While horseback riding in familiar country, Rod Taylor along with his two boys, Jeremy and Dillon, spotted a buck that, at first glance, looked bigger than your typical Utah muley.  Upon closer inspection through spotting scopes and binoculars, the image through the glass revealed a buck whose horns resembled the snarly branches of a dead cedar more so than buck antlers.  For the next several minutes, they sat there in awe of this magnificent animal, exchanging looks of disbelief and words that can be summed up into one simple phrase..."I don't believe it".  

 

The three of them soon came to the conclusion that someone needed an opportunity to harvest this once in a lifetime trophy.  Jeremy mentioned that Rand Newby, a gunsmith at Christensen Arms, drew the 2007 Sportsman Tag.  All three agreed that this buck was definitely deserving and well worth it for Rand.  With the sun sinking rapidly behind the mountains to the west, the buck bedded down below some steep cliffs under an aging cedar tree.  The Taylor's knew that they stood a good chance of the buck not moving again until dawn so they decided that Jeremy would ride off the mountain and contact Newby.  In the meantime, Rod and Dillon, with the aid of a bright full moon, would stay with the buck to keep it in sight.

Eventually Jeremy contacted Rand who was accompanied by his dad, Michael, and his brothers Dustin and Shad.  Christensen Arms guide and cameraman Andy Christiansen made the trip as well to capture the hunt on film.  With Jeremy leading, they wound their way up a gorge and into the neck of a narrow canyon laden with boulders, sage brush, and cedar trees.  Rand, like any hunter in his position, was full of excitement and nervousness as he listened to the descriptions from Jeremy and thought about the sight of this enormous deer in his crosshairs.  

After traversing the canyon, the silhouettes of Rod and Dillon came into view with the moon still casting an eerie glow onto the land below.  After Rand settled in and located the buck, the only thing that seperated the two from each other were 420 yards of uneven Utah terrain and six hours of murky moon cast shadows.   Being in this situation, you can imagine that everyone was hoping for the perfect scenario.  From predators, to catching the hunter's scent, waiting six hours for shooting light provided ample time for the buck to spook and run.  At this point, the hunters knew that their skill level had taken them as far as it could.  They had done everything in their power to ensure that Rand had a chance at a successful shot.  As each of them took turns watching the buck, the others slept and during this time it became clear that luck would be the ultimate decider of their fate.

With the moon setting about an hour and a half before sunrise, there was a period of time where the buck was lost to darkness.  As it turned out, the buck seemed to take advantage of this and moved from its original bed unbeknown to the hunters below.  As dawn finally approached, Rand and the rest of the hunters were scrambling to locate its new position.  Spotting scopes that only a short time ago contained an enormous Utah muley, now held an empty bed and a lone cedar...

 

After Finishing the Story on the Next Page, Watch the Trailer for the Upcoming 2008 Episode!