Aram Von Benedikt

[amassi]

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[amassi]

To begin, I'll start by saying that I'm surprised this thread even exists, much less that it is 40 pages long already. After this event none of us thought their story would be heard. But alas, the Meme Gang has been awoken!
Easton has been my best friend since we were in 3rd grade, and I've known Rachelle for over 10 years now. They're some of the absolute best people I know. Easton is one of the best hunters I've ever been around and he put a lot into this hunt. He had been planning on her drawing the tag since last year and both of them were very invested in and excited for it. Rachelle gets far more excited for a deer hunt than any grown man I've ever met, and we had high hopes for her to get a chance at a good buck.
We hadn't hunted this part of the unit until this season. Aram's insinuation that we could track collars is absurd. I had an archery tag in this unit and Easton hunted with me for three of the twelve days I spent there. While on that hunt we both agreed that it would be a good spot to hunt for Rachelle's tag, and they put it on the top of their list for spots to hunt. Noting from my experience there, the collars are blatantly obvious from were Aram was sitting. I never did see that buck, but there was a collared doe in that canyon when I was there. Even in just 12x binos, the presence of a collar is unmistakable.
To address the shooting, I think Easton has put around 600 rounds through that rifle in the year or so he's had it. Lots of that has been beyond 600 yards. He took Rachelle out shooting before the hunt and she shot very well at those ranges. Could she have used more field experience? Certainly. The position they were shooting from was ideal (prone on a large flat rock) but more field experience would have helped.
This all blew up while I was off my phone elk hunting for a couple days. Before that the last I heard from Easton was that they had talked to the DWR, but expected nothing to come of it. At the time I suggested that their story should get out on social media. Easton didn't want that, even when I offered to get the story out. Neither he nor Rachelle thought it would be this big of a deal, and they didn't intend for Aram to lose his "occupation." When I told Easton about this thread last night on the phone and suggested he check it out, he had no interest. They're both pretty burned out and bummed out by the whole deal.
I appreciate the viewpoint of the tough guys who say that Easton should have done more. In a way, I agree with them. The reason he chose to allow Aram to steal the deer was to avoid conflict and try to preserve some of the fun of the experience for his wife. Escalating the contention would have ruined what was left of that.
For what it's worth, this wasn't the first time Aram and Easton have crossed paths. They were hunting the same area as one another (different spot than where this occurred) last year. Every time Easton has described him as behaving oddly. Not rude, but just strange and not entirely friendly. That was why he suspected that he didn't actually have a tag, and called the DWR to report the deer not being tagged before being broken down.
Though I'm admittedly biased in this situation, my take is that Aram acted very unethically. He forced himself into a situation where he knew someone else had shot a deer where he had no proof of having hit that exact deer himself. The unethical nature of that act is compounded by the fact that the other hunter was a lady half his size. It was compounded again by his public portrayal of himself an an ethical and competent hunter. Aram is probably a decent guy, but he allowed the excitement of the situation and likely his pursuit of public attention to lead him to commit a major ethical mistake. Should he lose his position in the "outdoor industry?" I think so, but that's up to his employers to decide. The truth of the story is out, and that outcome is theirs to judge with their money. It seems that most of them will cut ties. Outdoor Life appears to be taking his side. They called and talked to Easton, and were single minded in their pursuit of any information that would uphold Aram's story. But considering that they are clinging to a business model that has been irrelevant for a decade now, I'm not sure better can be expected from them.
No matter the outcome, it's a sour deal now. Much more sour than allowing a lady to finish what she started on a deer she clearly shot first. In my mind the ideal outcome is that Aram give her the deer and issue a public apology, and that his "employers" take that into consideration when deciding whether he should still represent them.
Until then, meme on Rokslide!

Thanks for fleshing out the deets


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[CorbLand]

To begin, I'll start by saying that I'm surprised this thread even exists, much less that it is 40 pages long already. After this event none of us thought their story would be heard. But alas, the Meme Gang has been awoken!
Easton has been my best friend since we were in 3rd grade, and I've known Rachelle for over 10 years now. They're some of the absolute best people I know. Easton is one of the best hunters I've ever been around and he put a lot into this hunt. He had been planning on her drawing the tag since last year and both of them were very invested in and excited for it. Rachelle gets far more excited for a deer hunt than any grown man I've ever met, and we had high hopes for her to get a chance at a good buck.
We hadn't hunted this part of the unit until this season. Aram's insinuation that we could track collars is absurd. I had an archery tag in this unit and Easton hunted with me for three of the twelve days I spent there. While on that hunt we both agreed that it would be a good spot to hunt for Rachelle's tag, and they put it on the top of their list for spots to hunt. Noting from my experience there, the collars are blatantly obvious from were Aram was sitting. I never did see that buck, but there was a collared doe in that canyon when I was there. Even in just 12x binos, the presence of a collar is unmistakable.
To address the shooting, I think Easton has put around 600 rounds through that rifle in the year or so he's had it. Lots of that has been beyond 600 yards. He took Rachelle out shooting before the hunt and she shot very well at those ranges. Could she have used more field experience? Certainly. The position they were shooting from was ideal (prone on a large flat rock) but more field experience would have helped.
This all blew up while I was off my phone elk hunting for a couple days. Before that the last I heard from Easton was that they had talked to the DWR, but expected nothing to come of it. At the time I suggested that their story should get out on social media. Easton didn't want that, even when I offered to get the story out. Neither he nor Rachelle thought it would be this big of a deal, and they didn't intend for Aram to lose his "occupation." When I told Easton about this thread last night on the phone and suggested he check it out, he had no interest. They're both pretty burned out and bummed out by the whole deal.
I appreciate the viewpoint of the tough guys who say that Easton should have done more. In a way, I agree with them. The reason he chose to allow Aram to steal the deer was to avoid conflict and try to preserve some of the fun of the experience for his wife. Escalating the contention would have ruined what was left of that.
For what it's worth, this wasn't the first time Aram and Easton have crossed paths. They were hunting the same area as one another (different spot than where this occurred) last year. Every time Easton has described him as behaving oddly. Not rude, but just strange and not entirely friendly. That was why he suspected that he didn't actually have a tag, and called the DWR to report the deer not being tagged before being broken down.
Though I'm admittedly biased in this situation, my take is that Aram acted very unethically. He forced himself into a situation where he knew someone else had shot a deer where he had no proof of having hit that exact deer himself. The unethical nature of that act is compounded by the fact that the other hunter was a lady half his size. It was compounded again by his public portrayal of himself an an ethical and competent hunter. Aram is probably a decent guy, but he allowed the excitement of the situation and likely his pursuit of public attention to lead him to commit a major ethical mistake. Should he lose his position in the "outdoor industry?" I think so, but that's up to his employers to decide. The truth of the story is out, and that outcome is theirs to judge with their money. It seems that most of them will cut ties. Outdoor Life appears to be taking his side. They called and talked to Easton, and were single minded in their pursuit of any information that would uphold Aram's story. But considering that they are clinging to a business model that has been irrelevant for a decade now, I'm not sure better can be expected from them.
No matter the outcome, it's a sour deal now. Much more sour than allowing a lady to finish what she started on a deer she clearly shot first. In my mind the ideal outcome is that Aram give her the deer and issue a public apology, and that his "employers" take that into consideration when deciding whether he should still represent them.
Until then, meme on Rokslide!

I mean thats all cool and such but lets get to the important stuff here...what meme is Easton and Rachelles favorite?


In all seriousness though. I personally think that Easton handled the situation exactly how I would have. Its shitty but the last thing I would want to do is ruin it for my wife and potentially put her in the position of an altercation over a damn deer.

 

[MountainTracker]

Stolen and modified...

Very nice haha


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[MountainTracker]

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[rclouse79]

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I heard replica deer are very expensive. Might want to hang on to that one.

 

[amassi]

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[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

View attachment 622016
View attachment 622017

It's the elk in my profile pic... gets lots of attention. Sorry dude.

 

[CorbLand]

Back to our regular scheduled program

 

[go_deep]

 

[87TT]

It doesn't seem like he publishes enough articles to support a family off of - so I really hope the articles are a side gig/hobby and he supports a family a different way.

I am all for forgiveness, but if you hang your hat writing articles on ethical hunting and then get embroiled in situations like this - I think the articles and his opinion on ethics are somewhat suspect, and his employer should be aware of that.

Think he sells time shares.

 

[MountainTracker]

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[MountainTracker]

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[bmrfish]

From FB here is what he posted (pulled this from monster muleys because I'm looking into it as well). And yes it is Aram and not Joseph.

HERE ARE THE FACTS (Deer Hunt 2023)

Friday (day before the deer opener) my son and my hunting buddy and I backpacked into a desert area to hunt mule deer. Both my buddy and I had dedicated hunter permits. We set up camp and then went scouting. We planned to hunt a canyon face in the morning (opening day).

As we hiked back toward camp we ran into Easton and Rachelle. We were all friendly, visited briefly, and we informed them that we planned to hunt the canyon face in the morning. We parted.

At dawn we spotted three bucks, but they moved behind a screen of trees and I wasn’t able to shoot. I was prone and ready, just needed them to step clear for a shot. Then Rachelle began shooting. The deer we were watching didn’t move, so we thought they were shooting a different buck. Her first two shots sounded like misses (which they later corroborated). Her third shot sounded like a hit. She shot once more for a total of four shots. There was no sound of a hit from the last shot. She was shooting roughly 630 yards.

The three bucks we were watching came running out from behind the trees and none of them showed signs of injury. I said to my son “she must have killed a different deer”. The biggest buck was trotting sideways to me, then he stopped, quartered away, and I shot. I should have taken the time to range him, but I didn’t. My shot went low due to the additional distance and struck him in the right front leg. The impact was obvious and as he ran now his leg was not working. I was frustrated by making a bad hit. The range was 730 yards. I hadn’t realized he was moving away as well as sideways, and failed to dial for the additional range.

We encountered the other couple casting around in the oaks. They were talking loudly and Easton told me he’d lost sight of their buck at the fourth shot, and never could find him again. They figured he was dead right in that area. I told him I’d also shot a buck, but that he had made off, and showed them exactly where he had traveled. They asked if the buck was wearing a collar and my son and I both answered that we had not seen a collar, but didn’t know. We NEVER said he didn’t have a collar. Just that we hadn’t seen one.

Rachelle found blood and it followed the exact route I had pointed out my buck had traveled. I figured it was the buck I shot, they figured it was the buck she shot. We took up the trail, and they hurried to get ahead of us. I trotted to catch up with them and asked them to work together. I told Easton I was not going to steal his wife’s deer – that when we recovered it we would look at the facts and determine who the buck belonged to. I was hoping their buck was still lying dead back in the oak brush like they’d originally thought.

I do feel badly that Rachelle felt like I was pushy. I do get intense when I’m trying to recover a wounded animal, and in this case I knew that we needed to push the buck to keep it bleeding. If the buck was allowed to bed up and his wound coagulated he would be nearly impossible to track down and recover. I did suggest to Rachelle that she carry her rifle ready for action in case the buck got up in front of us and she had a chance to finish it.

We finally jumped the buck and got him running again, and bleeding. The trail was easy from there on, and shortly we caught up with the buck in the bottom of a small canyon. I shot him, he took off down the wash, and I ran and shot him again. Easton and my son were with me.

We then took time to try to enjoy the harvest, and take photos. It was not like she portrayed – we all took photos, and I was happy for them to take photos. In fact I took a number of photos of them myself. Just goes to show you how a person can skew information.

When I first saw the buck in the canyon bottom I saw the collar and realized for sure that we’d been shooting at the same buck. Now, had I known before I shot the first time that she had hit it, I never would have shot at it. But the buck showed no sign of injury when it was trotting prior to my shot, and I believed Rachelle must have shot a different buck.

Now we had a problem. Contrary to the atmosphere she portrayed in her post, the scene was very cordial. There were no raised voices, no profanity, no meanness. I suggested we perform an autopsy to determine exactly how many shots had hit the buck. We found four:
1) Her shot, which had entered the skin just above the bottom line and just behind the belly button, then entered the abdominal cavity, then passed underneath the guts (it’s the first abdominal hit I’ve ever seen that I don’t believe would have been lethal), then exited the abdominal lining and the skin, leaving about a 3/4 inch hole, which was plugged tight with caul fat (the webbed-looking fat that surrounds the stomach). But for a small spot of wet hair around the entrance there was no blood or fluid draining from either entrance or exit hole.
2) My first shot was in the right front leg, which almost completely severed the knee. I’m not proud of that shot, but it’s what provided a blood trail and enabled us to trail the buck. We know with certainty that I made this wound because we watched it happen.
3) A close-range pass-through shot low through the chest, likely through heart.
4) A second close-range pass-through shot, center chest, likely through lungs and top of heart.

That was all folks. There were no more holes in the deer. Easton insisted that they’d hit the buck twice, but there were no more holes, and he hadn’t actually seen the second impact. I expressed my opinion – and yes, I used that word – that they were mistaken and had not connected other than the one shot that clipped the buck’s belly. I NEVER called either of them a liar, as she said in her post.

So there you have it.

I can’t describe how sad I feel as I write this. I had hoped that we could be friends, or at least remain honest and forthright. But it seems bitterness has corrupted that possibility.

In the end, Rachelle first and then Easton agreed to let me have the deer, and I assured them I would get a reproduction made for them at my cost. Everyone’s hearts were heavy. It was a really unfortunate ordeal for everyone.

And yes, I tagged the deer once it was decided who would take it home, before leaving the site. I have photos to prove it.

In her post Rachelle misrepresented what happened in so many ways. I never did change my story. I wish I had recorded the entire episode so you all could listen to exactly what happened.

Memories have a way of becoming twisted when bitterness reigns.

I NEVER told her that she didn’t deserve a deer that big! What I did say was that I felt like peoples first deer shouldn’t be monsters. I do believe that. But the conversation had been about a buck Easton lost to another hunter on a different occasion.

I feel like she really threw me under the bus with her statement about my wanting to be in all the pictures. That was low. I remember all parties being quite cordial and friendly, and I sure as heck didn’t try to resist them getting photos with the buck. In fact, I was happy to take some of them. Why didn’t she mention that in her post? And the way that she threw dirt on my desire to give thanks for the harvest is sad too – they supported the idea and thanked me afterward. Seems pretty low down to use a person’s faith against them.

I do feel truly bad that Rachelle felt disrespected. I never, never intended to make her feel that way. She didn’t appear to feel that way at the time. I tried hard to use logic and a scientific approach to determine who had killed the deer. Once we established that we each hit the deer, and then I finished it off, it is my honest opinion that I killed the deer., and that my expertise was the reason we were able to recover the deer.

It is my opinion that they would not have recovered the buck. Her wound was not quickly lethal, if ever, and was leaving zero blood to trail. Without my hit leaving a blood trail we (they) never would have found that buck. (Unless they had access to the tracking data from the bucks collar. Did they? Is that how they knew where to hunt?)

In her post Rachelle called me out for not wearing orange on my head – and she was right. I wear a hat, and I’ve lost my orange band that I usually wear on it. I need to rectify that.
I will mention that there was a seriously illegal act performed during the follow up (not by my group), but I prefer to not make a statement that might get anyone in trouble.

Fact is, folks, I thought that we worked through the entire unpleasant episode in well-mannered fashion. I had hoped to remain friends with them. And I’m very disappointed that they decided to distort the truth and throw me under the proverbial bus. I hope that someday you guys will come to believe that I honestly did my best to determine what was right, that day in the canyon.

Those are the facts folks. And I have witnesses.

Even if this is all more or less true, in a test of character, it was an abject failure.


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[BBob]

Think he sells time shares.

All the more reason to hate him

 

[CREillY]

View attachment 621645

This is the best one hahahaha

 

[TaperPin]

***AVB thinks to self***
”shoot deer“
”kick car seat out of the way”
”elbow girl, knee dude, toss toddler in brush”
”declare Hank the Tank mine...all mine”

 

[fngTony]

Can we please have some respect for the deer? The missing leg and shot placement memes are brutal

 

[Rich M]

We have laws like this for the poorly raised folks that haven’t been taught morality, respect, or pride. The only thing worse than what he did is if he uses a law to justify it.

This is something I was thinking about - running in front of someone to finish off their deer so he could claim the kill shot is new territory to me. Might be letter of law, but who the hell does that to others?

It shows he knew what he was doing and willfully did it. There was no accidental stuff in this encounter. Shooting over other hunters, racing them for the wounded deer, etc. Evidence was processed on the mtn...
What a tool. And he writes and promotes "ethical hunting".

 

[KenLee]

I mean thats all cool and such but lets get to the important stuff here...what meme is Easton and Rachelles favorite?


In all seriousness though. I personally think that Easton handled the situation exactly how I would have. Its shitty but the last thing I would want to do is ruin it for my wife and potentially put her in the position of an altercation over a damn deer.

The hell?
It was ruined. Stories from her friends all over Facebook that she's still sick over it.