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How about some coues deer posting! Finally got a late tag in one of my favorite units. Opening weekend had several easy passes and I had time to get a few in the spotter. With the big guys absent, the small 3x3s were bachelored up with lots of sparring. The mulies were solo. It looks like 3 more days of weather and a full moon coming just before Christmas. I can't stop thinking about where I'm going back when vacation starts next week. 🙃 Anyone else??

I did not apply as i have no faith in what our money ACTUALLY goes towards. I would also really like to see who actually drew the tags. I am not inexperienced or inept at understanding what kind of finances it takes to run a BIG operation and I can’t make any sense out of where all the revenue goes. G&F officers don’t make much money (they should), there either aren’t enough of them or they have very little presence in the field and i personally see very little habitat improvement. Revenue keeps going up and populations, age class and habitat keep going down.

Like others it started in July w a 2100 $ hit and goof up from AZGFD, but I got the refund later. Who cares I was going sheep hunting. Scouting started right away and I spent over 30 days scouting in the summer heat and leading up to the hunt. Several target rams we’re seen but as sheep hunting goes they move off in September making it hard to relocate them. Opening day came quick and I spent 8 hard grinding days trying to locate target rams with my close friends. Day 8 we spotted a group of 7 rams and this old desert warrior was a new ram I have not seen before. We’re did he come from ? A quick stalk and some videoing is the rams before the shot my lifetime tag was filled. This ram will probably be the biggest taken in that unit. Rough score 179.5 net 177.5. On cloud 9. I can’t thank my buddies enough for grinding it out with me.

The Big Bucks are coming out of there lairs!!! Seen this big boy doing some chasing activity on a hot doe this passed weekend. He was very smart and didn't stray too far from the heavy brush lines. Made a mistake and bedded in a killable zone! Stalked up to 60 yards from him bedded and waited 2 hours for him to get up and stretch, freakin drilled him! He didn't go more than 70 yards before piling up!!! It's been an awesome year of hunting! I just want to thank God for making all this possible, hunting is something sacred in my family! Not literally but kinda lol.. We eat sleep and S%$t hunting! To many more hunting memories of lifetime. Happy hunting fellas God bless and be safe!!!! #MuleDeerPutasos #Masiso #BigBucksDriveMeNutz Ohhh and before I go I just want to thank my biggest supporter "trphyhntr"😂😂😂

I guess I don’t know why everyone is so worked up about the game and fish having money. They literally work to make our hunting what it is. If there’s any agency out there that we want flush with cash it’s them. If you are concerned with the accountability of their budget then that’s a totally different thing and needs to be addressed as such. The fact of the matter is if we have a voluntary fundraiser that can raise a ton of money to benefit all of us this is a win win. Everyone has a chance and no one HAS to pay it. If you look at the hunt proposals in the off season every year the tag increases by unit are in green, there’s literally thousands of green numbers (tags added to various units) some year and no one bats an eye. You suggested that somehow adding 100 tags in the entire state across all species to raise $16.5mil is somehow ludicrous and I look at that and see an absolute win for everyone!! Those 100 animals could create opportunity for thousands more in access, habitat restoration, water hauling etc. Bring them on if you ask me.

I applied for none, so I still have $13.00😀

Just an FYI - This information will be public knowledge in a very short period of time. The G&F will publish your name, unit, score and days hunted. But why not keep us in suspense!!!!!

Thats why I went with thunder best. Just put the break on each rifle and swap the can. They even have threaded flash hiders for ARs that you can attach the can to.

Planning the annual trip to winter range end of January to watch some big bucks. From what all are saying, may be a bust.

Well. Took the ram for my check in and it’s now the new unit record. I hit the 180 mark with this special ram. Thanks for all my buddies for helping. It was an outstanding hunt.

Meateater was the first show to make hunters look like we are all not drunken rednecks that kill just for horns. Sorry but hes done better for hunter relations then any other hunting show ive seen.

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Chambered in .357, 2.5” BBL, 7 shot, and has about 50rds shot through it. Looking to get $750 or open to trades as well. Located in Tucson

Old nothing special used for beer fridge and to keep deer heads and quarter's in it works but looks ruff . I just unplugged it son in law just gave me a nice stainless one for back patio so i need this gone

I'm holding my 13 for the elk draw. Sure hope you can make a dollar to apply in February. Good luck.

i only had $12 left so I didn’t apply

If I just were $6,000.00 richer Nice rig!

I applied for some but not all 6

pounds?

About 190 looks like congrats

Real science like Fauci real science?

Says the guy holding a caribou

Here are some more pics. This guy had over 106inches of mass. The last pic is my ram standing next to a mid 160s

Kev isn’t wrong that there is a perception among much of the public that hunters are ignorant rednecks. It’s a stupid stereotype that isn’t any more accurate than pretending all inner-city youth are gang members or criminals. Neither of these is correct and the stereotype doesn’t help fix problems that either of them face nor does it value the good that they often bring. Like it or not, MeatEater pushed hunting towards mainstream. There are a litany of challenges that imposes on an extractive recreation like hunting, fishing, gathering, etc. How we manage that going forward is the million dollar question.

Day 3 was a long and hard day! We got up around 3:30 to hike further into the canyon we had been in the past few days. Everything we’d observed scouting and what we’ve seen the past few days told us that there should be Coues on one of four different ridges in this canyon. We only had 4 days carved out for this hunt, so on Day 3 we were definitely starting to feel a little bit of pressure. We got about 3 miles in to our glass spot right as the sun was lighting up the canyon. Right as we got set up, my wife glasses two bowls right at the bottom of the ridge and within 3 minutes, they were down into a thick bowl where there really wasn’t a chance for a pursuit. Bummer about missing those deer, but optimistic it was early we all set up and started glassing. We spent just over 2 hours glassing and didn’t spot a thing. It was just a tad later than 9am and our group was beginning to lose hope that we missed the deer walking through the ridges. We’ve seen enough now to know that their nickname of “Grey Ghost” is well deserved, but with 5 different sets of eyes on these ridges I felt it was almost impossible that we missed the deer. I was wrong. My wife spotted a group of deer with at least 2 bucks slowly making their way down a game trail on a ridge 800 yards away. We had likely glassed over them before as they were well within our sight (these deer are SNEAKY). I quickly got eyes on myself but then thought, “What am I doing? I need to make a move!!” After seeing how slow they were moving and knowing we were “only” 800 yards out, I knew I could make a move on these guys. We still weren’t 100% sure they were Coues since no one could see their butts, but the way the antlers came forward and their slightly lighter gray coat made us daily certain they were. Unfortunately, to get a good chance at these dudes, I had to hike on the backside of the ridge to the east and about 400 feet up. My buddy and I separated from the rest of the group and hauled up the ridge. Our goal was to get level with them, slowly pop over the ridge, and find them. If our calculations were correct, we should have been within my target shooting range (300 yards). As we created the ridge, we could not locate the deer. We glassed and glassed and then realized we needed to push forward about 10 more yards to get a better look at the ridge the deer were on. Sure enough, once we creeped forward, my buddy found the deer. We could see a doe and a buck, but we weren’t sure if they were whitetail. The buck went broadside at 272 yards and I was starring at his butt trying to get a 100% confirmation that it was actually a Coues. Again, the coat, the antlers, and the size screamed Coues but I wasn’t going to take that shot without 100% certainty. Then, I spotted a black tip. My heart sunk, was it actually a Mulie?? He stepped behind a tree and disappeared but I never got a complete look at the tail. Still coming down from the adrenaline rush, I played it all back in my head. I was almost certain it was a Coues, but was it actually a Mulie? I had cell service so I contacted my wife and father in law to let them know I lost sight and had doubts it was actually a whitetail. They told me that for sure one of the bucks they had seen was a whitetail and that they thought the deer might have bedded where I saw the buck disappear. I told them I would wait with my buddy on the opposite ridge and would come back if I hadn’t seen any movement in an hour and a half. Today was super windy in that canyon. The wind was swirling all over the place and the direction of the wind was blowing from behind my buddy and I directly at where I had seen the buck disappear. After an hour, I wondered if they winded us on the opposite ridge and walked away without us noticing. My buddy and I hasn’t seen any deer emerge from the tree they disappeared behind but the only movement we could see the past hour was wind moving grass and branches around. After almost two hours, and not observing any signs of actual deee movement (a head popping up, ear flick, etc), I felt almost certainly the grey ghost has vanished without us seeing it. We went back and forth on if they actually could have snuck away because we had eyes on that spot and we should have been able to see if they moved away from that tree. After about another 30 minutes, we made the decision to make some noise to see if we could spook anything. We figured if they were still there, then they might get up out of their bed if they hear noise and if they weren’t there then we could rest easy getting off the ridge and returning to our group. I was fairly certain that they were gone. I was wrong again. My buddy and I started making some loud noises. Nothing. We made some more loud noises. Nothing. Finally, the wind died for a second and I heard my yell echo across the canyon. All of a sudden, three deer popped up from the tree we had been watching for 2 hours. All I could think of was WHAT THE?! I immediately got my scope on a buck, and my buddy confirmed what I was thinking. COUES!! I had ranged out multiple spots on their ridge line and I knew he was about 280 yards out. I took zoomed my scope from a 4x zoom to 12x and had him in my sights. Then jumped down 20 yards. I zoomed back out to reacquire him but couldn’t find him. My buddy told me where he was and I found him again in my scope. He ended up circling back above the tree where he was bedded and stopped. I zoomed my scope back in and was hoping and praying he would give me a broadside shot. At this point, I knew he was about 290 yards out and so I needed him to get broadside before he went further up the ridge and out of my range. My prayers went answered. He turned. My heart was pounding so bad at the past 90 seconds of excitement, that I had to take a second to calm myself even though I had the perfect rock to use as a bench to shoot from. I breathed slowly and squeezed the trigger. I immediately lost the buck due the zoom and recoil and half whispered half shouted at my buddy, “Where is he, is he down??” He half’s whispers and half yells, “He’s down!! He’s in the same spot you shot him. You dropped him.” I quickly found him again in my scope and saw him move a little but he was down. A minute later my phone starts ringing. It’s my father in law. He says, “We saw all the deer jump up and then heard the shot. You get him??” I was super excited to reply, “we got him and we got eyes on him!” We told him where the buck was and made the plan to all meet up at that spot. My buddy and I stayed put watching the buck another 5 minutes but he was completely down. I couldn’t believe it. It was a gnarly, steep, super thick hike over to the ridge he was on. Luckily, we made really good mental notes on where to look for the body. We had no idea, but the ridge he was on was incredibly thick country. It was nearly impossible to squeeze through some of the trees and bushes but we managed to get over there. We almost couldn’t find the body but we did and I couldn’t have been more thrilled. After three long, hard days of hunting we had one down. My first deer ever, on a windy day, at nearly max range. I’ve been blessed to shoot two bull elk the past two years, but this one was special. From my wife glassing it up, to my buddy and I positioning ourselves in the right spot to get the shot, and getting the opportunity to ID the Coues and get him broadside for a shot….what a blessing. I am so excited to try some whitetail and give thanks the the big man upstairs for a wonderful hunt with family and friends. I appreciate all of your well wishes and support! Love being a member of this site and sharing the story with you all. Until next year, John