book cliffs...

cheyne, on a scouting trip on the 24th of july

 cheyner drew the archery book cliffs deer tag, this year. he and zac drove the grueling 5-6 hour drive on the 24th of july weekend to scout around.  he found 2 really nice ones and bedded them down.

we left thursday night to drive down to the book cliffs.  don and i had never been down there before.  cheyne told us that out of 'oray', it was at least a 2 hour drive on a dirt road to get where he wanted to camp.  well... about 10 minutes on the dirt road, cheyne had a flat tire on his truck.  he was pulling the wheelers and don was pulling cheyne's trailer.  we stopped and fixed the flat, then called chet [who was coming down the following night] to tell him to make sure and bring the compressor.  he noted, that he had barely 6,000 miles on his tires and would be alright [but he would bring it anyway].  when we finally got to where cheyne wanted to camp, sure enough, there was already a camp set up.  we turned around to drive back up the road, where we thought might be o.k. to camp in.  so by the time we got there to set up camp, it was 3:15 a.m.  (why does that not surprise me???  i don't think we have ever been able to set up camp in the light of day.)

the next morning, about 6:00, the guys got up and went scouting.  cheyne was positive that the bucks he saw on the 24th would still be in the same place.  and.... i hate to admit it, but he was right!  don asked him if they shouldn't split up and see if they could find some other deer... just in case.  but cheyne was adamant that he was going after one of the 2 deer he had been watching and that was that!  they got back to camp, and had found a better place to set up camp.  so we secured things down in the trailer and off we went to set up camp... again!  that evening, it was off to scout [or watch his buck] again.

cheyne, finding the deer he had scouted out on the 24th.

here he is..."the big 4"

jeff, helping cheyne find 'the one!'

beautiful sunset on the 'book cliffs'

million $ question... should he try to shoot this one?

chet and ryker came down friday night.  about 8:00 p.m. we got a text from chet, that he too, was changing a flat tire... just about the same place cheyne had his.  they finally showed up, set up their tent, and we all got settled down for a good nights sleep.  sometime in the night, cheyne's friend devin and his friend showed up and set their tent up next to cheyner's truck. where they set up their tent was actually right next to the trailer in the other camping spot.

chet brought ryker in to snuggle to me early saturday morning so that he could go help cheyne [so much for sleeping in!]  8:00 a.m. came and he was just like an alarm clock!  we played for a little while, then he wanted his dad.  i held him off for a couple of hours, then we got on the 4 wheeler on headed off to see if we could find them [which is a scary thought, since i didn't know my way around, at all!]  we eventually found don.  he told us that cheyne had hit the big one first thing that morning and had hit it a couple of times.  it had bedded down and now, don had him in his spotting scope.  he was  telling me to come and look, and just at that time, it jumped up and don lost him in the scope.  cheyne had been hiking around for hours, tracking this deer, in his stocking feet.  [we were pulling cactus thorns out of his feet for days.]  it cooled down and started to rain just after we got the deer loaded in the truck to head back to camp.  i actually captured a picture of the rainbow after the storm.  i must be getting old, because i appreciate things different than i did a few years ago.

his perseverance paid off!

jeff, stevie, cheyne, don, jacki, ryker - with devin cahoon in the back.

can't wipe the grin off his face!

cheyne and ryker...
thumbs UP!

donnie, chet, ryker, cheyner, and jeff.



showing off his trophy!

it was a longgg drive down there, but where we finally ended up camping was a pretty spot.  we saw deer everywhere!  cheyne left to go home that night.  he wanted to hurry and get his deer home to justin parduhn (the taxidermist). [ he was worried about the velvet sluffing off.]  we decided that it was too long of a drive to just stay 2 nights, so don, chet, ryker and i opted to stay another night, before making the journey home.... i would have never made it as a pioneer!  but... it was a fun trip!

CONGRATULATIONS CHEYNER!  ON A JOB WELL DONE!