trophyspike

Did anyone else experience the super moon on their hunt? That thing was bright all night long. Inspite of the Moon we were lucky enough to jump the first two bucks early in the morning and catch up to them at the top of a hill. Both were taken at 330 yards. My brother shot a nice 2x2, two days later at 390. I couldnt be happier with the way our hunt went down. As always, exceptionally enjoyable. Updated with a pic of the super moon.

2013 Chiricahua on a leftover tag.

No shame in that game!

That is impressive. I don't know if I could handle twelve hours alone in the cold darkness. That's a nice trophy without the story but even better with it.

It was another long fun and dramatic week of hunting this year, It started on Friday with these three at about 240 yards, all of which managed to escape. A spike, a nice 2x and maybe a small 3x. Later that day my brother in law took a spike. A few days later I spotted a nice 3X at about 400 yards. I watched him walk slowly and was hoping he would bed down, he did, but he did so out of sight and he was lost. I continued to glass the ravine as did my brother from a different angle at about 250-300 yards away. I knew he was still in there just hiding from sight. I was prepared to watch him all day but after two hours my brother grew impatient and said I'm going to scare him up for you. I told him if you got a shot on him, take him. As he got about 100 yards from the ravine the deer jumped up and trotted across the hill side about ten yards and stopped. With a single shot my brother put him down. As we came up to him we realized he had a large wound on his hind quarter, not sure if it was a wound from a bullet or a lion, but he was in bad shape. As you can see he was extremely emaciated. As we cut out his backstraps they were more like thick cuts of bacon with no fat. We loaded him up and continued to hunt. We spent a few more hours glassing and picked up a few more deer at about 800 yards in another canyon. I told my buddy, a first time Coues hunter, to stay next to me and I'd get him on a deer. As we moved up the hill to get a better look my buddy took off in another direction as I watched him he appeared to be trying to get cell service. I texted him we will be on top and to come meet up with us, when he was done. After about 40 mins he never showed so we went back to look for him and he was nowhere to be found. After a little panic, as the sun was starting to set, we decided to head back down the way we came back to the truck. We got back to the truck well after dark and hadn't seen a sign of my friend. As we looked around the truck I found the following note. It was such a relief to know he was okay, even though he had been injured. When we got back to the trailer he proceeded to tell us that he had rolled/fallen about 150 feet down into a wash. When he awoke there were three illegals around him, one, in English, asked him his name and asked if they could administer to him. He obliged and after that they told him how to get back to the truck, but that they couldn't go with him as they had to meet back up with the rest of their group. They had seen or heard him fall and gone out of their way to render him aid. I thought this was a wonderful example of the human spirit and the bond that unites us all, humanity. Needless to say our hunt was postponed if not over as we had to take my buddy back to the valley to get him checked out. A concussion and some bumps and bruises but other than that he was okay. My brother convinced me we should go back Wednesday and after about an hour hike back to the spot where he killed his buck, within 20 minutes I glassed this deer at 675 yards at the top of the canyon. I could tell he was at least a large 2x and that was at least what I had decided I would take. I told my brother to keep glass on him and I would move in closer. I got set up at 500 yards and couldn't find him. I signaled back to my brother and I thought he indicated he had gone over the top of the ridge. I decided to sit and continue to glass and as I did I spotted a lion about 500 yards from me at the top of the ridge also about 500 yards from where the deer was. The lion was looking in the direction of the deer. I thought about shooting the lion and then realized he was looking back at where I had seen the deer. I realized he was looking at the deer. I looked back over and the buck emerged from behind a tree. After two warning shots I was able to put him down. After a 40 minute walk to the top of the ridge we located the deer just below the ridge, it wasn't a clean shot and he got up, I fired another shot and he went down again. As I approached him he didn't appear to be breathing but he got up again and ran. I fired another shot and he fell once again. After a little time and some CQC he was finally down for good. Not my biggest but what I was looking for and my longest shot. I wish it would have been cleaner. Overall 3 of 6 tags filled and one being a 90+ buck. My kids got to enjoy the deer... maybe.

Nice bucks and nice pics, looks like you had a lot of fun. How old do you think that pick was? Stuff like that makes you realize how touched the untouched wilderness really is.

Nice deer all around

The work you put in will always pay off. You got a trophy this year. Here's to a bigger one next.

Hard work forever pays. Good job!

That is a nice Coues and some nice looking country.

Nothing wrong with a backup shooter, just to make sure. Good job!

You make a great historian. Nice work on the deer and the post.

He's a real banger. Nice work.

Nothing like a couple of bros that will sacrifice for you and double as spotters and mules. These are the ties that bind.

I was able to take my brother and cuñado back to 30a on the late November hunt. I was a little nervous as during the October hunt as I had only seen one buck, which I was fortunate enough to harvest. Neither had hunted Coues before, so I was both excited and nervous at the prospects of getting 2 bucks in a challenging unit. I saw some campers at the entrance of the spot where I had hunted during the October hunt so I moved on down the road. We headed up into a nice bowl where I had seen deer during a late September scouting trip. After a short hike halfway up to our glassing spot. I turned back and glassed up a buck standing under a tree at 520 yards. I put my cuñado on him and went and got my brother. We glassed for a while in that spot and picked up another deer as they both bedded down. I told them to shoot from where we were but they wanted to put a stalk on them. I stayed back and kept glass on the deer while they moved down the canyon and along the ridge until they got in at about 250 yards. No sooner had they settled down then three more bucks emerged in typical grey ghost fashion. All bucks were 3xs or large 2xs. They had been there all along just hidden due to the vantage point and vegetation. As the bucks rose and started to graze I got a good pic of the largest buck. All five are in this pic. My brothers were in a good position to shoot so I was expecting a shot and the quickest Coues hunt ever. I waited 5 mins, 10 mins, and nothing so I radioed, "don't get greedy, just put two down." After another five mins the bucks spooked and ran up over the hill. Needless to say I was extremely upset, as I was in the dark as to why no shots had been fired. Prior to the hunt, we decided my brother would have first shot on any buck as it would be his first big game animal. Apparently as they set up to shoot my brother got a little case of buck fever and jammed up his rifle loading a round. My cuñado had been holding on the big buck while he waited for my brother to shoot. With the patience of a mule he held on that deer for ten minutes while my brother fumbled with his gun and watched it run away through his scope. The next day we returned to the same spot and glassed up what we believed to be 4 of the same bucks, but within minutes they crested the ridge. We decided to try and track them so we got up to hike and no sooner had we done so then we spotted 3 more bucks (all 2xs) headed right towards us. They came in about 340 yards sparing a couple times on their way. Suddenly, they spooked and ran across the bowl and stopped. I ranged them at 540 yards and told my cuñado to shoot. He managed to hit the middle one while the other two ran off and met up with another deer. After field dressing the deer we hiked up to the ridge and glassed a few more spots over the next few hours. We planned our route off the mountain and headed down glassing a few drainages on our way. I decided to stay lower on the hillside and let my brothers stay high, hoping to stir up some action. Just as planned I stirred up another 2x and instead of running up hill it headed straight down the hill and I lost it. I radioed to my brothers to get in position and they picked it up running up the other side of the canyon. After a few shots to range the deer, it paused at the top and my brother put a perfect shot on it dropping it at 410 yards. This was a really fun trip and I was surprised to have seen so many bucks. There's a really nice one in there, hopefully for another day.

That is a nice buck in any unit. I'm glad you were able to find deer.

Way to make short work of them! Sounds like years of work have finally paid off.

We saw 17 deer in a day and a half. 14 bucks, all except for two were 2xs.

Gotta love those tough as nails whitetails.

Nice work. Thanks for sharing.

Those are very nice deer you made quick work of. Congratulations.

Nice work, nice spike. The two spikes I got took four shots each.

Good work

Nice work, nice buck. What a great experience to have as a family.

I was fortunate enough to find this buck after returning to hunt on Wednesday. I had to go it alone as the others in my hunt party had to go back to their day jobs. I started before sunrise and I hiked in about a mile and a half. Before I reached my destination, I was surprised to see this buck across the canyon at 377 yards. My first thought was don't take your eyes off him, but I knew due to the slope of the hill I was on I couldn't shoot him prone. I moved in to 265, glassing him about every ten yards or so. When I sat down and setup at 265 he had vanished. I glassed for about 15 minutes to no avail, so I looked back at my path and realized I was glassing at the wrong angle. No sooner than I looked left up the canyon, I spotted him with his head in a tree. With a hint of buck fever, I set up to shoot and when he turned broad side, I fired. I had hit him but just in front of his hind quarter. I was fortunate that he didn't go too far and I took another shot to finally put him down. It took me about an hour and a half to pack him back to the truck. I am so appreciative to have had this experience.