The year 2001 had already been lucky for me. I had drawn an archery bull in Arizona two years in a row, the second without any bonus points. I had also drawn an Arizona strip deer tag. Little did I know that the elk tag would be the biggest factor in my harvesting the buck of a lifetime.

    I had drawn for archery elk in the same unit as my good friend Brady Dupke (AKA 421 Brady). We gave Brady this nickname because he arrowed a giant 421 non-typical bull in 1993, and he doesn't let anyone forget about it. Two great things happened on my elk hunt. First, Brady helped me harvest an awesome 6 X 7 bull that grossed 354 Pope & Young points, and second, and most important for my deer hunt, I met Ryan Hatch and his wife Alicia. Alicia had drawn the same elk tag as Brady and myself.

    Ryan Hatch is one of the most quality individuals I have had the pleasure to meet and, bar none, the best mule deer hunter I have ever known. Ryan lives in the heart of monster mule deer country in southern Utah, and truly lives and breaths mule deer. Ryan spends all of his time videoing and watching big mule deer bucks. When I told Ryan that I had drawn an Arizona Strip tag, he got excited and asked if I had an idea where I was going to hunt. I told Ryan that I had never been to the Strip and he gave me a "you've got to be kidding" look, and said, "If you have room I want to go". I knew I was in for something special, but little did I know it would be the hunt of a lifetime.

    We had a full house in the "Strip" camp. Brady was guiding his client Lee Walund. Jim Parker who had also drawn the buck lotto, would be hunting with his longtime hunting partner Keith Gowen. Ryan and myself would make it six. He told us to set up camp in an area where he had been watching several giant bucks. Ryan said 2001 had been his best year to see big bucks on the Strip. He told us about two unreal bucks that lived only about a mile apart. One incredible buck he called the Strip monster. It had 11 points on one side and 12 on the other. He had watched this buck growing bigger and bigger since 1997. The buck's estimated spread was 38 inches. Ryan said that in 2001 he thought it might just be the biggest buck he had ever seen and thought it would score around 270. The second was the Doe Hole buck. He then told us stories about the Doe Hole buck.

    The Arizona Strip is a place of few deer and it is not uncommon to hunt all day and never see one. It is also common to see more bucks than does. The hunt always takes place in early November when the bucks are starting to move from their summer areas to the rutting areas. He had found an area close to the big bucks that always held about five or six does. On the Strip that's a doe hole. In 1998 he watched a 5 X 5 buck about 28 inches wide in the Doe Hole. The buck had a small dropper, but had giant eye guards of about five inches. In 1999 he spotted the buck again. The buck had exploded in size and had grown to an 8 X 9 about 30 inches wide. The drop tine was now about 10 inches long and both eye guards had split. Ryan videoed the buck and thought it would gross about 210. It was now named the Doe Hole buck.

    The amazing part is that the buck was lying under the same tree that he had seen it under in 1998. He looked several times in 2000, but without success. On his first trip in August 2001, he found him. Ryan and his friend Tory Brock watched and videoed the buck for about two minutes. The Doe Hole buck now had about 10 points per side and tons of mass, but the most impressive parts were the eye guards. Several points were sticking from the back of the eye guards on each side. All of us thought the buck might score about 240 B&C after watching the video.

    Opening morning we were glassing from a knob overlooking a beautiful cedar chained area, looking unsuccessfully for the Strip monster. After a couple of hours Ryan wanted to show me the Doe Hole. I was quite skeptical when he took me to the small draw and pointed to a large pinion pine tree and told me that the Doe Hole buck would be within a few hundred yard of that tree when the rut started. The only spot that you could adequately glass the Doe Hole from was a mountainside about a mile away. Ryan strongly suggested Jim, Keith or myself glass this spot morning and evening.

    I consider myself a pretty good hunter, but as the days passed I was amazed with Ryan's mule deer hunting intensity. Ryan can track mule deer over the roughest terrain faster than most people can walk. He literally jumps barbwire fences like a deer and even driving with Ryan is an experience. Everywhere he goes, he drives like his backside is on fire. It was simply fun watching Ryan in action.

    After several days of hunting we had passed up several nice bucks, but had not seen either of the two monster bucks. Hopes of harvesting one of them started to dwindle when we received word that another hunter had possibly harvested the Strip monster. With this information Ryan had us focus our attention on the Doe Hole buck. On the fifth morning, Jimmy and Keith decided to glass the Doe Hole from the distant mountain. Ryan and I would get closer and glass from a different angle.

    We had been glassing for about an hour when Ryan found five does in the Doe Hole. We had seen no sign of rutting activity and werenÕt surprised when the Doe Hole buck wasn't with the five does. Another hour of glassing proved fruitless, so when we saw JimÕs truck coming off the mountain we went to meet them at the base of the mountain. We were surprised to find that Jim and Keith had watched a buck only about 200 yards from the Doe Hole's big pine tree. Jim had watched the buck walking slowly for about 300 yards and his first impression was it was too small to be the Doe Hole buck. Ryan grilled Jim about points, mass or anything that might lead us to believe this could be the right buck. Jim explained that he was glassing directly into the morning sun, making it impossible to determine points. Jim said the buck looked narrow, with better backs than fronts, and kind of webbed.

    It was 10 a.m. as Jim walked us down to the place where the buck crossed into the Doe Hole draw. The second Ryan saw the massive track he said excitedly, "That's the Doe Hole buck"! He had tracked and videoed the buck only a month before and told us that it would be rare for another buck with a track this size to be in the Doe Hole before the rut. It was decided that we would trail slowly, with me behind Ryan, while Jim and Keith would walk about 50 yards to the side. Jim looked at me and said, "Let's go get him on the ground Bucko!"
    Ryan tracked the buck for about a half-mile over rocky ground on which it was virtually impossible to see tracks. The buck was walking right to the area where Ryan and I had seen the does earlier. Suddenly Keith was motioning to a spot about 300 yards across the draw to the five Doe Hole does. To the left of the three does a buck walked between a gap in the trees and stopped with his antlers hidden from our view. The does could see us as I scrambled for a rest on the cedar tree. I settled the crosshairs on the buckÕs white patch, and waited for what seemed like forever.

    I've harvested several game animals including moose, mountain goat, caribou, desert and stone sheep, and deer. As everything started to happen I was shaking so badly you would have thought it was my first hunt. It all happened so fast! The does turned and started walking in front of the buck. Still unaware of any danger, the Doe Hole buck turned to follow the does. His massive head came into view and Ryan hissed, "It's him all right, shoot him now". I held right on and squeezed the trigger and the distinct sound of a solid whap of the bullet was heard. It didn't slow him a bit! Actually, the old buck acted as if nothing had happened. Jim shot from the ridge above and we didn't know until later, while skinning, that Jim's bullet had hit just below the spine.

    Now the buck was moving out of sight fast and Ryan jumped up and yelled, "Come on, let's go". He later named this 200 yards down the ravine and up the other side of the draw where the buck had vanished, "the Wampler Dash". As I neared the top Ryan was already sitting just below the crest of the ridge waiting for me and whispered, "He's standing 150 yards down the draw. Take a second and catch your breath". When I finally quit gasping we peeked over the ridge and saw the buck facing straight away. Ryan said, "He's got to be hurt bad. Get a rest and I'll make him turn broadside". Ryan had done a lot of amazing things in the last five days, so I believed him. He whistled loud, and the buck exploded into a run. I don't know what I expected, but Ryan had scared the buck to death. Then he screamed, "Shoot! He's getting away"! I fired at the now running buck and dust kicked up over his head. Jim, who couldn't see the buck before this because of a tree, now fired from 400 yards, turning the buck down hill. As the buck bounded I fired in mid-stride and he dropped. The shot hit the tough old buck in the spine dropping him for good. Ryan later described it as "a missile of luck".

This beautiful Arizona Strip buck was taken by Jim Parker during the same hunt and scores 188 gross with a 27 - inch 4x4 frame

    On the last day Jim, Ryan and I spotted another great buck. A perfect stock, an excellent shot, and Jim collected a great 4 X 4. It was 27 inches wide and had a 188 gross frame making this the perfect ending to the mule deer hunt of a lifetime.