My Arizona Strip Buck

I remember the day I found out that my hunting partner and I had got drawn for the strip. Normally that time of year I attend the Arizona Bowhunter Happening in Flagstaff. This year however, I stayed in town and fished a club tournament at Alamo. Before I left to the lake I paid the $5.00 and called the Game and Fish to find out what I got drawn for. You know how it goes with the butterflies in your stomach as you punch in your numbers. Well the first thing I here is congratulations, you were drawn for Deer, hunt number 1020, then I'm sorry you were not drawn for Elk, I'm sorry you were not drawn for Antelope, I'm sorry you were not drawn for Bighorn. Well I was disappointed because I really wanted that Archery Elk tag. Then I thought, wait a minute, I grabbed the regs and thumbed through the Deer section and realized that we were drawn for 13B! I couldn’t believe it. I fished the night tournament that night and I must have had that hunt on my mind because I didn't do very well. My fishing partner (Chuck Holland) also put in for that unit and when we got back from the lake he ask if he could call the Game and Fish from my house to find out if he got drawn. Chuck put in with 3 other people on his application, and I'm thinking that he doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell. Well he made the call and guess what, yes they got drawn! I couldn't believe it. That meant 6 people out of 75 tags were people I knew. The next day I went over to Don Mortensbak's house (my hunting partner) and was there when he pulled in from the Bowhunter Happening! I ask him how the shoot was and he said it was great! I said man you are going to need some new tires on that truck and he bent over and looked at them and said why? Then I told him, because we are going to the strip!! He said your kidding me and said no we got drawn! Well after that Donnie really didn't care if he got drawn for anything else, but he called the Game & Fish while I was there and found out that Him and his boy (Dustin) had drawn a tag for Archery Elk in 5B south. Donnie harvested a nice 6x6 Bull and Dustin got his first Elk (spike) but that's another story.

Anyway, Donnie and I started planning our trip and talking to anyone we could to find out information about that area. We talked to friends who had hunted the area before and had success and it helped us decide where to hunt. I would like to thank them for sharing information! Because of work obligations we couldn't get much time to scout. So we planned to get up there a week early to scout. This is when the adventure begins!

We arrived at our came spot on Sunday afternoon and set up camp. We had borrowed a 10 man arctic tent from a hunting buddy. We just got the tent and our canopy set up and it started raining, and it rained all night. We found out why they call it a 10 man tent, it takes 10 men to set it up! The tent worked out great! Wood burning stove and all. Next morning we went out and scouted in the rain, we didn't see a deer. When the rain stopped, We went back to camp and finished setting up camp. We scouted that evening and that’s when the story begins. As we were riding down a road to check out a possible hunting spot, some does crossed the road in front of us. We stopped and looked and there he was! He was only 50 yards off the road and he didn't care about us, all he cared about was the does. He sure looked like he was rutting, the way he was following and sniffing the does. We had plenty of time to check him out. Believe it or not at the time, we were debating if he was a shooter or not! He was a nice 4x6 and heavy, on his left side he had a 10" eyegard. He was definitely unique. We watched him for a while and then left him alone. We did see him one more time that evening. The next day it snowed and Donnie said this looks like a nice day for a Quad ride. So off we went, and we covered some ground. We saw two nice four points by themselves. It was cold, and it snowed off and on all day. The rest of the week we really didn't see much, a couple of small bucks.

Opening day- That morning we got up and we knew where we were going to hunt! We got Ready to go and I ask Donnie if he had a coin, and he said oh, you want to flip for him! I said you never know, but if we see him we will know who is going to shoot! Well I won the flip, but we didn't see him that morning. (By the way, we did decide that the buck was a shooter). That morning Donnie hunted by a water tank and turned down about a 24" 4x4. We were not seeing the deer I thought we would. The next day, a good friend a mine and fishing partner, Chuck Holland, scored on a nice 23" 4x4 with deep forks. Nice Buck! Three days had gone by and I had not seen a buck, and Donnie had turned down another 4 point. Every night we would talk about that 4x6 buck knowing he was there and if one of us didn't get him that someone driving down the road would probably see him. It didn't matter to us, which one of us would take that buck as long as he was hanging in our camp! Monday morning we were going to try another area and Donnie said if you want Bob, we can stay around here, we know there are deer here and that 4x6 is around somewhere! Well I'm damn glad he said that. We split up that morning and I went to try this area where Donnie had seen the 4 point. I parked my quad and marked on my GPS and took a long walk in an area where we had seen some deer and close to where we saw that big buck. Well, I didn't see any deer but I saw a lot of sign. Donnie called me on the radio and ask how I was doing and I told him I was going to try another area down by camp. Donnie said he just bedded down a three point and a couple of two points. Nothing worth taking this early in the season. Well I got back to my Quad at about 09:15 and took off down the road back to towards camp. As I was coming up to a water tank I see a bunch of does leaving the tank. I thought that has got to be him with that many does. I pulled off the road and grabbed my gun. I didn't even look though my binoculars, I knew it had to be "him". I put my scope on the does as they were leaving, looking at the does one by one, and the all the sudden, IT'S HIM! At about 200 yards put cross hairs right behind the shoulder, then all the deer stopped running, and started just walking around. I didn't have a clear shot at the buck because of all the does in front of him or behind him. So I just kept holding on the kill zone as much as possible. It did give me a chance to calm down. All the sudden three or four does started to run, then they all took off, and I'm thinking I hate running shots. I was holding the cross hairs right behind the shoulder and getting ready to squeeze when he stopped and started walking again. This time it was clear shot. I squeezed the trigger and Bam! I looked and the buck just started running, I thought dang! I chambered another shell and got him in my sights and at that time he fell and rolled in my scope. What a sight to see! I tried to call Donnie on the radio but he wouldn't answer. I went over to where the buck was and he was down for good. It was a good shot, right through the lungs. When I walked up to that buck I couldn't believe it. The buck we wanted and talked about from the time we saw him was laying there from my bullet! I took some pictures, and got ready to gut him and I thought I'm going to try to call Donnie one more time, this time he answered and I said hey, get your butt over here! I got the one we wanted.

Donnie was a long ways away so our transmission was breaking up. He couldn't hear everything I was saying. I don't think he knew that I shot "Him" until he got there! When he showed up, believe me there was some high fives and handshaking going on. 

I have to say I have been hunting with Donnie for about fourteen years. He was with me for my first archery Deer, first archery Elk, first archery Javelina and first archery Antelope! Now my biggest Deer ever! He is a great hunting partner and friend. We have had many success stories and many good times even when we didn't kill anything. You don't have to tag out to have a good time! I haven't had the buck scored and I don't know if I will, but I know he will look good on the wall!!

Written By Bob Ballard