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I thought that I would share some pic's of my OTC deer. I usually don't hunt mule deer in Arizona as we have plenty in Colorado, I try to stick to coues. Unfortunately, I Missed a nice coues buck my first day out, he jumped the string, I gave him a nice racing stripe. We continued to hunt for coues predominately but actually turned up a few decent mule deer bucks. As my hunt started to draw to a close I decided that I would take a mule deer if the opportunity presented itself. The last day I put a 2 hour stalk on a great mule deer with a buddy. I stalked the buck bedded and he waited in ambush for me to blow the deer out of the country. Fortunately, I was the lucky one to end up getting a shot....

I have always said, Hunting in Sonora Mexico is MAGICAL! The beautiful variety of mountains where the amazing coues deer live. The cold mornigs and sharing a hot cop of coffee with new and old friends, the food and great hunt stories shared at camp, the ocassional joke that makes everyone laugh etc etc. I just love it! I'm blessed also because I get to know the most beautiful people when I take hunters down there and seeing their faces and their looks when they take their first coues deer or their biggest buck is something I can't explain but makes very happy fills me with satisfaction; all I can say to God and to them is, THANK YOU for the opportunity. Thanks guys, thanks for watching and good luck on your future hunts. Ernesto C.

A friend of mine told me one day he bought a spot on a ranch in mexico and asked me if I wanted to go last year. Heck yeah I will!!! The day came, and crossing the border sucks with trucks, trailers, side by sides getting all the paper work done, visas, customs checking our guns, the mexican border checking our guns, the mexican military checking our guns and 5 hours later from leaving AZ we are finally on our way to the ranch!!! Sadly nothing was rutting when we got there. Veterans hunters who hunted this ranch before said its always crazy rutting at this time. Just so pre rutting and a full moon! But if this was a hunting unit in AZ this would of been the best unit I have ever hunted!! Needless to say I had a great time and all the other hunters there were way awesome. We all helped each other out. One guy spotted a double drop tine buck and the next day we hunted close to them or the other ridge over and that morning my hunting partner glassed him up. We radioed the guy and I watched this buck for 2 hours and waited for this hunter who was looking for him to show up! Sadly the dude missed at 400 yards ( he got excited). But good karma always pans out in the hunting world. His spotter was up real high and in favor he glassed up bucks left and right to put us on for helping them out. But I was able to land this nice buck at 460 yard. He isn't the biggest but what we were only really seeing out there was this size, biggest Coues I ever shot though . Couple of other hunters passed up on some 95 inch and another one was looking for 110" buck that they glassed up but couldn't find him. All in all we had a blast and can't imagine what the rut down there is really like.

DuWanes not known for blocking roads into an area and trying to keep other hunters out of an area. DuWanes not known for having tons of dudes on ridges glassing one animal to walk one hunter in to kill it. DuWanes also not known for ordering pallets worth of trail cams and having every deer or elk in a unit catolaged. Sorry but if A3s hunter was not there and Duwane himself was with his client that buck is fair game.

Big bucks, social media and the internet..... never fails to produce controversy, jealousy, and name calling.

So, CJohnson, whose your source for your post? Ben? I've found that those who don't succeed makes lots of excuses and stories up to explain their lack of success. I agree with most everyone on here, Dwayne's a stand up guy, helping people pretty regularly. Helping people become better hunters. I remember talking to him at the ADA deer seminar years ago at length before my first hunt there, never pushed me to hire him, but gave me tons of info on the Kaibab. Saw him there on the late hunt this year , and he was very supportive of other hunters coming in with deer on their own. Hyrbid or not, great buck! Who wouldn't shoot that toad? Haters gonna Hate!

Comment was not aimed at anyone in particular. Didn’t even read your post before I posted. It’s was aimed at everything that I’ve seen on Facebook, Instagram, and this site over the years whenever a big, exceptional, out of ordinary buck is killed and posted. Hardly ever fails for a post to go south in a hurry. I don’t know anything about the buck, people involved, or the guide. Just a general statement about people and social media now a days.

BLahh BLahh BLahh who cares nice buck.

So wait lol, the a3 hunter wasn’t even there? That’s the reason many people think auction hunts are bunk. Just wait till you get a phone call. And then be pissed someone got there before you? How can someone be pissed about that

Model 94 Winchester 30-30. Mfg 64 or 65. This rifle is clean with little to no wear. Bore is crisp and clean. The usual safe bumps but that’s about it. Located in Cave Creek $500.00

Stud buck for sure.

Hybrids are awesome, this thread is awesome!

Unless the 'biologist' took a DNA sample and confirmed a 'Hybrid' than NOTHING is certain, at this point. Time will tell I guess, but until then I'm enjoying the fact we have some serious hybrid biologists of our own right here on CWT.

Did you see 2 biologists take DNA from this deer? That is the only way to truly confirm. Did you personally see Duwane talk to the A3 spotter?

In 1990 my family started spending Christmas at Alpine, every year up until my parents passed away in 2009, 18 years in a row, Christmas at Alpine. Big Lake road would be plowed up to what is now Tobaggan hill and then the snow was piled up so deep across the road that there was no "vehicle" traffic. My dad would get bent out of shape when we would try to test our "vehicles" and end up getting stuck in deep snow, but we would still try to drive roads. By the mid 2000's we rarely encountered trouble making it all the way into Big Lake where upon one occassion we saw people ice fishing next to the dam. They had fish and Bud Lights laying all over the ice and I told my boys we would come back the next day and give it a try. We brought our fishing gear.....never having fished ice before.......and successfully failed to catch a single fish! My wife says it was because we didn't bring the Bud Light! If I remember right there was about 8" of ice and it was eriee because the ice made deep crackling noises just randomly. Christmas of 1997, we shoveled off 30" of snow off the flatter part of the roof the first day we were there! Now all the boys are grown up and out of the house so it was just us two kids this year over New Years Eve!!!!

What did Duane do wrong? He was with the guys that had originally found the buck wasn’t he?

Stand by buddy... these guys are just getting started. Some of CWT's finest haven't arrived yet... Ed F

Was able to spend some time visiting my friend Justo and his family down in Sonora. Always have fun exploring his ranch and looking for deer. Very thankful I was able to get this buck on the last day. The rut hadn't really gotten going full blast yet but some does were being chased. Keven

Today was the opening day of SHOT Show. Very excited to see what's new, who's new, and what exciting products are being shown for the first time. As we have in the past we are looking to expand our offerings this year, if there's something great to add. Looking forward to what this week will bring. 2018 was a very interesting year for us. We added Athlon,to the stable of brands that we carry. We expanded greatly with Hawke, Meopta, Steiner & Schmidt & Bender bringing you special deals and hard to find product. Day 1: My first meeting this year was with Athlon Optics. We first started carrying Athlon at the end of 2017 and they have been one of the fastest growing brands out there. Big in the Tactical Scope arena. As I reported last year, they offer a line of both Hunting and Tactical Riflescopes, Binoculars, Red-Dots and Spotting Scopes. The interesting thing about Athlon is that they have many parallel products to other very popular brands and manage to offer their items for 20-40% lower priced than the competition without cutting corners. Great quality, great customer service, great variety of offerings and lower prices. All in all impressive. They had some great new products to unveil. A Cronus 10x50 Laser Rangefinder Binocular. Yes, 10x50, 2000 yard unit for $1,299.99. These actually showed up at the store the day before I headed off to SHOT. I didn't have a chance to give a good look as I was pressed for time, however, after checking them out here I feel confident in recommending them. Very bright and the buttons are perfectly placed for ease of operation. Cronus 15x56 Binocular priced at only $699.99. No these are not Swarovski SLC's, however, there's NOTHING in a 15x56 available near this price that's as nice as these binoculars. They come with both a hard travel case as well as a soft case, and include the tripod adapter. Nice touch Midas 10x25 Compact Binocular which is quite a nice little pocket/glove compartment bino for only $169.99. These arrived into us a couple of weeks ago and we passed them around the store and all the guys were pretty impressed with them. They added to the Cronus BTR 4.5-29×56 APRS1 FFP IR MIL their floating dot reticle which has been available and become quite popular in the Ares ETR. These too have started to arrive and we have been shipping them as quickly as we can get them in. Midas BTR Gen 2 Riflescopes in 1-6x24 and 4.5-27x50. These have nicer Turrets than the original Midas BTR's. We discussed accessories and Athlon will be releasing rings and Cantilever mounts later this year. Stop #2 of the morning was with Steiner. Last year at SHOT I had a great meeting with Steve, my Steiner point person and we worked on a program to expand our business working together. This worked out wonderfully. Well, as the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished (speaking selfishly). Steve was promoted to VP of Operations for Steiner/Burris and we no longer work together. Today I met Derick, for the 1st time. We started working together back in November and I was glad to finally be meeting him and putting a face to the voice and many e-mails. Steiner announced a host of new products for 2019: Steiner Military series scopes: the M7Xi and M8Xi, and the amazing M7Xi IFS. "The IFS is the Intelligent Firing Solution that pairs the scope with a built-in ballistic calculator and customizable display, all connected via smartphone app. Transfer data like temperature, air pressure, inclination, wind drift and more directly to the scope eyepiece. The M7Xi is also available without the IFS option. The 7x zoom gives the operator more flexibility and higher resolution at all distances. The scope builds and improves on the incredibly solid tradition of the M5Xi military scopes that are now in service by military units and tactical competitors worldwide. Available soon with three reticle choices, including the MSR2." These scopes have solid turrets, great glass, smooth focus and zoom. Priced very fairly. I think they have a winner. IFS looks like early Summer delivery 7xi looks like possibly May delivery 8xi might or might not be this year DRS1X "The ultimate CQB sight - lightweight, compact and simple to use. The reticle has three distinct modes, making it extremely effective at extremely close ranges out to significant distances. Perfect for tactical operations or home defense". Predator AF "The new Predator AF binoculars come in two sizes (10x42 and 8x30), and there are two main things to point out: the porro prism design allows the binos to remain constantly in focus at any distance over 20 yards. No fumbling with a focus wheel while tracking fast moving game. And they come with Steiner's proprietary CAT™ lenses - it's a special coating that makes game pop from the background. Nothing unseen, nothing escapes". BluHorizons "These binoculars, 8x22 and 10x26, have a neat trick that makes them perfect for travel: they automatically adjust to light conditions, giving maximum clarity in bright conditions. No shimmer or glare from water, sand, snow or sky. No squinting, no guessing or eye strain. Just a perfect image. The two compact sizes makes them easy to pack, and they have our Heritage lifetime warranty". We got these into the store a few weeks ago and they are very impressive compacts. Next stop Meopta and my good buddy Randy. Randy took over Meopta Sport Optics right before SHOT last year and to say I thought this was awesome is an understatement. You see Randy had been with Nikon for a couple of decades. We always wanted to work together, however, Nikon has a corporate policy that they will not sell "blood sport gear" to Nikon photo dealers so we could not buy riflescopes from Nikon. Now that Randy moved to Meopta we got down to business. Randy revamped the pricing structure and we had our best year ever with Meopta. As I am sure you've seen we have been offering some exceptional opportunities on their Riflescopes and Binoculars. They announced the Optika HD binocular line. Available in 8x42 HD and 10x42 HD, "these lightweight, rugged, magnesium-alloy binoculars are encased in a newly designed shock-proof, rubber-armored exterior for a modern look and feel. The advanced HD lenses, combined with phase-correction and dielectric coatings, deliver incredible brightness, superior color fidelity, edge-to-edge sharpness and increased contrast, allowing hunters to see better in low light. The twist-up eyecups on the Optika HD binoculars are metal with a soft rubber exterior, making them extremely durable and comfortable while eliminating the risk of breakage in the field. Like all Meopta binoculars, the Optika HD series is nitrogen purged and fully sealed for fogproof and waterproof performance in the most demanding conditions. The Meopta Optika HD binoculars offer hunters, shooters, and outdoor enthusiasts a high-performance, rugged, European binocular at an exceptional price point,” For only $299.99 for the 10x42 and $289.99 for the 8x42's these will be a go to glass for many folks. I was very impressed. Looking like a May delivery Optika6 line of premium riflescopes. "This newest Meopta riflescope series features a 30mm tube, 6x zoom, zero-reset turrets and advanced MeoBright lens coating that delivers edge-to-edge clarity and exceptionally bright, sharp images. The Optika6 Shooting series is available with numerous first focal plane reticle options, including new DichroTech reticles, which feature battery-free illumination in any light conditions. The Shooting series is available in the following models: 1-6x24, 3-18x50, 3-18x56, 4.5-27x50. There is also a 34mm 5-30x56 model with ED glass to eliminate chromatic aberration at high magnification. All Optika6 Shooting series riflescopes feature rubber-armored target turrets for a non-slip grip. The Optika6 Hunting series is available with numerous reticle options in the second focal plane, including new DichroTech reticles, in the following models: 1-6x24, 2.5-15x44, 3-18x50, 3-18x56 and 4.5-27x50. The Optika6 Hunting scopes with capped turrets feature rubber-armored metal caps for the perfect combination of durability and functionality". The Optika6 Shooting and Hunting scopes also come with illuminated reticle options and windage and elevation adjustments in either Mil or MOA. All Meopta Optika6 riflescopes are made of aircraft-grade aluminum alloy and feature: - One-piece tube design - Zero-Reset setting for quick return to zero - Zoom ring with a multi-position throw lever - Rear-facing zoom display for easy viewing of power setting from behind the scope - Locking turrets These scopes are well made, come with flip caps and a throw lever and priced between $499.99 - $899.99. These will be taking sales away from MANY other companies I am sure. Also looking at a May delivery date Meopta also announced a straight Meopro HD 80 Spotting scope, coming in April From Meopta I headed on over to Hawke. Hawke in an English company very big in the AirGun world as all their riflescopes are AirGun certified. They have made great strides the past few years and have some GREAT offerings priced below what you'd expect. We picked up a couple of fantastic deals: Panorama 5-15x50 AO 10x 1/2 MIL DOT #15140 for only $229.99 & Panorama 6-18x50 AO 10x ½ MIL DOT #15150 also for only $229.99 We have sold so many Hawke FFP scopes in the last few months, due to the quality and reasonable price, that I think if you start asking around you'll know someone using and loving Hawke. Next up, which for the 1st time in all my years of going to SHOT, I was excited to go to Bushnell. Reason being is we have had the same, dead from the toes up, sales rep. for a couple of decades and in 2018 I started working with the head of sales and now maybe we will be able to get in on some of the deals and opportunities that my old rep could never seem to offer. Unfortunately, Marty did not make it to SHOT so some of the wind came out of my sails. I met with Tom and I think we had a good meeting. He needs to meet with some folks at Bushnell and get back with me to work out a program. More as it develops.. Down stairs to see Tim over at Carson. We get binocular tripod adapters and Universal digiscope adapters from them. I found a very cool new item that I think is a great addition to what we carry, their MonoPix MP-842IS This is an 8x42 Monocular and Smartphone Adapter bundle. The monocular is 8x42mm with fully coated lenses. The included smartphone adapter fits most smartphones, including dual-camera phones. Simply attach the monocular to the smart phone adapter and your smartphone. There are no additional parts needed. Take pictures and videos and use as a great Monocular. I've talked with Thomas at Vanguard a couple of times but never really gotten Vanguard fever. I have read some very positive reviews on some of the birding sites about their binoculars and spotting scopes so I made sure to meet with them. Their Riflescopes look good. Nothing really original, however, our discussion revealed them claiming superior quality through and through to the other mfg's similar products and a slightly lower price. I checked out a 15-45x60 spotting scope that is only $249.99 that looked surprisingly sharp and bright. Their Tripods are quite nice offering some high quality heads and priced extremely competitively. Last stop today was Swarovski. Great friends over here so I was excited to see them. I gave a heads up on their new products in my Off To Shot post last week.... CL Companion NOMAD 8x30 (leather armoring and bag in wooden box) CL Companion NOMAD 10x30 (leather armoring and bag in wooden box) ATX Interior Spotting Scope (includes special tripod head and tripod) CCT Compact Carbon Tripod - legs only PCT Professional Carbon Tripod - legs only CTH Compact Tripod Head PTH Professional Tripod Head CCT Compact Carbon Tripod and CTH Compact Tripod Head PCT Professional Carbon Tripod with PTH Professional Tripod Head Tripod Plate for PTH DS 5-25x52 - 4A-I Digital Riflescope Z5 2.4-12x50 - PLEX Z5 2.4-12x50 - BRH Z5 2.4-12x50 - BT-PLEX Z5 2.4-12x50 - BT-4W The new Z5's are quite nice and priced well, starting at $1,099.00. IMO a 2.4-12x50 is a perfect hunting scope for the majority of folks. They've actually already started shipping these and we've sold a few. Great scope. Their tripods have always been quite popular and these I am sure will be as well. Extremely well made and perfect for field work. The DS 5-25x52-4A-I Digital Riflescope is a marvel of engineering for a very niche market. With a 40mm tube and a price of $4,499.00 it obviously is not for everyone. It is as state of the art as any other riflescope in this room, and that's saying something as EVERYTHING is in this room. If you're a high tech/gadget/latest and greatest kinda shooter then this is for you for sure. "This product will highlight the optical features of a conventional rifle scope and combine the technology of digital targeting to form an impressive, complete device. The new dS shows not only the correct aiming point, but also the key ballistic data in the head-up display without any distraction and in real time. The key benefit for hunters is that the correct aiming point will be displayed automatically in the rifle scope. With the press of a button, the dS measures the exact distance to the target, having factored in the magnification setting, air pressure, temperature, and angle. This takes into account the personal ballistic data for your firearm/ammunition combination. The windage mark intervals are calculated based on the distance measured, the wind speeds set, and the ballistic data. The display shows the distance information, bullet energy, and other features in a high-resolution head-up display that clearly provides you with all the hunting data that can contribute to a successful hunt. The scope requires networking with a smartphone. Exchanging data is simple and straightforward via the Bluetooth® interface. The personal data supplied when sighting in the target are input directly into the app and transmitted immediately". Remembering from years past how great it felt on my dried out throat I stopped on the way back to my room for some ice cream. I switched things up this year and went to the Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop. Got a milk shake, 2 parts Cookies and Cream and 1 part Chocolate. Great choice. OK, Day 1 done. Tomorrow is another day

Well everyone seems to have the after Christmas blues...The buyer for this last pup backed out so she needs to go to her new home for $500. Call or text 928-853-2119. I am willing to drive for a couple of hours to meet you if that helps.

EL 8x32, has the Outdoorsman’s post attached and comes with the badlands bino pack

Already confirmed by two biologists that it's a hybrid. Why is this even part of the discussion anymore? Unless you're trying to tell Duwane to STOP telling everyone, including his hunter, that it's a Coues buck? Colt Yount found the buck and hunted the buck back in November unsuccessfully. He planned on hunting the buck again this year, I'm sure. That was until they (Duwane, Shane, Colt, or whoever) found out that A3 was requesting permits to guide in a specific area asap where this buck happened to live. Clearly someone else (we'll call him Ben) had found the buck, was planning on selling him to the auction hunter, and A3 was bringing said hunter to hunt it. That's when Colt gave Shane "permission" to take Duwane's hunter (the raffle tag holder, Tol) in there to hurry and kill it before A3 did. Up until that point, Duwane wasn't even hunting the buck. So the race begins... Several days later, and a couple of days of unsuccessfully hunting the buck, the buck is found again by one of Ben's friends. Ben and the hunter are now on their way around to the side of the mountain that the buck is on to shoot it. Meanwhile, Duwane pulls up with his hunter and walks right up to the hill where the spotter is and tries to BS with Ben's friend. Ben's friend makes it clear to Duwane that they're already on the buck. Duwane then tries the old "yeah, but which big buck? There's two big bucks in here" trick. A short while later, and after a random phone call made to Ben by Duwane about optics, Duwane's guide (assuming it was Shane) happens to glass the buck up in the flats. And the rest is history. This is why nobody wants to talk about it: #1 it's a hybrid (which doesn't mean it shouldn't be talked about, per se'), just NOT a full-blooded Coues Whitetail deer #2 Duwane's a snake #3 Change my mind

Take the horns off that deer and I would have said MD head for sure, but I can the hybrid and makes sense. For those of us that need pictures (me me!) to help digest the metatarsal glad identification discussion.. I found this. More than I thought I would learn today.

Has a coues tail, a coues rack, a coues nose.

The pinche viento wey.