Coues Sniper

Ditch parrots I'm going to use that one.

Same here Jim... I was down in Mexico last week and i was surprised at the amount of "rut like" activity we saw. I saw a small 2 point rutting a doe hard, he was doing the lip curl and everything, and some of the guys with me saw some similar activity. However, these were all really small bucks acting this way and i suspect that the storm that passed through had alot to do with it. The deer were all very active after being down for so long, and there were still bachelor groups of bucks (the buck I killed was with 3 other bucks.) I think the weather just has them a little excited. Plus the deer seem to be very healthy this year; most of the deer i saw were very fat - almost pregnant looking! The buck i killed had more fat on him than I've seen on a Coues deer.

Agreed. The Hughes/GSP fight should be a good one, but i think everyone wanted to see him matched up with Serra. And don't count Big Daddy Stevenson out so fast COUESAZ, i think he's going to surprise you!

Well said, Lance! Agreed. It's a bummer how it all worked out, but you can't change it now. And he is a nice buck, whose antlers can always be repaired. Congrats.

Thanks. I actually didn't clean it, we had a cook at the ranch house we stayed at who boiled it for me. She has broken the nose bones on us before so this time we told her to boil it very slowly. She let it simmer slow for a few hours and then turned the heat off and let it soak overnight, and then started on it again the next morning. When she handed it to me that afternoon I was pretty impressed! It was the best job I've seen her do. Sorry i don't have any other tips, as far as i know she just boiled it and scraped. And yes, that was me. I've had a lucky year

Nice to see some other MMA fans on here! I like Pulver, but i think Faber would destroy him. Pulver did choke Swanson out in 35 seconds, but i don't know... he telegraphed that shot for forever. No set-up whatsoever. I would have liked to see the fight go on for a little while. Faber is almost too confident and aggressive though, Pulver might get lucky and take advantage. The Hughes/Serra fight HAS to happen though after all the talking that has been going on. I'll just be glad to watch a fight that Serra isn't cornering! If i have to hear "atta boy, goooood, what did we talk about here Drago???" one more time... I hope Chuck can pull it out, but i'm not holding my breath. The 29th is going to be one heck of a card though!!! Oh and yeah, nice buck Matt.

:lol: Archery only though!

4 generations hunting together? That's unbelievable. Awesome, Awesome story. Congrats on some great bucks guys. I agree 100%. How many people have a photo like that???

I like them all! Whichever you make, I want at least 3!

Dude, i chased a buck for 3 solid days one year that i swore was 108, and when i finally got him killed he went 100 even. I had 3 days to score him and missed by 8"! 2 years ago i jumped a buck with a buddy of mine that i thought looked good so i got ready to shoot, my buddy tells me he's 105 EASY so i whack him and he goes 98! When we were walking up to him he said he was pretty sure he was over 110, boy was he surprised when we got up to that deer. It stinks, but it happens

Thanks for all the kind comments guys, I'm pretty proud of him. To just walk down and shoot him would have been no fun Yeah, Brad and his guys are awesome. Do anything for you, and great to hunt with. Pretty glad that Martin was there

Hey man, it happens to the best of us. Everyone on here who's shot more than one Coues deer has misjudged a buck. I'm certain of that. As far as damaging the horns, they can always be repaired, and I'm sure that you were just trying to put the deer out of his misery. Don't let that ruin what otherwise sounds like a great hunt. And how can you be upset if you killed your biggest buck yet!?!

Hey, Longshooter, thanks for putting the pressure on me to post man! Anyhow, I actually was fortunate enough to take another good buck this year. Let's just say that I love Mexico and am thankful I'm able to hunt there! The hunt started out awful, with the weather keeping us from hunting hardly at all the first 3 days with all the rain, snow, and wind. Day 4 the weather finally broke and we were able to do some glassing. The deer were up and feeding well due to being down for so long, so we were seeing good numbers. About 8:30 i spotted a group of 4 bucks, and one had some real promise so we moved to get a little closer. When we got close enough, my first impression was that he had to be 110" or better, which is what i wanted to hold out for. The guy with me said he was 108 or so at best. He convinced me that's all he was as we put his score together several times. I was really torn because I had already killed a really nice deer last year and wanted to kill another big deer, but i really like the way this buck looked. I eventually decided that if it took me this long to decide i should probably pass. We then went to pick up another buddy, Martin, who was glassing a different area and get another opinion. However when we left out of there we spooked the buck up and over the ridge. When we got to Martin we showed him the video we had taken and he looked at us like we were a couple morons (which we were) and said 'you guys need to find that deer and kill him.' So now I'm feeling like a complete idiot as the buck had left. We hurried and tried to get to the backside of the ridge where he and his buddies had gone, but the road was completely washed out. We decided to go back up high and glass some new country (with me kicking myself the whole way), but ended up in a spot where we could see the same little cut that the buck had bedded in earlier in the day. All 3 of us kept glassing that spot in the hopes that the buck would show up, but i was pretty convinced he was gone forever. But, about 30 minutes after we had reached our glassing spot, there he stood not 40 yards from where he had bedded. That sneaky SOB had snuck right back in there! At this point i was going down there and shooting this deer no matter the score or if he broke all his horns off by the time i got there. We covered the 3/4 miles to get to the same shooting spot as the morning in about 15 minutes, and i got setup. He was about 500 yards out, but kept working his way towards us with out presenting a good shot. The sun was starting to go down and we couldn't help but laugh at the whole situation considering we could have shot him 100 times earlier in the day and now it was like he knew we were there and would only turn broadside when he was behind a tree or in the brush. Finally, right at dark, he came out and gave me a good shot at about 400 yards and he was mine. When we got to him i was obviously surprised, in a good way, as he grossed at 116 3/8". I guess the moral of the story for me is shoot what you like, and trust your gut. What can i say, sometimes i looked at him and said 'I really need to kill this deer', and sometimes it was like 'Ah, he's good, but not great'. That's hunting i guess. Big thanks to Martin for knocking some dang sense into me. Another cool thing i should mention is that my old man saw a lion jump about an 80" deer and they actually fell off a 20 foot bluff during the struggle! When they landed, the lion let go and the buck limped off while the lion just sat for a minute to recover. Dad was Johnny on the spot and got setup to shoot and just missed a couple inches over his back at 680 yards. In all the excitement he forgot to account for the steep angle up the hill. I think i would have forgot to even put a round in the chamber! Not sure how badly the deer was hurt. Hope all your hunts go well, Kevin

Casey, I think you underestimate most of the guys around here, and i can guarantee whatever happened to you has happened to alot of us on here (or worse!). I'm curious as heck, but respect that fact that you don't want to share. Sorry to hear that your hunt didn't turn out the way you wanted, but hope you at least had a good time. Good luck in the future man. Kevin

My old man forwarded this to me. Figured rifle hunting was as good a forum as any.

Wow, what an amazing ram. Huge congrats to you guys on an awesome accomplishment. And Coosefan, dude, you're everywhere! You're a stud man, you're always helping out. Would love to see a bit of that video too. Congrats again, kevin

Many of these deer are unhealthy as well. Most die of "respiratory illness" at or before their prime. That buck that went 410" at his biggest a few years ago died at 6 years of age of "respiratory" problems. They're so pumped full of garbage to grow big horns they die prematurely. But, it's our obsession with big horns that is creating the whole problem.

Gabe, Some buddies of mine have done some rattling for Coues, with mixed success. One guy rattled in a buck in Mexico that went 118", so it obviously worked for him. The first time he ever tried was earlier that same day and a buck that "dwarfed the buck he killed" came in and surprised him, and he missed him. He was basically experimenting and was unprepared. My old man has had some success with it too. I've never really tried it, but i think it will work if you time it right with the rut. They are still deer after all. I bought some rattling horns, i just haven't put them to use yet. And i've never weighed a boned out Coues deer, but I'm guessing a big one would weigh around 45lbs or so boned (with the head).

Sweet buck, congrats.

I really like the EL's myself, but both are great glass.

Amanda nailed it exactly IMO.

+1. A friend of mine had a Luepold with that "true ballistic" technology and he went through 2 before he gave up. Never could get it to range past 300. Stick with the Leica.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, 300 RUM. Niiice.

Matt, I have the Leica 1200 and really like it. I think the Swaro is a better unit, but the Leica works very well.

Great buck! And you did the right thing in putting that animal down too. Nice work.