My 2012 Archery Muley

It has been a long time pursuit for me to harvest a deer with my bow. I have had many chances but have failed to connect until January of 2012.  I joined a good friend Logan Anderson on the last day of December on a last minute deer hunt and he was able to connect with a 28 inch 4x4 to fill his 2011 deer tag. The next two days I spent pig hunting with my father and on January 2nd we completed a double on two javelina! Now with the pig hunt behind me I moved on to the deer hunt. Through out the hunt i passed and looked at numerous bucks trying to find a good buck. I spent several days looking and waiting till finally on the 7th day of hunting me and good friend Devin Hancock glassed up a decent buck about a mile off. We loaded up and started the long trek up the mesa were the buck and his 12 does were, plus three other bucks. By the time we got within the deer they had laid down and we did not know that another 4x4 had moved in and taken the does over. As we crawled within 70 yards to where we thought they should be laying, I bumped some rabbits in which ran right into a bedded doe! The doe jumped up ad started to feed around which got all the deer up. We were pinned, we had 16 deer within 80 yards all the way to 30 yards and we couldn't do anything about it. Finally they scattered around us feeding and I was able to get my buck alone at 44 yards. After a short stare down he turned broadside and shook his head, I drew. He say turned slightly towards me and I shot. It was a good shot and the buck ran off and laid down. I was able to stalk to 30 yards from him and when he stood up I put the final shot through both lungs and he was mine! The relief and happiness that followed cannot be explained, this is why I hunt so much. The sense of accomplishment I had just achieved was amazing. This is why I love this sport so much!! Thanks to everyone who helped glass throughout January! Enjoy

One buck we found in January