We had an incredible hunt in the Caprock Canyon State Park. The area in and around Caprock Canyon State Park is beautiful and RUGGED. It was a hard hunt. Bailey drew the blue section which is cool because her favorite color is blue. Unfortunately the blue section has very little flat land up top and is mostly the rugged canyons.
Luckily the weather was fairly good and we were having a good time and seeing lots of cool stuff but seeing no deer.
We hunted hard the first day and the morning of the second day and still saw very few deer. Seems most of the deer were hanging near the maintance barn! We did get to see some awesome sunrises and sunsets though.
After the second mornings hunt I approached the rangers about possibly switching to the red section (which has the far east part of the park and CR 29 in it) to take advantage of the wheat fields. The rangers then informed us that there was a wheat field west of the property line in our section. The landowner of the adjacent property happened to be in the office at that time and agreed that it would be a good place to check out.
We went to the area and after having not seen anything while glassing, instead of slowly approaching the canyon rim and glassing a little then walking forward and glassing some more, we just bebopped up to the edge of the canyon and busted a MONSTER Muley and two does. They took off and finally stopped at about 400 yards or so. We kicked ourselves for making such a stupid mistake. We decided to stalk around the canyon and try to get into position to get on the big buck if he had stopped in or around the area we last saw him. As we turned to start our walk around the edge of the canyon we spotted seven does on the wheat field just across the park boundary. We had to sneak out of sight of the does just to start our stalk. We snuck around and couldn't find the big buck and had to sneak back by the does to get to the sight that we had decided to sit at. Which was in the middle of a small cedar bush.
After sitting for an hour or so we had a doe walk within 3 feet of us, stop and look at us, take a few more steps and turn and look at us again, and then walk off like we weren't even there. Bailey got a huge kick out of that. We then dedcided that we were probably just a little too close to the trail and moved 15 to 20 yards away to another small cedar bush wherer I promptly sat on a barrel cactus and had to pick needles out of my butt for a couple of minutes. We were at the extreme corner of our section and of the park.
After sitting for another 30 minutes or so a buck came up out of the canyon right where we had been sitting. Bailey got the gun on the shooting sticks and at this point the deer was about 15 yards from us. Bailey squeezed off a shot and missed low. Her gun was sighted in for 100 yards so we were probably shooting a little low as it was at such close distance. The buck dove off back into the canyon and we got up and started walking toward the canyon rim to see if he might have stopped in the canyon. I had her gun and we were walking toward the edge when the buck popped back up out of the canyon!!!! He ran about 35 or so yards from us and stopped and broadside and stared at us! My first reaction was to get the gun up on the deer. Bailey set her shooting sticks up and I set the gun down on the sticks and she squeezed the trigger, it was on safety!!! Meanwhile the buck is just standing there looking at us!! She clicked it off safety and squeezed the trigger. The little 222 Remington cracked and the buck hunched up, ran about 20 yds, slowed down, walked about five to ten more yards, and then laid down! Dead deer!!!!! After high fives and me tackling Bailey into a cactus patch she popped up and ran over to her first deer, a very nice 8 point Muley buck
I gave her the phone and she called headquarters for them to come get us and her buck. They were as excited as we were. Leann, Freda, andDennis helped us load up and we headed back to camp but not before Dennis got to give Bailey some war paint!
Turns out that Bailey was the only one of the five kids on the hunt to get a deer! Being the youngest and one of two girls on the hunt made it even better!! Dennis helped us quarter the deer out and was a great help! We had a blast and got ready to head to Gene Howe for our frigid doe hunt!


Luckily the weather was fairly good and we were having a good time and seeing lots of cool stuff but seeing no deer.



We hunted hard the first day and the morning of the second day and still saw very few deer. Seems most of the deer were hanging near the maintance barn! We did get to see some awesome sunrises and sunsets though.

After the second mornings hunt I approached the rangers about possibly switching to the red section (which has the far east part of the park and CR 29 in it) to take advantage of the wheat fields. The rangers then informed us that there was a wheat field west of the property line in our section. The landowner of the adjacent property happened to be in the office at that time and agreed that it would be a good place to check out.
We went to the area and after having not seen anything while glassing, instead of slowly approaching the canyon rim and glassing a little then walking forward and glassing some more, we just bebopped up to the edge of the canyon and busted a MONSTER Muley and two does. They took off and finally stopped at about 400 yards or so. We kicked ourselves for making such a stupid mistake. We decided to stalk around the canyon and try to get into position to get on the big buck if he had stopped in or around the area we last saw him. As we turned to start our walk around the edge of the canyon we spotted seven does on the wheat field just across the park boundary. We had to sneak out of sight of the does just to start our stalk. We snuck around and couldn't find the big buck and had to sneak back by the does to get to the sight that we had decided to sit at. Which was in the middle of a small cedar bush.

After sitting for an hour or so we had a doe walk within 3 feet of us, stop and look at us, take a few more steps and turn and look at us again, and then walk off like we weren't even there. Bailey got a huge kick out of that. We then dedcided that we were probably just a little too close to the trail and moved 15 to 20 yards away to another small cedar bush wherer I promptly sat on a barrel cactus and had to pick needles out of my butt for a couple of minutes. We were at the extreme corner of our section and of the park.

After sitting for another 30 minutes or so a buck came up out of the canyon right where we had been sitting. Bailey got the gun on the shooting sticks and at this point the deer was about 15 yards from us. Bailey squeezed off a shot and missed low. Her gun was sighted in for 100 yards so we were probably shooting a little low as it was at such close distance. The buck dove off back into the canyon and we got up and started walking toward the canyon rim to see if he might have stopped in the canyon. I had her gun and we were walking toward the edge when the buck popped back up out of the canyon!!!! He ran about 35 or so yards from us and stopped and broadside and stared at us! My first reaction was to get the gun up on the deer. Bailey set her shooting sticks up and I set the gun down on the sticks and she squeezed the trigger, it was on safety!!! Meanwhile the buck is just standing there looking at us!! She clicked it off safety and squeezed the trigger. The little 222 Remington cracked and the buck hunched up, ran about 20 yds, slowed down, walked about five to ten more yards, and then laid down! Dead deer!!!!! After high fives and me tackling Bailey into a cactus patch she popped up and ran over to her first deer, a very nice 8 point Muley buck



I gave her the phone and she called headquarters for them to come get us and her buck. They were as excited as we were. Leann, Freda, andDennis helped us load up and we headed back to camp but not before Dennis got to give Bailey some war paint!

Turns out that Bailey was the only one of the five kids on the hunt to get a deer! Being the youngest and one of two girls on the hunt made it even better!! Dennis helped us quarter the deer out and was a great help! We had a blast and got ready to head to Gene Howe for our frigid doe hunt!