Joe Kauffman

My son Garrett drew a 20A juniors deer tag this year and was excited to get the chance to finally hunt deer in the pines. Opening morning we hunted a spot that I had taken a small buck in several years ago and I knew we'd be able to locate some smaller bucks. This area was definitely a quantity over quality spot but Garrett was just excited to get his first deer and wasn't very concerned about the size. We weren't disappointed as 30 minutes after daylight Garrett had his first opportunity with a tall spike at 70 yards. I could tell he was debating on whether to take the shot and I told him it was completely his decision and I'd be happy with whatever he chose...to my surprise he said since it was opening morning he'd pass on this buck in hopes of a larger one. The rest of the day consisted of a couple small bucks just out of range and plenty of does so we decided to head to another spot the next morning in hopes of locating a quality buck. We knew it would be a tough day when we awoke to gusty wind and a cold front that had moved in during the night so we changed our game plan and focused on the canyons and thicker vegetation. After beating through the brush for most of the day and only jumping a few doe we headed back to camp for a warm dinner and some shut eye. The next morning (Sunday) was more of the same with plenty of wind and even colder weather. It proved to be just as unproductive as the day before so we headed home with some great memories and my son wondering if he should have taken the spike opening morning. The following weekend was his birthday and he had decided on a friends camping trip instead of a birthday party. His hunt lasted through the next Sunday so we decided to camp in his unit where he might be able to introduce a couple of his friends to the wonders of hunting. Saturday afternoon Garrett, his 2 friends, my daughter and I headed out to glass an old burn that we had seen a few bucks in the previous weekend. After about an hour hike we were roughly 1.3 miles in and were setup to glass the burn for the evening. Luckily I had brought a few pairs of binoculars so everyone was able to glass. I had just finished glassing a brushy ridge that leads to the burn when my 6 year old daughter said "Daddy, there's deer over there!". I was pretty shocked since the deer were on the ridge I had just finished glassing! Kudos to my daughter for following up on dad's glassing abilities! After spotting the 2 deer we could see that one was a 2x3 and the other a small fork horn and Garrett decided he wanted to pursue the larger buck. I sat the boys and my daughter on a spot where they could watch us and Garrett and I began the stalk. After about 100 yards of hiking they were still about 200 yards through the trees when one of the bucks spotted me. I told Garrett I'd hold back and to finish the stalk on his own so they'd focus their attention on me. He said "No problem dad, I can do this!" It was to be his first opportunity to stalk and shoot on his own. I watched as he picked his way through the thick brush, keeping plenty of cover between him and the deer until he was about 100 yards from them. My heart leapt as I saw him pull up the gun and take a shot. The larger of the 2 bucks dropped in his tracks as he made a perfect heart and lung shot. His friends and my daughter ran down to me and we quickly proceeded down to Garrett where I could see a small tear in his eye. "I did it dad! And on my birthday with my friends, sister and you with me!" Mom was about 15 minutes away and was waiting by the truck when we got the deer out. His ability, patience and courage never cease to amaze me. He's grown into a very respectful and ethical young man and I consider myself lucky to have such a great son. His 2 friends that were along were amazed at the bonding, work and excitement hunting can bring to a family and are now interested in getting out and experiencing it for themselves. Here's a picture of proud hunter with his first buck.

Way to get 'er done Day-Day! What an awesome juniors hunt this year. For those who don't know, Haywire (Richard) and I are brothers and both of our boys got their first bucks this year. My son's post (Garrett) is just a few down the list now and he's been anxiously waiting for this post. It's tough with them being in Show Low and us being in Peoria but we're going to start trying to get them drawn together somewhere in between so they can learn and grow together. Congrats again man! Joe Kauffman

Thanks for all the replies guys! He spent a bit of time last night reading them all after completing his homework and I can tell it really touched him. He'll try and reply tonight after his sisters riding lessons but I wanted to extend his thanks to everyone in the mean time. Joe

Last Thursday I headed up for what I was hoping would be a great elk hunt due to our very wet Spring and Summer. Opening morning I was up at 4am in order to get to the area I would be hunting and have time to hike 1/2 mile before sunrise. I was pleasantly surprised to hear several bugles within the first 10 minutes out of the truck which gave me some direction on how to tackle the massive amount of country I had planned on covering. After hearing a dozen or so different bugles, I decided to head towards the deepest, largest sounding one and see if I could get a look at him. Within 30 minutes I was less than 70 yards from a bugling bull but couldn't see him due to the thick Juniper and Cedar trees. This was easily remedied with a few blows on a cow call which brought him within 20 yards broadside. He was a decent 5x5 bull but wasn't what I was looking for so I headed for the next closest bugle which was less than 100 yards away. This process went on until 9:30am when I ended up calling in a total of 14 bulls, all being 5x5 and smaller. The excitement of the morning was enough to wear a man out since each bugle and call in could potentially mean a nice trophy presenting a shot so I headed back to camp for a quick lunch and to decide on a strategy for the evening hunt. I decided to head a bit north of where I had hunted that morning in hopes of finding a larger herd bull I had caught a glimpse of during a previous scouting trip. I was quickly presented with many smaller satellite bulls within 30 yards after enticing them with a few cow calls. The evening ended with another 6 called in bulls and still no shooters….although I heard one deep growling bugle just before dark. The next morning I headed back into the same north country hoping to relocate the larger sounding bull and was happy to hear that he had move a bit closer while feeding during the full moon. I was able to quickly get within 100 yards of him and once quick glance at him through the trees told me he was definitely the mature herd bull for this area. I stalked to within 60 yards of him in the thick trees but no amount of cow calling or coaxing with a grunt tube would convince him to close this distance any. After 3 hours of tracking and calling him I finally found out why he wasn’t interested in my one lonely cow call…he had 23 cows with him already! From them on each time I saw him he was busy keeping his cows close and making sure they didn’t stray to close to the many satellite bulls he had surrounding him. Around 9:30am they quieted down so I once again headed back to camp to analyze what I had found and come up with a game plan for the evening, but found a surprise on the way back to the truck. Someone had shot a bull the day before and not recovered it do to a poorly placed shot. I GPS’d the location in case I was able to run into the hunters so I could let them know where he is. By 2:30pm I was 2 miles from the truck smack dab in the middle of where the larger bull and his cows had been a few hours earlier. I was happy and surprised to get an answer from him this early in the afternoon when I presented him with a squealer type bugle and began the stalk again. The following 2 hours were a mimic of the morning hunt with several glimpses at him and two close encounters at under 50 yards. Each time though, he was in the thick trees and did not present me any type of shot. Around 4:30pm I decided enough was enough and that no amount of calling would part him with his cows. I figured one last effort was enough and I would try to sneak up within shooting distance without spooking him, his 23 cows or the now 4 satellite bulls that were surrounding them. The shadows were starting to grow longer so I kept myself in the shade the tall Junipers were providing, kept my scent downwind and finally rounded a small group of trees only to see 3 cows walking through a small clearing 40 yards in front of me. His constant bugling let me know that he was still behind the cows so all I had to do (hopefully) is wait for him to follow the same path. After counting 18 cows and for what seemed like eternity (but was really only about 3 minutes) I heard his bugle from behind a tree to my left and saw the tips of his polished antlers. I quickly drew my bow and waited for him to step out into the small opening of which I was hoping to get a shot through. He followed my plan and stepped out into the clearing where I then made a small cow call to get him to stop and let the arrow fly. I had judged it at 40 yards and the arrow hit the mark perfectly. A nice double lung shot and he traveled about 60 yards and expired. My parents and I spent 3 hours getting the quad to him and were back at camp skinning by 2:30am. A long night but one of the most eventful and memorable elk hunts I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing. I want to thank my parents for their help in the recovery process. I would probably still be quartering him and carrying him out if it wasn’t for them!

Thanks for all the congrats! It was an awesome hunt and the best part is that my wife and kids were there by the time we made it back to camp. They're always patiently waiting by the phone with their bags packed for dads call so they can come up to help. Next month is my 10 year old son's chance at a deer and November is my wife and mine Coues hunt. I haven't had a chance to put a tape on him yet but will this week. I was hunting in 3b.

No luck finding the hunters who downed the other bull. My dad did run into a young guy and his son who both had bows with them but that was before I told him about what I found. I thought it might help to post it here just in case they are a CW.com reader.

Man, when it rains it pours! We drew everything we put in for. Wife and I - Late Nov 36B Coues 10 year old son - 20A juniors deer & 20A juniors java. Hunts are the same time which should be fun! Joe Kauffman

I just finished reading the news on AZOD that Walt passed away yesterday and wanted to let everyone here know in case they hadn't heard yet. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Nicoson family. We've had the pleasure of knowing Walt for many years and my house as well as my fathers are full of metal work he's done over the years. His crafty handwork inspired me to do several of the antler & metal projects I have displayed as well and will always hold them as a tribute to his legacy. Very sad news indeed. He will be deeply missed. Joe Kauffman

3B Archery Bull for me....wife and son both skunked.

My son and I are gearing up for his hunt now and are shoving off around 4pm today (after school of course!). Dayight tomorrow is a time we've been waiting for for 10 years and we're both stoked! Deer down or no deer down we're sure to have a great time on his first hunt. We glassed up a couple nice bucks last weekend and quite a few coues and mulie does which really lit the fire under him. Thanks again for the help guys, I appreciate it! Joe Kauffman

My 10 year son Garrett was lucky enough to draw a juniors only javelina tag this year which would be his second big game hunt after his coues hunt the end of last year. His hunt was off to a great start opening weekend as we glassed up 20+ deer, several coyotes and one seriously large bobcat. Saturday ended with a nice meal at a local restaurant planning our attack for Sunday. We woke Sunday morning around 4:30am and were dressed, coffee'd up and walked out the door before we realized it had been raining most of the night. All dressed up with no where to go definately isn't my son's style so we headed out with ponchos in hand ready to deal with mother nature. We spent some time beating the gullies & canyons hoping to jump a pig or 2 but ended up back at the truck by 2pm thoroughly soaked and ready for a hot shower. I told him that the effort that he has been putting into this hunt will pay off and it will feel that much better when it does. Monday through Wednesday were too busy to sneak out but by Thursday around noon we were both chomping at the bit so I pulled him from school around 2pm and we were off to check out another spot I've hunted in the past. Just after arriving we hiked up a nice ridge that offers a great vantage point for glassing 360 degrees and the ability to cover high peaks, ridges and small feeder canyons. I have a bad habit of glassing from the top of the largest mountains downward and it was no different that day. The first peak I started on showed 2 pigs feeding on some Prickly Pear cactus a bit of 2 miles away. After showing my son where they were and 20 minutes of hoping they'd feed their way down the hill, we gave up hope and decided to head up to them. I've always tried to teach him that the harder he works the more it will pay off so he was pretty excited to put on a 2 mile stalk. I had glassed them just under a rock bluff which would give me a decent reference point as we hiked up the mountain. We finally made it about 1/2 way up when the wind changed direction, coming from our backs straight up to where the pigs were. We were still several hundred yards from where I last saw them and the brush was too thick to see if they were still there. We finally made it to the rock bluff and decided to swing around behind it in order to drop on top of them if they were still feeding in the same place. About 50 yards into our swing around we heard the famous "whooof, whooof" airy snort that pigs make when they're spooked. They had changed direction and where now up in front of us. Garrett got a glimpse of one of them heading down into a small draw 70 yards in front of us so we quickly got up to the edge. I blew the varmit call a few times and out of the bottom ran 2 pigs up the far ridge across from us. Garrett quickly found a rock to support his gun and waited for them to come out from behind the trees. I gave one more blow on the call and out from the bottom came the biggest pig of the bunch. He trotted up the ridge, stopped behind a tree for a few seconds, and when he stepped out, before I could even tell Garrett to shoot a blast rang through the canyon and down rolled his first big game animal. He made a perfect double lung shot at 70 yards with my old .243 and afterwards his legs were shaking so bad he could hardly stand. This was a moment I had been waiting 10 years for and it worked out better than I could have dreamed. We dressed him out and got back to the truck just after dark. Here's a couple shots of one proud hunter!

Bill, He had the choice, but wants to have the mount in his room....which is a bit too small for a lifesize mount, even if it is a pig! He said a shoulder mount would be fine, but I surprised him with a half body standing on a rock wall mount. This will give him the ability to have it hanging above his headboard in his room. We both laughed pretty good when we read your reply. We'd forgotten all about that!

Thanks for the kind words! Some of you may have followed my son's up to the minute recap from his Nov coues hunt in the Youth Hunters section and know that he really enjoys reading the forums. He spent some time last night reading all of your replies and thought it was the coolest thing to see so many people happy for him. He's already asking when the elk and antelope results will be out! Joe Kauffman

My brother and I headed down Thursday for my first ever Dec. coues hunt. We arrived to our area a bit late (after some unforeseen issues ) and quickly setup camp to try and get a few hours of shut eye before heading out opening morning. We awoke yesterday morning to 34 degree temps and a good amount of frost on the ground. It was cold but the deer were definately up enjoying the sunny slopes! We hiked out from camp to a good glassing hill we had in mind and started seeing deer immediately. We glassed several groups of 3-4 deer but only one spike in the bunches. We knew the bucks were there somewhere hidden in the Ocotilla and also knew we had to keep our patience. We finished off the morning seeing around 15 deer total and only the one buck. After stopping at the truck for a quick snack & caffeine refuel we headed out to another spot that would surely take us close to 2 hours to get to. We saw several does & fawns along the way but knew we'd get into the bucks the closer we got to the sweet spot. About an hour into the trip we crested a good size mountain that had a thick Ocotilla slope with plenty of bedding shade. Almost as if it was planned, we both glanced back to start glassing the thickets and our eyes fell onto 2 bucks simotaneously. He whispered "Wait!" as I whispered "Deer!". Within 2 seconds my brother had his glasses up and I had the scope pointed towards the 2 bucks. We could tell that neither one of them had huge racks, but one definately had something else going on. After a minute or so of looking at the larger one I decided it was definately unique enough to take opening day due to his 7 points on one side (5 & 2 eyeguards) and 3 1/2 on the other. I jumped down ranged him at just under 300 yards and with one squeeze of the trigger we had a UBD! (unique buck down!) After some celebratory high fives and cheers we dressed and carried him back to the truck. Being my first coues I didn't have any predetermined sizes I wanted and this buck was definately more than I hoped for. He's not huge in the scoring department but his character and uniqueness more than make up for it in my book. He'll look great on the wall and includes another great hunting story with my bro and I. Thanks again for making the trip with me bro! I had a blast and enjoyed the time with you. Just don't mention you new waitress friend to anyone! Here's a few pics from my first Dec coues hunt. Joe Kauffman

Thanks for all the congrats! Rich, forgot about that stuff already?? Must be the old age kicking in ? Joe Kauffman

Jade, Chris and I are already planning a recon trip in the near future! I saw some country that definately holds some possibilities. Hopefully this thread will spill over to the AZO forum and show some gold! I did come across some gullies back in quite a ways that had some handstacking in them and some old workings on the hills. Those oldtimers didn't clear out the creeks like that for nothing. They must have been getting some goodies. Joe

Well the season is over and the hunt was a HUGE success. We headed back down last Friday and spent the weekend hunting some ground we had seen several bucks in during our scouting trip and the previous weekend. We left the truck an hour before daylight Saturday morning and were in place atop a high ridge eagerly waiting sunrise. 10 minutes after shooting light came my son and I were both glassing the ridges coming down from the hilltop we were on when I spotted a very nice 3x3 at just over 500 yards. We hadn't even touched 90% of the area we could see but with a good buck within staulking distance we decided to go after him. Garrett has practiced out to 275 yards with his .243 and I was confident that if we could get within 350 yards we'd have a buck down. The only problem was that we had to back track a bit before we could cut any of the distance between us and the buck. We watched him walk over the top of a ridge and hurried to get to the spot we had last seen him in hopes of catching him heading down the ridge for a shot. The one thing we've learned on this trip is that these mature bucks don't stop very often! By the time we got to the ridge he was on (10 minutes max) he had crossed the next canyon and was topping the next ridge over 700 yards away. We decided to sit this ridge that was overlooking a nice bowl with plenty of smaller ridges and draws to see if we could pick up any other bucks sunning themselves in the warm morning sun. Within a couple of minutes I picked up a spike at roughly 425 yards and he was in the perfect spot to put a good sneak on. This was the first buck that we'd seen who didn't seem to concerned about moving 5 miles in a short period of time so just after he fed his way over top the ridge we spotted him on we high tailed it up the ridge anticipating him being half way down the next ridge well in range for my son to get a shot. We should have known better! When we topped the ridge he was 320 yards down in the flat below us. This was definately in Gman's shooting range so he quickly setup in the prone position with the bipod and began to try and find the buck in his scope. The spike moved into a thicket and popped out the other side with a small forky next to him. Then into another ocotilla thicket and out with yet another forky! Now there were 3 small bucks at 312 yards just waiting for my sons attempt. This is where the fun began! My son has shot small game his whole life, but has never experienced the thrill of seeing a big game animal through the scope and it was quite the learning curve for him. He spotted and lost the buck in his scope three times while trying to control his excitement and reposition himself for a steady shot. After finding one of the small forky's in his scope for the 3rd time I heard him click the safety off as the buck walked behind a heavy ocotilla. There were 5 directions he could take that would have placed him out in the open for a great shot but he took the one outlet he had that guarantee his safety by dropping over the edge of the flat into a small thick draw. I heard the safety click back on just as my son let out a quiet giggle letting me know that even though he didn't bag a buck the excitement he had from coming this close was plenty enough to make all the hiking and hard work we'd put into it well worth it. I was a bit worried about having his first big game hunt be a coues hunt down south because of the terrain and amount of hiking just to get to a good vantage point but was completely amazed at his drive and enthusiasm. My wife and I must have done something right because he blew away any expectations I may have had for him and the hunt. Thanks again for a great hunt buddy! Now it's off to your 39 muzzy javelina hunt this weekend! Joe Kauffman

My boy is a bit tired this evening so I'm posting for him . I'm definately no coues expert but it seems like the winds we've had today and late yesterday have put the deer down deep in the draws and held up tight. We hiked in 45 minutes before light this morning and glassed until 10am and saw 1 doe with a fawn. We decided to high tail it to a new area and glassed some of the best looking, pounded with sign areas I've seen yet and didn't glass up any deer. No doubt they were there, just held up tight in the thick cover. Hopefully the wind will break in the morning and we'll have some more luck! Either way, we're having a blast together and the hunt has been more enjoyable than I could have dreamed. I consider myself a dang good hiker and he's been right there every step of the way. I'm absolute amazed and extremely proud of his patience, attitude and drive during this whole hunt. Even after busting our rears this evening, his spirits were high and asked where we were going tomorrow morning before we even got back to the truck! Joe

out2hunt, So you're the one who got my 3c bear tag? My 10 year old son - 20B / 21 juniors java Wife and I - 21 archery java No stinkin' turkeys. Joe Kauffman

My 9 year old (will be 10 Oct 18th) was lucky enough to pull a leftover 36A November Coues tag and a juniors only muzzy 39 javelina tag this year after being skunked the first go around. The hunts overlap a weekend so I'm trying to bust some serious butt and learn some spots in both of these units so he can hopefully have a successful first hunting trip into the wild with dad. But I thought I better break down and ask if anyone might have any good starting points for us? Obviously for his first 2 hunts he's not looking for anything huge, and he would be just as happy with a spike as a monster. Which was awesome to hear since we get so caught up with sizes and trophys... Thanks for any help and I hope to have some smiling kid photos to post come November! Joe Kauffman

It's an animated GIF. If you have Photoshop, Imageready or Fireworks it's pretty easy to build, but you have to keep the file size small since most forums only allow a certain KB for avatars. If you have couple pics send them to me and I'll make one up for you. Joe

Man that's AWESOME! Seeing pics like that makes me even more excited to take my son out next month. And 230 yards for a youngster is even more AWESOME! The fact that he made that shot on his first kill says alot for his ability to stay in control under pressure. Tell your boy contrats from me and mine! Joe

Thanks for the info guys! I just returned from a few days of family get-together time in Mexico (would have rather spent the weekend scouting!...but). Jade, thanks for the kind words. I don't know if it's a pride thing or what but not being able to get enough scouting time in a new unit, especially when it's my son's first tag, has caused me to ask for help! Luckily this forum is full of awesome people willing to help out youth hunters. We're both so pumped to get out on his first hunt that just seeing some coues bucks would tickle his fancy plenty. Getting a shot will just be a bonus. Heck, I remember my first couple of hunts when I was 10 & 11 almost better than my more recent successful hunts. AzTrapper, Pima Mine? Gold prospectors like Jade and I might have to check that out . I'd definatly be interested in checking that area out. I found it in my topo software but don't know anything about the access. Jim, what equipment do you sell? Thanks again guys! You've been alot of help. Joe Kauffman

Bret, That's awesome man! What a great way to get him warmed up for his first monster deer this year! Gotta love those single shot 410's, still have mine and it's now Garrett's. Tell Jake congrats from us! Joe Kauffman

Ya Jim, that GTT dudes' a mount-a-holic . He's mounted almost everything I've gotten in the past 8 years...some of them more than once after a wild party ended with a busted up antelope falling off the wall . I have 2 nice archery bulls side by side on a wall at home, one done by Bret and one done somewhere else and there's no comparison! If I remember right, my 350 bull was the first good size bull Bret "mounted" when he started GTT and it's the best looking mount in my house . Nice buck longshooter! Joe Kauffman