John Iacopi, Stockton, CA.
Dear Serge:
Here’s a picture of me and the buck I successfully harvested on 11/3/12.
Tough hunt in unit 143, but a great fair chase hunt it was. I scouted in late September and saw very few deer. This hunt, under tough conditions including hot weather, dry conditions, full moon, heavy winds, etc. proved to be a challenge. However, I never saw another hunter and had some of the best country I have ever seen wide open to me. Public lands. Water, cover, feed, access….no issues. But no deer. I think they moved out of the higher elevations.
I hunted the three mountain areas and beat the brush, glassed till my eyes watered and never saw an animal the first two days there.
On day three I finally found, at daybreak, a nice sized herd of deer (about 15) containing this buck. I glassed them from one mile out feeding on a low ridge. The Leica 10x42HD’s were outstanding and from that distance I saw the cream colored butts. Then I switched to the Kowa 25 x 80 spotting scope and picked up the buck trailing the herd of does and fawns.
On went the backpack, grabbed the shooting sticks, heavy Danner boots and off I went. A one mile hike/stalk and crawled the last twenty five yards to an outcropping where I set up. The deer were gone by then as they moved to their bedding areas in the heavy junipers.
I waited for 30 minutes and finally the buck moved out at 238 yards. I turned the scope up to 10X and, when he briefly paused between two junipers, I sent the 140 grain slug on its way from the Brown Precision .270. He dropped. A nice mature 23” buck…mature and heavy…considering the conditions this year I am very pleased. He has real character.
Getting him out was a challenge as I was alone but with some dicey driving in 4WD I maneuvered the Toyota down the canyon and loaded him up. Was at the locker 4 hours later and my hunt was over.
Thank you for the opportunity to obtain this tag from you. I was very pleased with the area, its history, and the people. I stayed in town at the Best Western, ate quite well at the Owl Club, Eureka Café and shopped at Raines Market. The museum was great and I bought books and studied the area and its history. I was surprised to learn that donuts were invented by the Pony Express baker. Interesting.
I used this trip and the related long drive to get there (the loneliest road in America – Highway 50) as a time to contemplate the “ifs” in life, think through various business alternatives and give thanks for all of our blessings. The ultimate in “me time”. I will return. A real challenge to my conditioning and, as I said, “fair chase” all the way on public land.
Thanks again.
John Iacopi
Stockton, CA
Want to experience this kind of hunt, call Serge at Urge2hunt and book a mule deer hunt for 2013 while they last.
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