CouesWhitetail

Congratulations! And thanks for reminding folks that it's always good to take the time to take wonderful photos so you don't end up like you did, wishing you had better pics.

Nicely done! Amanda

Outstanding buck!! Congratulations! Amanda

I am posting this for Curmudgen.......wow, his 41st Coues!!! I was hunting opening day in 32 and had just settled down for my afternoon siesta when I spotted a nice buck. He was crossing a high ridge through a saddle about 800 yards from where I was kicked back waiting for the day to cool down a bit. After considering the options, I decided a deer in sight was better than taking my chances where I was. So I bailed and went over to near where I'd last seen him and set up. After about 45 minutes of glassing for him or, hopefully, his dad or big brother, he steppet out about 200 yards away and I nailed him. About sundown, while boning him out, I heard some rustling in the grass about 20 feet away. I looked down and saw a cat looking back at me. She was crouched in tall grass and at first all I saw was her head. I thought she was a bobcat and got excited about the prospect of having a bobcat pelt. Then I noticed her tail waving and realized it was a lion. I went for my gun which was about 10 feet in the other direction. When I turned back with my .270 in hand she was still crouched glaring at me. I had expected to see her running across the hillside, but was happy she was still there and let her have it once I figured out where her vitals were. She fell on the spot and I had my second lion and 41st Coues deer within 30 feet of each other. What a rush for a 68 year old who just can't give it up. I think I'll be back next year. Jack

We were in the southwest corner. Peterborough, Rindge area. But also Hampton and went through Manchester. Amanda

Give Clay a call. He is a sponsor of this site and does some great work. Lots of members of this forum use him alot. We recently featured him in the spotlight sponsor: http://forums.coueswhitetail.com/forums/in...showtopic=11037 http://www.mogollontaxidermy.com/index.html Mogollon Taxidermy Clay Goldman- Artist 1007 N. Mud Springs Road Payson, Arizona 85541 (928) 474-4249

Does seem to fight fairly often and usually it seems related to access to some good food supply. So perhaps there was something special about that tree she was feeding on..... Amanda

I like that shot too!! It's also interesting because my nephew looks like he is calm and just peacefully strolling on the beach, but that's not his normal state!! Amanda

Nope, I didn't get any WT photos. Didn't hardly see any as a matter of fact. I did see a hunter-killed moose in the back of a pickup at a gas station. It was the opening weekend of moose season and this seemed to be a very young moose. Amanda

Congratulations!! I hope she registered in the Coues buck contest this year! Amanda

Hope you have a great birthday Bobbyo!!! Amanda

Thank you to our many veterans...young and old! I was in New England recently and there is a ton of military history there. I took a few photos of some of the military monuments and graveyards with all the beautiful fall color around them. And this photo shows a gravestone that we saw that had the twin towers on it. I assume that person died during the 9-11 attack. Please find a way to honor a vet today!! Amanda

Actually, I didn't. I was thinking of you when I made this post because I realized I didn't have any pics of the food!! Oh well, rest assured, we ate very well!! Which is partly why I was dragging on my backpack hunt a few days later!! Amanda

here you go:

gorgeous cat!! Amanda

With this housing market the way it is, there were TONS of houses for sale. I was thinking it was a great time of year to house shop out there because you could see how great the trees on the property would look in the fall. Gotta love old maple trees!!! Amanda

Well, I used the new pack on that first couple days of backpacking and I pretty much hated it. The first half of the hike in, the load felt unsteady and I was fighting the pack, but finally got a setting that worked better, but it's definitely not my choice for a backpack hunt. Of course I didn't buy that pack as an overnighter, but decided it might work ok and wanted to give it a go. The pack seems overly heavy by itself compared to my usual overnight backpack. And since I got really sore wearing it, I decided to use my other pack for the rest of the hunt, so I don't know how well I will like it as a day pack. I will spend some time with it this winter and see if I like it as a day pack. Amanda

Hi All, Well, I was again fortunate to draw a unit 27 tag and was able to hunt with my friend Scott and his son Austin. We had a great time, but only Austin shot a deer. I don't have a picture of Austin's buck but it was a nice 2x3 with some palmation on one side. Austin didn't have a lot of days to hunt and he shot this buck as we were travelling to our hunting area. Congratulations Austin! Anyway, we started out our hunt by backpacking into an area Scott has wanted to hunt for years. Here is a pic of me and Scott's giant pack (note it's almost as tall as I am!). But it was a pretty tough hike in and we only made it half way to where he wanted to be after three hours of hiking! Since it was getting dark we just camped there, which happened to be an excellent glassing spot, but the morning would only bring a few coues does and muleys in the area near us, and one Coues buck and some does that Scott glassed up with his 30x's about 3 miles away. Well, after not seeing a whole lot in the area that morning, we changed plans and hiked back out. We decided we might have better luck in other areas. From there on out we did day hunting trips from Scott's NEW house. Scott has been building this house for many months now and I was happy to be able to stay there and see it. It has an amazing view of some great Coues country. In fact the view is so great, that we actually spent day two just glassing from his back porch!! I was happy to do this since my legs were very sore from our long, hot hikes on Thurs/Friday. I can tell you it's a rare treat to eat bacon and eggs (courtesy of Scott) while glassing from a chair on someone's porch! A few pics of Scott huntin' hard on day 2: You can see some of his house here with the amazing windows that allow for a stunning view of the mtns. The rest of the hunt we spent hunting mornings from the house and generally coming back in the afternoon to work on building projects, like installing doors, window screens, and lights. It was quite fun for me to learn how to do all that stuff. We also got to go to several church functions including the preacher's 50th birthday party at his nearby log cabin that he built essentially by himself. And that includes cutting the trees himself, prepping the logs and puttting them in place! I know several people that build their own homes, but I didn't know anyone who actually cut the trees themselves!! Way cool! I should have taken a picture of that place! Anyway, one morning Scott and I were glassing different areas and Scott found a couple nice bucks. I was watching some smaller bucks in another area when I heard him call on the radio to come back his way. As I headed that way, Scott decided he wanted the biggest buck and started taking some shots at it. Unfortunately, he didn't have a range finder and he understimated the distance by quite a bit (300 vs 525 yards!). By the time I got there (with a range finder) the bucks weren't providing any shot opportunities. Not knowing for sure if he had hit anything, Scott headed down the steep ridge to check for blood and a dead deer and I stayed up on top as a lookout for deer moving out of the area. Here is a pic of the area, the bucks were down in the grassy flat below the binos. Scott didn't find any sign of a hit deer, and did see one of the bucks running out of there and heard what was probably the 2nd buck moving across the canyon. So Scott headed back up where I was. Scott had a great new lightweight rifle for this hunt (he can fill in the details if he sees this). But here is a pic of him and his custom rifle: Some digiscoped pics of one of the little bucks I saw that morning (sorry no pic of Scott's big buck): Some scenery of the areas we hunted: On the 2nd to last day we tried a nice area and I found a buck I really wanted (I would guess 105+), but I didn't see him until the bucks were going to bed. It took Scott and I probably 1.5 hrs to get over to where I would have a 300 yard shot from the bucks if they came out of the bedding area. We set up there and waited a couple hours, but tired of that game and decided to head back home. It was a hot hunt and the bucks didn't seem to be moving much at all in the afternoons. Pic of Scott on watch for my buck to get up and step in the open: We went back in on the last morning and found bucks again and yet again they bedded before we could get there and we decided not to wait them out all day. So I guess that buck will just be bigger next year for me!! Some other things I saw during the hunt included this partial skeleton Scott found under a juniper tree that turns out to be a ringtail cat skeleton. Also found a dead snake that I hadn't seen before, it's an eastern patchnosed snake. and a Red-tailed hawk that soared right over my head while I was on top of a ridge: And some nice maples showing their red foliage: This was a different kind of hunt for both Scott and I in that we just pretty much hunted the mornings rather than staying out til dark. We accomplished lots on his house and probably spent as much time doing non-hunting stuff as we did hunting. It was great spending so much time with Scott's family and friends! Too bad we didn't get bucks, but at least Austin did and we enjoyed a great meal of venison tacos the night he killed that buck. YUM!!! Amanda

Very interesting buck!! Don't forget to email me a couple pics and info to post in the main photogallery. amanda@coueswhitetail.com Amanda

Great story and photos Doug!! Thanks so much. By the way, that lucky bean is a coral bean and it's poisonous!! Sorry you didn't get your buck, but looks like you had some fine company and beautiful area to hunt. Amanda

some info here: http://www.coueswhitetail.com/shot_placeme...t_placement.htm

I bought a Canon Powershot from Doug and couldn't be happier......They got it to me fast when I needed it before my elk hunt. Amanda

Brian, are you serious?!? No kidding, Unit 29 Gould Turkey. Holy Cow, can't believe it!!!!! Brian Woo-hoo!!! That's great!! Amanda

My new dog Julie shows some natural talent for finding sheds. She brought me a nice WT shed and has picked up WT skulls, fox skulls, and elk antlers too. I praise her heavily whenever she brings me something made of bone in the field. Even if it's a leg bone and not an antler. I didn't do any training at home other than I always have antlers around for the dogs to chew on, so she chews on antlers alot at home. But she just has a super nose and is curious about stuff and she just LOVES to carry things around (I guess because she is a golden retreiver). So anytime I find a shed (or some other bone) in the woods and she is with me, I get her all worked up and say "get the bone" and she starts searching around. Eventuallys she finds it and usually, but not always will pick it up and run around with it. I figure it's a start and it's farther than I have gotten with other dogs who were only interested in hunting live animals. You can also search the internet for info on shed hunting dogs and training them.

here are the pics: