Leaderboard

Not bad for a 4th choice tag 1 day hunt.

And I'm not talking about the current state of the nation. I knew the odds of me drawing a sheep tag were slim to none, but it happened in 2019. The odds of what happened on my deer hunt this past weekend however, had to be far slimmer and certainly unbelievable without proof. Whether the destination of the day or the particular part of a ridge or canyon, I have told myself a hundred times "that is where you're going to find a lion." With an abundance of hunting pressure on opening day of the third coues hunt in the unit, I went 2.5 miles to the deepest and darkest canyon available from my hunt party's area before sunrise on Saturday. The drainage of the canyon was surprisingly void of deer at first light, so my partner and I kept on the last several hundred yards up a shale face that crested into one of the steepest and biggest Google Earth tricks that I've ever played on myself. I immediately thought, "crap it is going to be tough to find a buck in here, but this HAS to be lion country." One tucked in doe and 5 minutes later, and I had finally found what I'd been dreaming of every day on the mountain for the last 18 years. There sunning sideways on a large boulder along a steep draw, stretched out my first glassed lion with no idea we had slipped into its lair. Unbelievable. The excitement nearly doubled when my rangefinder read a number starting with one of a few magical digits, 4. With the state of cat and a series of boulders and rock faces to navigate through, I closed the number to 400 yards even and set up prone. I waited for an hour and a half as it roll occasionally from side to side. I tried to guess how everything would play out including when, how and for how long it would get up for a stretch, but I was in no mans land. I knew nothing first hand about their daytime behavior and came to the conclusion it could be hours before anything changed. With a solid rest, no kittens joining the party and a forecast of high winds picking up well before noon, it was time to put all the load and range work to use. Timed to a break in the early morning gusts, 2 quick reports and a cloud of dust rising from the rock pile beneath is all that could be seen. For the first time ever, the deer tag in my pocket didn't matter anymore. We found 3 kills all within a few hundred yards. Upon arrival, I feared the lion had crawled its way into a hole that I was going to have to dig out similar to several javelina over the years. But luck continued on my side. My first lion, a 2-3 year-old female. Another first was my young cousin's buck on Friday, his first day ever hunting. Obvious first timer with his headlamp still on his head at noon. I hadn't noticed all day or when taking the photos either! Haha. It was also my first weekend with a new pack and I couldn't have carried the lion out like I did for camp to appreciate without it. A buck on Friday and a 80-90 pound lion on Saturday - what a way to break it in. The Savage LWH has also taken a sheep, coues and lion all within the last year with the 6.5 ELD-X doing its job 3/3, dead right there. And the most unbelievable part? After 18 years behind binoculars across the state with zero lions spotted, a second lion on Sunday after creeping into just 380 yards. It didn't have a care in the world, like it knew none of us had another tag in our pocket. We watched it along with deer a couple hundred yards to both sides for an hour before we let it lay and moved along. I've always heard "anything can happen" when it comes to hunting, and after the last 2 years, it isn't so unbelievable anymore.

My names Brandon and I have Been a member for a few months, Ed F referred me here to find a cape for my 2020 muley. Just got back from my first couse hunt in AZ. I had no expectations and just knew My buddy from Utah and I were going in blind. Awesome country and it blew my mind. I love glassin and this was the hunt for it. Hunted this buck hard for three days and was finally able to connect, spotted him the day before the opener and on opening day he was no where to be found, we new he should be In The area and stayed the course, on Saturday we spotted him in the same bench we found him a few days wait let and made the plan. Got to 1200 yards my buddy got his spotter out said he was bedded in the same location and after a back and forth on who was gonna go in( I was pushing him to go in and he was pushing me) I caved and went in. My buddy is a way more accomplished hunter then I am so he was happy to see me work in on this buck. popped up on the finger next to the bench he was on, ranged him at 196, cross haired him and waited for him to stand. Bout 15 mins later KAPOOOW, the 6.5 creed ate for the first time and he dropped in his bed. If you guys want to hear more details and how my buddy filled his tag as well, check out my podcast- we are based out of Southern California. I did a semi live 3 episode podcast on this hunt but am going to be posting a in-depth in studio recap of the entire trip so be on the look out for that. podbean, iTunes, google play and any platform you listen to podcast on. Ridge2Ridge outdoors podcast Instagram @ridge2ridgeoutdoors I love Couse hunting.

This is a heavy duty trailer I recently updated and decided to sell. It includes: 4 brand new tires -- less than 3 months old 2 stabilizer rear corner jacks and a quick deploy tongue jack heavy duty front bumper 5200 lb Hayes axles with electric brakes on both deck is 84 inches wide plus between the fenders and the deck is 12 feet plus the dovetail is 20 inches and the front bumper extends over the tongue approximately 12 inches new paint on trailer and bedcoating on the deck 8 plus heavy duty d-rings Great for tractors, jeeps, sxs or anything in between Titled and licensed Price $2750 will consider 12-14 flatbed in part trade.

Hey everyone. I started a YouTube series on how I place trail cameras. With the coues seasons upon us, I released my first video about coues deer. I hope you enjoy.

I want to start by saying thanks to the people who chimed in to my first post about being frustrated, mainly Bill for all his help and all his advice. I spent most of the summer and early fall scouting 24a with no luck. I couldn’t even find a doe. Every trip out to the Unit I learned something new but still couldn’t find a deer. Bill invited me to shadow his hunt in 24a and teach me about coues deer and I’m extremely grateful for that. I was discouraged to say the least. I figured even if I hadn’t spotted any deer I would still go hunt my hardest. Once I realized the north part of 24a was open, we started our hunt off haystack road. We hiked in about 2 miles and camped in some of the shittiest spots imaginable. Literally shitty. The cows were hogging all the flat spots, so we pushed them out and slept in their crap piles. Friday afternoon I finally laid my eyes on a group of magical does at 1000yards. Watched them for 2 days hoping a buck was in the area. No luck, so we decided to change our spots. After 2 nights of next to zero sleep, plenty of rain, and a ton of wind, we changed spots and did some “road hunting”. Driving and glassing, driving and glassing. No deer, just a bunch of hunters. Everyone I talked to was seeing doe’s, but no bucks. I took another look at the map, decided to go to the place I didn’t want to go.. way out, and way up. I found a cliff looking into a canyon, walked up to the edge and saw a doe at 70 yards. I knew it was a good spot. Spent a couple hours looking through my friends spotting scope while he sat in the truck browsing tinder.. or Christian mingle.com .. or whatever he’s into and found some does. At the point where I was asking myself “what in the heck am I doing out here?” I pan over and see a buck feeding on some bushes! I couldn’t believe my eyes... he had horns! Miraculously at the same time my buddy walks over and I’m shaking like a leaf. I ranged him at 711yards and decided no way was I taking that shot in the wind. Decided to cut the distance by 200 yards and see what the buck does. I hike down and glass the spot... he’s gone... My buddy on the spotter calls me and says “hey the buck has moved about 150 yards closer to you... wait.... there’s another buck.. he’s a TANK!” The two bucks move down to a water tank. I ranged him at 384yards. Dial my scope, zoom all the way to 16X... yup.. made that mistake.... and shaking like a leaf with buck fever I pressed the trigger... Got the rifle steadied... and he’s gone... My buddy calls me and said “dude you missed by a mile..... BUT YOU SHOT AT THE WRONG BUCK!!!!! The buck you want to shoot is 5 yards closer to you in the trail!” The buck starts walking, stops to smell the wind, and I poressed the trigger. Hit him about 6-8inches back from where I was aiming, and destroyed his spine... at that point I realized somehow I must have bumped .2mils of windage in the turret.... I watched him hoping he would bleed out for about 10 minutes before I decided to hike back to the cliff and come up with a plan. Maybe 25-30 minutes passed and he still had his head up. I was gutted. I still feel terrible that I didn’t one shot kill him... we moved spots on the cliff and I decided to shoot him again from 515 yards. Put one right through his lungs and he flopped over dead. We emptied our bags except the essentials and hiked down. My first year as a Hunter has been a roller coaster. But I finally laid my hands on an animal that I HUNTED.. an animal that I shot.. we took some pictures that I will cherish for ever, cut him up, and we packed him out in the dark.

Finished my new reloading table.

No political signs?

I just quit the booze for a few days, drink a few gallons of water a day then get back on the booze. All the voices in my head are happy then!

Nice buck, Well done!

Great buck man!

Booner buck, congratulations

Awesome buck! Thanks for sharing the story and pictures.

Nice buck. Congrats

Those are two nice Coues bucks- I can see why you loved it. Congrats to both of you.

Stud buck for sure....Triple digits ?

Congrats on a couple great bucks.

Nice buck, you guys did good!

Congrats nice looking deer

dang nice buck! Congratulations

This Dodge was at the Auction today. Look familiar to anyone?

The hood makes a steady rest.

Thanks guys, Yea im super stoked to have been able to seal the deal. Just dropped him off at the taxidermist yesterday. He said he should be able to fix the G2. Cant wait for January...

Hunted the east side this year. Passed on a 135 type buck opening day and a giant fork right at Sun down. Nothing but spikes and forks after that. Hunted hard and put a lot of miles on the boots and a lot if time behind the glass. I think I kind of screwed myself opening morning. I though it was a good idea to go in on the mid pinion/juniper level of the old warm fire and hike up thinking I would get away from others while still hunting the burn. Well I was away from others and was able to glass a ton of country but unfortunately I think I was still to low. Only saw one fork way up in the burn and heard probably 15 people take shots higher up in the burn off the 67. After that I decided to hunt the top and saw hundreds of deer but nothing mature. Was able to glass up a sleeping coyote in the top of the burn so I don't think there was anything wrong with my glassing.

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