SWINGBOW

What a great story and buck! Thank you for sharing

I've heard this story a few times but it was great to read it and see those pics again. Having held these horns, pics don't do this stud of a buck justice. Hunter is an amazing young lady.

Cool looking birds! I want one next year...

I can't believe my son's luck. Put him in for this hunt "knowing" that he would just get another bonus point. This kid is already quite an accomplished hunter. He took his 10th deer this passed January, a nice 100ish coues in Sonora. He has never had an elk tag but has been with me on a few archery elk hunts. Can't wait to chase rutting Az bulls with him again. Congrats to all the lucky elk hunters! I'm on cloud 9!!!

you hunting with a3? Haven't ruled out hiring an outfitter but pretty sure we are going to do it on our own.

Way cool. 7 years old and get a buck like that... Good job dad!

Awesome! That kid can shoot!

I've been going to Mex for a few years with Cola Blanca Outfitters. Killed, seen and/or missed great bucks every time. Always had a great time. The above mentioned outfits seem to have a great reputation too. Prob can't go wrong with any of them.

My 13 year old son drew a big boy tag. Either early mz or early rifle. Not sure on unit yet. I was way more excited that he drew than a have been when I've drawn tags in the past. Although I've never drawn a tag that good. Can't wait to hear bulls screaming and see the look on his face when he hears a close bugle. No better sound in the world! Good luck to all the kids. Come on September...

Fish and game just called me to update my card. (had fraud on the acct and bank cancelled it a couple weeks ago) She didn't have any info on the specific hunt info. What I do know is that my 13 year old son drew an early rifle or muzzleloader elk tag!!!! Yeehawwwww!!!!

Been back to my crazy life for a little over a week. Finally sat down with a couple cervesas to reflect on another great trip to Sonora with my son and a GREAT friend. It was truly a trip of a lifetime, my 13 year old son's second trip to Mexico and he was able to take a nice buck on the 3rd day. This is his 10th deer and 4th coues deer. I am blessed beyond words to share my passion for hunting and the outdoors with people I love. I took a new gun, my daughters, that I was really confident with. My daughter (10) killed her first buck with it in Az in Nov at 440 yards. It's a tack driver. Pre 64 Model 70 I re-barreled to 6.5 X 284 and put a muzzle break and a Ziess scope on. I asked her if I could take it to Mexico and of course she said yes. I missed 2 great bucks more times that I am willing to admit and am now convinced that this gun is for her to use only. Never have I had buck fever, but hey I guess it's never too late to start. My son fortunately has ice water in his veins and kills everything he points his .270 at. Maybe it's because he sleeps so much. Thanks to my friend Andy and Dan Bishop at Cola Blanca Outfitters for another adventure I'll never forget. Next year I will shoot better amigos and we are taking Andy's truck...

Great bucks!

Great story! Thanks for sharing it with us.

I got myself, my brother and my friend put in for elk with no problem. Now I'm trying to put my kids in and it keeps crashing on me. Sure I shouldv'e done it sooner, but even better than that would be a website that worked!!!

I guess I picked the wrong place to complain about the F & G website. I do have a question for you guys that are so negative. By your reasoning the term "Draw deadline Feb 10 at 7 pm MST" means do it a month early??? Honestly I forgot. Until about 3:00 this afternoon. I actually said out loud "Oh SH**!!!!" My guys looked at me like I was crazy as I packed up my tools and headed home to my computer with 3 hours left to get it done. As far as putting myself in 5 minutes before my kids goes. I don't know my 10 year old daughter's social security number off the top of my head as I do my own. I started on my app as my wife was getting her SS card. Thanks.

I think you're right Kaffer62. Just hope I'm able to get my kids put in. Assuming they will extend the deadline again.

So cool. The video has inspired me. Thank you for sharing!

Thanks boys. Just ordered the 700. If for some reason I don't like it, I'll suck it up and go with the Outdoorsmans.

Mounting it to a Slik 734 carbon fiber tripod. The Manfrotto 502 looks nice but a little heavy at almost 2 pounds. Thinking about the Manfrotto 700. Way lighter and less expensive. I always have a hard time buying something like this online. I know the Outdoorsman is nice just can't justify all that $$$$.

You guys are the best!!! Can't wait to see you and here this story in person. Love you all!!!

Found out today that we drew some good tags. I want to give my Vortex 15's to my son. Time to put those young eyes to work. Also means I get to upgrade. Anyone want to get rid of their Swaro's??? Thanks!

After years of trying to convince my wife (and myself) that it was "safe" to take my 11 year old son to Mexico, I finally committed and booked a trip with my friend Dan Bishop from Cola Blanca outfitters. This would be a special hunt as my dad was going to make the trip down from Montana and join us. He lives in northern Montana on the Blackfeet Indian reservation where he runs our family outfitting business. He guides elk, moose, white-tail, mule deer in the fall. Fly fishes and does jeep tours in the summer and runs mountain lions in the winter. January is a great time to leave Montana and head south. It really didn't take much convincing to get him to commit. He flew in and caught a football camp that my son was attending and we jumped in the truck and headed to Tucson to meet the group and head south. The trip down was uneventful. A couple check points and some paperwork and we hit the LONG dirt road to our camp. I was also lucky enough to convince my great friend Andy to join us. He is one of my best friends and just so happens to be the best glasser that I’ve hunted with. We got settled in had a great dinner and were up early to hit some glassing spots. I personally felt a little pressure on this hunt. I know my son really wanted to kill a big buck, at least bigger than the one that he killed in Arizona this year (93") and he also was bugging the crap out of me to try for a Javelina with his bow. By the afternoon of day 2 we had seen a bunch of bucks but nothing we wanted to take early in the hunt. Andy, my son and I took a little walk to check out a canyon. I was ready to get some meat on the ground and "get the party started" We were walking back to the truck after checking out the canyon and stopped to glass one last spot. This buck was rutting hard and chasing does all over the hill side. We watched him for a few minutes and realized that he had something funky going on with his horns and I decided to take him. One 250 yard shot with my son's 270 and we were heading up the hill to see my buck. Now it was time for me to help find a buck for my son and my dad. The 4th morning we were at one of our usual stops and we found a buck that would be close to the Arizona buck bench mark that my son had set. He checked out the buck in my 15's for about .5 seconds and said "I'll kill him" We helped him get set up for the 230 yard shot. He proceed to shoot every Ocotillo tree on the entire hillside. We went through all the emotions imaginable as he sent a volley of rounds at this buck. The buck’s only concern was does and they just kept feeding. On the 10th shot he finally connected. The buck immediately bedded and we watched the spot for movement for a full hour before Andy headed over to try to find the buck. We weren’t sure of the hit and knowing how tough these little deer are we decided to guide Andy in and be ready in case the buck got up. Andy arrived at the bush where we had last seen the buck to find this tough little sucker staring him down. Andy had no gun so I watched as the rodeo started. Andy wrestled the buck for a few minutes finally winning the match. I’m pretty sure I’ve never laughed harder than I did watching him wrestle that poor buck. While my son was shooting at his buck my dad and his guide Elio had found a nice buck to go after. They put a long stalk on this buck and killed him at 330 yards with my 300 short mag. And the celebration began... Javelina time…. We had been seeing pigs all over this ranch but hadn’t gone after any yet. The last day of our 5 day hunt would be dedicated to getting my son a shot at a pig with his bow. We spotted a herd of about 8 feeding and started our stalk. The wind was perfect and before we knew it we were in the middle of the group of feeding pigs. They were moving all around us. This boar got a little curious in the funny shaped and smiling cactus and decided to come in for a closer look. He was getting closer. At 20 yards I told my son to draw, at 10 yards I stopped the pig by making a kiss sound. As soon as he stopped my son’s arrow was on the way. He hit a little far back but the arrow angled in and took out the femoral artery. We watched as the pig went down about 30 yards from where he hit him. One more trophy and we would be ready to head home and see his mom and sister. The elusive Jack rabbit… Last light on the last day he was able to take this buck Jack rabbit. Way to take it down to the wire…. I can't conclude this story without some "wake me up if you see something" pics. They crack me up. We never got in to the huge bucks the we’d hoped to, although I know they were there. The ranch was amazing. So remote and held tons of deer. It was a great adventure that I know my son, dad and myself will have a hard time trying to top. But I can’t wait to try…

We left our house in California with our camper trailer in tow on Friday evening and drove out in that crazy rain storm. When we arrived on Saturday afternoon the police had the road leading into our area blocked off because of the weather. We had driven 400 miles and no way was I not getting this kid to our spot. Luckily the two officers were friendly and let us pass. This would be the first time that my wife and daughter (8) would join us. I didn't think that we would take it down to the wire like we did. My son drew the same tag last year and he was lucky enough to tag a spike on the third day. He decided to hold out for the next age class of buck this year. The first few days we hunted our tails off. Seeing a ton of does a couple spikes and two bucks that were too far to go after. We put some miles on in the dark every morning to get away from the roads and people. Our plan was to work hard on the morning hunts, just my son and I. Then hike back to camp and hang out with the girls and then all 4 of us do an easier evening hunt. Our plan was working great except for the bucks weren't on the same schedule. Took some great hikes with my daughter. the year after next she'll be trying to top her big brother's buck. Thanksgiving day, the last day of his hunt, we had hiked in 2 miles in the dark to get where we wanted to be at first light. We got a little over heated and sweaty on the way in. After sitting in the cold glassing for 2 and a half hours we were freezing. It didn't help that my son forgot his jacket and was wearing mine. We were both shivering when this buck finally stepped out. I had my son get ready to shoot in a prone position. I ranged the buck at 376 yards. He has already killed 4 deer at all different ranges out to 400 yards with his Pre 64 model 70 .270 so I knew he was capable of making a shot like that. My dad, his grandpa gave him the gun for his birthday last year and we practice a lot. He got all set up over his back pack but was shivering so bad he couldn't shoot. Between the cold and the sudden rush of adrenaline he was pretty shook up. I was trying to figure out how to get him warm. He plays Pop Warner football and is no stranger to push-ups so I told him to crawl behind the bush that we had been sitting under and pound out a few to warm up. He quickly did about 40 push-ups as I kept my 15's on the buck. He said he was good and settled back in to the scope. I calmly talked him through the shot. Telling him to breathe and make sure he squeezed the trigger. At the shot the buck walked straight down hill and bedded down behind a tree. I was pretty sure he had connected but couldn't see any evidence of a hit. The buck only stayed bedded for a few seconds and then got up and walked out of sight into a small cut in the side of the hill he was on. I looked at my watch and told my son we were going to wait 10 minutes and then start walking to the tree where I had last seen the buck. I knew it would take us 15 plus minutes to get there. Thinking that would be plenty of time for the 130 grain bullet to do it's job. I could tell he wanted to go to that spot so bad. He waited the full 10 minutes with me and we went through the whole sequence a couple times. Right at the 10 minute mark we were on our way. He kept repeating "It was a good shot Dad" I could tell he wasn't sure if he hit the buck. When we reached the tree I immediately found blood where the buck briefly bedded. The look on his face was priceless when he realized that the small red spot on the rocks was blood. We started following the blood trail. After only about 40 yards I saw the buck laying under a small ocotillo. As I pointed to the deer I told my son to be ready as we slowly inched up on him. We got to within about 35 yards and the buck jumped up. My son raised up and put one more into his boiler room dropping him in his tracks. At that point we both were all teared up and we went through a flood of emotions. All I could do was thank God for putting this animal in front of us and thank him for guiding my son's bullet to it's mark. After the pictures we cleaned the buck and I carried him out of the canyon. We were able to get our radios to work and called my wife and daughter back at camp. We told them where we were and they were there in no time to lend us a hand. This kid works so hard at everything he does. He's an amazing athlete. Playing football, soccer, wrestling and of course hunting his butt off with me. I couldn't be more proud of him. Next stop Mexico in January. Where him, my dad and myself will all be trying to get Coues bucks.

HAHA! I didn't want to sell out my buddy! We're getting ready for Mex right now. It's on... Muy grande time!

Tags filled and freezers filled too! Awesome job Dad!