AZbowhntr

The problem is some people are perfectly comfortable taking 10 shots to hit something. I have a friend that shoots competitively and won't take a shot over 700 yds. He took 4th in nationals last year. So that should say something. By the way, great bull. Doesn't look broken up either.

I'm with Chef on that. Lets hear about the hunt. Great buck.

Hector and Allen, congrats to both of you on taking great bucks. You know it was driving me crazy sitting down here wondering what was going on up there.

I'm sure there are several but one stands out. Growing up in Idaho I never knew what coues deer were. So about 4 or 5 years ago I am archery javelina hunting with a few friends and we glass a small herd of pigs about a mile and half away. Myself and one other guy decide we are going to make a stalk. So off we go with the other guys sitting on the ridge glassing and watching the action. Well we close the distance to within a couple hundred yards and remove all our extra gear and really slow down. As we are getting into the area I look to my left and see the dinky little deer standing broadside at about 50 yds max. Well I have a deer tag in my pocket but I wasn't about to use it on this little guy. So I start shoeing him away hoping not to spook the pigs. Looking back if I only knew what I was shoeing away. It was close to a 90 coues deer that apparently had a death wish. I think he thought I was nuts because he didn't even run off. He just turned and walked the other direction. I wish someone would have educated me on them before that afternoon.

I only reload for one rifle right now and have only been doing it for a few years but one of the biggest problems I have had was a good solid bench. I know you mentioned getting a bench so you want to make sure it is something sturdy.

Phil, congrats on a nice buck. And good luck in Mexico this year.

I like the second picture. It looks like it is in 3D. Plus that is a great couple bucks.

She was distracting you guys while the boyfriend peed in the coffee. I have seen them friendly up on the north rim of the Grand Canyon at the visitors center before but nothing like that. Pretty cool.

Very nice. That is a pretty big little buck there. I expected to see a little fork horn or something. But he has some nice mass. And anytime you can beat the normal percentage of success it is a good hunt.

Sweet 2pt and one of the best stories I have read in a while. Congrats

Stacey, great buck and story. I saw the pictures the day you shot the buck and was going to give you a call but I couldn't find your number. Funny how it is a small world. Hope your son and daughter are enjoying their new homes. If you didn't know before this is Orlin. Congratulations again, looks like you and Phil both shot beautiful bucks.

Great story. Very entertaining. I think you topped mine from last week.

With a handle like yours we should make a perfect team.

Dale, excellent mount. I saw the mount you did for Kevin there in town last week when I was up hunting. Great work. One of these days I will have to come on down and say hi. I always stay in Kyles front yard when hunting.

Amanda, congrats on an awesome buck.

Well my first Coues deer is out of the way. We had quit the weekend with everything from pouring rain to beautiful sunshine. I didn’t end up getting to my trailer until about 1:30am on opening morning due to a prior commitment Thursday evening. Saw one shooter bull still running with at least six cows on the way in. I actually stopped and grabbed a cow call and jumped out and called for a couple minutes. The bull was about a 100 yards off the road bugling like crazy. Just wouldn’t come in out of the dark. Anyway, 5:30am came way too soon. I hunted Friday morning by myself in an area that we took a nice buck out of last year. Glassed several elk and a couple does and fawns but no bucks. All of my friends were pulling in sometime during the afternoon with Chef pulling in as soon as he was able to get off work and head up. Which ended up being noon. Guess he couldn’t wait any longer. Well Friday afternoon we headed back in with six of us glassing. More elk and no Coues deer. So Saturday we decided to hunt another area with much the same results, no deer. We just could not figure them little suckers out. We saw everything else. A lot more elk and even about 25 turkeys. Boy the bulls were still going crazy. Saturday night we had 3 separate bulls bugling at least every half minute for about an hour and a half. Several bulls finally came out of the timber with a couple real nice ones. Sunday morning comes along and we decide to go back into the same area that we were hunting the night before but to hunt it from a different position as we knew that there were deer in there. We just weren’t seeing them. We had been glassing for about an hour or so and hadn’t seen anything when one of the guys decided to walk around a little bit. Well comes across a bear track so him and another guy decide to follow it. It took them to the next ridge where they circled around. About this time myself and a couple others are just hanging out glassing and chatting when I look up and see a buck at about 50 yds right smack in front of me. I quietly say “BUCK, right there”. They both instantly start looking through their binoculars asking where. I say “no right here in front of us”. They see it and about that time it turns and watches us for a minute or so. In the mean time we are quietly talking about the plan. My friend Greg asks me where my rifle was. Of course I reply “in the truck”, which at this time I get a lecture on always having my rifle next to me. The buck finally turned and looked in a different direction and Chef and Greg both started quietly yelling at me the go, go, go. So I drop into the grass and start belly crawling the 25 yds to the truck. I’m wearing a down vest that is making the swishing sound so I can’t hear a word they are saying. Well the buck steps behind a tree and they are both telling me to get up and run. So of course I can’t hear them so I just keep crawling through the wet grass. About this time Chef comes sprinting by me to the truck and grabs my rifle. I see him and jump up and grab the rifle from him and chamber a round and start looking for the buck. In the mean time my PH Chef runs back to the truck and grabs the shooting sticks and brings them back and sets them up for me. So I find the buck who now knows something is up but isn’t sure what yet. When I get the cross hairs settled on him he is broadside and JERK. The safety is still on. Off goes the safety and the buck starts to turn away so when I finally take the shot he is quartering away. Perfect archery angle. But when you see the pictures you will see that it is not the perfect rifle angle. The buck kicked up and started running. Chef is yelling at me to put another round in him. Of course being a hand loader I am bent down picking up my spent brass. Well we start chasing after the buck but don’t find him. So we head back to the spot where he was when I shot him. Chef says “there is blood on my pants” so we follow his tracks till we find the blood. We find a little bit and as we start following the blood trail it turns into a blood swath. Apparently the 168 grain SMK did its job. Well we find the buck about 100 yds away. He is definitely not the biggest buck in the area but he is a very pretty little buck. We later ranged the shot at 81 yds. So much for the new 6.5X20 scope and all the practice. We have had several laughs since Sunday morning about the whole thing. I think that is the most important part of hunting is getting out there and having a good time. This is something that I will remember for the rest of my life. Having several of my best friends there to share is even better. Here are a few pictures. The last one I will try to post a link so that you don’t have to see it if you don’t want to. It is the exit hole. I am shooting the Lazzeroni Patriot that is made by Savage with 168 gr Sierra Match King HPBT. I don’t think I have ever seen anything like this. The bullet went in perfect and came out the back side shoulder. It broke three ribs and completely blew the off shoulder socket to pieces. Just a warning it is graphic. Thanks for reading my long winded tale. Me and the buck Chef and I Greg, Chef and I The whole gang Warning, this one is graphic! Exit wound http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/oegbert/picture021.jpg

Well I had to go sight in a new scope the other day and had a wonderful time. The guy next to me decided not to put up a target at all and just started shooting everyone's around him. Luckily I was shooting at 200 yds so I didn't have to worry about him hitting mine. When I finished shooting I went and got my target and showed him the number on the front of his bench and the number that his target should go in. Nothing like trying to sight in your rifle and wondering what all those extra shots are.

Great bull. Has your wife given you a hard time for trying to draw on the one bull when she was already at full draw? I'm thinking my wife would have shot me right after the bull took off. It's cool that she enjoys being out there. Congrats again.

We had a desert hairy scorpion in an aquarium for a few years before he finally dies about a month ago. He was about 2" long without adding the tail. It was always fun to catch crickets and watch him grab them and sting them before he chowed down. They don't bother me near as much as spiders. We now have a leopard gecko that we caught out in the yard as a pet. He chows down crickets too.

Red Rabbit just said what it is in his post above. A deresonator. It reduces the barrel vibration which hopefully improves accuracy.

If the bullets were too light and going too fast I think that you would see that in the accuracy. I would shoot at 25 yds and see where you are hitting. As someone said you should be about dead on. I bet the problem is in the scope level. But I don't know the technical term.

I use the same set up as Allen (coueshunter) uses. Light and it works great. Bought it at the ADA banquet a couple years ago in the silent auction at a great price. Allen, congrats on the tag by the way!

There is nothing better than a Burger House green chili burrito while glassing. We usually get about a dozen of them and put them on ice so we can eat them without the mess. And any friends coming through will pick up about 10 on their way down for delivery.

I have a buddy that goes to Cali and buys them at auctions and brings them back and sells them here. He does this about once a month and gets some nice deals. I think there is one sitting in front of his house right now if I remember right. Send me a message if interested and I can give you his contact info. He may be able to find what your looking for if he doesn't already have it.

I kind of feel like I missed out on something by dropping my apps off on Monday. It was a zoo there at the Mesa G&F for the elk deadline also.