SouthPaw Outfitters Hunters Journal 2010

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My Buck of a Lifetime

By: Stephen Gauthier

The chance to hunt the cold northern woods of Canada, chasing a monster

whitetail had been a dream of mine since I fell in love with hunting as a youngboy. Growing up into a family of die-hard whitetail hunters planted the passionfor hunting in me; and has grown into what some would call a sickobsession. My Father who owns an archery pro shop in northern Michigan,called Hunter's Shack, gave me all the tools necessary as a boy to chase thisdream; but probably the most important tool was his passion for whitetaildeer. He not only taught me how to scout, track, shoot and kill, but moreimportantly he taught me how to respect the game, nature, and to be thankful

for every chance we have to step into the woods. These ethics of hunting onlyfueled my fire deeper; to the point where now I live, breath, and dreamwhitetail!

In the fall of 2011 my dreams where coming true. My father, two uncles,a close family friend and myself were heading to South Paw Outfitters inAlberta for a nine day whitetail hunt! My family had been hunting there foryears prior to this trip, so the excitement was built. We knew the quality ofdeer that inhabited the area, and our hosts/owners Rene & Kelly Semplewere dear friends that would stop at nothing to make this trip unforgettable.We were also blessed to have my aunt Sandie and her new husband Steve incamp with us; as he was a guide for South Paw Outfitters and she wasstaying camp, while we were there.


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To have the chance to spend such quality time with family and friends madethe trip that much more meaningful.

As we arrived in Alberta the temperature was unseasonably warm but acold front was to be approaching in about three to four days into our trip. Thedrive from Edmonton to Alberta was breath taking and the anticipation ofgetting to camp was unbearable. We of course had to make a quick stop and

fuel up and when I say fuel up I mean getting 15 handles and about 10 cases,lets just say my family likes to have a lot of fun! I will refer back to this pointlater in the story as it played a pretty big factor in my hunt of a lifetime.Arriving at camp I was greeted by Diesel and Belle, two German Shepherdsthat were a great addition to camp. I am a dog lover having two GermanShepherds myself, so needless to say between having some buddies to playwith and Kelly who treated me like a son, I felt right at home. Things seemedto be too perfect and to this day I miss all of them.

Day one of the hunt temperatures were in the low 30's rising into the40's by noon. I was sitting on the edge of a wood line with a small alfalfa fieldout in front, surrounded by hardwoods. About twenty minutes after sittingdown I made a small grunt and a buck came crashing out of the woods. Hisleft beam was broken off but it made a great start to the hunt. The rest of theafternoon things were slow, giving me time to pull out my video camera tocapture the breath taking beauty of the country. On the third morning of thehunt we woke up to a cold front coming in from the north. The temperatures

had dropped into the single digits and were expected to fall between -20 to -30 with five to eight inches of snowfall by day six. Our spirits were flying highknowing the big boys move when it's cold. The rut was in full gear and it was

just a matter of time before someone got a crack at a buck.


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Around 9 am I heard a loud crash coming from behind me; I positionedmyself for the shot and as I turned around to grab my gun I realized thisanimal had made his way out of the woods and was literally standing rightnext to my blind. I slowly turned inch by inch and as I spun my head around Iwas face to face with a large bull moose. Steam blowing from his nostrils hestarred through me and pawed at the ground. Knowing how dangerous theycan be, I sat as still as possible. I stared back into his eyes for what seemed

like an hour. He finally turned and started making his way across the foodplot, my heart was racing and my adrenaline pumping, I reached for mycamera to capture the moment. That afternoon we decided to relocate and tryanother section of land; a 160 acre parcel with agriculture on two sides. It wasa thick swamp with tight shooting lanes running the length of the land.

Arriving at our new hunting ground, I immediately spotted a group oftrees tore up from a buck. What was strange was that every tree was aboutthree to four inches in diameter, shredded half way up and snapped in halfabout three feet off the ground. I knew in that moment I would be chasing thisbuck for the remainder of my hunt. After watching some small bucks chasedoes on the other side of the property, we decided that we needed to make amove and try to position better in hopes of a shot. We had long narrowshooting lanes with thick cover on both sides, so we decided to split thedifference and have options both ways with a closer shot. That night wechecked out the property on Google Earth and realized that there wasanother lane that split the property in half and connected to the lane we weresitting on. The plan on day five was for me to sit until noon and then we

would make our way to another small field hidden in the center of the swamp.My guide would then move the box blind to the center of the lane and I wouldhunt from there on day six. At noon, when I arrived at the field I noticedanother group of trees snapped in half and my adrenaline began to pump.


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I quickly set up a scent bomb, made a couple circles with my drag line andgot into my blind. I unpacked my gear and realized this blind did not have aheater, remind you it was -20 and dropping to -30 by nightfall. This was goingto be a test of mental and physical strength. Two hours into the afternoon sit heard some movement behind me; with all the fresh snow it was hard to tellwhat it was, but seconds later I heard some scratching on the back of theblind. I thought for a moment someone was trying to come into the blind, then

in the blink of an eye a 4x4 mule deer stepped to the side of the blind andonce again I was caught in a stare down. This buck was literally within a footfrom my open window. The cold, combined with my adrenaline, hit me all atonce and I began to shake uncontrollably. I held as still as possible and thebuck finally moved out in front of me and began working a rub where I hadplaced my scent bomb. Not having a mule deer tag, I pulled out my cameraand filmed him until he made his way back into the swamp. This was handsdown the most amazing experience I have encountered in the wild. I steppedout of the blind to try and warm up; fearing hypothermia would set in, and Irealized his tracks led him right to the back of my blind. The scratching I hadheard were his antlers rubbing on the door while he smelled the scent thatwas on the bottom of my boots. I sat until dark and by that time I was frozenstiff. It took for what seemed like an eternity to make my way back to thetruck. Another hour in that blind and I may have become a human Popsicle.

Arriving back at camp I was not only eager to tell my story of thisamazing encounter, but also excited for one of Kelly's amazing dinners! Myuncle Scott shot a big buck the night before, so for dinner that night we

feasted on his back straps along with plenty of other delicious side dishes.We were fed and treated like kings throughout our stay at South PawOutfitters and between a good home cooked meal and a couple snaps, I waswarmed back up and ready for day six.


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The next morning I was eager to get into the woods and see how therelocation of the blind was going to play out. As I made my way through theswamp I noticed two small scrapes on the far lane. We freshened them upand started a drag line to my blind. An hour into the hunt I had a cow mooseand her calf come across the new lane I was looking down. A small eightpoint whitetail buck chased a doe and a few other small bucks made their wayby. That evening as I walked out I made a mock scrape on both ends of the

lane and hung another scent bomb. The bucks were starting to move and Iwanted to catch their attention in hopes for a sighting the next day.Back at camp, the party was starting as my uncle Pat had shot a nice

eight point that evening. Spirits were high! We had two bucks on the groundthree days of hunting left and more snow on the way! Now lets refer back tothe beginning of my story when I spoke of us fueling up. It's now day six andRene had to go re-fuel because of the celebration going on in camp thatnight. That night we were celebrating the harvest of two great whitetails andthe brotherhood and bonds we had all made through our experience assportsman. Morning came fast and we awoke to 4 more inches of freshpowder, I was late for breakfast, but our great cook Kelly never let me gowithout a warm meal. Breakfast was waiting for me on the table with a letterfrom Diesel, the letter wrote Steve please shoot a big buck today so you canplay with me all day tomorrow. As I devoured my meal and raced to getready I had a great feeling about this morning, followed by a not so goodfeeling from the damage I had done the night before. We loaded up the truckand were getting ready to pull out when Diesel, the German Shepherd, came

racing up to the door. I stepped out to say goodbye, as we had established apretty close bond this week, when I realized he had something in his mouth.It was my v-muff, I had dropped it when leaving the cabin and he knew Iwould need it. It was the coldest morning of the hunt.


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It was a rough ride to the property that morning; I remember there were not alot of words spoken, but when we arrived at the property we both knew that itwas going to be a great morning. My Uncle Steve told me good luck, wepounded fists and I headed into the bush. I wasnt on the trail long before lastnights events began to sneak up on me. I started feeling very flush andwarm; I set my pack down and begin to open up my jacket; I was hit by awave of -30 degree wind and zipped my jacket back up pretty fast. As I stood

there gathering and telling myself how stupid I was for jeopardizing this day,as I loaded shells into my gun I realized I was standing directly over a freshscrape. I looked ahead and another scrape five feet in front of that and thenanother. I went from feeling like I was on the verge of death to a focusedpredator. I grabbed my scent line and started walking. When I arrived at thecorner where the two lanes met, I spotted the mock scrape I had made thenight before. This scrape was three feet in diameter the night before and nowit was eight feet across. I reached into my pack to grab my scent and reloadthe bomb, but just from the time it took me to walk 500 yards it was frozensolid. I threw it next to the scrape and moved quickly to my blind. Again, myadrenaline began to pump. I was focused and ready to make this my hunt of alifetime.

Fifteen minutes after getting set up I looked down the right lane towardsthe mock scrape, there was a buck on it but he was positioned behind a thickshrub. I slowly moved to get into position but it was on my off hand side so itwas taking longer than I had planned. I finally was able to turn and get him inthe scope, all I could see was his left beam, he looked to have five on his left

but I could not get a clear look at his right. This was the toughest decision inhunting I had ever made, he was definitely a shooter based on what I saw,the biggest buck I would have ever harvested, but I was faced with a neckshot only and no certainty of what his other beam was like.


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South Paw Outfitters thrives to shoot mature whitetail 4+ years of age,ensuring that great genetics stay in the area and bucks can grow. I decidedto let this whitetail pass and live another day, a decision that was about to payoff tenfold.

Five minutes later I heard crashing to my left, a small 6 point chasing adoe shot across the lane, minutes later a small 4x4 mule deer came throughlooking for the hot doe. I decided to hit a rattling sequence real fast to see if I

could pull the buck that was on the scrape back out of the bush. I had myeyes pinned to my right looking at the scrape waiting for movement, knowing had a hot doe cross the left lane I spun around to take a quick look and what saw was something you only dream about. At the far end of the lane, 5 feet infront of where my blind originally sat, stood a monster Alberta whitetail. I hadnever seen something so magnificent, the buck stood tall and proud staringdown the lane at my blind. I grabbed my gun and positioned for the shot, withthe stock resting on the window of the blind I tried to get my cross hairs on hisvitals. This was impossible, I was so nervous I literally was doing circlesaround the buck only seeing the white of snow in my scope. I took a deepbreath tried to hold on him and pulled the trigger. Nothing, I flat missed thismonster; fast as I could, I racked another shell into the chamber and at thismoment realized I only loaded two shells when I was walking in. Thecombination of seeing the fresh scrapes and then having a buck on thescrape at day break caused me to forget to load more shells. I knew this wasmy last chance, I stood up and decided to take the shot free hand, the buckmust have been confused by where the shot had came from. I took a deep

breath and held it, still shaking uncontrollably and doing circles around thebuck I was able to find his front leg. I raised the cross hairs, found hisshoulder and pulled the trigger. The buck dropped! The buck DROPPED!


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I could not believe what just happened, I flew out of my blind and begansprinting down the lane while trying to reload a shell. Shells were flyingeverywhere as I was too cold to do this while running. I stopped about halfway down the lane to load my gun and gather myself, the combination ofadrenaline, cardio, and a sour stomach had me praying to the gods for aquick second. Realizing I needed to get to this deer I made my way down thelane, when I arrived at the buck I was shocked how big he was. His head was

buried in the snow but his left g-2 was sticking up and it was all of 15 inches.I knew I needed to radio my uncle Steve so we could share this momenttogether. I sprinted back to the blind to get the radio. On the radio Iremember saying the same thing over and over. I shot a monster! I shot amonster hurry! It wasnt a minute later and I heard his truck charging downthe lane, he was arriving down the far lane where the buck had dropped, hepulled up, flew out of his truck and there the deer was. I came back out of theblind running and jumping in excitement, racing to give Steve the biggest hugI almost tackled him in the process. Telling him the story of what happenedthat morning we both sat next to the buck in awe of how big he was, Stevepulled out his camera and we captured this historic moment in my huntingcareer. As he asked me questions about the hunt, I was so choked up I couldbarely speak, this was the moment I dreamed about, having the opportunity toharvest such a majestic whitetail. We sat out in those woods for whatseemed to be an hour sharing a bond together that would never be broken orforgotten. We finally decided to load this buck and make our way back tocamp.

Arriving at camp with a mass of antlers hanging out the side of the truckquickly caught everyones attention. My father who had came down with theflu was not hunting that morning and was the first to get his hands on thatbone, we were all amazed at the mass, and length of his G-2's.


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Mr. Bailey another guest in camp shot a moose that morning so Rene was onhis way back to camp along with my uncle Scott. We decided to pull a fastone on Scott so we backed the truck into the garage and closed the door, wetold him my father was getting worse and we needed to fly back early. Scottis a die-hard hunter so as he walked into the garage he was not very happyabout the news; he looked up saw the mass of bone and did about three backflips in excitement. It was the best experience I have ever had, celebrating

this deer with my family and friends made everything just perfect. After anhour no one could take it any longer and the measuring tape came out. Istood off in anticipation as they scored the antlers, however score did notmatter to me, the hunt, the harvest, and the experience is all that mattered.When they finished everyone took a guess at what it may be, most peoplethought in the 170's, some thought 180's, final gross score...197 5/8 inches!!A typical 10 point that had a spread of only 17 inches and scored that high.

That is a monster! The garage erupted; it started as hoots and hollers andthen led into tears of joy. We as sportsman acknowledge how rare harvestinga buck like this was. It was truly a Buck of a Lifetime, emotions swept overme and tears started flowing. It was tears of joy, tears of hard work, and tearsof thankfulness to all my family and friends for helping make this dream areality. It is amazing when a whitetail can make 10 grown men cry. I amforever grateful to my father who introduced me into hunting, to my uncleScott for his passion to hunt, Rene & Kelly for the opportunity, and my uncleSteve who put everything on the line to give his new nephew the chance tomake his dreams come to life. I love you all more than words can explain and

look forward to the day when we are loading that plane heading to South PawOutfitters.

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SouthPaw Outfitters Hunters Journal 2010