"Gettin Close" in Colorado 2008

Brooke and I just got back from a Colorado archery Mule Deer hunt. We went with Lee and Tiffany Lakosky. We had a great time and a great hunt. Thanks Lee and Tiff!

We went with a TV show on the Outdoor Channel. "Gettin Close w/ Lee and Tiffany".
Lee and Tiff are good people and good hunters. The whole crew is a lot of fun to be around! Brooke and I really enjoyed ourselves, plus I harvested my best mule deer with my bow.

Left to right, top to bottom: Lee Lakosky, Lee Murphy, Nate, Rich, Tiffany, and Tom.

I am so glad Brooke was able to come with and share this experience. I love being with her.

This buck was only 2o inches wide but super tall and had good forks. His nick name is 2 tall for obvious reasons. He ended up scoring 177. Beautiful velvet buck.

We saw some awesome sunsets and some beautiful country.

Life is good, life is fine!

Wyoming Mule Deer 2004

In 2004, good friend Matt Sterzer and I got the news that we had drawn our Wyoming deer tags. This was my first out of state hunt and although I had sticker shock at the price, I was excited for the opportunity! We discovered a good area by doing some research and talking with a few "experts". On Sept 15 we were on our way. Driving up, we watched hunting videos and read magazines. Matt would hold up a picture of a big buck and ask "would you shoot that and what do you think it scores". Doing this had us over excited and convinced that we were both going to harvest a 200+ inch deer.

We got to the trail head and packed in 7 or so miles on Matt's horse. We set up camp and had about 2 1/2 hr hike each morning to get to where we thought the good deer were.
While hunting we passed on some great bucks looking for that magical 200 inch deer. We never saw him. But we had a memorable time in some amazing country.

I shot this deer in the 3rd Day of the hunt. He had a good frame and I made a quick decision to shoot.

He ended up gross scoring 171.

We saw some beautiful country. I really love back country hunting, especially with good friends!

07 Wyoming Archery Antelope and Muledeer

In 2007 I planned a hunt with the TV show the Best of The West and in early September and it was off to Wyoming. I had drawn both a Antelope and Mule deer tag but only had time to be away from the office for 3 days. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to get it all done in such a small window but it was the 1st hunt of the year and I was excited for the opportunity.

On the 1st day we sat in a blind over a water hole. We must have had at least 30 different Antelope come in.

They were all fun to watch but non of them were big enough until this bad boy came in.

He came in straight on and I didn't have a shot. As he got ready to leave he turned broad side, the camera man gave me the thumbs up and I let the shot go.

At 30 yards it was a perfect pass through and and my goat didn't go more than 50 yards.

This was my first Antelope and I was flying high. What an exciting hunt!

On day 2 we woke up early to scout out a couple of agricultural fields for Mule Deer. I was hopeful after the previous days hunts but I knew it was going to be a tall order to harvest a good buck with my bow in just 2 days. As it was getting light we spotted a couple of nice bucks. To make a long story short we bedded them down and blew a stalk, but were lucky enough to get a 2nd chance.

On the 2nd stalk it was so windy it was hard for the deer to hear us. This was a huge advantage for us. The deer had moved since we last saw them and we unknowingly snuck within 10 yards of the deer. We got busted. In the confusion of it all I ended up shooting the smaller of the 2 deer. Still a nice trophy with my bow.

After the hunt I couldn't believe what had just transpired. I had harvested 2 Pope and Young animals in just 2 days. Yeehaw,I was flying high!

07 Utah Mule Deer

In October of 2007 I had a trip of a life time planned to the Yukon Territories to hunt giant moose and caribou. Because of bad weather conditions and a tight advertising schedule at work we had to cancel. Although I was happy that I didn't have to spend 10 days away from my family, I was heart broken that I missed my opportunity of a lifetime to hunt giant moose. I look forward to another chance to go someday.
Because I wasn't able to go moose hunting it meant that I was now able to hunt deer in my home state of Utah. I got a tag in the Northern region and planned a hunt. Weather conditions on the first day of the hunt were windy, it had the deer bedded up in thick cover. The afternoon of day 2 the wind finally died down and the hunt was on.

We spotted this deer on the skyline at 1300 yards away. We set the spotting scope up and took a look at him. I knew right away that I wanted to go after this deer. He had a nice frame, good front forks, and a hook coming off one side of his antler.

Light was fading fast and I had cut the distance down to 350 yards before I ran out of cover. The deer was above me on a steep incline. He had spotted me and it looked like he was going to split.

I got a good rest and took the shot. The deer went right down. I was so happy when I walked up to him. He had heavy bases, good front forks, and a 9 1/2 inch hook coming of his left side. The buck ended up grossing 188. My largest Mule deer to date.

07 Colorado Whitetail

In November of 2007 I hunted the Eastern Colorado and harvested this nice Whitetail. We hunted thick cottonwood river bottoms that opened up to agricultural fields. We experienced some bitter cold mornings and hot afternoons. The cottonwood trees leaves were turning a beautiful bright yellow and bucks were chasing does. I love hunting during this time of year.

Joe Grover and I with my buck that grossed 158. This buck had a Huge body and a big roman nose.

The only shot I could get on this deer was at 400 yards. It constitutes my longest shot and largest whitetail harvest to date.

Alaska Fishing July 08

I just got back from Alaska last week. It was everything I expected it to be and then some. We caught lots of fish, saw Alaskan wildlife, and breathed a ton of fresh, clean air! We also worked are butts of trying to film a portion of a new fishing commercial for Sportsman's Warehouse. It worked out. Check out the bear photos, we got some good ones!










These bears would come down to the mouth of a small river to check if the Sockeye salmon were running up river yet. The salmon were late and you could tell the bear were impatient. We saw 9 or 10 different bears and shot hundreds of photos. It was fun to see them so close. (20 yards!)


Fly fishing success for 20 lb. river Kings.


40 lb King Salmon on the Kenai river.

Ling Cod

Our catch at Seward. The guy in the Middle of this photo is John Beck, Quarterback for the Miami Dolphins.- also former BYU quarterback. John was a really down-to-earth nice guy!

We were headed out of Anchorage to our fishing destination, I looked over and told Joe "I just saw the Angel Moroni". He gave me a funny look. I laughed and explained to him that it must have been the Anchorage LDS Temple. We pulled over and got some pictures. It was cool!

We only saw the sun a couple of times on this trip.

This was our trip to the grocery store. We caught some big ones and came home with a lot of Halibut!

Texas, over the years.

Quanah, Texas is such a fun place to hunt! Mike Poe has invited myself, friends, and family to come down to hunt and film with him every year since 2004. I have so many fond memories and we always have a good time with lots of laughs. I also harvested my first whitetail deer, Turkey, Quail, and Pig all on Mike's lease . -that is something! I might even say that it is my favorite place to hunt and hang out with good friends! - Thank you Mike for being one of these good friends, and making this possible year after year!

In 2004, I got this deer on the last day, last hour of the hunt. It was my first time whitetail deer hunting and I was desperate not to go home empty handed. I had never rattled before but I thought I would give it a try. I had nothing to lose! I rattled and suddenly this deer came running out of the brush. After the shot, I was so excited I couldn't stop yelling and jumping up and down.

2005 buck. I also rattled this deer in.

Good friends and work associates Jim and Shane.
These 2 Toms pictures here lined up perfectly and I got both with one shot. There are thousands of Turkeys on Mike's place. It's almost like a pestilence!


Dad's first whitetail deer! 10 point, Nice job Dad!

Mike Poe, Matt and I.

My best friend Matt shot his first whitetail deer here in Texas. This is one of the biggest deer taken off of Mike's place.

My first pig! I had to shoot this pig in self defense. He was coming at me, I took the shot at 10 yards. I got to enjoy this experience with good friends Chris and Josh.
Josh also shot his first whitetail on this trip.

My 2007 TX whitetail deer.

2007 Argentina Red Stag Hunt

What can I say about Argentina. To begin with, I can't believe that got to go there. It was an adventure on so many different levels. It was a different culture, the people spoke a different language, the scenery was magnificent, and I was hunting a free ranging animal not found in the U.S. -Awesome!
I flew into Buenos Aires, then caught a plane to Bariloche, from here we drove 3 hours to the ranch. We hunted the foothills of the Andies Mountains (Patagonia region). The stags were in the middle of the rut and pre-occupied with the hines. This made it easy to look over a lot of animals. I was able to harvest 2 free ranging Red Stags and 1 Fallow deer. This was an adventure of a life time. If anyone has the chance to do this, they should! My only regret is not spending more time after the hunt to explore Argentina a little more.

This stretch of river is on a lot of post cards from Patagonia. You can see why, it's beautiful!

This is my trophy 14 point free ranging stag, He had about 12 hines with him and was running around roaring, trying to keep them from being stolen from other stags.

This fallow deer was a bonus to a great hunt!

This was a management stag that they let me harvest.
If any of you haven't had stag, it is delicous and you should try it.

This is the lodge we stayed in. Top notch. I slept well and the food was first class.

Roaring stag.