This year's deer hunt was unlike any of the previous deer hunts I've ever been on. Every year I have drawn a rifle tag, but this year I drew a muzzleloader tag for the first time because I am no longer a youth hunter. I am grateful my dad planned for this and bought me a new Muzzleloader as a graduation present, CVA MR-X muzzleloader. Later he received a no-powered scope from work that we attached to the muzzleloader. We took the muzzleloader down to the range and shot with it multiple times across the summer and when it neared the deer hunt. It was a bit tricky adjusting the scope for accuracy however on the last day, we had some pretty good groupings of accurate shots.
Normally when we deer hunt it would be at Henefer Echo WMA as we have had good success up there, but with that harsh winter a few years ago it wiped out most of the deer up there. So we decided to hunt the top of Farmington Canyon this year. Unfortunately, I couldn't go on the weekend planned with Dallen who drew muzzleloader as well. But I went the following week with just me and my dad, we planned to do day hikes and return to the jeep to eat dinner and sleep. This hunt took place from October 1 through the 3. My brother Dallen planned to come up and hunt a few hours after work every day that week.
Monday morning we woke up early around five o clock and took off. The first day a few minutes into our arrival we spotted a few bucks four hundred yards away. The biggest buck was a small three-point that I didn't mind trying to get a shot at with the Muzzleloader. So we kept an eye on the three-point and the other smaller bucks, they went lower and lower. So we made a plan to go lower and cut them off essentially. We chose a spot under three hundred yards away from them. We lost sight of the deer in a larger group of trees, and that's when we slowly made our way around to the area where they were located. However, when we went up to move a little closer we bumped the deer. They took off and we couldn't see them through the trees, the three point stopped in the open for a split second but we didn't have time to range them. It is amazing how fast deer and even elk can run, they can travel a thousand yards in just a minute.
Us hiking the first evening of the hunt just after bumping the bucks out.
Bumping the group of bucks out was unfortunate, but at least there weren't any huge bucks. Going after this buck took most of the day, but we slowly traveled back up near the trail. Around that time Dallen arrived and we coordinated with him to try and see if we could bump some deer into him etc. We didn't bump any deer and started hiking back to the jeep for it was close to dark. Dallen walked off to look at another spot. Dad and I made it back to the Jeep and discussed plans to drive to some lakes that night and hunt them the following morning. After talking for a few minutes we heard a gunshot in the direction Dallen was heading.
After that initial shot, we heard a couple more but none sounded like hits except for one. Dad started driving the Jeep as it was beginning to get extremely close to dark while I tried to get a hold of Dallen, I tried calling a few times but he wasn't picking up. Finally, after a few more shots he picked up the phone and explained the situation. Dallen says he spotted a group of bucks where there were two big bucks one with a gray-colored body, and one with a brown-colored body. He targeted the brown one its rack was a little bigger and had some forks in the back. Dallen mentioned that after shooting once at the brown one it wasn't running along with the other bucks, so he proceeded to shoot over and over at it. But he couldn't seem to hit the buck even though he dialed and used his range finder. All of his shots took place while he was behind a large rock so the deer couldn't see him. He said we should try in that area in the morning and look out for the brown and gray-bodied four-point bucks. That night we parked on top of the hill, where we warmed up our stuffing and mashed potatoes, which would be our dinner for the remainder of the week till Wednesday night.
The next morning, we woke up early and headed down to the rock, slowly checking on the other hillside occasionally as we walked. We spotted a few small bucks and does when eventually we spotted a nice four-point going up the bottom of the ravine. If we were a hundred yards further down from where Dallen shot at the deer the night before we'd be at an ideal spot to shoot from. We saw the four-point cautiously bed down and was wary of us looking in our general direction. We were around three hundred and fifty yards away from the buck when we initially spotted it, so we wanted to sneak one hundred yards closer if possible. We began slowly walking with our backs dipped low, as we made our way around the bushes and shrubs.
The buck that gave me the slip.
There unfortunately weren't any trees on this hillside to shield us from the bucks gaze. So as we were moving closer the buck was eying us till we eventually went out of sight from the hillside edge. Once we were close enough we poked up and noticed the buck met our gaze again, and just a few seconds later the buck stood up broadside. We rushed to sit down and Dad had the range exactly three hundred yards away. Once I got the gun up towards the buck it trotted a bit higher away from us and was about to go behind some trees. I figured it was around three hundred and fifty yards away, so I aimed accordingly and fired.
As soon as the shot went up I immediately noticed it didn't sound like a normal hit. Which surprised me for it felt like a good shot placement. I looked back at the deer and it looked confused it looked around a bit and started jogging away into some pines. After the shot, another small buck ran off as well. We looked to see if the big three-point I shot at would come out of the pines but we didn't notice. We figured we should wait a while before heading there to look for blood. After about an hour of waiting and eating breakfast, we headed over. As we drew near where the buck was bedded we began scanning for any signs of a hit. We even looked at the top of the ridge and on the other side, but there were no signs of the buck.
After concluding it was a clear miss we stopped and ate lunch. I was upset that I had missed and was confused, for it felt like a good shot placement. Dad consoled me by telling me he and my older brother Dallen have missed multiple bucks with muzzleloaders over the years. Where they have even missed much closer bucks than this one. Dad finished by saying that weird things can happen with Muzzleloaders. After he said all of that I felt a bit better as we crossed over the ravine and sat back where I had originally shot at the buck.
At this time it was a little past noon and we were a little tired so we took naps and would occasionally look out for any potential deer coming. Unfortunately, it started getting too hot to stay there for no shade was on the hillside. So around three o'clock we hiked back to the other side and hung out under a massive tree with branches draping over us like a big umbrella. After less than an hour of staying there, we spotted a two-point dashing down from the left side of us and bed down less than fifty yards away from us. During this time Dallen was hiking down and went to the spot we were previously at.
We were hoping other bucks would do the same thing this small buck did but unfortunately, it didn't happen and we took a shortcut up the hill by hiking from the bottom of the rock ravine. That night we planned on doing the same thing for the last day of the hunt, for we saw plenty of deer in that area. The next morning when we were hiking down we immediately saw some deer on the ridge close to us on the right. There was a decent three-point among some small bucks and does. We decided to go after this three point which was a little over three hundred and fifty yards away. We planned to sneak up just a little closer to take a shot but as we were walking towards it unfortunately some ATV drivers sped past on the road not too far away from us and bumped the deer over the ridge.
We began walking faster and crossed the ridge but didn't see the deer. We began walking around to the left to look further down the canyon and that's when we bumped them and they began running way down. It was unlucky the ATVs bumped them out of range. We didn't close the distance in time to get a shot. After bumping the deer out we sat on some rocks and had breakfast. Then we hiked back up and sat at that good old spot not seeing much, just a few does till Dallen arrived later that night. When Dallen arrived and we started talking we figured out how Dallen missed the four-point buck in this area. When Dallen was using his range finder it wasn't matching with the yardage of Dad's range finder.
Photo of me and Dallen glassing the last night of the hunt.
This was because the range finder was on the wrong setting showing meters instead of yards. This was annoying news but was nice to clear up why he was missing. We sat there the rest of the night seeing deer in the canyon. Unfortunately, we couldn't get any bucks on this hunting trip but we had some good tries. After this hunt, we again went to the shooting range to test our muzzleloaders. We set out a target at the exact range of the buck I missed and immediately after shooting at it, we noticed it was way too high missing the target by several feet. This explained how the buck reacted when I shot at it, it had gone way over his back into the trees. I didn't see dust kicking up on the ground near him. Dad just mentioned we needed to get a new scope for the muzzleloader. Dallen then shot his Muzzleloader with the Leupold Freedom RDS with this scope he can dial the yardage. After shooting his he figured out the yardage listed on the sticker was wrong so we adjusted accordingly.
Dad decided to order the same scope on his muzzleloader, which has a chevron aiming point and the option to illuminate the reticle when twisting the dial on the side. It is a Primary Arms SLX 1X MicroPrism. I liked that it had two options and went well after shooting it at the range. The color matched the Muzzleloader quite nicely as well it is an FDE color like a beige. Hunting with a Muzzleloader I've learned that it requires great patience and being in the right spot at the right time. It would be best if you almost predicted where the deer will go. It is more challenging than regular rifle hunting, but it is something I'll get used to as I continue hunting with Muzzleloaders.
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