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"The Strip Buck"
Sam's buck was the second largest non-typical mule deer taken in North America
during the 1999 season that we have heard about.
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In November of 1999, I had the opportunity to hunt the Arizona Strip along the north rim
of the Grand Canyon. I had with me my son, Todd, and guide, Paul Stewart, both exceptional
deer hunters. Paul likes to collect sheds during the summer months and the strip is one of
his favorite spots. He had a photo of one particular shed he collected, two years before, of
a massive non-typical found on the strip. We all asked ourselves, was this buck still alive
and if so, could he be found?
Hunting the strip is different from most of the other hunting I am used to and actually
prefer. Usually I move from spot to spot and rarely take my eyes away from my optical
equipment. Not so on the strip. In most places the cedars are so thick you can only see a
short distance. You need to hunt close to the water holes if the weather is warm. There you
will find the most deer activity. Furthermore, the strip is not overrun with deer. Several
days during the hunt we did not see even one deer.
We started scouting the area before the season and found several good bucks, even though
we knew the chance of finding them again was not good. We spent a total of 21 days scouting
and hunting before we took the buck in this article. We passed up one typical buck on the 14th
day that would score close to 200 B&C points, but I could not get Paul's picture of the large
non-typical shed out of my mind. On my way back to camp that evening, I kept thinking of the
big typical we passed up and whether or not I had made a major mistake. On the other hand,
once you shoot a buck the hunt's over, and you always wonder what might have been out there.
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On the 21st day of hunting, all within a radius of 10 miles of where Paul had found this
shed, we decided to go right back to ground zero, to the original water hole. When we returned
early that morning, we noted that things had changed. It was still hot, and the deer activity
in the immediate area had greatly increased. The rut had started and several bucks were using
the water hole along with the does. One set of buck tracks looked unusually large and were now
linked up with a small group of three does. The tracks were several days old. Paul knew of
another water hole a mile away where the deer appeared to be going. Paul, Todd, and I headed
for this second water hole. Once we got there, we found fresh tracks that appeared to be the
same group of deer. We slowly followed these tracks for about 1/2-mile until we topped out on
a ridge. The trees on the other side of the ridge were so thick I was afraid we would spook
any deer ahead of us. We could not see directly in front of us but could see between the breaks
in the trees across the canyon. We started to glass and a couple seconds later Todd said,
"There's a buck." This huge buck was standing under a cedar tree. You could only see part of
his antlers and his chest. Paul immediately got him in the spotting scope and said, "That's
him."
I felt I could never get closer to the buck in this dry, thick brush. I dropped my pack,
laid my rifle across it, and took the shot. The buck was hit somewhere in the front end. He
jumped straight up, kicked his hind feet, and ran 10 yards into a thicket. Todd and Paul were
both watching through their scopes and did not see him come out. They both said they could not
see into the thick cedars, but after a few minutes Paul said he saw what appeared to be one of
the deer's antlers on the ground. We all looked through the scope and agreed he was right. We
decided to wait and watch for a while, but after 10 minutes I couldn't stand it any longer and
said, "Let's go."
Although we had the spot marked, we had a difficult time locating the buck. Paul was first
to spot the deer and yelled, "It's a monster!" Paul felt this was definitely the non-typical
he had the shed from. A few minutes later, Paul pulled his camera out of his pack to take
pictures and found out the batteries were dead. We obviously wanted to photograph this deer,
so we decided to go back to the truck and drive it to camp where I had my camera. Two and
half-hours later, we got the buck to the truck and drove way too fast back to camp. Luckily,
we got our photos before the sun set.
We then sat down and measured the antlers. We were close to the final net Boone & Crockett
score taken 60 days later of 257 4/8. This is one hunt I will never forget.
Written by Sam Jaksick JR. (Featured in the Winter 2000 issue of Trophy Hunter Magazine)
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