When Opportunity Knocks!

By: Randy Brooks

When my good friend, Dave Scovill, called me about a Sonora mule deer hunt that was less than three weeks away, I wondered if he had lost his mind. Just getting our gun permits in that short of time seemed like a pretty tall order to fill. Not to mention finding a quality guide to plan and scout. However, Dave was quick to tell me that our mutual friend, Chad Smith of Vaquero Outfitters, said that he had an opportunity to lease a special ranch that he had been trying to get for over a year. After a short conversation with Chad about the ranch, we started packing.

A short two weeks later found us at the ranch where we were greeted by the land owner and his family. Shortly after getting settled in, Josh and Jason Whitaker, a.k.a. “the twins from Colorado” rolled into camp. They had been scouting for a few days so we discussed what our plan of attack would be for the following morning. The twins had located a big typical on the northwest side of the ranch where there were several high points that would be ideal for glassing. So the next morning found Jason and I going north while Josh and Dave headed south to our separate high points. After a thirty minute walk, we arrived at the top of our knoll. Once we were elevated, we could see a lot of country. We had not sat down five minutes when I saw a buck down in the flats. I signaled to Jason and he brought his bigger optics and tripod to get a better look. There aware four bucks together and one was a great buck. Jason could tell he was heavy and wide, and that he also had extras on both sides. Knowing that we had a shooter, we planned our stalk. But before we took off, we noticed that the big buck had stopped to feed on some cholla, while the other three bucks kept moving southwest. This created a problem because the wind was coming out of the northeast and we would risk blowing out the other bucks before we were in range of the shooter. We were debating on what to do when suddenly, the wind started coming straight out of the north. After making sure that the wind was constant, we made our move.

We had picked out a few Palo Verde trees as a shooting position and after making it to them, Jason quickly set up his tripod so that I could shoot from a standing position. This was a must due to the tall vegetation. After waiting it out for a few minutes, it was obvious that the buck was not going to be visible from our position so we slowly started moving to our left, one step at a time. After about ten yards, Jason spotted the buck’s muzzle and throat patch through some thick brush. I didn’t have a clear shot and the buck had no idea we were there, so we just waited for him to make a move. Moments later, the buck started moving to our left so I got ready. As soon as he entered a small opening, I took the 250-yard shot and the 180-grain triple shock did its job. As we approached him I soon realized that he was everything I was looking for. He was a little over 32 inches wide with eight scoreable points on one side and six on the other. Back at camp we gross scored him at 209 4/8 inches.

What an ending to a short, but sweet, mule deer hunt south of the border. I would again like to thank Jason Whitaker, Chad and Shawn Smith, and Agustin Hurtado for making this great experience possible.