(Adam) tonight on KSL Outdoors.
(Greg) “we’ll wait until he turns, you just stay on him!
(Adam) we’re back with an old friend, Tate Davis and he’s got another deer tag on the Paunsagaunt and he’s got a new ride.
(Greg) that’s unbelievable!
(Adam) I’m Adam Eakle and this is KSL Outdoors.
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(Greg Davis, Tate’s Dad) I don’t think he has any limits, because we don’t give him any.
It was last year when we first introduced you to 13 year old Tate Davis.
(Greg Davis, Tate’s Dad) When he was 22 months old, other kids were playing soccer in the yard and he had his little rake on the side of the road, raking in the gravel and he got struck by a car.
(Greg Davis) The doctors I can remember them coming out and telling me that he probably wouldn’t walk again and I said I don’t care, just don’t take him. I didn’t want him to be taken from us.
Tate is an aspiring outdoorsman. He loves to hunt. So, last year, Kevin Pritchett purchased Tate a deer tag on a CWMU and we took him hunting.
(Greg) it’s a buck. (kevin) what is he? (greg) yeah that’s him. Let me see what he is. (adam) he’s a good buck. Great eye guards. (tate) shoot him? (greg) yeah, yeah, yeah. (greg) you’ve got to turn more, you’ve got to turn more. Keep going that way. Ok, right there. (kevin) Ok, there he is shoot him Tate. (kevin) You need the window up? (shot) (greg) Oh, nice shot! (laughing) (adam) I can’t believe that! (greg) You put it right on his neck? (laughing)
(Kevin Pritchett, KING’S Camo) Great kid and that’s what puts tears in my eyes, we each have children of our own. Blessed no problems or adversities there and great full and so those that are less fortunate we like to be able to help out and share those things with.
After last years hunt, Kevin and his friends Kevin Donahue, Shane Brinkerhoff, AJ Construction and many more decided Tate needed more mobility to enjoy the outdoors.
So they contacted Tred Barta who’s a dealer for an off road tracked wheelchair called, an Action Track Chair. Two weeks later, at a SFW banquet, Tate was given his surprise.
(Todd Abelhouzen, Dixie Wildlife SFW Chapter) We brought him up to the stage and presented him with his deer from last year.
(Todd Abelhouzen) and just then Kevin Donahue pulled it around the stage, none of them knew, Tate didn’t his mom and dad didn’t and his moms eyes started bawling and we were all crying, it was fantastic.
(Friend off camera) he’s test driving it, look at that thing.
(Greg Davis) that Action Tracker, i’m telling you, that is independence for a disabled person. It’s unbelievable.
(John Bair, Auctioneer) I’ve got three hundred and ten thousand dollars.
Then at the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo last year, Tate and his family were eating dinner, next to a guy who had just bid over three hundred thousand dollars for a tag to hunt deer on Antelope Island.
(John Bair, Auctioneer) Ladies and gentlemen we just set a new record for mule deer in Utah, 310 right there and I thank ya. (applause)
(Greg) I noticed a guy to the next table and a lot of people had been shaking his hand and I wondered who he was.
(Greg Davis) He sat back in his chair, turned and was just looking at Tate, kind of eyeing him up, looking at the chair.
(Greg Davis) he said, hey do you like to hunt to Tate and tate says yeah and he says if you can hunt anything in the world, what would you hunt. Tate says Desert big horn sheep and he kind of chuckled and he say well that’s not going to happen.
(Tate Davis) So he was like. How about an elk or a deer? I was like yeah sweet.
(Greg Davis) and I started to kind of chuckling and he looked at me across the table and he says, “do you think I’m Bsing you?” I said, I don’t know, I don’t even know who you are.
(Greg Davis) and he said, yeah, that’s what is going to happen I’m going to buy him a tag and this guy next to me and he was pocking the guy next to him and this guy is going to take him.
(Greg Davis) Well it turned out the guy were were talking about was Denny Austed, shot the spider bull and that’s how I knew who he was.
(Greg Davis) and the guy next to him was Doyle Moss, who I had never met before.
(Doyle Moss, Mossback Guides and Outfitters) so we continued to go to the auctions and we were looking for an elk tag or a deer tag and this management deer tag showed up for the Paunsagant. Which is one of the most famous deer units in the world and Denny purchased this tag, so we brought some Mossback guides down here and the whole crew, channel five and SFW.
(Doyle) how you doing man? (tate) good how are you? (doyle) You ready? (tate) yeah. (laughs) (doyle) there’s a little snow, it’s going to feel like a real October deer hunt. (tate) Yeah.
(Doyle Moss) and to see a young man come and fulfill his dream is pretty special.
(Adam) boy what better place to bring a young man to see a lot of deer, the famed Paunsaguant unit of southern Utah. The rest of his hunt coming up in just a moment, but first tonights Burt Brothers quiz question.
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(Tate) oh nice. (greg) oh yeah, that’s a good looking buck.
Doyle has Tate and Greg pretty wound up with some of the big bucks he’s been eyeing. Tate’s Paunsagant tag is for a management buck, a buck with no more than three points on one side. He also has a permit to shoot from the truck, but he really wants to get a shot from his new Action Track Chair.
(Greg) are we ready?
(Greg) Yesterday when we came up here we saw a giant three by four. (steve) was he just out in this field? (greg) yeah in this field but down a little ways more. This field goes for about three quarters of a mile or so. We saw several management bucks. A great big three that I think we’d shoot and then a great big three by four I guarantee we’d shoot. If we see him.
all morning.
(steve) I’ve seen that buck before. (greg) look how tall he is.
Tate’s guide Steve Gurney spotted some nice bucks.
(Greg) that’s crazy! Yeah let’s go find another one, not quite wide enough.
But nothing was quite big enough for Tate. He even passed this good looking, three by four still sporting velvet on his rack. We couldn’t believe it.
(Tate) It’s been sweet. Seen a lot of deer. (adam) and what’s your goal? What do you want? (tate) bigger than the last one. (Adam) that was a pretty big buck. (tate) yup. (adam) well there is definitely some good ones here. (tate) oh yeah.
The fog has cleared, so we devise a plan to get Tate in his Action Track chair.
Over to an area where some deer have been hanging out. The rest of the crew has driven to the other side and will push the trees.
nat of rut and chair
Ruts in the road, are no problem for this tracked chair, it was amazing what it can do, but when we came to this gulley,
(Greg) I got you. You’re not going anywhere.
slick with mud and really steep drop offs, I thought we were done.
(Greg) and it has opened a whole world for Tate, he can go anywhere in that thing. Without it, we are stuck in the truck. He can’t get out, a wheelchair won’t go in the mud.
(Greg) is that incredible or what? That’s unbelievable.
(Tate) oh it’s got me, places that I couldn’t even go. I’m on mud right now, couldn’t do that with anything else.
Our next goal was to get Tate set up.
(Greg) Oh he’s a pig!
Because Steve has spotted a big buck in the trees.
(Adam) we need to make sure he’s legal first.
(Tate) his butt is too us? (greg) yeah his butt is to us. (tate) he’s wide. (greg) yeah he’s real wide, DON’T SHOOT! (TATE) I KNOW, I KNOW.
(Greg) when he gives you the go head, are you right on him? (tate) yeah but his butt is to me. Should I shoot his butt. (greg) no! We’ll wait until he turns. (tate) Ok, ok. (greg) you just stay on him. (tate) holy crap ok.
(Steve off cam) He’s a four! (greg) four by four Tate. (tate) oh…
(steve) here they come. (tate) oh freak! (deer everywhere). Hold on. (steve) Impossible.
We have deer coming at us from every direction. Poor Tate doesn’t know which way to turn, it was unbelievable.
(greg off cam) Tate you be ready cause there are some that will pop out right by us. (steve) I don’t see anything that we want to shoot yet.
(Greg) that was real crazy. I’ve never seen that many deer and bucks running at me…Ever!
(Tate) It’s crazy.
(Adam tag toss to fish tech) boy that was pretty cool, 3-4 hundred deer about 2-3 hundred yards away. Old Tate he was on the ready, but they just wouldn’t stop give him a chance, give us a chance to figure out which was a three by four. Plan B coming up here in just a moment, but first back to the guys at Fish Tech for tonights Fishing Report.
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(Doyle) Let’s do it. (tate) ok.
It’s day two, Doyle’s other clients have tagged out and all of his guides are here to help Tate find a shooter.
(Doyle Moss, Mossback Guides and Outfitters) We love helping kids at all times whether they are handicapped or not.
(Doyle Moss) We just love hunting, that’s all there is to it Adam, we just love it.
(Greg) Another three by four, we are going to get this one this time. Doyle’s got one, got one spotted, big heavy, three by four.
(nats going really fast and bumpy) (Greg) hold on taters.
(Steve) he’s kind of behind the cedar tree, there he goes, he’s out in the open now. He’s a nice buck. (greg) oh yeah he’s a good buck. Real nice buck Taters.
(Greg) Tate you want the one to the right, the one looking right at us. Boy he’s a good buck.
The only problem with this buck. Is he’s rutting does near a new highway fence that UDOT installed this year. The goal of the US-89 Paunsaugunt Deer Crossing Project is to provide safe passage for mule deer as they are able to safely migrate under the highway through tunnels like this one.
(Greg) if we could shoot that way we could kill him right now.
The only thing we could do with this buck, is wait for him to move away from the fence so that Tate could take a safe shot.
(Tate) I’m pretty sure it’s the right one. He’s right by a doe? (greg) yes. He’s walking towards us? (greg) yes. (steve) ok, you are clear when you’re ready. (safety off) (adam) watch the doe behind him.
Finally the deer move off and the buck is in a safe spot, it’s now or never.
(making noise to get deer to stop) (greg) right there. (shot) (greg) ok, get another one in.
(use zip pan) Taters, woo, nice job buddy. Yeah baby.
(Adam) no bad huh? (tate) not at all. (adam) little crazy morning? (tate) yeah. (adam) lets go see him huh? (tate) yeah.
and unlike last year where Tate had to look at his buck from the truck. This year…
(nats of tate going to his deer) Leading the way.
He leads the way.
(Greg) oh that’s a stud tate, woo. (todd) are you kidding me. (adam) look at that thing. (greg) that is a toad. (steve) congratulations buddy. (doyle shakes tate hand) nice job tate. big old buck. (greg) look at the neck on that boy.
(Doyle Moss) it’s pretty neat to see the support of the family and friends, with Greg and Tate his love for the outdoors. You don’t really think about you know your two legs or how good life can be until you see someone who has a great attitude like Tate. He loves it, just as much as any of us. For him to kill that big old mature buck, that’s what it’s all about.
(Greg) this guy has got the biggest heart in the world and it really means a lot to Tate.
(Greg) Today is Halloween and he will never forget this Halloween.
I called Denny after the hunt to ask him one simple question. WHY? His answer; “he just wanted to share.” He says he; “Saw someone in need and wanted to bring some joy to a father and his son.” I’d say mission accomplished Denny.
(Adam) alright so what’s next elk? (tate) yup I think so.
Time now to open up tonight’s Utah Field Guide.
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