coues addict

Redbeard I am truly sorry to hear about your friends and especially your Pop. I will be there real soon, I am afraid. Really nice buck and a great picture with you and Andy. I am glad you just went and enjoyed the hunt. Sometimes its not all about the antlers! Congrats Coues Addict

Amanda I hope you had a great birthday and thanks again for all the work you do on this wonderful website. I have not had a lot of time lately to log on much sorry, I missed your birthday! Did you get drawn for a Coues tag this year? I hope so! Best wishes Rich Thompson

I always called em "coos". I don`t think I a will start calling em by any other name in the near future either! I don`t really care how to pronounce it correctly it just sounds a lot better to me. Coues Addict P.S. ''Cows Addict'' I don`t think so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finally got my first elk. I have only been lucky enough to draw one other Az. elk tag in the last 14 years. I was only able to hunt the first 2 and 1/2 days and the last 3 and 1/2 days. My wife and I had to take our youngest daughter and all her stuff to college. Man, am I getting old!! He isn`t near as big as Azhuntnut or Brett`s bull but I did the best that I could. I came really close on opening day to getting a shot at a huge bull. I could have stuck a raghorn at 28.5 yards, but I elected to pass on the first day. I saw 2 other big bulls but could not make a shot happen. On the second trip I only saw cows and a small spike and was seriously doubting if I would even get a shot opportunity. I decided to sit water on the next to last day in the evening and this bull came in around 6.15p.m. and presented a 35yard shot. I shot a little high and spined him, he dropped in his tracks, I was totally shocked and I quickly put another arrow in him, he died pretty Quickly! I was really stoked and I see now what a Rush archery elk hunting is. Man there just isn`t the words. My pics came out really dark so I hope you can see them. He`s not huge but He`s mine and I gotta start somewhere. Rich P.S. I would like to thank my buddy Coues-n-it and my brother in law Mike for all there great help. I don`t think it would have happened without it!!!

David I think I got some more of those that died of natural causes. Nails, screws and such. If you want I can send em to ya then you can have a whole heard mounted. The only problem is I think you might get a little Tired of em after a while! My wife won`t mind a bit though. Coues Addict P.S. What kind of broadhead was that you were shooting?

Doug and Bowhuntcoues Those are really nice pictures.Doug, It looks like a beautiful area that you and your dog went into. Bowhuntcoues, those are really cool pics. Thanks Coues Addict

Hey Everyone Thanks a lot for all the great coments and encouragement. I really appreciate it. I really have had a hecktic time this year with all of my personal family problems. Dad broken leg, Mom hospitalized with a bad fall and Alzheimers, Brother hopitalized during the hunt and my youngest daughter going off to college! Josh, thanks a lot for the compliments and I truly appolojize for not getting back to you. Huntin1005, I am definitely hooked. I know I watch way to many dvd`s too. I want to look into going to Colorado or Montana next year because I figure I have got at least six or seven more years to wait for an Az. hunt. Ernesto, I will have to call you and we can get together and go predetor calling or something. Thanks again guys and good luck on all you up coming hunts. Later Rich Thompson aka Coues Addict

huntin1005 Awesome Bulls. You guys kicked butt. They are all really nice. Congratulations to all of you guys. Must have been an awesome experience! Nice pictures too. Coues Addict

Bret Awesome bull. Man I think you did real good! I have a tag also this year, but I am really pressed for time. I hunted last weekend, had a shot opportunity on a smallish raghorn on opening day but decided to pass. I may regret it! I am not an experienced elk hunter, but I will get to hunt the last three and a half days. Bulls were only bugling for about an hour in the morning and that was all.They seem to bugle from around 9.00 p.m. untill 3.00 or 4.00 a.m. I saw three other six by six bulls but couldn`t make it happen. Maybe I can get lucky at the end of the season I hope.I am a nonresident and have only drawn two elk tags (including this one)since 1978 in Az. so I feel I have been waiting a while. Again congrats on your bull! I think he`s great! P.S. More or less what is your guess on his score? Coues Addict

I think he is around 175 to 180''. I also think he is desert mule deer all the way! No doubt in my mind. I hope you can tag that stud and we will really know for sure! Coues Addict

I am a full time "Pain In the A _ _" according to my wife! I think the Good Lord put me here just to torment her. I am celebrating my 30th wedding aniversary on the 20th of september. " Oh crap I almost forgot! " I gotta get to the flower shop tomorrow! In my spare time I am a self employed machinist / machine shop owner.My wife and I have been blessed with three awesome kids. Two girls and a boy.My youngest girl is going off to college this friday! The other two are both married! Started my own business back in 1982. I used to specialize in Geothermal pump and valve repair, as well as natural gas meter bodies.I have gone from no employees up to fifteen for several years but now I only have four great employees. We do mostly custom billet aluminum boat parts. CAD Design, build, polish, anodize, etc. I have manual and state of the art CNC machines. I love machining but it is extremely hard to stay on the cutting edge all the time.If you would like to view my shops work you can go to www.dcbracing.com and check out all the awesome boats and the billet parts. I am actually thinking about a career change but am not sure yet! I love the forum, but I just hate using the computer as much as I have to. '' Oh ya Lark. How is that new job working out ? I was actually thinking about something less stressfull myself. Rich Thompson aka Coues Addict

BowhuntCoues Congrats on a really nice buck! I think you should be extremely proud of him. I know I would be. Great job! Maybe you can stick a bear now if you haven`t already! really nice! Coues Addict

Casey I actually really like the October hunts. like Noel said you get first crack at em. The October hunts I have been on are usually dictated by the weather. It seems it is always kinda wierd around that time of year. Had it snow on me a couple of times in unit 32 in Oct. Last year it rained cats and dogs and the wind blew like heck but still managed to kill on the fourth day. The big difference to me is that you just don`t have a lot of time to really trophy hunt. You have to make up your mind before you go if it will be a trophy hunt, a meat hunt , or a hunt of opportunity. I have gone home several early hunts without tagging because I passed small to medium bucks. I think the key to a really good hunt is to scout, scout, and scout well in advance in order to maximize your actual hunting time. Last year me and my buddy actually arrived in camp on Wed. and packed into the hunting area on thursday and that was really neat to me to be ready to rock and roll on the opener friday morning! Remember to pack raingear! Good luck Coues Addict

circlet Welcome to the CWT forum. I have hunted 36c a few times. It is a great area for trophy Coues bucks. I personally like the area, but I always get a slightly uneasy feeling when hunting it. Not, for fear of myself or my hunting partners, just some concern for our personel belonging`s back in camp! Vehicles, tents, food, etc. I really like the area south of the elkhorn all the way to the border at Sasabee. I hardly ever hunt the flats, but have noticed a lot of trash down low. Usually as you get way back up in the hills it changes quite a bit. The advise that most of the others have given you, use common sense, be careful, don`t camp alone, is pretty much, right on, the way I see it! I would also tell you that coues hunting is not rocket science it just takes a lot of patient glassing as many hours of the day that you can possibly put in. Stalking them is no more difficult than any other deer. The big problem is many times you spot something you would like to go after very late in the evening and you just can`t close the distance in time for a reasonable shot. Thats why I personally like to backpack into these areas. Then you aren`t worried about making it back to base camp by a certain time. The problem then is you will start to worry about your, camp, truck, etc. thats 6 or 7 miles away. I would try to look at the area if at all possible before your hunt. The Dec. hunt is an awesome time to be out there and you have a great tag. Good luck Coues Addict P.S. I always worry about my camp a bit, when I am backpacking in. I think its just my nature. There really are no gaurantees no matter where or what unit you are in! Make sure you tell someone where you will be camped before you leave home.

Ernesto Man, I cannot believe you! You start appologizing for saying stuff like ''Praise the lord'' and '' God bless you" and we are all gonna be in a lot of trouble!!! The last I checked God gave us, free will, and that allows us to express ourselves in a variety of different ways. Why I would almost bet that ole CHD himself has prayed to the man upstairs many a time to send him along a big old buck or bull. I know I have. You, of all people should know that Satin himself is loving that appology. I get mad just thinking about you appologizing. If you have offended anyone on this forum, then "Oh well'', thats just human nature, but thats no need for appoligizing for trying to enlighten your fellow man about the ''Lord Jesus Christ''.Don`t make me come over to Yuma and wup some since into ya. You better not be slacken off Ernesto because I think we all need you more than you know brother! "God Bless You My friend" Rich Thompson

Hey Doug Kind of a neat topic! I never big game hunted with my Dad either! I guess he just never really got the opportunity, or he never found the interest. I hunt alone quite a bit! My best hunting partner though is by far my son! I have been dragging him along for close to 18 years now and we just seem to have a lot of fun together. I am pretty much a hard core hunter, and when he hit around 16 or so I lost him for a bit. He is 22 now and is married and is settled in a little more so we seem to be hunting more together lately. I have had some hunting buddies, but something always seems to happen to ''rub them the wrong way'', maybe its me and I am just to independent. or an as_ _ _ le, or something.I don`t know. I really like hunting alone because if I see something that I wanna check out I just do it, and don`t worry about convincing someone else to go with me. I really do not like camping alone a whole lot , but I have quite a bit. It just gets a little too lonely after a hard days hunt to not have someone there to share the days events with! My only other long term huntin buddy is my ,brother in law, but he got smart some twentyfive years ago and moved to AZ. Must be a lot smarter then I am too! Later Coues Addict

I totally agree with Lark on the sentlock stuff. I have been inside of twenty yards of several Coues deer with the wind right and I think guys buy that stuff and then think they can ignore the wind and ''Just hunt''. It just doesn`t work that way most of the time and I think most everyone realizes that! I don`t know sh_t about the 7mm/08 though! I really like GMM`s cover sent idea though, I was always rolling in the mud when I was a kid too! It will probably make me feel like a kid again. I wonder if the hills will not seem so steep! Just my .02 cents Coues Addict

Thunderbolt Hi, and welcome to the discussion forum. Its a pretty cool site, don`t ya think? I think if you are going to get real technical a funnel would be a convergance area or an area that has a lot of stuff going on. I agree with most of the other guys about a saddle or a definite easy spot to either escape or get into a feeding area,water hole, or otherwise secluded bowl. The way to find these is to start shed hunting,or just hiking and learn the area you wish to hunt as intimately as possible. The more things an area has going for it the more sign and deer you will probably find. Food ,Water,Cover, shelter from wind, etc.. Sometimes hunting articles make stuff seam real easy and I have found that is not usually the case. I have had the best luck in areas that I have spent the most time in. I think most of the guys and gals would probably say the same thing. Good Luck Coues Addict

Hey GMM Happy birthday, and I hope you have had a great day too! Good luck in this years hunt drawings and keep sending us the awesome trail cam pics. Rich Thompson

JVS Opening day has never meant much to me as far as actually shooting a deer.It takes me two or three days just to unwind from the stress of my job. I would personally hold out for a really nice buck on opening day(Over 100").I also don`t always kill a deer every year because I don`t really hunt for meat. I love venison, but my family really doesn`t care for it all that much! A trophy to me all amounts to how much work I had to put into the hunt and how excited I get at the time. Think about it for a minute. If you get way back in the boonies and spot a nice buck and it gets you really excited, you stalk and ultimately kill the deer. Then you measure it and find out it is only a 75" buck, does that mean you did not have an awesome hunt! I don`t think so! Record books are for people that are always keeping score and I really don`t care that much about them.Some of the best hunters I know have shot huge bucks that did not score all that well or bucks that did score well and they still never entered them in the books.I also take into account the overall time that I have to hunt.Sometimes I shoot for the best animal I can get within the timeframe that I know that I can hunt. I did not mean to get so long winded on this post but I just don`t think it all adds up to total inches! Good luck on this years draw Coues Addict

CHD Hey Chris, I really like the pics man! They rock, They slam, I think ya done real good! I really do appreciate them as well.I also think that there scanner works mighty fine. There now, ya feel any better about posting those pics. I know you are just a picture junkie just like the rest of us and you just had to use that new toy!! Keep em coming. Oh ya, and have a nice day too ok? Coues Addict. P.S. Can`t anybody stirr up a little shi _ t to get ole Chris going, dang! See Chris, we really do try to please!

KGAINES I shoot shotguns a lot, pot shooting, buddy shoots etc. Shooting shotguns with both eyes open is a good thing. I also shoot my deer rifle with both eyes open! I have a hard time closing just one eye also. If you get a .22 rifle or a pellet rifle and put a scope on it you may be real surprised what happens. I also shoot lots of varmits and I shoot with my off eye open also. It does not bother me at all.I actually think it is a huge advantage on moving targets or target aquisition. I am not worth a toot with open sights, but a scoped gun is a totally different thing! Your son will probably develop the coordination to close one eye later as he gets older.I would try the scoped rifle for now and see if he does ok. Just my opinion! Good luck Coues Addict

Mike I am really glad to hear that you are back from the Hospital. That has to be a good feeling in itself. I will pray for you to have a speedy and complete recovery! Thank God everything went Ok with your surgery. Take care and stay positive. Rich Thompson aka Coues Addict

Doug That really sucks! I really don`t know much about any of them but we use yahoo for most everything. It seems to do just fine.Coues Addict

Amanda I am truly sorry to hear about your loss. I have lived my whole life only 15 miles from the Mexico border I have heard many of the same stories. I also had my truck stolen back in 1998 or so and it does hurt! I am no expert, but in my experiences, crime, thievery, etc. seem to be more prevalent in large urban areas.I personally believe that the main reason is that these areas have Exceeded there holding capacity!!!! When you start getting several thousands or even millions of people in one big huge town there are lots of problems. I really believe most kids, drug addicts,etc. are really just products of their enviornments. Many parents don`t really have any Idea where there kids are at night or what there up to! Lots of parents don`t even care! Things are important, but the main thing to me is God, family and friends. I would love to live in a really small town where everybody really knew each other! Maybe someday I will. The problem is the big towns are where most people go to try and earn a living! Thank God you didn`t get hurt, attacked, shot at or even worse!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stay positive and things will probably work out. Coues Addict OBTW: my truck was found up near San Diego (not Mexico) and was pretty messed up!