The DIY Hunter

Hunting with Dallen

At the end of July I broke my scaphoid bone in my right wrist while helping the scouts (Landen and KB) on their 50-mile bike ride for their biking merit badge. For a silly little bone, I had no idea how painful and extremely long it takes for this bone to heal. And yes, I finished the remaining 15 miles of the ride one-armed. I felt I earned the merit badge.

Dallen sighting in rifle

Dallen at the bench preparing for the hunt.

Given my wrist was broke I was glad that I drew a rifle deer tag and I picked up a muzzleloader elk tag. These two hunts are Utah's latest big game hunts in the fall giving my wrist time to heal the most before my hunts.

Dallen drew a muzzleloader deer tag and wanted to pack in for a few days to hunt the area he rifle hunted last year. We loaded up with supplies to last for a week and headed into the backcountry.

As it worked out a couple of days before the hunt was my 8th week since I broke my wrist and the doctor removed the cast and upgraded me to a wrist brace just in time for the hunt.

Dallen glassing for deer.

The night before the opener we headed in going a mile or more past where Dallen shot his buck “First Try” last year. We setup the tent in the dark and enjoyed a chicken and dumplings Mountain House meal.

The next morning we were in a great position to view a lot of country and glass and glass we did but we couldn’t turn up a deer one. Not good. Come afternoon we caught a glimpse of a single doe and that was it. So we hiked back to camp and moved another mile and a half up the mountain that afternoon. Again that evening watching other areas we didn’t find a single deer.

Browning 7mm Rem. Mag. case.

With me working at Browning it was cool to find this old cartridge on the mountain.

The next morning as we headed out we quickly spotted a couple 18 inch wide bucks moving out down a canyon. We swung around trying to get a better look and they made it past us into the heavy oak brush. Dallen was able to pick them up again later that morning and we confirmed that it was a 2 and 3 point in the 18-inch wide variety. Not what Dallen was after for now.

We spent the rest of the day hiking and glassing only turning up a few does in the distance.

The following morning we took off early and hiked into the very back of the property and down into some beautiful canyons only to find a single doe. Most likely one that we had found the day before. Chalk up another four miles of hiking on the feet. Thank goodness I found that trail running shoes make for the best hunting shoes (as long as the weather is good) so my feet did just fine carrying my heavy butt around the mountain.

18 inch 2 point buck spotted.

One of the best bucks we found on the public side of the fence, an 18 inch wide 2 point..

That evening we met up with some friends on horseback and tried to locate the two bucks from the day before for their youth hunter but we couldn’t find the bucks again. Darn it.

That night we broke camp again and moved farther to the north in the dark to hunt some different canyons the next day.

This move proved good. The next morning we found some deer. We ended up finding four small bucks and a number of does. We tried to outsmart a really tall narrow three-point but somehow he gave us the slip. I thought we had a brilliant plan to trick the buck but the buck vanished. Who got tricked? LOL

Small 2 point buck.

The buck Dallen passes on just to come back days later and find again.

That afternoon we packed up camp and started wheeling off the mountain stopping to glass along the way. We found a small two-point and a spike. Dallen was ready to shoot the two-point and I think I talked him out of it. So back to work, we both had to go for a few days.

After work one night Dallen headed up alone to look for deer. Just before dark, I got a call that he had one down. I loaded up some gear and headed up the mountain to help him. He was about two and a half miles in and by the time I found him he had completely boned out one side of his buck. Incidentally, it turned out to be the same two-point he passed on when he was with me the week before. Too funny.

We flipped the deer over and was able to take some photos without you knowing the other side of the deer was a skeleton.

Even though this was Dallen’s smallest buck he has ever shot I was most proud of him going out and doing it by himself. Nice job hunting solo Dallen.  

Dallen with his 2017 muzzleloader mule deer.

Tagged out antler.

The next day my two youngest boys wanted to go look for deer. Landen had a rifle tag and in Utah, youth can use their rifle tag for all of the seasons, so up the mountain, we went. We found a great bull elk with a bunch of cows across on the private side of the fence and we also found some good bucks on the wrong side of the fence. We did find three small bucks that were the size of Dallen’s but Landen wanted to shoot something bigger than Dallen’s. Too funny.

Landen knew he still had the rifle hunt in about a month so we weren’t too worried about passing on the little bucks.

More great memories with my boys. 

So next up is the rifle elk season with Landen and Dallen both having tags. Blog entry coming soon.

Elk just over the fence.

Watching elk during the muzzleloader deer hunt.


Hunting sunset.

The sunset from the mountain.


Coyote watching us.

This coyote watched us for a bit out of muzzleloader range.


Hunting with my younger boys.

Hunting with my younger boys.