Tunachaser

Congrats man! Super solid.

why are you selling it?

Look into Kuhl pants. The type you want are called Ryders. I hunted in Carharts for years. Then my buddy turned me onto these pants and I'll never wear carharts in the field again. Unfortunately, they are a little pricey but 200% worth it. Crazy good range of motion in your knees, and the stitching pattern is crazy tight. You won't get too hot in them like carhartts, and they rip thru nasty stuff like cat claw even better.

Last year, I was unbelievably blessed to harvest a giant Arizona color phased Black Bear, and while hunting that bear, found a giant Coues Deer that two weeks later was again beyond blessed to take. Bear hunting is awesome but I don't think I will ever need to kill another for myself. So this year, the bear focus was on my two friends. I always enjoy using Bear hunting as my scouting for my rifle Coues hunts. Opening weekend, our group did a backpack bear hunt in the unit I was drawn for deer. I was excited to see some big bucks, but we didn't really see anything I needed to shoot. I did glass up a handful of bears and a mountain lion but stalks didn't work out on any of them. I returned home and went back to the topo's to figure out where I was going to hunt come the end of October. A good friend of mine gave me a lead on a spot that he used to backpack into close to 20 years ago. All I needed to see were some of his sheds that he had found in there and I was on my way. The week before the hunt, my brother and I threw on our packs and started penetrating into this canyon as it got dark. The next morning revealed some of the biggest country I've seen in a while. I knew it would be impossible for the two of us to cover everything in a day and a half. We glassed hard though and hiked harder, and our efforts showed a healthy population of deer but no potential shooters. We weren't discouraged however, and a week later, we were headed back in deep, this time with our dad, and some rifles. Right off the bat, we were seeing bucks. And at about 8:00am, the first good buck stepped out. He was old and heavy with short tines but tons of character. I was positive that my brother who has not killed a buck bigger than an average 2pt would be fired up to kill this buck. Well, he wasn't, and we let the first 90+ inch buck live. During the middle of the day, we made our final push into our main camp and made a small shelter. Due to the warm night time temperatures, we decided not to bring sleeping bags. I brought a flannel sheet but my dad and brother pretty much didnt bring anything (They bough "backpacking blankets" from REI- Useless!!!). After a miserable first night trying to share one sheet, we knew that we needed to make a shelter, which actually helped a lot more than I would have thought. That night, Bennett and my dad went up one side of the canyon, and I went up the other. I glassed up a buck that was pushing 100 but due to our remoteness, we knew that another hunter would never see this buck, and so we also passed him up. The next day we spent exploring the ridge tops and saw a few smaller bucks in the morning, and then passed out third buck that was in the 90's range. While on the ridge, we found 9 sheds!! It was too awesome. The next morning was our last morning so Bennett and my dad packed their gear and started heading out to try and find the heavy short buck. I went up hoping to find that "Giant". Neither of us glassed up a buck that morning however, and we headed out. It was an awesome awesome time in the back country, exploring new country, but we were going to eat our tags. And I have a little bit of a problem eating my deer tags. I schemed how I would get back down, seeing that the hunt closed on Thursday. Somehow though, it worked out that I was able to skip school on Thursday however, and my dad and good friend Colton and I made the long drive back south on Wednesday night to try and seal the deal on a buck. I had a pretty good plan, and I was excited to see what this particular basin had to offer. We woke up at 4:00am with not much sleep and began hiking. By first light, we were glassing an incredible basin, and started picking up some deer. At about 7:30, a small buck stepped out. I really didn't want to see him because I didnt want to shoot a small buck but I knew it was the last day. Then all of the sudden, I caught movement behind him and saw a much bigger bodied deer. When he stepped out, I knew that he was a buck I would be happy with on the last day of a general season hunt. Colton and I threw on our packs and took off for a knob that I figured we could shoot from. A few minutes later, I had my scope dialed for 365 yards, and he gave me a quartered-to shot. I hit him a touch high, which rattled his cage pretty hard but it didn't hit vitals. After a stressful scramble around the knob, I relocated him doing the classic stand perfectly still Coues Deer move, and I put a final bullet into his chest. He ran 10 yards and back-flipped down the hill. We were all pretty excited! There was definitely a lot of cheering going on way up on that rock. He was on the north facing slope of a cliff which gave us full shade the entire time we broke him down. Check that sweet tail out! I was messing with my California buddies , telling them that I had killed my first Blacktail. The entire hunt was a gift, and I give all the praise and the glory to him who is worthy of all our praise; our perfect and holy Creator. Thank you Lord for your incredible goodness in my life. I am totally humbled. Thanks everyone for reading! I know it was long but it was an action packed week! I hope you all enjoyed. Some numbers for those of you who like that. He is 16 3/4" wide making him my widest buck ever. Close to 18" beams. I roughed him at 92. My fourth biggest Coues ever, and on the last day, I couldn't be happier!

1320, how did you know we were eagles? =)

I did start hunting bears when I was 10. My grandpa is a big time hound guy and when I first started hunting, he still had bear dogs (now he just has lion dogs) so I've chased a lot of bears unsuccessfully. We also hunted them by glassing when I was little but I didn't see my first dead bear until I was a senior in High School. And as of now, I have harvested 9 of the Arizona big 10. I killed an Antelope with my bow in August. The only one left is a Big Horn Sheep. And i'm ready for the long haul to wait for that tag! But like I've said so many times, I've been blessed more than I could have ever imagined.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement! I wrote my Bear and Coues story for an online magazine last year called Western Whitetail. We called it "Bear'n Down for Coues Deer"! It was a neat story, but I think I could have done better. My Bear scored 20 3/8" and my Coues Deer scored 113 5/8" or 110 and change, depending on how you measured the palmation. I like to say 113. =) He grew it! Here is the attachment for the article. http://www.westernwhitetail.com/bearn-coues-deer/

In 2010, I was 16 and drew my first archery antelope tag. We hunted 7 days and came home with tag soup and some awesome memories. Four years later, I drew my second tag. I remember I was crossing the border coming home from Mexico from one of the most incredible fishing trips of my life, and I got the news. To be honest, I was bummed. I know that sounds extremely selfish but I was in a fishing mode. Thankfully however, my friends were able to get me jazzed about the hunt, and by opening day, I was shooting 90 yards, had several bucks picked out, and went to bed Thursday night struggling to fall asleep in anticipation for the morning. That evening was the first time we saw the buck that we soon named "Captain Hook," and he never left my mind. Right off the bat the next morning, I stalked a nice buck with a bunch of does, and as expected with 10 sets of 10 power binoculars looking in every direction, we were busted. My mind wasn't in it. I couldn't stop thinking of "Hook". I wanted him more than any goat in the unit. And that evening, the Good Lord showed him to us. My brother Bennett and I immediately took off as he was hanging out with a small buck in a stalk-able spot at about a mile. They fed into the open however and my dream of an easy stalk went with them. But then the Lord gave us another gift. He bedded them down behind a large Juniper and we were able to close the distance to 200 yards. Then the bucks started feeding towards us. I was freaking out. I knocked an arrow and pulled out my rangefinder to range some points. Then the unthinkable happened. My only rangefinder died. A once and a lifetime trophy was feeding towards me in the most difficult country to guess range in and my rangefinder died. My confidence was almost completely crushed, but I stuck with it. Then I was given another gift. The small buck broke away from Hook. We were stoked but he began to feed away. I knew that if I didn't get aggressive, I might loose him. So I stood up with an arrow knocked and no rangefinder, put a Juniper between us, and I closed the distance to 100 yards. He then went behind a bush and I go to 90. Then he fed out to 120 and I closed it to 100 again. I played this game with him for close to 15 minutes. I was right on him but he was feeding too quickly. I had one chance for a shot at 80 yards (guessing of course) but my heart was coming out of my chest. I couldn't keep my pin on him!! I decided to keep risking it and getting closer. Finally, God gave me the perfect tree and I was suddenly at 60 yards. If you haven't guessed already, I am positive that I had nothing to do with any of this stalk. It was all a gift from our perfect creator. I drew back, had time to breath and settle my bubble, and let the arrow fly. It looked perfect, and almost knocked him to the ground, almost like a rifle! He ran for about 100 yards plowing his head into the ground and then stopped. It was then that I realized that I had just arrowed a truly giant buck. I closed my eyes and thanked the Lord for everything, and opened my eyes fully expecting to see him on the ground. To my amazement, he was standing and looking around like nothing was wrong. He then began to trot. And I could tell that his front shoulder was broken but oh my goodness, when he got his bearings back, he ran like nothing I've ever seen. My dad watched him run a mile until it was too dark to see anything. I was crushed. Maybe an inch too forward and I missed all vitals. We knew there was nothing we could do that night so we came back at first light and began to tear the valley apart. Five minutes into glassing, my buddy hunter picked him up bedded. We were all amazed! It was an incredible find. Without hesitation, Hunter and I took off to finish what I had started. After another long and stressful stalk, my second arrow found its mark at 56 yards. Again, the buck ran like mad, but quickly ran out of energy and we were soon walking up on our prize. And being totally honest, there aren't words to describe my feelings. All I could say was "THANK YOU JESUS FOR YOUR INCREDIBLE BLESSINGS." Anyways, the packout was long but sweet, as I was able to share it with some of the people I enjoy hanging out with most. My dad, my brother, and my friends Hunter and Austin. And that is my story of "Captain Hook", the coolest antelope God ever put in my binoculars. Thanks for reading. Shelton

To get you tag holders stoked, I thought I'd throw up the picture of my dads Ram from the late 90's. Anyone want to guess score? =)

Oh my goodness thats crazy! I'm guessing he didnt get to hunt anymore. How did the other guy do? Brian Rimsza also had the tag that year. I think he was pretty young ( Guess he's always been good at pulling tags) 280REM, is 45C the Castle Domes? Your hunt sounded pretty crazy! I can't wait til I get to go on a Desert Sheep hunt. I hunted Aoudad last year on a Self-Guided West Texas hunt and that was pretty similar hunting my dad said. We hunted 6 days and never saw a mature ram. Iv'e never hunted harder in my life. We got our butts kicked. Mostly because the so-called "outfitter" completely lied about the property and we were hunting a Mountain Range that has been wildly over hunted. We glassed up 2 bands of sheep the whole time and went 3 days without seeing a single sheep. A lesson was learned tho. Do extensive research on an outfitter and don't let a good deal haze your decision process. When its too good to be true, it usually is.

Nice! did he scope himself?!

Haha. Some of you guys have the book, "Kofa Kings" by Tom Sadd. I guess my dads sheep stands out. He definitely stands out in my eyes. Iv'e never seen a prettier Ram. Old Buck pulled his records and G&F tapped him at 175 1/8. And yes, West Kofa's back in the Glory days. I was 3 1/2 years old on this hunt. My dad packed me all over the place. My mom took me home the morning of the 10th day, and that night, we got the call that they had found and killed a Kofa Legend. Anyone remember his nick-name( I thought it was "The White Tanks Ram" or something?) No one would have ever guessed a Ram of this caliber would have 13 inch bases. Everyone thought he was dead but my grandpa found him on a tiny little rock miles from the main Mtn range and they got him killed.

Did you draw it?!

Not big???? Minimum entry Boone and Crockett for Desert Bighorns is 168. If Jay's guess is the closest, he less than 2 inches from B&C book. It's funny (myself included) how we all think that a sheep needs to be 170's plus to be a "big" sheep. It's like saying a 108 inch Coues Deer isn't very big? I'd say that is pretty dang big.

That is so awesome!! Congrats man. One of my dream hunts. What was your comfortable range with open sights? Are those early Muzzy hunts hard to draw?

Thanks everyone! I'm not sue if you noticed but the last picture I posted in the original post is my brother and I (in front of the big junipers) and my buck(up in the open grass) in the same field of view for my dad who was on the hill. This was about 5 minutes before I took my risky move across the open. The craziest part which I forgot to tell about was that after I took after "Hook", the smaller buck got nervous and started following me! I didnt know but I guess he followed right behind me, well within bow range all the way until I shot. It's crazy that he didnt spook my buck. Another gift!!!!!! And while all this is going on, my dad and brother got confused in the dimming light and thought I was mixed up, chasing the smaller buck while "Hook" chased me. Well that obviously wasn't the case and they were stoked when they found out that I had actually arrowed the buck we were after.

I have been watching a stud for the past 3 years now in 7 and hes getting to that point where hes not going to get any bigger. Last year was probably his prime, but he is an awesome awesome old buck potentially pushing Boone and Crockett. I will be helping a friend on his archery Bull hunt this weekend and will be glassing off the same hill that I see the buck from so if anyone is interested, I would love to get their contact info and give them a call if the buck shows up. I want to see him on the ground! Thanks! Shelton

He is a good one!!

No way. That looks like the kendrick park buck

Most likely sold.

Hey guys, So I bought this pack half way through the 2012 season, and have really loved it. Being totally honest, it has carried out dozens of animals in the last year and a half and so it is used (I actually just packed out my antelope with it last week- Story in the antelope section). I am moving up into a more serious type of hunting however and this pack has never fit me perfect because I am a really small guy. I am going into hardcore backpack hunting where weight is everything so I think I am going with the Kuiu Ultra pro 7200. I just wanted to get a feel on peoples thoughts and if I could get what I want out of the pack. As of today, I installed the Outdoorsmans latest belt as the belt I had was the previous models, so the belt is brand new. Everything else is in tip top shape. Absolutely no other complaints except for not fitting my little body and being a tad on the heavy side (Not a big deal for 90% of hunters. I think its 7 pounds as opposed to the Kuiu's 5 and change.) I am asking $300 and will ship for $325. New, it is $400 before tax. I am in Flagstaff but will be heading to Payson in the next week to take my Antelope to Gary Iles to clean, and am in the valley quite often. Thanks, Shelton

Game and Fish was studying Antelope migrations and in 2011, they tagged and collared like 20 goats in my unit. My buddy was on a late Rifle Elk hunt and took a picture of one with an ear tag. He sent it to me after I shot Hook and we confirmed a match!!! So So crazy.

Oh, he is 16 1/2" x 16 1/4". His left horn is longer which surprised me. Whitey, my grandpa was stoked! He came out to help scout but got sick and had to go home before we got an arrow in him.. You are the guy that I went Summer Sheep scouting with when I was like 6 right?

Thanks everyone! It was an incredible hunt. We very unofficially green scored him a little over 82. I will probably have him scored again but I don't even care what he scores. From the second I saw him, I knew that he was the buck I wanted and it was amazing that God let me take him home! Gary, I can't wait to get him down to you along with our California Hogs. Grey Ghost, I know that it was selfish for me to be upset with an antelope tag. But I had reason. My last hunt absolutely kicked my butt, and I knew that it would be so hard. At the time, I had developed a ton of bad habits with my shooting and I didn't feel worthy of having the tag. A tag that I really do believe is the hardest archery hunt in the world, maybe only rivaled by Ibex (no experience just hearsay) or real Free Range Mountain Aoudad (I hunted them with a rifle in February and they are incredible) with a bow. Also, like I stated before, we were coming back from an unbelievable fishing trip, and hunting was far from my mind. But over the summer, I realized what I had and began to take it seriously.

First of all, I wanted to start by saying that my hunting life basically defines the words "Coues Deer Fanatic." They are my favorite animal in the world to hunt and I am completely addicted to them. I can post some pictures of my best bucks on the Coues Deer forum if anyones interested. I have always loved this blog but never really had enough time to bring much input to the table. But a few weeks ago, I was between a rock and a hard place, and the awesome people on this forum helped me tremendously, and I am so thankful. Last fall, I was talking to my good buddy Mike McDonald about turkeys and how I think that Gould's are the greatest even tho I had never even seen one. I told him that I had 11 bonus points for Gould's and that I am pretty close to getting a tag. He didn't say much but then in November, he called me and told me that his son Chad had drawn a second season 35a tag. Again, I had come up without a tag but I was beyond excited to be able to finally go! With Mike and Chad having never been on a spring turkey hunt (I believe), it was going to be my job to try and get a bird called in. I figured that I was dialed in as my good buddy is the Wildlife Manager of the unit! Well things went bad when I lost his work number, and he wouldn't call me back on his personal cell. As the days closed in to the hunt, I began to panic realizing that all my good info wasn't going to get to me as all my leads were coming up with a voice mail machine. It was then that I decided to hit up the good guys on this forum and I wasn't disappointed. Within minutes, I was getting Pm's about spots, and before we knew it, we were ready to head south with areas to roost birds. We left Flagstaff the afternoon before the hunt and made it to the unit just in time to hear a Jake gobble just before bed time on some private property. Being from the endless public land of Northern Arizona, it was frustrating to have to fight turkeys in country that is so covered in private. The next morning, we got a bird to gobble and took off. Unfortunately, we had company. I guess everyone had also been told to come to this canyon. The gobbler didn't like either of us however and flew out the other way. A few birds gobbled that morning but not like they should. It was getting hot! We spent the rest of the day exploring the country and making game plans. Mike was having a ton of pain in his knees so he did a lot of driving while Chad and I made some big hikes. While on a hike, Mike drove past a big ole long beard strutting!!! Figures. Well they didn't talk much that night and we only were able to roost one bird in a super crappy spot. We gave that bird our best but it didn't happen. We did some more hikes and exploring that day, and Chad sat a tank for half the day as it was so unbelievably hot. That night, Saturday, we roosted a hot bird and laughed our heads off as he would gobble to anything, but his favorite was an elk bugle. The next morning was our last chance as Mikes truck got seriously screwed up (yep, I'm totally not a mechanic because I don't have a clue what happened. lol) Everything seemed to be working well as we got set-up well before light below the birds tree (about 250 yds. Way too far but I messed up. A false hill in front of us confused me and by the time he gobbled, it was too late to move.) I woke him up with some tree yelps and he went ape. I've never heard a bird gobble so much in my life!!! He flew down 15 minutes before what I would consider normal fly-down and kept on gobbling. It was then that I realized we were below the wrong hill. His gobbles were muffled and I knew he wouldn't come down the steep false hill. I grabbed my decoys and we ran up the cliff-like hillside. I popped up and made one of the biggest mistakes of my turkey hunting career. With my shooter behind me and unable to see anything that I could see, I made a soft call to see where he was. The bird gobbled at 35 yds in the thick brush. I a second, he was on us and we were pinned down. With my shooter unable to see anything, the raging hot bird walked into 6 yds, got bored and walked off. I was absolutely heartbroken and so so so mad at myself. Chad was very gracious but I still felt like a looser. We made our way back to the truck, and packed up camp. I was pretty sure that Chads once in a lifetime hunt was over. But it wasnt!! This story is second hand but I'm pretty sure its accurate. Chad and Mike were able to make it back down this past weekend, and with even hotter temperatures, Chad sat a metal cattle drinker with a giant metal catchment fed by a windmill and on Saturday the 17th, a longbeard and his Jake buddy came for a drink. The jake walked right into 10 yds but the longbeard went around the back of the big catchment and jumped up onto the rim (15 feet in the air!!!) swaying back and forth trying to get a drink. Finally it got tired and flew down to the smaller catchment and jumped up on it. At 10 yards, Chad hammered him, but afraid that his trophy would get away (hes never hunted turkeys before and therefore has never seen the turkey death flop), he shot it a second time with a super full choke right in the body. After this shot, it flew straight up (idk how) and landed right in the big giant catchment!!! That is why the bird looks so haggered and ugly but its actually a great bird with a 9 inch beard and 3/4 inch spurrs. I am absolutley stoked for him and so thankful for the help that several of you CW guys gave us, making this hunt possible. I wish I was there to get better pictures but this is all they got. Hope you enjoyed the story.