ScottAdams

CHD, I appreciate the compliments. I'm glad we were able to bring a little of the Arizona hunting adventure into your home. Ultramag we saw 3 Coues does, 1 muley buck and 1 whitetail buck. They were out of the wind but still out in the rain feeding. The buck was showing some signs of rut, staying close to one doe and lip curling. We were out again today, saw 7 muley does, 1 muley buck and 7 Coues does and 1 Coues buck. Very warm weather and not a lot of activity, although the coues buck was actively searching for does. He looked like a small buck so we'll continue on tomorrow and see what we can find. Hopefully the last day will be the best. We have us a pretty good game plan. Where we hunted today. The boys taking a break on the way out this afternoon. One more photo of yesterdays buck. Scott

Elkhunter, for starters the 30's tip the scales at a miniscule 12 lbs. I regularly use the 30's to watch my targets at the range at 100 yards. For hunting I prefer to look out past 500 yards. The farthest I've spotted a buck on this hunt was 2 miles out. I spotted a couple of whitetail out at 3 1/2 miles but couldn't tell if they had horns. Duwane is my cousin and I haven't talked to him lately but I'm sure he's out chasing big Coues bucks. Now to get down to business. Can you believe it? We were actually out hunting in this mess today! When the alarm went off at 4:30 I checked outside and it wasn?t raining so we decided to give it a try. However right about the time we arrived, it started misting rain. Oh well, the hunt must continue. I setup to glass one area while Craig (300 wsm) decided to move down the ridge a ways to glass another. I hadn?t been glassing long when Craig called on the radio and said he had located a buck. The boys and I quickly made our way to Craig and soon realized he had a very nice buck spotted across the canyon. The buck had a doe he was staying with, and even through the fog and drizzle we knew this buck was a shooter! I watched him through the 30?s while Craig kicked out the legs on his bipod and commenced to put the smack down on him. We ranged the buck at 377 and the 300 short mag did its job well. What a beautiful buck he was. He grossed 92. Big Buck Boning Party! Tomorrow we head out continue our hunt with Ralph and Patrick. Will keep everyone posted. Scott

He probably is a queer buck since as soon as he smelled us he left his does for the hills. All those closeups were taken through my 30x80 Docters using a Leica digilux 1 digital camera. Today was a tough, one we saw a total of 8 does and no bucks. The deer just didn't seem to be moving much. Tomorrow we're heading out after another big buck. Here's a photo I took this evening. Scott

Happy B-Day Josh! Hope you've found the biggun today and took some good footage. Scott

Well, unfortunately while Patrick was moving into position the wind, that had been blowing into our faces, shifted to the south and that big boy winded us. The last we saw of him he was stilling running 2 ridges over. I'm heading back out Monday. I'm in Las Cruces, NM right now and should be back home on Sunday. Scott

Congratulations Rabid and welcome to the forum. Scott

Ya gotta tak'em when you can get 'em. Nice photos. Scott

Brian give your uncle our congratulations. That's a beauty. Scott

Ah!! Sweet sucess!!!! Very nice! Great buck and the photos are exceptional! Scott

I do wish they had separated the Whitetail and Muley hunts instead of having them at the same time. I like a little solitude on my hunts. Scott

That's my guess.

Way to go Jim!!! It just don't get no better than that!!

Thank you Jeff! I'll try to keep 'em coming as I get them. Scott

Mountain Lion

I've had one report of rut activity in 27/28. I personally didn't see any over the weekend.

I was wondering what y'all found in there. Your buddy may find that 100 incher before you, if you don't watch it. That buck on the Blue was bigger than this one, but this one is certainly no slouch.

I was out with a friend today who had the whitetail tag for 27/28. My 14 year-old son Austin came along and had his bow in case we found a good muley. We did, it was a nice big and heavy 3 point. Twice Austin was able to get with about 70 yards but never any closer. The muleys are rutting here also. The coues deer are not. I went out with Craig Holmes (300wsm) yesterday and we saw this monster muley. Unfortunately Austin was in school. He would have loved to of had a crack at this big brute!! Scott

I don't remember his name, it's been too long ago.

Ben & Doug, I really do like that 270 WSM. When I was sighting in my son's using factory 130 gr. loads the average muzzle velocity was 3322! That round really smokes. With the Kimber I really like the lightweight and accurate rifles they produce. These days I'm looking for the lightest gun I can find to pack around the mountatins. I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks this is an excellent choice for a Coues round. King of Coues, the recoil on the Super Shadow was nothing harsh, of course those rifles have a very nice recoil pad system. My oldest son who only weighs in at 120 lbs had no problem shooting this rifle. My youngest son killed his Coues this year with his own Super Shadow chambered to the 300 WSM. Scott

I took a gentleman from California on a Coues hunt with me about 10 years ago and he was shooting a 257 Weatherby. He shot about a dozen times at a rutting coues buck and was hitting all over the mountain. When he ran out of ammo I handed him my 300 Winchester and he took him out the 2nd shot. Turns out the cross-wind we were up against wreaked havoc on that light bullet. The shot was long, don't know how long it was in the pre-rangefinder days. That would be my only concern with that caliber. I have seriously considered that cartridge in the past but the light bullet weight and heavy gun weight always dicouraged me. The 25 WSSM is a nice cartridge but doesn't come close ballistically to the 257 Weatherby. My son has the Winchest Super Shadow in 270WSM and I love it. I'm considering the 270 wsm for my next Coues killer, looking at the Kimber. Scott

I have come across game whilst hiking in with the ole goats. One was a nice muley buck. Game seems to be very curious about the goats and really don't spook. They pay more attention to the goats than the human with them. That muley buck watched me and the goats for several minutes before he shagged out. It was January and the archery hunt was on. Had I taken a bow along I could have easily arrowed him as he was only 30 yards out. I've talked with a guy up north that takes his goats on his elk hunting trips and actually draws in curious bulls and arrows them at close range. Scott

I've never hauled any meat out on the goats. I honestly don't think they would have a problem. They're really nothing like a horse in that respect. They follow you like a dog and they don't smell at all. They are billy goats, but nuetered billys and are fairly easy to manage. Scott

Not yet, but you never know.

You're killin' me Lark! Oh well, I'm used to the jokes, comments and insinuations. Yes people do use goats to pack. They actually work very well. They're cheap to buy, cheap to feed, easy to haul and they keep you warm at night . They will go just about anywhere you can go on foot. They can climb mountains like... well... like a goat. Even follow you like a dog.

Hey I remember that photo!! Yea, I'm like Tommy, I have to have that stick with me when I go out. I like a stick that's the same height that I am. That way when I'm standing on slopes it's still high enough for me to prop my binocs on to steady them. I also like the cane style top. The curve works perfectly for cradling my binoculars over and is a great handle on the steep down hill hikes when my pack is extra-heavy. It also makes a great hook to snag a goat saddle if the goat gets in front of me instead of walking behind. Speaking of goats, here's a photo I took of my biggest goat last weekend. This big brute will carry 50 lbs. all day long!! Probably weighs in at over 250 pounds. He is SOLID!!!