Idaho Super Tag Mule Deer

by Ryan Smith

Wow, what a season! My hunt started back in July when my brother, Dallas, called me at work. I believe that it started out with something like this – “You lucky man! Your name was drawn for the super tag!” I couldn’t believe it. That was the best $50.00 I have ever spent.

After the initial shock wore off, it was time to get down to business. I started scouting and looking for a “Wow” buck. I decided right off that I was going to hold out for a buck in the 220-inch+ class. This was a crazy goal for a guy that hadn’t even broke the 200-inch mark yet; however, my mind was made up – 220 or tag soup.

Fortunately for me, my brother lives right in the middle of the units that we were planning on spending the bulk of our time in. My personal scouting trips consisted of my son Kody and I heading out on Friday evenings and returning home on Sunday. Dallas and I both videoed many unique bucks; however, we had not found anything that hit that 220-inch mark.

At last October rolled around and we were finally hunting. Our first week of hunting was done with muzzleloaders – “traditional” muzzleloaders. Both Dallas and I would be carrying guns during this season because he had also obtained a tag. The first couple days we saw many good bucks, but none of them really got our full attention. On October 10th, we finally saw a good buck. We both agreed that this buck would go over the 200-inch mark. After a flawless stalk, we found ourselves in shooting range. We were inside of forty yards and we were both pretty confident at that range. It was then that my brother told me that he thought that the buck was probably better than we had first thought. I told him that it wasn’t the buck that I was looking for and that if he didn’t want it, it was time to leave. After a brief argument under our breath, he decided that he would give it a go. After a few more steps to get into the perfect position, the wait was on. The buck was bedded facing directly away from us with the wind blowing right in his face. After what seemed like an hour, but in reality was probably only ten minutes, we decided that it was time to make the old boy stand up. One good coyote yip is all it took to get his attention and that is when the excitement started. The buck turned and stood up in one fluid motion. Dallas was ready and he squeezed off his muzzleloader. The cap went off and the buck jumped, took half a step, and then the gun went off. The buck dropped like a rock. After a quick reload, we both ran up to where the buck had fallen. One more shot finished off the monster muley. The buck ended up scoring 204-inch B&C. Unfortunately, in his fall he broke off a tine that would have put him around 209-inch gross. What a buck!

Now it was time to find the “Wow” buck. We spent many days hunting the different units that we had scouted so hard during the summer months. We saw many great bucks and at least three bucks that would have gone over the magical 200-inch mark. However, every one of these bucks fell short of the 220-inch mark.

Due to business obligations, I was scheduled to be out of town the last week of one of the premier units that we were hunting. My brother was a bit irritated to say the least. I told him that if a monster showed up, to get a hold of me. I didn’t mention that the trip that I was leaving on was a deer hunting trip on Catalina Island.

On November 2nd, I was in my second full day on the island when my cell phone started receiving messages. I had one from my dad and five from my brother. Every message was telling me that I needed to get back home because a monster had shown up. It turned out that a good friend of ours has a ranch that is located in the middle of some of the best late-season mule deer country there is. Earlier in the season, we had run into Lou Anderson and I told him that I had been fortunate enough to draw the super tag. He said that if anything showed up around his place he would be sure to get a hold of me. Well, that time was now.

So, after some explaining to my boss and customers that it was a life or death situation, it was time to figure out how to get off the island and back to Idaho.

With some quick goodbyes, I was off to catch the last boat back to Long Beach and from there I caught a one hour cab ride to LA. Unfortunately, I had missed all of the flights out of LA to Boise that night. So, I found a hotel and made arrangements to fly out the next morning. I made preparations to have one of my friends, Ryan Leggett, pick me up at the airport the next morning.

Saturday morning, I got on the airplane and arrived in Boise without a hitch. Then it was off to meet my brother, as well as Chuck and Jesse Shenk – these two folks were soon to become my new friends. We arrived at the ranch and immediately started hunting and glassing. We looked over every piece of landscape possible. Let me remind you, I had yet to see a good picture of this buck, or the buck at all for that matter. After pushing some brush patches and only seeing small bucks, I was wondering if what they were calling a monster buck was really a monster. Around 3:00, Chuck drove up and said that his wife had made some fresh apple pies and wanted to know if we would like to go and visit for a bit and make a new game plan. Well, we got to the ranch house and Jesse hadn’t just made apple pie, she had an entire meal laid out for us. “Awesome” is the best way to describe it. I can’t explain in writing how nice and hospitable these folks were. After enjoying the great meal and pie as well as lots of great hunting stories, we decided that our best bet was to head back out and glass for the evening. If that didn’t work out, we would make plans to meet up the next morning before light and catch the buck moving from his feeding grounds to his bedding area.

As we were leaving the ranch house, we decided to glass the surrounding sage hills that bordered the corn fields. Within a couple minutes of glassing, Dallas had spotted the buck. The buck had just stepped out of a patch of Russian olive trees and was heading into the cornfield in hot pursuit of a doe. The stalk was on. My brother and I jumped into the empty ditch that skirted the cornfield the buck was in. I couldn’t believe that this was how it was going to end. After walking miles and miles of sage and lava flats, I was going to shoot my monster muley in a cornfield! So, after coming up over the bank and getting the camera and myself set up, I finally took a good look at this monarch of a buck. Wow! I shouldn’t have done that because, for the first time since I was a kid, I started to get a bit of buck fever. I told my brother that I needed to take a second and gather myself. I took about five seconds and turned and squeezed the trigger. For security, I put a second shot in him even though it wasn’t needed – the buck was on his way down. I couldn’t believe it, I had finally gotten my “Wow” buck. The entire hunt and kill scene can be seen on Burly Bucks 3. The buck unofficially scored 219-inches B&C, and is 34 ½-inches wide.

Now it was time to celebrate and take pictures. I can’t thank Lou Anderson, Chuck Shenk, and Jesse Shenk enough. Without their help none of this would have been possible. I also need to thank all of my friends and family for their help in taking this incredible animal. Special thanks to my brother, Dallas Smith, for everything. Thank you Tina, my wife, and Candice, my brother’s wife, for understanding this crazy passion that my brother and I have of hunting mule deer.

Xtended Info

Name of hunter: Ryan Smith
Location: South Central Idaho
Private or public land: Private
Guided or self guided: Self guided
Date of harvest: 11/3/2007
Time of day: Late afternoon
How many days scouted:July-September
How many days hunted: 18 days
Weather conditions: clear
Temperature: mid 50s
Terrain/Cover: Lava and Sage flats bordered by agriculture fields “corn and alfalfa
Spotting scope: Swarovski 20-60 65mm
Binoculars: Swarovski 10×42 EL
Range finder:Nikon Buckmaster
Footwear: Danner Pronghorn
Pack:Badlands 2200
ATV:Bomadier 800
Rifle/Muzzleloader Hunts Rifle
Gun (make/model): Remington 700 BDL
Caliber:300 win. Mag.
Bullets:150grain Winchester Supreme
Rifle scope: Leupold VX-1, 3-9
Phase of the Moon: waning crescent with 31% of the Moon’s visible disk illuminated