The following story is shared by Leticia. I figured she would have better stories since she was there and I was not, Thank goodness, I am not a hunter!
The hunt started on Wednesday, September 25, 2013. We drew tags for the Manti La Sal mountain range, which is in central Utah. Having drawn out in the same location the previous year, we knew "Deer Alley"(our family nic name spot) was the place to be with all the deer sightings. We left from Taylorsville around 4:30AM, (also known as oh dark 30!) to begin our hunt. We drove straight to Fairview. As we were driving through "Deer Alley", suddenly we spotted the back end of a deer that ran right in front of our Yukon. Thinking if you see one deer he'll lead us to the rest, helped us make our decision to begin hiking.
We separated and headed into the trees. Having no cell service, we decided to use whistles as a form of communication to keep in touch. The only problem was I can only manage a small, quiet mumble which hasn't been a problem until this year when we got separated and couldn't hear any sounds at all from each other. After a while, I stopped at a spot where I knew how to get to the road and thus, back to the car. Finally, I saw the Yukon! To my surprise it was a lot closer to me than it should have been. I saw lights flickering at me and knew my Dad had found me. What a relief to have been reunited with my partner after a very long morning of hiking with a heavy gun!
After we were reunited, the hunting was slow, so we decided to do some of what we later learned to call "climate controlled hunting" aka "road hunting". We had just started to head slightly out of "Deer Alley" when a doe walked in the middle of the road right in front of us. Now, this is something that does not happen at 3 in the afternoon unless its about 30 degrees.
Looking around to see what else was following the doe I spotted a large rack and deer face staring at me across the road. Like 20 yards away! Ideal shooting. The adrenaline kicked in and I knew my chance was here to take a shot!
I whispered, "it's a buck and it's huge." I practically jumped out of the moving vehicle, shoved the primer in the gun all before my Dad got out the car.
I pulled the gun up and was ready to take a shot. I was using my Dad's gun and shooting left handed. I know that I shoot low and to the left, with this particular gun, so I accommodated and aimed high and to the right. I found out that only being 20 yards away, my precautions were unnecessary. Needless to say, I completely missed. The buck jumped up and away while I was trying to reload while shaking like crazy. My Dad headed up after the buck to see if he stuck around. When we couldn't find him, we had a decision, 1) follow again to see if he had bedded down or ran 2) follow the doe to see what else was with her.
We went against logic and followed the Buck.
I was about 10 steps behind and still shaking with adrenaline, when I saw my Dad put his gun in a-stop-all-movement-and-stand-completely-still gesture. I stood still and heard a shot and thud. That sound almost always means you hit your target. I started freaking out! My dad hit the deer and it was only the first day of the hunt! Booyah!
Now for you non hunters, after you shoot a deer you are supposed to wait about 15 minutes to let your animal die but I kept urging my Dad to go and get his deer. What I didn't know, that my seasoned hunter Dad did, was the shot was not a kill shot. After reloading, my Dad led the way to find the presumably injured buck. I only caught a glimpse of the buck's behind galloping away, looking like a donkey, when another shot and another thud pierced my ears. He was down, but still alive so my dad reloaded again. It became my job to watch closely in case it tried to run again. He was still alive and moving so rather than reloading again, I gave my gun to my dad to finally finish him off, after waiting for a little while the deer died. Kind of funny, the deer fell into a bush with his rack, head, and his muscles twitching, it moved the bush making it look like he was still alive. We made sure he was dead and began the process of cleaning the deer. We promptly sent pictures home. Our response from received photos was "What time will you be home today"? (from mom)
We had two tags. We wanted to fill both tags. Because it was cold enough, we left the carcass in the trees and continued the hunt. The deer had been hit 3 times, once up the rump, the second, in the pelvis, and the third finally a kill shot in the lungs.
Once We secured our kill. We did some more "climate controlled" hunting to finish the evening off around 9PM. That night a fog settled in, the fog had visible water droplets in it and looked like snow, it was a freezing cold night even sleeping in the Yukon. Trying to be out the door and hunting by 6:30AM was difficult after a freezing night. We know that hunting at this time is best to locate the deer because they are out moving on their own. We dressed in many many layers of clothing to stay warm. My Dad noticed the front tire was really low, that kind of put a damper on our plans for the day. We did a little bit of driving, keeping an eye on the tire. That was when we saw the beautiful sunrise. 
Where the dead deer came from we decided if one deer can come out of there, so can a lot more. One problem we encountered was that the bushes were so dense it was impossible to not make noise. Next problem was I could barely see above them. The temperatures warmed up enough that my Dad was concerned about his kill in the trees, so we separated. I kept looking for deer while he moved his deer to a more shady area. We met back at the car and changed the tire. I tried to keep a look out all the time thinking this tire problem is going to get me my deer, but no such luck! We decided to give a different area a try while we were "climate controlled" hunting. We found a great spot a couple of miles up the canyon. "Deer Alley" is in what is called North Skyline Drive in Fairview Canyon. We left there to go back to Fairview Canyon to try South Skyline Drive, a spot just off the side of the road and even a couple of campground spots, but only saw a couple of does.
When we were hiking around the section just off the road we were getting exhausted, plus it was beginning to snow on us, and I was quickly losing hope in filling my tag yet again another year. Everything we knew that should work, wasn't and everything about this area that I had remembered from the year before wasn't how it was. About 2 pm, I was ready to throw in the towel for the day. We began driving back toward "Deer Alley" to prepare for the evening hunt. On the way back, my dad saw a sign for Scofield, and asked if I wanted to try that area out. He said it was a brand new area for both of us and not always the best decision, but looking at the map I saw we could then loop back around and return to North Skyline Drive from the opposite direction just in time for the evening hunt. So I said, "what the hay-- lets try it". We had barely gotten into the town of Scofield when I saw a gas station and remembered the nearly flat tire, I said, "Look, air for the tires and we won't have to go all the way into Fairview". We filled up with free air, it couldn't have been more ideal, I kept an eye out because we were in deer country, even though we were in city limits. Before heading out again my dad wanted to go and thank the owner of the gas station for letting us get air in our tire when he saw a sign that said, "Gone Fishin' 9/17- 9/29".
Chuckling, he got back into the car. Out of the corner of my eye, the embankment in front of us had movement. I said, stop something is over there. I pulled up my binoculars and saw a deer and even more than that I saw two tiny tines slightly above the ears of the deer, I didn't care if it was a spike. It was my buck! Only one problem, we were still in what was considered city limits, off limits for shooting plus the deer walked into a pasture behind a house that looked like a backyard. As much as I wanted my buck, I knew the laws and I didn't want to break them. I thought if I got permission from the owner of the home, with the deer on it, I could take this one out. We searched for the owner but had no luck, no one was around. We finally spotted a person driving towards a home and we drove up and asked, for permission. He granted me the permission I was seeking for plus informed us that the entire town of Scofield only had 17 people, no wait 15, two had just left for missions. He said the owner of the gas station with the free air would be the one to talk to. We informed him of his sign, the guy replied, "fishin my butt, he's at home watching his soaps" It couldn't have been more perfect. So we drove back to my deer, I pulled the gun up to a post in the fence and up to my shoulder, slowly releasing half a breath, I pulled the trigger praying that I would finally hit something. After my ears quit ringing, I watched as my deer climbed up and stood on its hind legs then fell backward and laid there. I had hit the deer! I had no idea if I had killed it but I hit a deer! I came back to the car freaking out that I had hit a deer. We drove the car around behind a dumpster to hide it a little and worked our way around toward the deer. I tried to figure out how would be the best way to get him out. We also found out that even though the deer dropped, he had not died. So we needed to finish him off. We hid on either side of a bush and tried to conceal ourselves when a truck that looked like a game warden drove by, we both hit the deck and laid there until it passed. My deer had started to move its front legs, started grasping at the ground and tried to get away, but his hind legs weren't going anywhere. I was still shaking and afraid I would miss so my dad quickly pulled a shot off and made a perfect kill. We ran around grabbed each antler and dragged him into a ditch where we would be safe from view to gut my deer. We quickly got to work and cleaned him up. I had hit him in the spinal cord and broke his back which is why he fell and could not move. We tried to shove him back onto the top of the Yukon. I had the bum and kept sliding in the dirt and could not even reach the top of the car, we finally got the deer on top of the car, tied down and got outta town.
We then sent pictures home and informed family of our news. Two tags, two deer, two days! We drove back to North Skyline Drive to pick up my dad's deer and get home before bedtime for the little girls. When we reached the area that we had marked as the location of my dad's deer we could not find the carcass. It was gone! Where did the deer go? Where the deer should have been was just a pile of fresh sawdust. We both thought, "What the crap, who would steal a tagged deer carcass, there is something messed up with that". Then my dad checked behind one more pine and found the deer where he had moved it. Sometimes Alzheimer's sets in with my father but we love him regardless.
We dragged the deer to the car and a nice hunter with his son helped us lift him on top of the Yukon.
Once on the road headed home, we stopped at our traditional dinner location of KFC in Spanish Fork. We went inside to get cleaned up and order our food. I got some great looks as my hands were covered in blood. Dressed in camo, I was filthy dirty. We followed some high school football team members out of the restaurant who were looking at the big rack of my dad's deer which made it look like my deer had no antlers but that's OK. Plenty of great looks when we pulled into Costco to get gas. One lady gave us looks as if we were terrible people, then pulled out her phone and began to take pictures of what we assumed was the tongue hanging out of my Dad's deer's mouth.
We drove the rest of the way home and arrived shortly after our intended time so the girls were up past their bedtime, but as soon as they saw the deer both had the biggest grins. I held Ada up to see my deer which she promptly started stroking its head and then to show them my dad's deer. Malia wanted to join us so off to the butcher we went. The drive included looks from passing cars yet again. We dropped our deer off to be processed then began the cleaning up.
All in all, a very successful year for the deer hunt! Thanks to our constant prayers to be successful after many years not being and the obstacles during our hunt that put us in the right place at the right time to get both of our deer. We even submitted our story and pictures to the KSL Outdoor Show and our pictures were aired in the snap shot of the week contest.
Chuckling, he got back into the car. Out of the corner of my eye, the embankment in front of us had movement. I said, stop something is over there. I pulled up my binoculars and saw a deer and even more than that I saw two tiny tines slightly above the ears of the deer, I didn't care if it was a spike. It was my buck! Only one problem, we were still in what was considered city limits, off limits for shooting plus the deer walked into a pasture behind a house that looked like a backyard. As much as I wanted my buck, I knew the laws and I didn't want to break them. I thought if I got permission from the owner of the home, with the deer on it, I could take this one out. We searched for the owner but had no luck, no one was around. We finally spotted a person driving towards a home and we drove up and asked, for permission. He granted me the permission I was seeking for plus informed us that the entire town of Scofield only had 17 people, no wait 15, two had just left for missions. He said the owner of the gas station with the free air would be the one to talk to. We informed him of his sign, the guy replied, "fishin my butt, he's at home watching his soaps" It couldn't have been more perfect. So we drove back to my deer, I pulled the gun up to a post in the fence and up to my shoulder, slowly releasing half a breath, I pulled the trigger praying that I would finally hit something. After my ears quit ringing, I watched as my deer climbed up and stood on its hind legs then fell backward and laid there. I had hit the deer! I had no idea if I had killed it but I hit a deer! I came back to the car freaking out that I had hit a deer. We drove the car around behind a dumpster to hide it a little and worked our way around toward the deer. I tried to figure out how would be the best way to get him out. We also found out that even though the deer dropped, he had not died. So we needed to finish him off. We hid on either side of a bush and tried to conceal ourselves when a truck that looked like a game warden drove by, we both hit the deck and laid there until it passed. My deer had started to move its front legs, started grasping at the ground and tried to get away, but his hind legs weren't going anywhere. I was still shaking and afraid I would miss so my dad quickly pulled a shot off and made a perfect kill. We ran around grabbed each antler and dragged him into a ditch where we would be safe from view to gut my deer. We quickly got to work and cleaned him up. I had hit him in the spinal cord and broke his back which is why he fell and could not move. We tried to shove him back onto the top of the Yukon. I had the bum and kept sliding in the dirt and could not even reach the top of the car, we finally got the deer on top of the car, tied down and got outta town.
We then sent pictures home and informed family of our news. Two tags, two deer, two days! We drove back to North Skyline Drive to pick up my dad's deer and get home before bedtime for the little girls. When we reached the area that we had marked as the location of my dad's deer we could not find the carcass. It was gone! Where did the deer go? Where the deer should have been was just a pile of fresh sawdust. We both thought, "What the crap, who would steal a tagged deer carcass, there is something messed up with that". Then my dad checked behind one more pine and found the deer where he had moved it. Sometimes Alzheimer's sets in with my father but we love him regardless.
We dragged the deer to the car and a nice hunter with his son helped us lift him on top of the Yukon.
Once on the road headed home, we stopped at our traditional dinner location of KFC in Spanish Fork. We went inside to get cleaned up and order our food. I got some great looks as my hands were covered in blood. Dressed in camo, I was filthy dirty. We followed some high school football team members out of the restaurant who were looking at the big rack of my dad's deer which made it look like my deer had no antlers but that's OK. Plenty of great looks when we pulled into Costco to get gas. One lady gave us looks as if we were terrible people, then pulled out her phone and began to take pictures of what we assumed was the tongue hanging out of my Dad's deer's mouth.
We drove the rest of the way home and arrived shortly after our intended time so the girls were up past their bedtime, but as soon as they saw the deer both had the biggest grins. I held Ada up to see my deer which she promptly started stroking its head and then to show them my dad's deer. Malia wanted to join us so off to the butcher we went. The drive included looks from passing cars yet again. We dropped our deer off to be processed then began the cleaning up.
All in all, a very successful year for the deer hunt! Thanks to our constant prayers to be successful after many years not being and the obstacles during our hunt that put us in the right place at the right time to get both of our deer. We even submitted our story and pictures to the KSL Outdoor Show and our pictures were aired in the snap shot of the week contest.
Congrats my mighty hunters, perseverance pays off.
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