Our deer hunting grounds might seem more like sheep or goat country to most hunters. Near vertical slopes covered in loose shale, thick oak, and reclusive pine trees, offer a great home to the deer that dwell here. But, the truth be told, that nasty stuff is just what we like; it’s what allows the bucks found here to reach a mature age and with that, comes the chance for an incredible set of antlers.

The “our” and the “we” I speak of, mainly consists of myself and my good buddy, Neil Duarte. Neil and I try to spend as much time as we can out scouting, taking video and photos and, of course, hunting sheds. Shed hunting is my second passion next to deer hunting and Neil is one of the only people that I share my shed hunting spots with, (next to my father that is). This year alone we have picked up over 170 sheds which is a pretty good haul for California. Above and beyond the thrill of finding a good shed, the information we gather about the types of bucks that live in certain areas has been invaluable. Which leads to why Neil and I had been putting in for a particular area of California for eight long years. During this time, nothing but unsuccessful letters had greeted us when the draw results came out. However, (at least for Neil), the 2009 season was going to be very different…he finally pulled the late season tag we both had always wanted!

While I had to miss the first few days due to work obligations, Neil had some great eyes and great help in the form of our other buddies. Matt aka “Whitey”, John, brothers Mark and JP, along with Neil had been pounding the countryside hard. The boys had turned up quite a few bucks by the time I was able to join in the fun. It was my first morning there, when Whitey actually ended up finding Neil’s “ace in the hole buck”. He was a 28 to 29 inch wide three point that, at over 2,000 yards away, looked very heavy. Little did we know at the time, that he was in full velvet! 

The very next day, as we all sat on our points, I caught a glimpse of a buck that had his head in a bull pine. It was tough to make out all that was there, but I could definitely see a good front fork, a good back fork, and a 6-inch kicker coming off his right side. I quickly had Neil looking through the spotting scope, as he had previously told me that he would love to kill a buck with some trash. We were both excited at what this buck looked to be, but unfortunately, he was a long ways off and with little to no time to make a play, we sat back and continued to glass until dark.

With everyone having to leave for work, it was down to just Neil and I for the rest of the week. Just as we made it back to camp, I received a voicemail from a guy I work with, Bobby. He was saying that his 15-year-old son, Zack, had drawn the same tag Neil had and was curious to see how we had been doing. Bobby had been in an ATV wreck a couple months prior and knowing that he still wasn’t fully recovered, I talked with Neil to see what he thought about inviting them to hunt with us. Neil had no problem whatsoever and with that, I got Bobby on the phone and offered him and Zack to come and have a good time. 

Since Bobby and Zack wouldn’t be there for another day, Neil and I decided to strap on the packs and head down to try and find the buck with the kicker. Both of us knew that the country wasn’t easy to navigate in the day let alone the dark and therefore, we opted to wait until daylight before we headed in. To make a long day somewhat short, we began 250 yards away from the last place we had seen the kicker buck but were devastated to only turn up two does! After seeing 10 to 15 bucks a day on this mountain you would think we would be able to find at least one, right? Wrong! Because of the warm weather, the lack of rutting activity, and our close proximity to the “ace in the hole buck”, we actually made a play to try and turn him. However, after a long day, we were eventually left with nothing but a long and steep climb out of the steep canyon.

Later that night, Bobby and Zack arrived and after acquaintances were made, we fed them a great dinner of deer and elk steaks while getting them up to speed on what had been happening. We explained how the hunting seemed to be getting a little tougher but that it still shouldn’t be a problem to find Zack a decent first buck. 

It actually took a couple days before things began to finally get exciting again. It was day 7 of a 9 day hunt and after a morning full of glassing up nothing but smaller bucks, Neil and I looked at each other and almost in unison said, “Do you want to go look for the velvet three point?” Thankfully, we were in fact able to locate the ace in the hole buck and it was truly awesome to watch Neil as he put the sneak on. Everything was working out great and before I knew it, I saw him raise his rifle. A few moments later, the sound of a connecting shot echoed up the canyon to me. The 2,500 feet that separated the downed deer and my truck seemed like nothing as I strapped on my pack frame and headed down the canyon to help my friend. As I neared his location, his sweaty face was priceless as he said, “You didn’t have to come all the way down here!” But both of us knew that neither of us would have let the other pack something out alone. We got to the truck late in the afternoon exhausted but still on cloud nine that Neil had filled his tag on such a unique buck. 

Whitey showed up later that night and we all agreed to concentrate on getting Zack his first buck. Since every place we were seeing the better bucks happened to be down in the steep canyons we knew the best shot was to take him down in after one. Around 9:00 the next morning, Neil and Whitey found another stag running with five other bucks. That was all we needed and off we went. When we arrived at the spot Neil and Whitey had seen the bucks, we saw that the four point we wanted was bedded. Since the morning was still cool, we figured he wouldn’t go anywhere for a while and so Zack, Neil, Whitey, and I started down the ridge. Since Bobby was not fully recovered from his ATV wreck a couple months prior, we had to leave him at the top to watch from there. 

As we got down to the last rock outcropping that we would be able to see the buck from, we carefully made sure he was still there before starting the crucial part of the stalk. Slowly making our way, we soon saw a perfect place to shoot from. We crept to the edge of the knife ridge and started looking across the area where the buck had just been. We had been scanning the hill for a couple of seconds when suddenly, we heard him heading down the hill below us! A wave of depression hit all of us as we realized that it was over before it even got going! 

As we were heading back up the ridge, we stopped to catch our breath and thought it a good idea to glass the country below. Suddenly, we all spotted a large-framed buck underneath a buckeye tree. We told Zack to get ready because he was on the move. Even though none of us got a great look, we knew he was more than enough buck. However, when he finally came out into the open, my jaw literally fell open! I immediately knew that I was looking at the most awesome framed buck I had ever seen! Whitey ranged the buck at 288 yards and told Zack to rest up and take aim at the top of his back. I don’t think Zack could help but feel the excitement from us because I know not one of us was very calm. Just as I looked back at the others and mouthed the words, “He’s over 30 inches,” the first shot rang out. A dust cloud emerged right over the buck and so Zack chambered another round, took aim, and fired again. This shot hit its mark and the buck staggered up the hill and laid down.

The intensity wasn’t over yet as the buck still had his head up. I quickly took my pack frame off and set it in front of Zack so he could get a better rest. With little to no shot opportunity, we quietly sat and watched with anticipation to see what would happen next.  Finally, the buck got back up and started walking down the hill. Unfortunately, before Zack could shoot, the buck laid back down. He did this three more times almost going over backwards twice. As the buck neared the bottom of the ravine, Zack fired another shot and although he hit his mark, the tough old brute continued on. Zack quickly reloaded and fired one more time, finally dropping the buck in his tracks! We all started to shout and cheer, knowing what caliber of buck we had all just been apart of taking.

We made our way down to Zack’s buck and admired how big he was. The 34-inch wide, 7x8 monster deserved a lengthy photo session before we began the chore of quartering and deboning him for the pack out. We made it back to the truck about 3:30pm, still excited and happy about the outcome of another unforgettable hunt with some of the best friend’s a guy could ever ask for. I would like to thank Neil and Zack for letting me be apart of their hunts. And a special thanks to Bobby for letting us take his son into some pretty rough country. Whitey, Mark, and JP it is, and always will be, a pleasure hunting with good company like you…thank you all for a once in a lifetime experience.

Points:  7x8

Width:  34

Gross: 212