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I shot this coues buck in August. My sons and a few friends think I'm a little crazy hunting coues deer with my recurve. I enjoy all types of hunting but hunting with traditional gear has become a passion of mine. This is my biggest coues to date and to do it with my recurve is a dream come true. I was able to spend time with two of my best friends on this hunt and that made it even more special. I'm already dreaming and making plans for next year.

After many years of Hunting AZ Coues Deer I finally killed a good one! The story is short and sweet. Opening day in my usual places were not producing any bucks, plenty of does but no antlers at all. I moved down to the river bottom in some very thick cover where I had seen a few small bucks before opening day. As we all know it was unusually hot so I figured this to be a good strategy. At about 4 pm on opening day this buck walked out at 60 yards! My Marlin 336Y in 30-30 did the job and my hunt was over.

11 years of scouting/hunting as often as I could has finally paid off! This past August I was able arrow my biggest Coues Buck EVER. Last year was a very disappointing archery year for me as I missed several bucks during the Jan. season, I even missed a Javelina. With my failures weighing heavy on my mind, defeating my moral I decided to pick up the rifle and chase Coues deer with it to finish the year. Despite not having used a rifle to deer hunt in over 32 years I was excited to be in the hills of Southern Arizona on the quest to fill my tag. I was able to fill my 2019 rifle tag with a respectable representation of the grey ghost. January 2020 I found myself in a new position at work that demanded more of my time than I thought it would when I pushed myself to obtain it and my bow skills suffered. Covid 19 swooped in and added a harsh reality check for America and more importantly to me and my family when my wife was tested three times to confirm she was positive for it. My entire household was under quarantine for most of March. Unable to hit the field to scout as much as I usually do I was able to find one spot that heldover promise from last year. I set up my cameras there and a few other spots that looked promising. Two weeks before the hunt I ran into other hunters building a blind on the very tank I was watching, after talking to them I learned their intentions. I knew that if I wanted to hunt this spot opening day I would need to beat them there. Opening day excitement turned into nervous jitters as I drove south wondering who would be first to the tank. The extremely hot weather seemed to push more hunters to sit water and I was no exception. My heart sank as I rounded the last turn to the tank and I could see taillights at the gate, dang. I was less than 2 minutes late getting there. Plan B was, I would spot n stalk in the hills not far from the tank. As I sat in my truck thinking where I should start, I started to reevaluate my decision. I thought of how I would feel if that was me down there "waiting" for a buck to come in and they was chasing the deer all around keeping them from settling down and going to get a drink. Plan C, drive to a completely different area and hunt there for the day. I found two trucks in that area when I pulled up 45 minutes after daylight, now I am on plan D and it's not even 7am. I finished the opener without seeing a single buck. Day two my little voice whispered in my ear, "don't go hunting, something bad will happen!" This voice was so strong that for the first time EVER I listened and stayed home. April 2018 my wife had that voice and begged me not to attend a fundraising shoot in Phoenix, I went anyway and was rewarded with a broken right knee that laid me up for 7 months. Sunday I was up a 2:30am, not wanting to be beat to the tank again I arrived around 4am. I set up my blind, made sure everything was perfect and waited. I had deer come in at first light and just about every 45 minutes until 10:30. the action picked back up around 12:30 and stayed steady until I missed a giant around 2pm. I had good bucks in front of as the last light faded without loosing another arrow. Monday was a repeat of Sunday without my having taken a shot, lots of bucks but none that I wanted to shoot with one more day to hunt. By Tuesday the deer had started to slow down on the arrival times but stayed longer. On the drive in I noticed the water line was broken and gushing hundreds of gallons per minute. After daylight I went back to the break to see if there was anything I could do. I tried to contact the only rancher in the area I knew but my phone would not complete a phone call, I could text and post online, just no calls. I found several hose clamps on the old poly tubing, some bishop's tape in my truck. With a water bottle I cut both ends off I added the tape to the inside and clamped it over the PVC pipe, fixed for now! Who needs McGiver anyway!! Several times the ranchers bulls would come in bellowing and carrying on pushing the deer off. After fixing the water pipe I was feeling pretty good and satisfied with the hunt if I didn't get a buck. Around 2:30 the better bucks started hanging around outside the fence. There was one buck I had settled to take if he gave me a shot. 15 minutes later he crossed the fence and nervously approached and backed off from the tank several times before settling down to take a drink. As I started to draw back a much bigger buck walked into view, back to waiting! The new buck wasted no time crossing the fence to take his turn getting a drink. I drew back and settled my 40 and 50 pins on his chest just behind the shoulder, took a breath and let it fly. He ran about 50 yards out of sight and crashed, the Swhacker 125 strikes again. As I waited the bulls started bellowing, kicking up dirt and gathered in one spot just out of sight. Fearing the bulls would destroy any sign from my buck I decided to at least check the area inside the corral. What I found could only be described as a blood HIGHWAY in the soft dirt. I found part of my arrow covered in blood. It was at that point I could see the bulls gathering in the direction my buck ran, they were really getting worked up. I decided to continue the track job and followed it right to the group of bulls. Through their legs I could see my buck. It seemed like they were doing a WAR DANCE for their fallen comrade.

Some guy in Texas has a friend with what you are looking for. He will send you his friend's email shortly.

I know him too. Good guy for sure. Such a good guy in fact, I almost ordered one just to let him borrow it if I could have gotten it in time.

Oddly Cabelas had one. Thanks everyone.

While I think it was great to kill at short range with the 30-30 (which is why I posted the story and pic) it wasn't my first choice of gun or hunting area. Guess I should have told the longer story. I love my 30-30 and I love coues deer hunting. However, I am well prepared for long range shots. My usual spots in the hunting area are high on ridgetops glassing oak choked canyons below us with my tripod mounted zeiss 15x56 Bino's and my Semi-Custom Remington 700 25-06 with zeiss V4 6-24x50 scope by my side. As stated we were not seeing any bucks in the 3 days prior to the season or on opening morning as we usually do. After spotting a few small bucks lower in the river bottoms I hiked into some thick lowland toting the 30-30 (always in my truck when out camping) for a fast shot at a running deer should I jump one. After finding an opening with about 150 yard shotting lanes I sat and watched the water. After only 15 minutes of sitting there I had this buck, with 4 others, step out at 60 yards. I thought it was great as we are all used to long range shots with lots of glassing and some stalking before making a shot. I felt strangely like I was back in New York with my 30-30 in the woods instead of feeling like I was hunting in Arizona. As a side note, I took my 16 year old son into the same area Saturday morning and set him up with a slightly different vantage point than I had been in the day before. At 7am a small 3x2 buck stepped into the shooting lane at 114 yards. He took him cleanly with one shot from his Reminton 700 243. The buck fell dead about 200 yards from where mine was shot. This was his 3rd deer in 4 years of hunting. The first was a 4x4 Mule deer in the same unit, the second a spike whitetail also from the same unit, and this one. Knowing the area was working I took my wife into the same area Saturday evening and set her up near where I was sitting the day before. She is a new hunter, also only 4 years, who has killed one fork horned whitetail at 237 yards and a spike bull elk at 112 yards. Unfortunently, she had her first case of buck fever when a buck, a little smaler than mine, stepped out after an hour of sitting there. The buck was 30 yards from where I had shot mine and again only about 60 yards from her but she managed to make a clean miss with her Remington 700 in 257 Roberts. The next morning we headed into the same area. At about 1130 am another buck, a little bigger than my sons, stepped out at 42 yards! Again, she managed to make a clean miss! Guess I got her too used to shooting longer ranges because she couldn't seem to hit anything in close. Or just buck fever again. We laughed and had a good time while I told her stories of me having buck fever a few times over the years. Regardless, she was discouraged so I took the 30-30 back out and told her to use it in that area from now on. Monday was a waisted day for us as I spent the majority of the day in town working. Tuesday mroning at 615 am, again in the same place, she spotted a spike buck at 72 yards. She decided to take him and made one clean shot kill with the same Marlin 336y 30-30 I shot mine with. We are not trophy hunters and filled our freezer with all 3 tags filled so life was good and we headed home on Wednesday. The bonus was the large rack on my deer, but only a bonus to us.

Bad taxidermists need to be put on blast. There is no room for them.

Another from Duwane's camp...

Another from Duwane's camp...

Here's one from Duwane's camp...

My son and I scouted hard all summer, he named a buck that was coming in regular “eye guards”. After some tough misses on opening day, Saturday about 2:00 pm eye guards came strolling in and Tanner capitalized on him with one 50 yard shot, the buck ran 100 yards and piled up. He is still on cloud nine, I’m super proud of him. For those that care he rough green scored 111”.

When I went 2 years ago He had about 7-8 hunters and 1 guide for each only. After some of us Killed the other guides helped out the other hunters then . But I didn't see him ganging up guides for every hunter from the start like some do!.......................BOB!

Thats right! give me any Gun ! thats why they call me one shot BOB!...........................BOB!

Have a Kimber 1911 for sale. $7300

FYi - I bought a brand new 10x14 from competitive edge products for $589.99 free shipping. They have the one you are looking for plus a free tarp for $549.99 free shipping: https://www.competitiveedgeproducts.com/Super-Deluxe-Kodiak-Canvas-Tent-VX-Series-10x10-Tarp-6013-Together_p_33.html

Dammit I screwed up my Turkey app and applied for late hunts. Moron.

You raising your prices already? 😁

That sucks on both cases.........it really takes a lot to get technology screw ups like this fixed!!!!! Gotta be relentless................. I had somebody up in Colorado that had a Montgomery Ward credit card with my name on it and all my info.....mailing address, phone number.....this was back before cell phone technology! I kept getting sent to the collection agency and getting calls with me just repeating myself over and over again about how that wasn't me in Colorado! I had to send proof of employment in AZ, physical address.....it was a mess that lasted for probably 3 years....................

Very nice buck and with the lever action too.

Nice buck and the young man looks rightfully happy, good for him!

I sat a tank Monday morning in the snow and at sunup it was -1 and when my dad picked me up at noon it was -3. Was all the fun I could stand.

Great buck!

Thanks for the comments guys, muledeerarea33 - the reason I had shorts on and a black t-shirt is because it was the August hunt and it was over 100 degrees outside and I was sitting in a ground blind. I wore a long sleeve black shirt (so not to be seen in the blind) a few days and it was just too hot so I went with the short sleeve.