nmhunt4food

Is the Auodad a public land sheep? Big ram, Congrats!

It's a pen bull out of Colorado. I believe.

nmhunt4food Name is Rusty Payne and I would rather hunt then eat. So I thought the name was an appropriate fit. Nice topic!

Just returned from my Burro Mountains hunt late last night. I will post some pictures after work. Hopefully the success photos for New Mexico will start rolling in.

Nice pig. Keep letting the arrows fly.

Thanks for the comments. I was stoked to say the least.

Spent the first three days of the season chasing muleys in 24 with my little brother. Chased a number of decent bucks with no success. Hit the Burros on the 4th of January to start my hunt. Set up the tent and started up the mountain. We started our hunt on the western edges of the Burros. We were about 1/4 mile from camp when we spotted our first buck, a decent 3x3. With the wind not cooperating for a stalk we positioned ourselves and tried to rattle him within range. We drew his attention, but were unable to lure him into a decent range. The remainder of the day we saw a few does and a lone coues buck. The next morning found us once again heading up the mountain. We found a small group of deer. A small 4x4 with three does and a spike. We spent the next hour trying to stalk within range with no avail. At the end of Jan 5th we headed home with no success. My brother and my dad were able to head back to Unit 24 on the 9th to chase deer. Work did not allow me to return to the mountains until the 12th. We shifted our focus from the north west areas to the more western central portions of the Burros. No sightings on the 12th. On the 13th we found some small concentrations of deer. Made a late evening attempt on another 3x3. Sunday morning (Jan 14th) found us in the same location. Right a daylight we glassed up 5 does with no buck. About an hour later we found a bedded 3x3 with a lone doe. I charged up the hill in pursuit. With no luck I then noticed my dad and brother hand signaling another buck was just north of me. They were postioned approximately 800 yards from my location letting the Leica's do the dirty work. My brother doing his best to digi-scope some on the hoof footage (the first photo). After about 1/2 hour worth of hand signaling I couldn't find the buck. My brother left his position and joined me on the top of the bowl. He point me to their postion and was headed back down the mountain. I told him to stick with me and range the buck if given the oppurtunity. We worked to within 200 yards of the feeding buck. He was working his way down into the bowl. We quickly headed down a finger to cut him off. We were headed to the next line of trees when he headed us off in the clear open. Standing in broad sight my brother ranged him coming out of a drainage. 83 YARDS. He proceeded our way not paying attention. 74 YARDS. Still unaware of our presence. My brother whispered 63 YARDS and the buck nailed us. At full draw I thought now or never. Slightly quartering to me I released an arrow. Hitting him A the point where the lower neck meets the chest. A solid hit. Watched the buck run about 100 yards. He looked to be hit well. We waited 10 minutes maybe and then proceeded on the blood trail. A heavy blood trail and found him piled up about 200 yards from where I shot. The rest is told in the photos. Thanks Coatimundi (little brother) for being there to range him and to my old man for glassing him up!

The unit has 25 Coues and 25 Muley tags archery and 78% go to residents.

The buck from another angle. Hope to see more success photos soon and best of luck in the draws Hope to chase the gray ghost next year! My first muley with a bow I hope you enjoy.

Thanks to my dad and brother. And to all the fellow coueswhitetailers for all their insights and suggestions.

I am a Civil Engineer working for Smith Engineering located in Las Cruces, NM. Rusty

Like most of us you are possessed by the GRAY GHOST.

Sweet deal. You have to love it when it works out. Nice Buck

Great job! Any coues with a bow is quite the accomplishment.

Get well son.

I have a Burros late archery Muley tag. I've scouted the last couple of weekends with fair success finding concentrated Coues, but not much luck with the Mules. Looking for some possible areas to sift through on my next few scouting trips. Thanks and good luck on the upcoming hunts.

Nice bull in some rugged country. Right On.

Right on little brother I like the picture. To all you fellas that have a tag you've got to post some pictures. i hope to get a bull on the ground and share it with you boys. Treestandman good luck on that 17 archery hunt.

Looking for a good place to start scouting. Have a muzzy coues tag in the family. 1st coues tag ever! Any advice or suggestions would be a big help.