2012 turned out to be another great year for the Bucks & Bulls® organization and it’s hunters. Elk proved again to be spectacular. When our clients can come with us and chase big bull elk in the peak of the rut with a rifle and have 95% success, Those hunts will be nothing short of spectacular! Also, when 14 hunters can harvest bulls at an average of 365″ B&C on just one of our leases, spectacular! Long time client Kyle Krause and guide Travis Adams took a tremendous bull in 2012 that made the all-time Boone & Crockett record book with a score of 412″ Gross and 404″ net. Hunters also found many bulls from 280″-390″ to chase and harvest at a success rate of 95%. For instance Andrew and Dennis found a couple of dream bulls on one of Bucks & Bulls New Mexico ranches and with the help of guide Jim Yarborough wasted no time in harvesting the respective 355″ and 345″ bulls. Pure, wild, free ranging, fair chase hunting at its best! This kind of quality does not come by way of luck, it comes by a scientific formula over many years of collecting data such as over all population, age structure, bull to cow ratios, calf/fawn survival rate, mother nature and least of all Boone & Crockett score. With all these numbers in place one can determine a harvest rate. I can tell you the rate of harvest is going to be very low across the board. That in a nutshell is why Bucks & Bulls® is so successful. The formula works with deer and antelope also.
Speaking of big mule deer bucks, positive growth is on the horizon. 7 bucks over the magical 190″ mark, with an average of 6.5 years old was what our deer hunters found in 2012. Thats pretty good considering 2007 winter kill. 2013 looks very good for big mule deer bucks, simply because of the mild winter as far as snow depth and the sheer number of 4-5 year old bucks our hunters passed on. Some of these hunters seen 15-25 140″- 170″ bucks per day in 2012. All across the west was close to the same story. Utah more than ever has started to wake up and see the mule deer NEED to be managed if they are to survive the many variables going against the majestic mule deer. Needless to say the future is looking better for the deer, hope we can keep improving.
Giant antelope bucks, once they get in your blood… your hooked. Arguably some of the largest antelope bucks in the entire antelope range are harvested by Bucks & Bulls® clients each year. 2012 was no different and that was following one of the worst droughts in 50 years. Even still 4 out of 10 hunters harvested Boone & Crockett bucks. Amazing is probably the best word to discribe our New Mexico leases for giant antelope bucks. Remember the formula earlier in this report… thats what we strive for. Thanks to our wonderful loyal clients/friends for coming out each year to enjoy the opportunities Bucks & Bulls® has to offer. We are working hard as always to stay as one of the premier outfitters in the west!
