

We just couldn't buy a break with the weather the whole trip.  It beat us down and then beat us down again.  We woke up the second morning to snow, but it was so wet it was just as bad as the rain for getting around.  We tried to keep our spirits high, but I was not mentally prepared for all that weather.  Poor weather aside, it was the coolest habitat I have ever hunted mule deer in.  Sure would like another shot at it, but that's how it goes with the point game.  It takes forever to draw and when you finally draw it takes the first trip to figure things out a little, then you're so far behind the curve you can never draw again.  Cool, cool experience though, congratulations to those of you who get to go in the next few years, it was an awesome hunt.

I have a dozen pictures to post, so will do this in three parts.  Here are some shots of camp, the muddy mess and the cool habitat.

More to come...

[Craig]

Sounds like a rough start to a hunt. I hear the Books has a lot of bucks running around.

[MuleDeerCrazy]

It was a rough hunt, weather wise, the whole time, but it is full of deer.  We saw 66 bucks total and 100 does a day... a very healthy deer herd.  The area sports a healthy coyote population too, with some of the weirdest howling I've ever heard?  And I don't think there are any wolves in there, but one of the coyotes I saw was huge, the biggest I've ever seen (probably all that fresh venison)!  Looked like great bear habitat too, but never saw any sign of bear, maybe they're up at higher elevations?  Oh yeah, there might be a few elk in that unit too!!!

The critters were very photogenic.  All of the photos were under 100 yards, most less than 50 yards.  The deer acted like they'd neve seen a person before.  We'd jump a buck, take a few photos and they would just go back to feeding.  And that made for some pretty cool still-hunting too.

Here's a few live shots.

More to come...

[Halo]

Cant wait to hear more. I have 12 points for deer in Utah and my partner has 10. I think we are about there.

[gtrplr]

Nice story! Sorry it went that way but reading it made my work day better! 

[MtnMuley]

Very nice.  Keep us posted.  The Cliffs were getting pounded with snow a week and a half ago when we drove by.  Figured your pics would be in a winter wonderland setting.

[MuleDeerCrazy]

Snow was just starting the week of the hunt, but was melting about as fast as it was coming.  I think a little more weather would have made it a little different, but not sure you can count on any snow for that hunt, my buddy didn't have any the year he was there either?  Anyway, you gotta play the hand you're dealt, so slog around in the mud we did.  We kept at it from daylight til dark everyday... and even with the poor weather, 66 bucks ain't bad

You ATV haters will love this... we were there a week and watched dozens of "ATV hunters" (I use that term loosely) and I never once saw one of them get off their quad.  They would drive as far to the edge as they could, look over the edge, many without even a pair of binocs, and then put it in reverse and head down another ridge.  It was a total road hunt for most of those guys, and why not I guess, it was no big deal to find one and shoot it from the steering wheel of your quad?  Ain't hunting in my book, but I must admit it was nice having the whole unit to yourself.  We hiked and glassed everyday and never ran into a single other person on foot.  I will say this for those quad guys though, they were the most courteous ATV hunters I have ever run into in my life!  They, for the most part, wouldn't drive in on top of you, would leave if you were already glassing where they wanted to go, pull over so you could pass them on the road, etc... they even pretty much stayed on established roads!  I tell you what, if all ATV hunters were that courteous, I wouldn't have near such a problem with them... not my cup of tea, but at least they weren't screwing me up the whole time.

I know they kill a few monster bucks in there every year, but it's just like anywhere else, you may look at a lot of bucks and still not find a really big one.  We saw a couple 170 class bucks and maybe a 180+ buck, but the bigger bucks weren't hanging around the does yet, they would pop out all by themselves right at dark and already be heading back into the cover before the sun came up.  I shot a little 4X4 that I had passed up while still-hunting the second morning.  We were glassing a big 3X3 when I heard what I thought was a buck thrashing some brush.  I slipped over to take a peek and this buck was tearing up a bush with two smaller bucks watching him.  I ended up shooting him and when we got over to him a real tall pretty 4X4 comes walking by at about 70 yards

Oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes.  If you're going to pass up nice bucks throughout your hunt, you might end up taking home a little one.  Could've done without so much rain, but wouldn't trade the experience.  If any of you guys draw let me know, I'll be dead before I draw again!  The secret isn't where to hunt as much as how to hunt it,anyway.

Good luck in this year's draws!

[RC3]

Sweet lookin country..............would be a fun hunt!

[HuntingFanatic]

"If you're going to pass up nice bucks throughout your hunt, you might end up taking home a little one."


Or none at all!

Looks and sounds like you had a great hunt to me!   Very memorable. And coming home with venison is always a plus!!

[Craig]

I guess with two points I'm still a long ways from drawing a tag. I guess I can always gut lucky and draw the random draw .

[huntnnw]

I began applying 2 years ago for Muzzy...seem.to have the best odds..Congrats awesome write up.

[Wea300mag]

Nice write-up MDC, you have to love that gumbo mud.