When The Utah division wildlife called me and asked if I
wanted the Paunsaugunt
management tag, I was pretty excited! I said “yes” so fast she kinda laughed
and then told me all the rules and the price of the tag and then I decided I
better talk to Kyle about it!
When I called Kyle he thought that I was just being funny,
but then after a few minutes and me knowing a lot about management deer he got
pretty excited to!
We had just spent the last two 4 days weekends elk hunting
and we had only been home for one day, so we were ready to sleep in our bed for
a few days, but we were both still excited!
My mom was nice enough to come over for the whole week and
watch the girls. The girls were so excited for grandma Merri to come over so I
wasn’t to worried about leaving them, but it was still hard.
We left Tuesday morning but had to stop in St. George to
do some shopping for the week and find some orange, cause Utah is the only
state you have to wear orange, and I think that rule is a stupid one! By the time
we got all the things we needed done in St. George and on the road we were
kinda late. Neither one of us had ever been to the Paunsaugunt so we didn’t know
where to camp or what to expect. Luckily Kyle has a friend that lives in Kanab
that helped us out a lot.
After we got the trailer set up, we went for a little ride
to see if we could see anything and get a plan for the next day. We didn’t see
any deer and decided that we were to high up, so we would go back down a little
and try it in the morning.
There is sand everywhere, and that is not what we are
used to so I was scared the whole time we were in the truck that we would be
stuck, so most of the time we rode the 4-wheeler, early in the morning, when it
is freezing.
That first morning we rode the truck for a while but then
when it started to get light and we were scare we were going to get stuck, so we got the 4-wheeler out, at 11*, it was
cold, really cold! We didn’t really see a lot of deer and it was so thick that
unless the deer were right off the side of the rode we knew we wouldn’t see
them.
We were kinda nervous and didn’t really know how to hunt the
area, we had just came from hunting elk where you go find a high spot, glass,
then make a plan. This was not like that, it was more like road hunting and
Kyle was just frustrated and I was just tired! So after no luck that morning we
decided to go down to Kanab, eat at wendys, call the girls, and talk to Kyle
friend.
After talking to Mark, he told us where to go, so we went
and tried it! It was in the middle of the day so we really just were going for
a ride, but as we were driving we seen lots of deer tracks and decided to get
the 4-wheeler out. We didn’t really think we would see anything, so we were not
at all ready. When we turned a corner there was a huge deer in the middle of
the road, but the time we got off the 4 wheeler, got the gun out, made sure he
was only 3 points, he was gone! So we got back on the 4-wheeler and started to
drive and then seen him and 3 friends in the trees, so we got off and tried to
run after them! We of course did not
catch them, but got more hopeful!
Thursday morning we went back out to Nephi Pastures and went
on a long ride, I may have feel asleep on the 4 wheeler this day! We only seen
a few and, well, I am slow I was told! I would have to jump off the 4 wheeler,
get a bullet in the gun, then try and aim, all before the deer ran off the side
of the road into the thick trees! Needless
to say we didn’t have much luck!
Mark decided that he would come out and show us around where
he liked to hunt on Thursday night. So we just rode around by the trailer till
it was time to meet him, then got in with him while he drove.
We seen one big deer right off the side of the road so we
stopped to see if he was only a 3 point. The deer was perfectly still while we
looked at him at like 20 yards away. His head was just at the right angle that
you couldlnt tell how many points he had, right when we decided that he was a
decoy poaching deer he got up and walked away, he was to big for me to shoot
anyways.
We seen a few more but they also had one to many point for
me to shoot. Mark is a little bit of a
crazy driver, so we were happy to make it to the truck in one piece and we were
glad he took us out and showed us where to go.
Since we had seen some big deer out where we were we decided
to go back out in the morning on Friday. As we were riding on the 4 wheeler we
seen a group of deer, so of course we jump off and got the gun ready, and these
deer were still there, so I tried to get a good shot on the one that was a
small 3 point, but for some reason I shot really low. But the deer just slowly walked away, so I shot again, and
totally missed again. After this I really
wanted to give up, I think I had had to much hunting, but Kyle just told me to
get back on the 4 wheeler and we would look for more deer!
So we did.
We rode down the road a little further and we seen more
deer, so we jumped off and Kyle told me to get ready, so I took the safety off
and as I took it off, the gun also went off, right in front of Kyle. The deer
did not move, but I bawled for a good 2 hours and Kyle just told me it didn’t hit
him and to stop crying. But I just kept crying, Then to make me feel better
kyle told me, “it wouldn’t have killed me, it would have just blew my leg off
and made it so I couldn’t work or do anything I loved, like hunt," all while
laughing. I did not laugh!!
After missing a deer twice and then about shooting my
husband, I was over hunting, so we put
the gun away and just went for a ride. While riding around we seen a deer that
was still in the velvet and almost black, he was pretty cool looking. We also seen
Doyle Moss from Mossback riding around. We decided to go back to the truck and wait
for my dad and troy to get there since we weren’t seeing much and I still didn’t
want to touch the gun. We were not paying attention when all of the sudden
someone came up right behind us and honked. It scared the crap out of us! When
we looked back, Troy and my dad were having a good laugh!
Since they were there we rode around with them for a while
then they decided that they were going to back and get Jayden and come back in
the morning!
Me and Kyle rode around till it was getting dark and then started to go
back to the truck. When we were almost there Kyle seen a deer. He was just far
enough away that it was really hard to make sure he was only a 3 point. After
sitting there with the gun on him for a few minutes, he slowly got up, turned
the only way we didn’t want him to and walked into the trees. We were pretty
sure that was the deer that Doyle was looking for, and we tried to find him
again, but the trees were just to thick and he was just to smart!
On Saturday morning,
we all got in the xterra and went on our way. We seen quite a few, but we let
them get away. Then after only about 30 minutes of riding around we seen a nice
2X3. So I got out, aimed, and pulled the trigger.
But this time I shot his foot. Yes I know, I probably should
have quite when I almost shot Kyle! So we looked for him for a few hours, but
we finally decided that there was no way that I shot him good enough to get him
down, and there were about 100 more deer with him so it was impossible to track
him.
After we found my dad, who decided to take off with no cell
phone or radio, we went off for another ride! We seen a few more bucks that as
soon as we saw them, Dad, Troy, Jayden, and Kyle all jumped out and put the
binoculars on it and would go back and forth on if it was a 3 point and if I
should shoot it! By the time they decided on if I should or could shoot, the
deer had wondered off into the trees and was impossible to find again!
We rode around all day laughing, looking for deer, and
eating, it was so fun! When it started to get later in the afternoon we made
our way to the area that we had seen a huge 5 point the day before. We were just
bebooping along when Kyle yelled, “get out there’s a huge one.” So we all jumped
out and I was getting a bullet in the gun when they figures out it was the 5
point we seen the day before. Then my dad says “oh my god, theres one right
above it.” Then Kyle yells “get that gun ready” so I did! While I was trying to
find it in the scope my dad keeps saying” it’s a 3 point jess”, while troy
keeps saying, “it is WAY bigger than a 3 point”, While kyle says, “look at the
huge 2 point”, all while I couldn’t find any of them in the scope!
Then I found the 2 point and I was trying to get steady,
when they decided I should shoot off the hood of the xterra, as soon as they
turned it off, every last deer ran into the trees!
We were all still pretty happy cause it was so cool see the
huge 5 point and the even huger 7 point so we were still talking about it and
going to try and go get behind them to see if we could find them again. Then as
we turned the corner the huge 5 point a a few does were about 20 yards away,
just standing there letting us watch him. A little further up was the huger 7
point and his does, we watched him for awhile then decided to leave and see if
we could find anything I could shoot.
We were just going down the road when Kyle seen the 2 point,
we got out and went looking for him but just couldn’t find him in the thick
trees. So we just kept going down the road.
At this point it was getting dark and my hopes of killing
something were dwindling.
Then we turned up the road and there was the 2 point again,
Kyle and I jumped out and I said a little prayer, aimed, and shot. But he ran
off, Kyle took the gun and started running. Me, Jayden, and my dad were behind Kyle about 100 feet when all the sudden he just started screaming! When we
finally caught up to him my huge 2 point was dead under a tree! Kyle was so
happy, I think he almost cried, my dad picked me up and hugged me and Jayden
was giving me high fives, it was pretty funny seeing how they all freaked out!
I was also pretty excited when I seen that I had shot and killed him in one
shot and didn’t wound another animal!
Really this was the funnest anniversary trip we could have
went on, If you ever get the chance to hunt on the Paunsaugunt,
even the management tag, take it! We seen so many deer and laughed so much, but
after hunting for about a month straight we were ready to come home, sleep in
our own beds and listen to our girls scream!
