In Utah, if a youth draws a rifle deer tag, it is valid for all three of the hunts; archery, muzzleloader, and rifle. So you can imagine my excitement level when I found out that I had drawn a rifle tag this year! I could not wait for the hunts to start!

My dad thought it would be best if started our scouting just prior to the muzzleloader season so, that’s what we did. A couple weeks before the hunt, we went out and found a couple of nice four-points that were a little over 28 inches wide. Those bucks got me really pumped up and that muzzleloader hunt actually ended up being great. In fact, on the last day I shot at a couple of decent four-points, but I missed. I could have taken a smaller buck during the week of fun, but I really wanted a four-point or better…so my dad and I let the muzzleloader season end with my tag still in my pocket. There was one thing for sure though, I really had buck fever and I couldn’t wait until opening day of the rifle hunt.

After almost of month of anxious waiting, it was finally here! We woke up at 5:00 am, (my parents can tell you that no matter how early I have to get up to go hunting, I always jump right out of bed.) But this year, it was a little easier because dad and I knew that there were still some quality bucks in the area where we were going to hunt. I was also excited to be hunting with my older sister, Crystal. We kind of have this competition thing going and as we headed out that morning, I teased her by saying that I was going to get the biggest buck between the two of us. She just gave me that smile that seemed to say, “We’ll see.”

As the sun rose that morning, we were all in our places. My dad and I watched as the deer were milling around in the trees below us. Then, through the crisp mountain air, a single shot rang out. As it echoed off the hills around us, my dad teased by saying, “Hey Zac, why couldn’t that be us…it’s always the other guy, isn’t it.” You can imagine our surprise when a few seconds later my sister Crystal got a hold of us and said, “Hey, I got one.” As we approached Crystal’s buck, it appeared as though I was going to have my work cut out if I still wanted to outdo her. But when I saw her buck up close, I pretty much admitted defeat right there. Crystal had just shot a 29 ½-inch wide, 2x5 that had some broken points off of the one side.

After a couple days of hunting, I found myself in a great opportunity to take a buck. So, I shot the two-point and, in all reality, I was happy to do so. However, when dad and I walked up to him, we could tell something was wrong with him…he looked sick. Later, as we were skinning him out, we could tell that the meat was bad. So, we called the Fish and Game and they came and looked at it. They quickly agreed that the buck was rotten, so the next day they issued me a new tag. My dad told me they would have to take everything including the antlers and he asked if I would be sad since it was my first buck. I said, “That’s okay, I have pictures.”

The next evening my dad and I ran up the mountain after he got off work to see if we could find a healthy buck. My dad had asked me to pack the truck and have it ready when he got off of work so that we could just head out, and I thought I had done a pretty good job. But, as we started seeing deer, we realized that I had forgotten to get the binoculars. Uh-oh…dad teased me about being forgetful and I just said, “Hey, every time we forget something important, we see a big buck. So you see, I did it on purpose.” (I’m pretty sure dad knew I had just really forgot to pack the binoculars.) Well, as we started seeing deer, we couldn’t really see if they had antlers or not so my dad tried to use the scope on my gun. We ended up seeing a nice 4x5, but I couldn’t get steady enough to shoot him before he ran over the hill. After that, my dad and I went and got on the four-wheeler and drove around. We saw a couple of small bucks that night but nothing I wanted to shoot. Since I had already shot the spoiled two-point, I was back to trying for a four-point or nothing.

Since we only had a couple more days to hunt, dad and I felt that we had better just go for it. So, I skipped school and dad skipped work to go hunting the next day. We woke up at 5:00 am again but on the way up the mountain, I got car sick and threw up. That slowed us down a little bit and I felt bad. But then I remembered that I had also gotten car sick on the day I killed my two point…so I decided it was good luck.

When we got up to where we had been hunting the night before, we began scanning the area. After a while my dad got up and went to go look over the hill. A few seconds later, I heard him quietly whistle. But as I started walking towards him, he motioned for me to grab the shooting sticks. Unfortunately, I thought he was motioning for me to sit down…so I did. A few seconds later, I could see the frustrated look on his face when he saw that I wasn’t over by him yet and so I quickly made my way over to him. When I got there, he pointed out a nice four-point that was now moving away from us. Although we tried to get closer to him, we never did.

After a while, we headed to where we had seen the buck from the night before. We had just started to go over a little hill, when suddenly a big old buck jumped up and took off! It all happened so fast that I wasn’t able to get a shot off in time. We quickly made our way to where he had run from and we jumped him again. My dad yelled, “Shoot him, shoot him!” As he was bounding along the edge below us, I shot. The buck quickly locked up the brakes and just stood there. So, I shot again and this time the buck took off.

We watched and listened as he bounded out of sight and then, after what seemed like forever, a loud crack echoed through the air. It sounded as though he had just crashed into a tree. Just then my dad asked if I thought I had hit him and I said, “Yes.” We started walking and after a while, we saw a drop of blood about the size of a pencil eraser. Then there was no more blood for a while. Here and there we would find a couple of drops and then a little bit later, there were big splatters. Things were just starting to look up when all of a sudden, a four-point walked out in front of us at about 30 yards. He stopped and looked back up the hill for a minute or two before walking off. Not long after that, five does came down and looked up the hill at the same spot the four-point had. They didn’t even notice us, (it was pretty cool), but soon they walked off. It was just then that I looked up the hill and saw my buck! For a few seconds, we watched as he struggled to move but soon we were scrambling to get into position for another shot. He kept laying down, leaving his antlers to tower over the brush…it was an unforgettable sight! I eventually got set for a shot and my dad told me not to shoot close to the front end. The adrenaline was almost too much and that first shot was a miss. However, dad calmed me down and after putting another bullet in, I steadied up and shot again…this time he was down for good!

As we walked up on him he didn’t look that wide because of all of his mass and everything else. But the more I looked at him the wider he looked. In fact, as we lifted his antlers from the ground, we couldn’t believe our eyes! I started counting the points and I was in disbelief as I counted 8 on one side and 7 on the other. I was so excited that I had gotten a buck this big (oh and that I had finally shot a bigger deer than my sister), but I was more excited that I had shot a buck this big! As my dad and I started giving each other high fives, we began joking about a guy on a hunting show that we had seen the night before. He was going nuts, pumping his fist while saying, “That’s what it’s all about!” And in fun, my dad and I did the same thing…we pumped our fists and shouted, “Now, that’s what it’s all about!”

Dad’s Notes:

Zac has always had an incredible love for hunting. He started going out when he was only 5 years old. Even at that young age, at 5:00 in the morning he would spring from his bed if I so much as simply uttered the words, “It’s time to go hunting.” He was always eager for the day ahead. We would hunt all day and he wouldn’t miss a beat. But as soon as we hit the truck he would sleep all the way home. The next morning, he would be ready to do it all over again. Friends and family would frequently comment about how they couldn’t believe he could go all day at just the age of five. At the age of six on a cold spring morning he sat under a tree for an hour before sunlight while it dropped four inches of snow. By then, I knew Zac had a true love for hunting.

For me it was so exciting to have a boy who loved to hunt so much, be able to harvest a buck of this magnitude. I have two older daughters who have accomplished many great things in sports. Zac shooting this buck was like one of them hitting a walk-off homerun or making a 3-point shot at the buzzer to win the game. This could be one of the coolest things to happen to him and I want to thank Ryan Hatch, his staff at MuleyCrazy, and all the many other wonderful people for making it all the more special.

SCORE:235 

POINTS: 7X8

SPREAD: 35