My 2013 Muzzleloader buck (details)

The next sighting of the Beamer buck was on Aug. 4th but we didn't even know it was him at the time.
My cousin John had called me to say that he had been scouting an area about a mile from where I had seen the droptine and beamer bucks. He found another great buck. He said it was a solid 28" wide and had cheaters on both G-3's. He also said it had real good fronts that opened up a lot like a big buck we saw last year that we called "lookout" but just not as big. So we decided to call this "new" buck "little lookout". Since John had never seen my video and I never saw his until two months later, we thought there was an additional big buck in the area. Here's video of my buck that John took on Aug. 4th. It was really windy that day, so it's pretty shaky.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za9Av1Kitf4

Well the next two months came and went with not another sighting of the raghorn droptine buck or "beamer". We archery hunted in the area and scouted more but just had no idea where the bigger bucks disappeared to. We did see some great bucks in other areas but just couldn't get in on any of them either.
After having a very tough time hunting the first three days of the muzzy hunt in very bad weather. It was late Sept. and a cold front had moved in with low clouds, which made it very hard to see more than a few hundred feet most of the time. The weather finally cleared on the 4th day and we decided to head back to the area of the droptine and beamer buck to see if other hunters may have pushed them into the area again.

Sept. 28th
On this morning my cousin John, his daughter and friend Tom all headed back to the canyon we had seen the raghorn and beamer bucks during the summer. Tom went and checked out another canyon at first light and the rest of us headed further up canyon. We made it to our glassing spot about 20 minutes after it was light enough to see well. Within minutes, I could hear rocks rolling across the canyon but we could not see what was causing the ruckus. That can be very frustrating, know something is there but not able to spot it.
Then suddenly I looked straight across from us and there was a group of bucks right out in the open about 500 yards away. Sometimes I find myself glass so far away, I tend to overlook the closer deer. Problem was, we were right out in the open too. We slowly picked up out packs and snuck back over the ridgeline and out of sight. It was a relief to see the bucks still feeding as we looked back over the ridgeline at the bucks. There were 5 bucks together, all 2.5-3.5 year old bucks, with nothing scoring over 140". We kept looking for more deer, when I finally spotted a big buck bedded about 300 yards above these other deer. It only took a few seconds to realize it was the beamer buck and John said it was the same buck he videoed on Aug. 4th.
Here's some video of the buck bedded. Sorry, not the best quality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8H9ctJzTdM

To be continued.....

I called Tom on the radio and told him that I thought I had found a shooter. He arrived to our location in about 15 minutes, where it would have taken the average guy about 45. He looked at the buck through the spotting scope and then commented... " you want to shoot that buck?" I could tell he wasn't impressed. I looked again, to make sure he was looking at the right buck. The buck was facing sideways. I told Tom he needs to see it when it turns and looks right at us. Right then, while Tom was looking through the scope, the buck turned its head. Tom instantly commented, "that's a big buck". But I still was having doubts, if that was the buck I wanted to go after.
I asked Tom if he thought it would even go 170". He said... "if that buck doesn't go over 170", I'll tag it myself". Now he really wouldn't have done that but he was that sure of its size.
He then said.... "you should at least go up there and get a closer look". I ask John if that would be ok, while he and his daughter tried to get closer to the other bucks we had seen earlier. I packed up my stuff and headed out. Even with a 20 mph wind blowing from the South.
I felt it would be best to approach the buck from the South and get above it. I stayed on the backside of a ridgeline while I climbed higher onto the mountain. The wind started to shift different directions, which had me concerned that the bucks might scent me at some point. It took over an hour to get to the point that I was safely above the feeding bucks. Now it was about 11:00 am and the wind was steady and blowing up slope in my face. I was feeling good about my chances now. Then Tom called me and said the bucks had bedded about 200 yards below me. I started to sneak that way but then I got into about 3" of very noisy, crusty snow. So I sat down and tried to come up with a plan B. A little while latter, Tom called me again and said the bucks were up and feeding again and were heading in my direction. I stood back up a few minutes latter and waited for what seemed like a very long time. Just when I was about to move again. I saw antlers moving in the brush, right when a nice 3x4(that was with the beamer buck) came into the open, I dropped to the ground as fast as I could. As I glassed through the brush, I could see that the buck was staring in my direction. He had seen my movement. He never moved for about 10 minutes but finally started feeding again and moved out of sight.
I moved to a spot about 20 yards away where I could see further downhill, hoping for a better shot opportunity. I continued to wait and watch for any movement. It seemed like I was waiting for almost an hour, when I caught antlers moving in the brush below me. After glassing for a couple seconds, I could see that the lead buck now was the Beamer buck. I now could see he had a lot of character to his antlers but I still wasn't sure how big he was. I finally decided if I got a clear shot, then I would take it. Right when I had him in my crosshairs of my 1X scope at 50 yards, Tom calls on the radio and says... " just make sure that's the buck you really want to shoot".
"Are you kidding me", I thought. The timing was awesome. I then pulled my head away from the scope and looked at the buck as he lifted his head and looked side to side. At that moment. I new he would be the biggest buck I've taken in Utah yet. I quickly aimed behind his shoulder and fired. The buck ran off like nothing was wrong. "How could I have missed", I thought. Tom then called again and told me the buck ran about 80 yards and bedded down in some thick brush. I knew he must have been hit.
I snuck down there and shot him again at about 15 yards. He jumped back up and ran over the ridgeline and out of sight. I could see blood spraying out of his side as he ran off, so I knew he wouldn't go far. He made it about another 80 yards before he went down for good.
On a side note, John and his daughter just missed out on one of the other bucks. They must have been winded by the bedded bucks.
The next day Johns daughter killed a nice young 4 point in the same drainage.
Here's another picture of the four of us.
The buck was 27" wide and scored 172"

Cool stuff Ridge, thanks for the story and photo. I would have shot that buck for sure myself also. Looks like I was 3" high on my score guess.

Brett, you were very close.