huntfishchad

What a day this was. Went out for a solo hunt. shortly after day light I had glassed up a group of 6 mule deer bucks. I watched them for almost 2 hours waiting for the right opportunity to make my move. I snuck in from just over a mile away and watched/studied from 300 yards out trying to figure the best way to make this opportunity work in my favor. The wind was in my favor, and I had very little cover to close the distance. I ended up at the last juniper tree between me and the 6 bedded bucks. I peeked around the shaded side of the tree just to get caught by the small 2x2 in the group at 91 yards. All the deer got up and were on edge and ended up busting out. I watched them go over the next ridge and then hiked back to my jeep. I sat there contemplating if I wanted to try again and locate these bucks or push farther up the road and hike into a water hole I had found on onx. I said screw it drove farther up and then hiked in 1.5 miles to the water hole I had never seen before. Lucky for me it had water and quite a bit of deer tracks. I brushed myself in a blind and sat down at about 11. It was pretty warm out and I was hot from the hike in. But by 215 this buck showed up and was on water drinking out of nowhere. I ranged it at 41 yards while he was facing me head down drinking. I got up on my knees and drew back. He lifted his head after drinking and looked over to his right while elbow deep in the mud. I debated for a second to let him turn or just send it head on into his chest. I felt super confident in the shot, so I let it rip. The arrow smacked the deer with the loudest thud I have ever herd shooting an animal with my bow. He dropped in his tracks and flopped for a few seconds, and it was all over. I packed up my gear and hiked around to check out what I had just shot. I knew he was a solid buck but definitely wasn't expecting to shoot my biggest coues yet off a random water hole in an area I never hunted before. My gut was telling me he might break 100" mark, but I didn't spend a lot of time admiring him as I had to get to work taking care of the meat and getting it all packed out. After just over a 2mile hike back to the jeep with very little water left i was beat, but it was all completely worth it. The next morning I took the head out of the freezer and taped him at 111 7/8" I was shocked beating my old record of 104" with my bow.

WE ARE DEBATING SELLING OUR 2018 POLARIS GENERAL 4. IT HAS QUITE A BIT OF EXTRAS ON IT. DM ME IF INTERESTED

IF ANY ONE IS IN THE WIND FARM AREA AND LOCATES A ANTELOPE PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I HIT A NICE ANTELOPE 8-27-2020 AT 7 AM. THE SHOT FELT GREAT WHEN IT WENT OFF BUT HE JUMPED BEFORE MY ARROW REACHED HIM AND LOOKS LIKE HE WAS HIT PRETTY FAR BACK IN LEFT SIDE (POSSIBLY THREW MEAT ON HIPS?) ARROW WAS A PASS THROUGH AND ROUGHLY 30 YARDS BEYOND WHERE HE WAS. HAD DECENT BLOOD. ENDED UP SPOTTING HIM BEFORE I KNEW WHERE SHOT PLACEMENT WAS AND SEEING DARK BLOOD I FIGURED LIVER. SO WE WATCHED HIM FOR OVER 5 HOURS WAITING FOR HIM TO EXPIRE. HE STOOD UP ONCE AND STUMBLED TWICE BEFORE STANDING. AFTER 5 HOURS OF HIM STAYING BEDDED I DECIDED TO TRY AND SNEAK IN AND PUT ANOTHER ARROW IN HIM TO PUT IT OUT OF MISERY. HE ENDED UP JUMPING UP AND RAN AT A DEAD SPRINT 100 YARDS OR SO OUTTA SIGHT. I FOLLOWED HIS TRACKS WITH NO BLOOD FOR ANOTHER 300 YARDS AND HE WAS WALKING. HE HITS SOME HARD DIRT AND LOST TRAIL. THEN STARTED GRIDDING AND GLASSING AREA TRYONG TO PICK IT BACK UP AND NEVER SAW SIGN OF IT AGAIN. FROM THE LOOK OF THE SHOT WHEN HE RAN AWAY MIGHT NOT BE A LETHAL SHOT BUT MAYBE I GET LUCKY AND SOMEONE FINDS HIM DEAD OR ALIVE.

ONLY PIC I HAVE IS THE 1 I POSTED. HE WAS 800 YARDS AWAY BEDDED THE HEAT WAVES WERE REDICULOUS

YEA MAKES IT WORSE I HAVE TO WORK FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

Me and my good buddy went out late in January. We had a great day out glassing for deer. We ended up finding this buck around 4 in the afternoon. And after a few minutes looking at the buck we both decided we would be more than happy to wrap our tags around this buck. So we flipped a coin and I got to chase him while he sat back and watched. I had to make a small loop around to get out of sight of the bedded buck and come up out of the wash up a super steep embankment. Within the last 10 feet or so from being able to crest over and see the location of the buck I rolled a rock down the embankment. Thinking I just screwed up that stalk I glass back to my buddy giving me the thumbs up that he's still there. So I knocked and arrow and crept up only to get caught by the buck at 40 yards. He didn't know exactly what was going on but he stood up in the brush and walked away from me towards his does. Long story short I followed him over a thousand yards or so with multiple shot opportunities over 80 yards to finally get a shot I felt comfortable with at 51 yards and the rest is history.

We went out opening morning and saw a few small bucks that she decided to pass on. We got set up on a hill to glass for the evening and the wife glassed up a coyote and then 2 bucks not to far off the coyote. After looking at the bucks with the spotter we made a game plan to get in range of the deer. Once we were close to where we had referenced the bucks we jumped them up at less than 80 yards. They trotted off over into the next small wash. We hustled over to try and locate them and saw them walking through the trees. I set her up and she made a perfect 210 yard shot and dropped this buck. She is super happy being her 2nd ever deer. I think I was more excited than she was haha. And of course the kids were excited to see moms deer they had to get pictures with it too.

Tagged out on the early rifle hunt. It was a rough hunt this year was super windy almost every day. After spending the majority of the hunt looking for my target buck I decided to go ahead and shoot this wide buck. I was watching my target buck and this guy run together all summer through velvet and even into hard horn a week before the hunt. I had high hopes of shooting my target buck at first light opening morning but he proved me wrong. I still cant figure out why or where he disappeared to with zero human pressure in there. Oh well I am super happy taking this buck. Gonna have to put in the work and try and get my target buck this January time to start shooting the bow.

That's a secret haha. But with most hunters becoming more "road hunters" not hiking more than a few minutes off a road to get up and glass. Its fairly easy here in places with the terrain being pretty rough to hike in a few miles

Thank you hes a keeper for sure haha

Thank you

Yes he is. And no that's the entrance hole he was quartered away. You can see the exit here

Finally drew my first archery bull tag after waiting 10 years. We got camp set up the Monday before season open. Went out every day locating bulls trying to find a good spot. Opening day I had passed on 4 bulls. But the second morning I connected on my first bull at about 7 am at 25 yards. And we got it on film was one of the best hunts in my book. https://youtu.be/xpIDFgCM66g

Tagged out for 2018 on my biggest coues to date. Was lucky enough to harvest this buck at 30 yards with my pse bow. He maybe went 50 yards and piled up. Im more than happy to end my 2018 az season on this buck. I finally reached the goal i set in 2017 to harvest a buck over the 100" mark.

Thank you all. I had several other opportunities at some great bucks but couldn't seal the deal over the last year. No it's not gonna be a life size mount the wife would kill me haha. I like to pack them out like that to keep the meat clean from dirt and stuff as much as possible.