It was September of 2006, and buddy Tom Rhoads and I were heading to “The Solitude”. We took some of the sting out of the 22-hour drive, by riding with two other fellow Ohio hunters, Craig Wuthrich, and Gene Milks. With everything from tree-stands, bows, food, and ATV’s, we were sure we had everything it took to harvest a trophy Mule deer.

We arrived at the Solitude only to be greeted by ranch owner Mike Schmid, and his ranch manager Frank Amos. After settling in, Tom and I went over the property boundaries with Guide Jay Norman and Frank. They gave us a huge head start by telling us where the best Mule deer were being seen everyday. With this info we headed out on our ATV with tree-stands loaded on the back.

We decided to set up in a safe observation tree that would allow us to fine tune our location after getting a better feel of exactly where the deer were entering and exiting the huge Alfalfa field they fed in every night. That evening Tom and I were blown away by the amount of Mule deer, and Whitetail deer we observed. Once the day turned to night, we climbed down and decided to do the same the next morning. We would sneak in under the cover of dark to see if the deer would use the same trails to return to their deep red-rock canyons, that they used as their bedrooms. We quickly realized, after seeing they didn’t use the same trails, that this was going to be a game of musical stands.

During the next couple of days we tried several different stand locations, as well as a ground blind set where there wasn’t a good tree for a stand. We would see the deer use a trail, move our stands, only to watch in agony as they walked down the trail we were set up on earlier. We kept our hopes up, knowing sooner or later, we would eventually catch up to one of those good bucks.

After observing the deer several times walk by the tip of point that held only a small pine tree as a possible stand location, we’d had enough, I told Tom that we were going to do what it took to hunt out of that scraggly looking pine. Rather than try a morning hunt out of it, we waited until the next afternoon to set two stands (one for filming) in that poor excuse of a pine tree. After allot of trimming, and a little ingenuity we managed to do it.

That evening found us sitting, a whopping, twelve feet off the ground in what would be the key to both our success. As the deer began to pour into the Alfalfa, we sat very still; careful not even blink to hard, fearing the deer would bust us. Seeing the bachelor group of big bucks that we’d been watching, we sat still as they slowly worked their way right to our location.

As the bucks closed the distance to about 30 yards, I started draw on the biggest one of the group, when Tom let me know he didn’t have them in frame yet. I couldn’t believe it, we were finally in place to kill one of these giants, and couldn’t take the shot. I let this go on for about ten seconds, before finally telling Tom to do what he had to do, “just get on him”. Tom, quickly adjusting his position, leaned out around me said those very favorable words, “ I'm on him, take him”. Without hesitation, I drew my Alpine Silverado, and took the shot. The bucks all scattered, with mine leaving the group, and heading further out into the field. He stopped momentarily, stood there like he had no idea what just happened, and fell over.

I immediately turned to Tom, who got it all on film, and about knocked him out of the tree with a big high-five. After taking care of some B-roll, we climbed down and walked over to my trophy Wyoming Mule deer. We finished up our closer for the video, took a few pictures, loaded him up, and headed back to camp.

We celebrated our achievement that night, and decided to try the same stand in the morning. This time I would be the cameraman, and Tom the hunter. To our amazement, not only did Tom kill his Muley out of the same stand the very next morning, but Tom invited Craig Wuthrich to try his luck out of it that evening, where he too filled his tag on yet another big Muley. In a twenty-four period we managed take three trophy-class Mule deer out of the same set.

The Solitude Ranch is unbelievable, never had I been to place that held so much game, and even more beauty. I would recommend Solitude to anyone that is looking for the kind of hunt that dreams are made of, even if it means playing a little game called “Musical Stands”.

I can not even begin to say enough about the operation. I've never seen so many mule deer and whitetail concentrated in one area in my life. "AMAZING AND A DREAM FULFILLED"

Thanks Mike for an incredible time, and a hunt that will stay with me forever.

Paul Clark / Southern Valley Taxidermy