Vaquero Outfitters in the Press

After applying for as long as I can remember, it is finally my turn to tell a story of an amazing Arizona Strip hunt. Although I have always been hopeful to draw a Strip tag, I am enough of a realist, that I have kept my expectations to a minimum. But for some reason, I just had an unexplainable gut feeling that it was going to happen. When it did, I found myself really happy and almost disappointed all at the same time. You see, 2007 had already started out, as one of the driest years in history and it was disappointing to think about the affect it was going to have on antler growth. Still, it was a Strip tag and I had no plans to give it back. So I’ll quit whining and get on with the good stuff.

I have been friends with Chad Smith and Bryon Goswick since we were kids. Chad owns and operates Vaquero Outfitters and Bryon is one of Chad’s top guides. In addition to these two, over the past few years, I have become friends with Matt Shimberg—another one of Chad’s top guides. With the committed help of these guys, I knew that no matter what, I was going to have as good of an opportunity as a guy could possibly ask for. The truth be told, I felt a little bad for my buddies because I knew they were not going to get paid very well hunting with me…but that’s what they get for having a friend with a tag.

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In the course of my guiding career I have experienced a fair shar of anxiety, apprehension, and angst of the eve of opening day. But as my son Mark and I stood in the Phoenix airport awaiting the arrival of our new elk hunter David McShaw and his parents David Sr. and Karen, my nervous system was ablaze with self doubt. You see, David (13 years old) is stricken with muscular dystrophy and is wheelchair bound. As the reality of his limitations sank in, my confidence eroded and it struck me just how much I wanted this hunt to be a "hunt of a lifetime." After a brief prayer I spotted the McShaw family enthusiastically working their way toward our direction and our date with destiny officially began.

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July 24, 2006 started out just like any other day. But when my brother-in-law, Bill Nebeker, called me from Prescott, Arizona it became anything but typical. He told me we had both been drawn for mule deer on the Arizona Strip. Bill and I have been hunting together for 36 years, and for 30 of them we’ve been putting in together for the coveted Arizona Strip tag. For 29, we were drawn for other units. This year we had put in separately because I had moved to Montgomery, Alabama and had to put in for an out-of-state tag.

Only 40 tags were drawn this year. Thirty-six tags were drawn for residents and four for out-of-state hunters. There is only a one percent chance of being drawn. So you can imagine the surprise and elation when we found out we were both drawn. Some might call it luck, but I’d like to think God was looking out for two old hunters who had been dreaming of opportunity. By the time the hunt would start, I would be 63 and Bill would be 64. We had pretty much given up on ever being able to hunt there. The four-month wait for the hunt to begin seemed longer than the years we had spent waiting to be drawn.

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I knew, by reputation, that Vaquero Outfitters held a great reputation for operating first-class trophy mule and coues deer hunts south of the border. Shortly after confirming this with Ryan Hatch of MuleyCrazy I booked, what would be my second hunt in Sonora Mexico, with Chad and Shawn Smith. A few months later, I arrived in Hermosillo and as Chad and I made the long ride from the airport to the ranch, we talked a lot about the two deer that had already been harvested before my arrival. Both bucks were over 220 inches and after hearing about the excitement that had taken place, my fire was fueled to begin my own hunt.

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For the past few years I’ve been talking with my friend, Dave Loescher, about finding a mule deer hunt where my chances of taking a bomber buck still existed. I’ve been fortunate enough over the years to take some great bucks but lately I’ve had to dedicate more time to work rather than play. I was definitely ready to get back to a great passion that I have been absent from. Earlier this year, Dave informed me that he knew of a last minute cancellation in Old Mexico with Chad Smith of Vaquero Outfitters. I told Dave that I would talk to my hunting partner, Bob Jacobs, and see if he could go on short notice. After confirming that he could, we immediately called Chad.

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I recently completed a successful hunt for a trophy mule deer up in northern Arizona in an area referred to as “The Arizona strip.” I was one of the lucky 85 applicants who had drawn tags for this hunt. As a matter of fact my number drawn for the hunt was No. 85—how lucky can that be?

After receiving the news, I began making arrangements for the hunt. I did not know this country at all and felt strongly I would need the assistance of an outfitter. The tag was far to coveted to take a chance. The Strip is known for few deer, but if and when you locate a buck, he just might be a big buck because the genes are there for trophy-quality mule deer. For an outfitter, that was an easy choice. A good friend and very well-known outfitter, Chad Smith of Vaquero Outfitters, would be my choice. I was also lucky that he had an opening, so it was time to get ready for the hunt.

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2005 may well go down as the greatest year in the history of modern elk hunting. It is certainly the best we have seen to date, with more monster bulls being taken than in any previous year. In the last ten years of guiding and hunting elk in Arizona and New Mexico, I have seen four bulls that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt would have broken the 400” mark. One outfitter friend of mine, whose ability to field judge elks is among the best, recently told me that he has seen more than ten 400”+ bulls this year alone! The 2005 edition of the Pope and Young record book list four typical and eleven non-typical bulls that breeched this mark, it my guess that these numbers will double by the end of the next two year recording period with new world records in each category. We are living in the “good ol’ days” of elk hunting and there is no obvious end in sight. Any hunter with the desire to do some research, save some money, stay in shape and hunt hard can experience the high of pursuing big bulls in the West.

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When my good friend, Dave Scovill, called me about a Sonora mule deer hunt that was less than three weeks away, I wondered if he had lost his mind. Just getting our gun permits in that short of time seemed like a pretty tall order to fill. Not to mention finding a quality guide to plan and scout. However, Dave was quick to tell me that our mutual friend, Chad Smith of Vaquero Outfitters, said that he had an opportunity to lease a special ranch that he had been trying to get for over a year. After a short conversation with Chad about the ranch, we started packing.

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Within the first four hours of my first Coues deer hunt, I was on my hands and knees, crawling to a vantage point overlooking a bedded trophy Sonoran Coues deer. To even find myself in that position was pretty remarkable considering the obstacles I had to overcome to even get there.

It all started in February of 2006, when at the advice of a friend I made contact with Chad Smith of Vaquero Outfitters in Arizona. I originally called Chad looking for a mule deer hunt in Old Mexico for January 2007. Since there were not many openings, I just told him to let me know when he had anything at all, even something in the States. He got back to me in May to discuss the possibility of a Coues deer hunt. I ended up booking an early December hunt for four on a ranch that had not been hunted in over a decade. Usually, I’m accompanied on my hunting trips by my father, James King Sr., and brother-in-law, Harry Galloway. My dad decided to sit this trip out, so I found two business associates to take the other two spots.

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It has the genetics, minerals, feed, and remoteness that allow animals to live and grow to maturity and beyond. It’s one of several areas regulated by the Arizona Game & Fish Department for very limited hunting. This past season, 85 permits were issued for my unit; my permit was number 85.

Since the area is so vast and remote—and I’d never been there—I thought I’d best seek the services of an outfitter. It was too rare a tag to burn on a “learning experience.” A good friend of mine, who is an outfitter and one of the best, just also happens to hunt that area. His name is Chad Smith. He and his wife, Shawn, own and operate Vaquero Outfitters just a few miles north of my home.

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My obsession for hunting mule deer began three years ago when Eric Pawlak from Cabela’s T.A.G.S. made an application for me on the Kaibab Plateau of Arizona. Although it was only my first year of applying, I was fortunate enough to draw the tag. Eric immediately referred me to Chad Smith of Vaquero Outfitters and assured me that he was the best outfitter in Arizona. After one conversation with Chad, I knew that Eric was right.

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It has been a little over one year since Jason Gisi brought down this awesome typical mule deer. However, I still get emails about this buck. Some are correct and others are not.

This great mule deer was taken by Jason Gisi in January 2005 in Mexico. We did a feature story on this record buck in our Special Winter Issue of Hunting Illustrated. Because of all of the questions and rumors about this buck, I decided to post the story in our featured stories section from the magazine.

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High expectations were the order of the day as veteran hunter Jason Gisi arrived at the airport in Hermosillo, Mexico, in January 2005. He was hunting for a trophy desert mule deer with outfitter Agustin Hurtado; his guide would be Chad Smith, an old friend and also a well-known Arizona outfitter.

There was reason to be upbeat: They had found the sheds of a huge buck on the ranch for the past two years, and Chad had seen the buck at the close of last year's season. He had been scouting and knew just where he wanted to take Jason.

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