Is it too late to get in your big buck contest??  Just kidding. 

Anyway I just returned from the AZ Strip hunt after 15 years of applying. Conditions were tough, two snowstorms, rain, full moon, and alot of wind. The deer were starting to rut a little but it was spotty.

I passed on a couple of 200" bucks on opening day then it got really tough with the weather. This buck quit hitting the water catchment two weeks before the hunt started. We finally found him on the last day of the hunt.

He was sneaking down into a deep canyon where it looked like he'd been living for a while. I shot him going through the brush when my guide doe called him and he looked up at us.  He was in the bottom and we were 360yds away at the top of the canyon head. 

He scores 239 6/8"  34" wide with a 221" frame and 44 4/8" of mass. And he has only a 4 1/2" G4 on the left side and 1" of G1's (eye guards) If he had normal length on those things he'd be close to 260". The right side horn scores 116 4/8" by itself. We worked pretty hard to get this buck and I couldn't be happier. The strip is a pretty tough place to hunt under good conditions so this year was extremely tough.

Take care,

John