I am a Blackfoot Indian from the Peigan Nation and the
Blood Tribe here in Alberta. I am 38 years old and have been hunting my whole life. For 10
years I have also successfully guided for trophy whitetail and other big game here in
Alberta. Over the years a lot of trophy whitetails have been taken on our reservation. In
fall of 2003 I had the permission and certified guides for a mule deer hunt in a prime
area just outside the reservation.
I got my hunting gear together, cleaned my rifle, a 7 mm
Remington Mag with iron sights. I also made my lunch, knowing it might be a long day. My
nephew Jamie and I discussed the area where we would be hunting, as we had not been there
before. All my supplies were ready to go by 10 p.m. I was not able to sleep well that
night. Tossing and turning may have been a sign of excitement thinking about big bucks.
However, I managed to get a few hours of sleep and was ready to go.
My alarm woke me up at 5 a.m., and I was up in a flash. I
turned on the coffee, went downstairs, and woke up Jamie. Over breakfast we talked about
the scouting that our guides, Jason Abery and Jeff Anderson, had done weeks prior in the
area. They said they had spotted a lot of big bucks, five of which were about 180 or
better. We planned to hunt in Southern Alberta, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains,
near Cardston, Alberta. This area had been known to house many monster mule deer and was
familiar to my guides. I was excited because this was my first time in the area. I wanted
to look at a lot of bucks; my goal was to settle on a 180 or better. As we hit the road,
destined for Cardston, Alberta, we discussed our strategy. This was open country with a
lot of coulees and open prairies. I knew wind direction, scent, and camouflage would be a
factor, but we were prepared for all situations.
 We pulled into Cardston at 7 a.m. to
meet our guides. I introduced them to Jamie. After a brief visit we were on our way. As we
drove to the area we would be hunting, we started to see packs of deer, which looked like
little herds of cattle, in each field and coulee. We were able to park and glass the huge
area with spotting scopes. For the first half hour we spotted 10 nice bucks. My heart was
racing because of the number of deer in the area. I was looking at one particular buck in
the herd that would have scored 180 or better. Jeff suggested I hold off, as we would
drive to another area to glass the field for the monster buck he had seen weeks before. We
stopped the vehicle, got out, and spotted about five nice muley bucks and 20 does. As we
were glassing the area, Jason tapped me on the shoulder and said, "I want to show you
something that will score 200 or better."
I looked into the field close to an old dried up ravine and
saw the buck of my dreams. Jamie and I started up the ravine downwind of the buck. As we
got closer and closer I would peek over the edge every 50 yards. I was closing in on the
deer. The last time I looked over the edge I was approximately 300 to 400 yards away. With
my hands sweaty and my heart pounding, I almost decided to launch a shot from there. Then,
crawling on my hands and knees, I decided to close the distance to 100 yards. About 200
yards from the buck I looked over the hill for the last time; the buck looked right at me
broad side. I froze on one knee and within a split second I threw a bullet into the
chamber, placed my iron sights on his front shoulder, and squeezed the trigger. I hit the
buck through the front shoulder. The buck stood there as if the bullet did not phase him.
I threw another round in and was ready to deliver a second shot when the buck started
wobbling, ran backwards and dropped. I did not feel like celebrating just yet, until I
knew he was down for sure.
As I approached, the first thing I noticed was the spread
and points on the buck. He had such a big body I couldn’t believe it - the biggest
mule deer I had ever seen on the ground! When I got him on the ground I looked at his
teeth. All he had was just a couple of teeth left on the bottom right side. He probably
wouldn’t have made it another winter with his age. We estimated him to be from 10 to
11 years old. His antlers may have even been on his downswing; who knows how big this buck
really was in his prime a few years before. We brought him back to Jeff’s place and
hung him up. All my friends and co-workers came over and admired him, and we took a bunch
of pictures. We estimated him to be in the high thirties as far as spread, but it
wasn’t until we were at Jeff’s that we had the chance to pull out the tape
measure. We were amazed to find that this 10 x 9 buck was 41-inches wide!
 After
the drying period this amazing buck measured out to 40 ¾-inches wide with a score of 236
gross and 226 net B&C non-typical. He had a 32-inch inside spread along with 28-inch
main beams to go with massive eight-inch bases. Bucks here in Alberta had scored higher,
but not too many had been able to put together this kind of a package with amazing
characteristics on the antlers and body size. Alberta usually grows them heavy and tall,
but to get a legit 40-inch wide buck in 2003 was truly an incredible accomplishment. I
would like to thank my wife of 20 years Joan, my daughter Kara, and my dog Macey for their
love and support over the years. 
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From
the Oct/Nov 2004 Issue of Hunting Illustrated Magazine - posted Sept 8, 2004
