Garrett Olson shared with us his hunt adventure and photos. He hunted the Manti general season area in Utah.

Garrett writes, "A week or so before the hunt we were pounded with a big snow storm. On top we had 2 plus feet of snow and 5' high drifts. Nobody could go north or south on our skyline drive. I hunted hard the first few days of the hunt and did not turn up a buck I liked. Having a full-time job puts a damper on hunting. I love to hunt the middle of the week when the millions of people have gone home to re-group. I planned on taking Wednesday off to hunt but my wife did not feel good, so Thursday was the day. I put in my notice for a vacation day and was going to spend the day hunting. I knew an area where not many people hunt because of the hike and terrain. I knew hunters could not access this from the top due to the snow and mud. So I set off for a good vacation day hunt full of hiking. About 45 minutes in the hike around 7:45 I jumped a big buck. He knew exactly what to do and disappeared. I trailed him for an hour or so and never caught up to him. Thinking I blew my chance and after hiking 2 hours in knee deep hard crusted snow I was spent and mad. My thoughts went back to why am I hunting. There are no deer. I should be at work making money. About 10:45am right after a blizzard had passed I talked myself into seeing if I could find that big buck I jumped. About 15 minutes into my search I stumbled onto a great buck who had 10 doe with him. I was about 100 yards and I knew he was a shooter for my unit. Getting down and ready I laid the hammer down on him. The first shot looked like it did not even phase him. He turned and went downhill then he stopped on another terrace so I put another one in him. He went about 20 yards and there he laid. Trying to maneuver this big old buck was difficult. His neck was huge and his body was a tank.

After taking pics and video of this beast I hiked back over to the ridge where I knew I could get service. I made a few calls, the only problem is everybody was busy and nobody could come help me get him out. I made one last call before my phone went dead to my wife and she was thrilled and headed up to find me. The drag was tough, but spending time with my family was priceless. The vacation buck was well worth it. He was a toad."