bullwidgeon

I know a guy who passed on a shot at a big lion because we had a 120 class deer bedded just on the other side of the ridge. The way it worked out that day we killed neither the buck or the tigre and we should have shot the lion. I am not sure what I would have done. I am young, have most of my hair and am built like the terminator after he ate 50 cheesecakes or so and have already killed a lion with a mostly dull juniper limb and a very dull rock. But still, I think I would have killed the tigre . And if you ever wonder, if you are hunting in any unit more than 50 miles from Yuma than yeah, you should buy a lion tag. Bret M.

CHD, There is a gene pool on that particular mountain that points to deer with weak or little G3's. The one we killed there last year went 97 net and had a bad G3 on one side. My deer still had all his teeth so I do not think he was that old. He had started a G3 on his right side but it was not even 1/4 of an inch long yet. Rogers buck had no teeth left and we think he was very old. The bodies and fat layer on both deer were giant but mine had alot more fat than Rogers. Tommy, did you guys see me kick out that 3x4 muley on Tuesday afternoon? I saw two very lined out looking coues deer hunters glassing me way across a drainage and that muley was bedded fifty yards from me for more than 30 minutes, I finally decided to move and I know he snuck out to the North. A rancher told me that someone killed another nice 2x2 coues like mine up close to where I got mine. I sure hope that was you guys. I missed the guy in the dune buggy, but that was OK. There was some crazy big camps in there this year, that had a major factor in us deciding to kill these two instead of trying for 100 inchers. Bret M.

Prickly Pear in Distress is awfully effective in August sometimes. Bret M.

Yep, Thats how they should look! Awesome job! Bret M.

I already told you but once again! Awesome job Scott and Austin!!! Bret M.

I was fortunate enough to go down and help out on the early AZ season. I have a pretty big family, we usually get 2-3 tags for every coues season except for the late hunt, in which case we hardly get any. I lucked out and drew a late tag so I volunteered to be chief packer, and subguide for some of my lucky relatives. My cousin had a deer tag in 33 and 2 of my uncles have tags in 36C. I couldn't make it till Saturday morning. 2 of my uncles had not seen a buck in 36C opening day so it was decided the best use of my meager help would be there. My dad and uncle went to 33 with my cousin. We all split up, the unit 33 guys went North and we headed for Sasabe. We went and set up in the cold Baboquivari morning in the spot they felt like glassing and it was a pretty good day. Here is one of my lucky tagholding uncles telling me it is a good day and a big one lives down in that mesquite thicket somewhere. And to not worry about the cold and dew soaked clothes I have on and to stop shivering brrrrrrbrrrrrrrrr . Here is is the thicket I am supposed to find a shooter buck in. Do you see any 110 inch bucks in that thicket? Me neither. I looked all day and came up with 20 something does and 10 or so weener bucks. Needless to say my Mr. Magoo like uncles didn't come up with anything better. Here is a buck that really fooled me. He really had me all fired up about 30 minutes before dark. He stood in a tree for 20 minutes and never moved. I could not see his head, only his body and his body looked huge for one of these "jackrabbit sized" deer. Finally after a coons age he moved out of the tree and I saw he was just a big 2 pointer with 4 inch eyegaurds. This picture does not do him justice but I figure he was a high 80's and maybe even a low 90's 2x2. That is big for a 22 pointer for around these parts. After he came out and some short judgements we decided not to go down and kill him. We hiked out of our spot and hit the truck at dark and made the long drive back to Tucson. The unit 33 boys had a little better luck than us. My uncle got and has video of several PIGS that he had seen while scouting with my cousin over the last few weeks. They tried to kill the biggest PIG opening day and were foiled by the very large and wary coues buck. They connected on the one below Saturday. This is not the biggest of the bunch but it will do. I am happy to say that I got to skin it out and get my grubby paws on the rack. This deer has 5 inch H1 measurements. How many typical coues deer racks have you held with those? Yeah very few or none, I thought so, I was in that same boat until yesterday. It also has 6 and a half inch G1's. We all stood around the skinning tree in awe and were very happy for my cousin as this is his biggest coues deer to date and the biggest of any that Team Mattausch has whacked in a quite a few years. Here is my cousin Kurt, the shooter, my uncle Ben the spotter and my dad Bill the brushbeater. All three of those roles came into effect during the demise of this awesome buck. So many times on giant deer that are not rutted up you see them for a minute or two, then they go into almost impenetrable holes or cuts and you have to sacrifice someone to brushbeat through the jungle and kick them out. That was the case here. And finally here is your tired author/skinner/photographer (ME) along with the shooter and the very unfortunate gorilla sized coues buck. This morning I toiled away in the Baboquivaris behind the glass again only to see a bunch more does and weener bucks up to about 80 inches. Tomorrow, I go to New Mexico like a pirate looking for 100 inch coues deer plunder. If I am lucky, I might be able to tie my cousin and shoot a 113 incher like he did, I probably won't be that lucky or patient though. But whatever happens, it will be nice to walk the hills again with a rifle in hand and a tag in my pocket. Good luck to all still hunting. Bret M.

Talk about disturbing. 2 days of glassing flats and foothills and 0 carp sightings. Much like the dodo and passenger pigeon, the big fat floppy-eared prehistoric looking desert carps will be a thing of the past in the not too distant future if this drought keeps up. Kurt killed the buck at a whopping 40 yards after he busted out of a mesquite and catclaw patch that looks eerily similiar to the one we were hunting and tryed sneaking over a little ridge. They knew he was in there, they saw him go in there, they waited on him most of the day, he did not come out, they sent a man in making hellacious noise and put the shooter in a good spot and out came the coues buck at 40 yards. Cat and mouse was over and the cats won . He really "only scores 113". G2's and G3's are short for a deer of this size. He has a short mousey looking little head on him which makes him look bigger but he weighed over 100 pounds, he was just kind of disproportionate (I don't think that is word ) looking. Thanks guys and gals for all the comments except for you Lark. I know you probably think it is a carp being as you have never seen any deer of either kind this big and very few elk even of this size , good luck spike shooting next week . I really am going to NM now that I am all packed. Bret M.

Can you hike? What about scale cliffs? If so the place for you is the rugged stuff around Apache lake. Both nice coues deer and mulies abound. Good luck. Bret M.

I only wear blue flannel shirts with my jeans and orange hat. I reckon I missed the memo .... Bret M.

I have a tag for that unit a little later. I think he will go 105 gross for sure, no questions asked. Where does that one live exactly again ? Just kidding man, again awesome job. Bret M.

Beam in a beam deer rule! Awesome job Scott!!! Congrats to those guys!!! Bret M.

My buddies, uncles and cousins keep calling and telling me of all these huge bucks they have been sitting on for 2 days now even with the inclement weather . They keep telling me stories about 100 to 115 inch deer they are watching and videoing . I can not go down and help any of them till Saturday. I am starting to wish I had an early tag this year. Hopefully their luck holds and there is no need for me to go down South Saturday and help them. Good luck all you early hunters, from the early reports I am getting it should be an awesome weekend. Bret M.

Kinda hard to beat the Buenos Aires down there.

My buddy emailed me these. Supposedly this beast was found dead near Payson, not sure by who, or the score but an awesome critter never the less!!! Bret M.

I could be way chingered up with my 390 gross score guess but I killed a 330 bull last month and it looked nothing like this hog. I tend to trust Epperson as well because he is the biggest antler freak I know. I know one thing for sure I would like to crack that thing and let the tape tell me I was wrong. Bret M.

I was trying to shoot some ducks one day in January along the Gila in 24A and saw 2 coues deer does come down and water. Elevation according to the topo map where I saw them was right at 2000 feet. I was suprised to see them that low. Bret M.

My uncle uses one of those Petzl Head lamps that goes on your hat. He likes it. I have not found one cheap enough for me to buy in LED yet. I have sworn off regular lights and will only use LEDS after chucking 72 different busted mini mags off the side of cliffs a long ways from the truck in the dark out of anger . Bret M.

Even blind hogs find acorns once in awhile . I was in unit 27 on the August bear hunt this year. I was frustrated with the lack of bears and going to give it one last afternoon. I was glassing a big canyon with a spring in it right below me intending on trying to glass up and then call in a bear. Right after I sat down I saw with my naked eyes what I thought was a deer run out of the jungle looking spring and up the drainage. I got the binos on it and it was this cat. The cat wouldn't stop in the open long enough for me to shoot. It crossed a canyon and came up the bare side and went into some junipers. I called for awhile and then glassed back over there and the cat was looking at me. It was a looooooong ways off but I took two shots anyways. I missed the first one and thought I hit it on the second one. I couldn't see the lion anymore so I pulled out a rangefinder and ranged the last shot I took and it said 670 yards . No wonder I was missing, I thought it was like 400-500 yards. Anyways, I crossed one of the canyons between me and the cat and glassed back over there and the cat was bedded on a rock looking up where my last bullet hit. It must have freaked the cat out pretty bad as she was awfully intent on that spot and never looked at me and I know it took me a good 20 minutes to cross that canyon. Anyways, I shot again and didn't miss this time at 430 yards. She rolled off the boulder she was on and flopped most of the way down the canyon. My buddy had shot at this lion (I think it was this one) and her mother in the same canyon on his December whitetail hunt last year, he missed them both. A few years before that we had a lion spook a 120+ inch deer we had bedded down and were trying to kill in the same canyon. I never saw it but my buddies dad had a shot at the lion at 50-100 yards and held off hoping the buck would show up. He said it was a big tom, I imagine they all look like big toms at 50 yards though. The buck just disapeared and the lion never had a shot fired at him. We got royally chingered that day and I think if that lion was not around either my buddy or his dad would have killed the biggest coues buck I have ever seen. Anyways, I have always found lots of lion sign in this canyon and even a few lion killed hogs and deer. I would say the best way to kill a lion without dogs is to spend alot of time looking for them in places where you know there are a bunch of them and hope for unreal luck... Bret M.

Just go bear hunting in the pears. Generally the bears stay scarce but the lions usually show up and you will be able to shoot one. Works that way for me anyways Bret M.

Excellent job!!! Bret M.

My guess is up in Brown or Thomas canyons in the Baboquivaris. I saw a track once a little South of there. These desert lions just do not get as big as the track I saw . Bret M.

Yep, There are some toads still walking in 37A. I got a pair of sheds from a buck I tried to kill a few years ago. With a 26 inch spread he scores 180 gross and was a perfect 4x4 with almost no deductions. I was within 50 yards of him several times throughout the year but couldn't find him during the rifle season. At least I have his sheds. I also have been known to kill a duck or two when the oppertunity arises. Last day of last years duck season in 37A no less Bret M.

I have not seen one in NM yet. I saw more sign in the Southern end than the Middle and Northern though. And we found lion killed deer in the Southern end. I haven't found any lion kills in the Northern end and I walked my tail off chasing turkeys there this spring. I did kill a lion not too awful far from there in AZ's unit 27 this year. There are alot of cats in AZ's unit 27. As far as only seeing three in a lifetime not in front of dogs, I understand that, I spend a good amount of time behind binoculars in lion country and I have only seen 6 or 7 and some of them were crossing road. Lions are hard to see even when there is a bunch of them around. Bret M.

Nothing wrong with squirrel monkey genes, it allows me to scamper over boulder piles at pace that would make coatimundis give up in a foot race . And besides I can not help it if my mom is from New Mexico . I think genetics play a giant part in deer growth. I think that is why there are alot of big giant bucks taken from certain areas that get hunted alot. Unit 33 always offers up a toad or two in some area that has a road or 5 running right through it. I know they get hunted, I am one of the goofballs that hunts them. Some of these deer are not the 7 and 8 year olds that it generally takes to make a 110 inch deer. More like 3 or 4 year olds with good genes. I am sure alot of other units (36B for sure) offer the same thing in certain areas. Bret M.

Any of the 34/36 units are great if you can draw a late tag. Sometimes a hunter will sacrifice and go with better draw odds in a place they know because they have been drug around the hills since before they could walk by family members or friends. There are a bunch of other units that are good on a late tag and alot easier to draw. I have one of those tags this year and we will see what I can accomplish if the conditions are not that bad. For early and middle hunts I like 33, but I spend alot of time there, dont mind scaling giant crappy boulder piles and know where I can go to have a reasonable chance to kill an OK deer. This is really a personal preference question, I assume guys that live up North would swear units 6 through 23 are the best depending on what they know, and I know several good coues hunters that think those units are ULTRA WEAK. It is all about knowing your own capabilities and knowledge of the country. There is a whopper coues deer in every unit open to coues hunting in AZ. Good luck... Bret M.