"My Trophy Blacktail"

Manny's Trophy Blacktail

I've been hooked on the MonsterMuleys.com website since January of 2001, and needless to say, I enjoy chasing big bucks. I've hunted Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and last but not least, Utah. I hunted near Paradise, Utah in 1991 on a P.H.U. Ranch; that's what it was called back then.
Unfortunately I haven't fulfilled my dream yet, to take a 30-inch plus trophy. But I have taken a few nice bucks in my home state of California. I know what you're thinking. "Can any big bucks come out of "Yuppie California"? Of coarse!

It was nearing the end of the 1991 deer season. That year was hot and dry and the weather was not cooperating and the deer were not moving much either. I tried all my usual hot spots with no luck, all I was seeing were does and small bucks. The mornings were getting hot early, so I would head back to the house around 11:00 a.m. With three days left to hunt, I had yet to see anything worth shooting.

That afternoon, I received a phone call from a friend. She asked if I would take her two boys out to find a buck for the freezer, I agreed. One boy was twelve and the other was fifteen, and on the way to their place I was thinking about all those small bucks I had been seeing all week long.

For some reason we couldn't find hide or hair of those little bucks. It was still hot so we decided to go check a small ravine that I had checked earlier that morning, which had a spring at the bottom of it.
We had to cross a wide-open field to get to the ravine. There was one clump of oak trees in the middle of the field. It was a long hot walk so we decided to head for the oaks to get some shade and rest a bit. As we approached to within twenty yards of the oaks, we were startled when a buck jumped from the oaks.
The boys started hollering oh my god a big buck! I only had a sideview of the buck, but he looked heavy and tall so I yelled, "Shoot boys shoot!" It sounded like a war zone when the bullets began flying, but the buck didn't go down. By that time the buck had turned and I was able to see just how good he was.

The big buck had no place to hide; it was wide open for almost a mile. The boys both emptied their guns and were nervously trying to reload, by this time the buck was more then 400 yards away. I knew he was a keeper so I told the boys I can't watch this one get away, they gave me the go ahead and it took two shots from my 270 Winchester to put the buck down.

We didn't realize just how big the buck was until we got up close. I looked at the boys and they were shaking from all the excitement, on the way back to their ranch we saw one of the small bucks and took him home for the freezer.

The boys were real happy with the experience of that hunt and I must say, so was I! The moral of this story, take a kid hunting and you just might enjoy it; the possibilities are endless.

Written by Manny Galea/manny15