Jay Scott Outdoors: November 2008

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Outdoorsmans Pack Systems

Article by Floyd Green in Western Hunter

Goto http://www.outdoorsmans.com/ for more info

Jim Mullins harvested this awesome buck in Arizona. It scores roughly 218 gross. Jim is a an extremely hardworking outfitter here in Arizona who is very passionate about what he does and it definitely shows! Great Job Jim!! In Jim's words,"Howdy, here is some pics of a buck that I took last week on the Kaibab hunt in AZ. I spent a week scouting, working cameras, and trying to locate the older class deer and the weather had deer scattered in all elevations. It was very tough to locate any shooter bucks but I did end up with this buck 4 days prior to opening day on trail cams. I got several more cam pics of him and could tell he was big enough and my heart was set on him for the hunt! I planned to hunt different bedding areas in different directions from this tank hoping to find where he was spending his days. I was lucky and found him on opening day, I had a little case of "buck fever" and stared at him for too long through the binos instead of gettin' on the gun! I could tell that he was indeed taller and longer tined than I thought from the cam pics, and it was at this time I gave him the name "Sticks"! His rack looked like a bunch of sticks going straight up! Once in the gun and range found to be 323 yards, I tried as hard as I could to hold steady but instead I watched as he slowly disappeared behind the ridge. I just wasn't ever comfortable enough with the shot, but I felt good about my chances of getting back on him. I watched his bedding area till dark and he never showed, but plans were made to get on em' in the morning. Right at first light I found a doe in the same area and only had a small window in the thick trees where she stood. Not wanting to mess it up again, I got my rifle set up and waited to see if he was with her.....soon a big rack appeared and it was him! My brother ranged the buck at 381 yards, I dialed up the turret, settled in and.....CLICK! I forgot to chamber a round! Now I'm freaking out thinking I'm gonna blow it again, I jacked a round in and quickly centered back on the now quartered buck and....BOOM! My brother yelled that he was hit and running left, I jacked another round in and tried to locate him in the thick trees but my brother then yelled out that he just crashed! I was in disbelief that I was able to harvest such a great buck, luck usually isn't with me like it was on this hunt. After all the days, hours, and miles I finally got to walk up and put my hands on "Sticks" for the first time, what a gorgeous trophy, I'm still on cloud nine! We roughed him out in camp at 218" gross with 14 scoreable points and he is believed to only be 4 or 5 yrs old!