With the knowledge of my father having applied for this elk tag for the past 50 years and my brother having applied for the past 20 years with every one of those applications being unsuccessful, I knew that I had to take this once in a lifetime opportunity very seriously and didn’t want to blow my chance to harvest a great bull. I had only applied for the past 6 years and knew this was my opportunity. After drawing my tag, I received a dozen or so solicitations for guided hunts touting their services, success rates and monster bulls. I talked with my brother Lyf, the avid hunter who has applied all these years without drawing his own tag and asked him, “If and when you draw a tag, what would you do in regards to having a guide or not?” In other words, what should I do? He proceeded to tell me about the odds of harvesting a bull with a guide (about a 50% chance) without a guide (about a 20% chance) and a record bull with a guide (a 25% chance) and without (a 5% chance). That made it clear that I would need to hire a guide. I then asked him to help me through this maze of numerous guides that were offering their services and who he would suggest. He told me about a friend of his named Ron Leavitt and his company called Deep Creek Outfitters. I decided to call a few of the guides along with Ron Leavitt to get a feeling of the services that were offered and make the best possible decision. I then decided to move forward with Deep Creek based not only on my brothers recommendation, but on an educated decision weighing cost, experience, personality and eagerness to help me make this the best possible hunting experience ever.
Once I chose to move forward with Deep Creek, I knew I had made the right decision when we showed up at camp and saw how organized and comprehensive they were with every last detail of the hunt. I was told that T-Bone (Ron’s son) was actually out scouting the location we would be heading to the following morning, opening day. T-Bone had been tracking many large bulls but had been spending most of his time scouting out the biggest of the bunch each day for the last week or so. We also had one other hunter in camp with us who would be hunting with Ron the next day. It was a real pleasure getting to know fellow hunters and hear about their road that brought them to this point.
To speed up the story a little bit, the food was great, the sleeping quarters were great, the company was great but most importantly the HUNTING was great!! In the first 4 days we saw over a dozen bulls and approximately 50 cows. However, I hadn’t yet fired a shot. I was waiting for the stars to align both with the right bull and the right opportunity. There were a two specific chances that slipped through my fingers (not because of T-Bone, but because of me being slow on the draw). However, I was sure (as was T-Bone) that we would successfully harvest a bull, and quite possibly one of the very big ones we’d been scouting. That was exactly what happened. Unfortunately, my bothers could only hunt with me through Friday and then had to go home.
On Saturday morning, after a week of scouting, seeing and not yet shooting, we went to the same place we had visited 3-4 times earlier in the week and today saw nothing. We knew these bulls had to be close so we crested the next hill to the north and immediately saw 4 bulls on the hillside right at 400 yards away. Now it was just me and T-Bone – he told me which one was the biggest and to lie down in the brush, take aim and shoot. I did just that and from 400 yards with my .30-06 shot a couple of times and hit him in the right shoulder. However, as I now know, more often than not it takes quite a bit to get these huge bulls down. My bull decided to start walking up the hill and pass right over the summit. T-Bone and I gathered our gear and started running after it (again, about 400 yards uphill with all of our gear on us). We tracked it down and finally, after having shot this bull 4 times, had it down nearly 2 miles from where I first hit it in the right shoulder.
There are many more details, but suffice it to say that I stacked the odds in my favor based on hiring a guide to help me with the hunt of a lifetime. They were stacked significantly better by choosing the right guide to make this all happen – Deep Creek Outfitters was definitely the best of the best. I could not have done it without them and the final result speaks volumes about their experience and eagerness to help me make this the best possible hunting experience ever. It was all that I could have ever hoped for and more! This Bull will come in as the 37th largest Bull ever harvested in Nevada, since the records have been officially tracked and reported. Thank you T-Bone and Ron!!
Rinar Erickson
Reno, Nevada
I have hunted with Ron Leavitt and Deepcreek outfitters since 2005 and have done very well on my hunts with Deepcreek. I have hunted deer, elk, and antelope in Nevada with Deepcreek. His prospective the hunt areas are well scouted ahead of the hunts and the guides are very knowledgeable and work very well with their clients. When I drew a Desert Bighorn sheep tag in 2008, I went with Deepcreek. One of his sheep guides had the ability to observe rams with binoculars and determine whether it was an older ram worth trying to harvest or a younger one to pass on saving difficult mountain climbs. Furthermore, the guide thoroughly understood sheep habits which aided in observing numerous sheep before finding a mature ram to harvest. He took me up the mountain and just befoe we arrived at the spot, he explained what would happen and pointed out the ram to harvest, which I did!.
Larry Ziegler
Henderson, NV
I am an avid hunter, and hold dear thememories and experiences made during those special times when hunting. Deep Creek Outfitters has certainly supplied me with both numerous times. In 2004, my dream elk hunt took place with Ron Leavitt, Deep Creek Outfitters owner, by my side. "What a hunt!"
Then 2009 brought another memory filled-event with them when I killed my lion.
There is not a better guide service available to avid hunters than Deep Creek Outfitters, Ron Leavitt, owner/operator.
He and his guides have the ability to put you on excellent game. They are totally familiar with the areas, and take special pride in your success as their client.
If your dream hunt is coming up, and you want to be successful, and create memories and experiences, I totally recommend Deep Creek Outfitters.
Rick Gardner
Salt Lake City, Utah
Hunter for 52 years.
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