Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Beehive Deer Hunt

Utah is known as the Beehive state but they also have some of the finest hunting in the western US. One of my sons' father in law has 10,000 acres & he gets some land owner tags each year for both deer & antelope. I was offered 4 of them this year but only took 2, one of each. These are antlerless tags & the hunts run about three & a half months.
I had a deer tag last year & seen lots of deer but waited to long & the snow got deep & I couldn't get to them, my mistake! Anyway, this year I decided to go earlier although it's been very hot. The drive is about 115 miles & I arrived about 7:30, hoping to catch the antelope heading for a big reservoir he has on the property. I've only been there a couple of times & his land is pretty scattered so I wasn't exactly sure where it was at.
As I headed down a long dirt road & then turned onto another dirt road I started following a pretty little stream & then started seeing several deer, yikes, change of plans! I had wanted to shoot an antelope with my scoped 357 Maximum & then hopefully fill the other tag with my old flat top 44 magnum. I originally was going to take the Bisley 41 but it gets quite a bit of work & the OM 44 flat top hadn't stretched it legs for a while so it was a last minute change of plans.
When I stopped all the heads came up & I grabbed the 357 Maximum & went around the back of the truck, the tail gate was down because my 4 wheeler is too long to fit so I had a place to steady my left elbow, a real key to shooting a sixgun from the standing postion. Every deer was getting ready to run & although I wanted to shoot a dry doe there really wasn't time to be picky, I singled out a big doe that was a bit separated from the other 13-14 in the group, lined up from a center lung shot & lit the switch. She stumbled & run 10 yds or so & then stopped & did kind of a jump in the air. I thumbed back the hammer on the 10 1/2" Ruger & sent another 200 grs of lead poison her way.
Just as I broke the shot he made another one of those little jumps & I hit her lower in the leg & clipped her brisket. The shot broke the leg & she ran 10-15 yds & went down. The problem now was, she was across the stream so I had to take off my trusty Croc's & socks, & use my walking stick to balance me as I sank in the deep mud on each side of the bank.



Now I had to get her across the stream & the best way to do that is to not gut them until you reach the other side. I had to float her down stream about 150 yds & then pull her out of the sticky mud, I was sinking over a foot each step once I got to the other side. Then I walked back & got my 4 wheeler & drove down to get her but she was too heavy to load so I had to gut her first & then I loaded her & rode the 4 wheeler right up into the truck.
Shade is really hard to find in this area, there are almost no trees & I drove for 6-7 miles & ran into a guy from Nevada taking a dip in the stream & he took a photo of me standing next to my truck. Then I drove another 5-6 miles to an old abandoned farm house that had one small shade tree & I boned the meat there & put it in the coolers.




[img]http://i.imgur.com/s2Ks9O4.jpg[/img]

Fun times, I love hunting Utah.

Great story, some fine eating too, good luck with the lopes!

Thanks guys! The shot was exactly 90 yds & the hole you can see is the exit, she was facing to my right when I popped her. I have really tender feet & this wasn't something I planned on but I really didn't have any choice but to float her down stream & then pick her up with the 4 wheeler so it worked out ok.
About 3 hours after this I had a shot at an antelope but she slammed it into passing gear just as I took the shot. There were 6 of them & she stopped just for a split second at about 60 yds & the others ran past her. I didn't dare shoot because there was one little 10" buck in the bunch so I had to wait just long enough & she broke hard & I shot right behind her.
Probably just as well, it was 98 degrees & I was totally wiped out after boning out the deer, if I would have nailed her I probably would still be down there, face down in the field with a boning knife in my hands. I'll go back in the next couple of days & try again. I drank 2 bottles of water & almost a gallon of ice tea & still couldn't keep hydrated.
Here is a 3 shot group I shot with the 10 1/2" 357 Maximum using the 200 gr. gas checked LBT's two days before I left, this is at 100 yds. The shoulder holster is the Signature series by Mike Barranti, they are serial numbered. I have #1 & I think the other is #6, they are amazing!



Dick

You earned that one brother. Good show.

Great story, congratulations and can't wait for the sequel!

Went back yesterday, set in one spot & watched 29 head of Antelope for 11 hours as they fed in a hay field. Normally they will head to water 2-3 times during the day & I was in a great spot between them & the water, only problem was there were 3 guys about 1/4 mile away putting some well casing into a deep water well. All the Antelope were watching them & wouldn't leave the safety of the field 500 yds away.
I had ran out of water & didn't want to leave & give up my hiding spot, it was pretty miserable sitting there, first in a pretty good rain, then in the hot sun. After the drillers left I stuck it out 3 more hours but the Antelope were still too cautious to do anything but mill around, feed, lay down, etc. A couple of times some small bucks came with range but I can't shoot a buck & they must have known the rules because it was like they were teasing me!
Finally at 7pm I decided I was well cooked & gave up, I'll go back in the next couple of days, I think I've got a better game plan & hopefully can blood the OM 44 magnum, if not the 357 Maximum can save the day, we'll see how it plays out. Saw lots of deer again, including a couple of dandy shooters.
I also saw something that I have no answer for, maybe someone can enlighten me. I've seen feral dogs & I've seen feral cats (field lions) all my life, when we see field lions we shoot them, they kill a lot of birds. Yesterday as I was driving in quite early I saw 2 hen Pheasants standing in the road, this area has lots of grouse & pheasants so no surprise. What did surprise me was there were 2 barn roosters with the pheasants, I guarantee they were domestic chickens, there were also some other birds moving in the brush but I didn't see them good enough to tell what they were but I do know was 2 of them were farm roosters just from the color & the fact that I've owned lots of chickens. There are no farm houses within 5-6 miles of where these birds were. Thoughts?

Dick