stalkincoues

I had given it about 30 minutes intially before I went over the hill. There was so much blood I figured it'd be dead for sure. After I jumped him I did give him another hour. The last time I jumped him it had been approx 1 hr 45 minutes since the shot and a ton of blood. I felt backing out for the night was the best option at that point to make sure he didn't jump again and couldn't afford the chance of loosing him. From here out I will give it an hour even if I know it was a perefect shot, I learned a very valuable lesson. At the last place I lost him the blood trail just stopped. Man I was upset! I did reference the direction I heard him run so I started to look for overturned rocks and tracks. I identified fresh track and which way the dirt was kicked up. I took a square of toilet paper at a time and tracked the drops as I saw them and made a toilet paper trail with a rock on each square. Took me about 3 1/2 hours to find this thing but it worked out, not ideally though. The meat was cool as I took the hide off. I have it in my ice chest now and will start butchering and freezing tonight and tomorrow. If I get sick when I eat the meat then I guess it went bad, but hope it is still good. Thank you Hammy for the info and the number. Sounds like if your meat was fine in those temps then I should have no problem. Thanks to everyone else for the reassurance. I feel much better!

Wow, what a great buck! I hope to take on that nice as soon as I can break my Curse of thte Coues that I have been unfortunately cursed with.

I got into traditional archery a few years ago and love it. Have a few Widows (recurves and a longbow) and a few others. My primary goto is my Thunderhorn longbow that I absolutely love. Took a pig in 2008 and another this last weekend for 2009. Had an opportunity to go after a nice 3 point mulie the weekend before last but chickened out last minute and grabbed my compound and started my stalk. Put an hour stalk and popped over the hill and he was looking directly at me. Range finder was picking up grass and trees in front and behind, bottom line I guessed the wrong yardage and shot just under. I feel if I would have had my longbow and not have punked out I would have been successful, but now I'll never know... Three days later and after a 2 1/2 hour stalk on a nice 3 point whitetail approx 95" the same thing..... couldn't get an exact yardage and shooting steep down hill shot just over his back. I feel I could have made that with the longbow as well. I hope I can get the courage to take my longbow this weekend, but also really want to kill.

I really love my Manfroto/Bogen 701rc2. I use it W/ my 15 Swaro's and my 80mm spotter. I have 5 extra quick detach plates and keep one on everything that goes in. Spotter, Bino's, video cam, cam, and one extra for anything else. It has the slide to balance and center the weight so it works great, even for a spotter. I like the looks of the 701 HDV and would get it if it had the same interchangeagble quick detach plates so I'll get another 710rc2 for my 2nd tripod. I guess the hdv is a "true fluid head" making it smoother, even though the rc2 is very fluid in my opinion.

I really hate to ask these questions as I cringe everytime someone else asks for a spot or honey hole, but it is a Res. hunt and Javelina so may not be that big of a secret. A buddy and I got Javelina tags for the Apache Res. in 2009. We have seen a group of pigs at the ten of Diamonds, around the pump station, and Point of Pines. But only once each. Was wondering what areas we should be looking in and concentrating on? These seem a bit high elevation, although we have seen pigs there I assume lower towards Eagle creek and the boundaries may be better? Have not had much time to scout as I have been concentrating on whitetail on public land this year closer to the 24B area. Any advice and direction is greatly appreciated. I will be after them with either my black powder revolver pistol Pietta 1858 New Army .451 , Thompson Patriot single shot .45 cal black powder, Thompson Flintlock .50 cal, or longbow..... I am sill undecided which one, but very excited for more of a primitive powder approach this coming year. If I am lucky enough to take one in Jan. on public land w/ my longbow on my archery hunt I will definitely be using 1 of the 1st 3 mentioned. Thank you all in advance for your help!

Got a wild hair and decided to head up to the Chiricahua's for three days or so for the Christmas vacation. Been probably at least 15 years if not longer since I have been there, if not longer. I never had any problems where we were at or really knew of the illegal traffic while growing up. I have heard it is bad in places. I am wondering just how safe it is, and how bad the illegal/drug traffic is. I don't want any problems and would hate to run into trouble just because I want to chase some whitetail around with my bow. Are there places I should avoid? I will definitely pack my sidearm just incase. It is a shame what the southern hunting units have become when a hunter has to fear this crap! Thanks all.

Yeah, from R100 up to Black River I believe. Right on .270 thank you for the info. Will have to check out those areas. I appreciate the area's and the tip.

Thanks for the info guys, I will be down there sometime Christmas afternoon (as ealry as I can sneak out) and probably stay till Sunday sometime. I feel better after the reassurance though. CouesArcher, or anybody else for that matter feel free to stop me if you see me and say hello and introduce yourself. Make sure to tell me where the big deer are hiding though I will probably be in my 98 grey Dodge with a terrible painted pinstripe on the sides. I have a camper shell with a big a$$ roof rack and hunting stickers on the windows with the liscence plate of "RDNKNIT", you'll know it if you see it! If not in my Dodge I'll be in my 2000 red/silver Chevy silverado extended cab with a 4" red Rancho lift and 33" tires. Probably be in the Rock canyon area for the 1st day or two. May spend a little time around the Pine Canyon church camp, I went to camp there when I was a young boy and always neat to go back and check out. I am heading up by myslef, may have a hunting b uddy or two show up after the 1st day but not sure... hopefully though. Where is everyone else going to be hunting? Hey Cramer and So I hunt, have you guys been seeing much rutting action up there? Plenty of bucks I hope. Christian

I moved this to the Bowhunting section, this is where I intially where I thought I was posting it.

Anybody??? C'Mon guys, don't be shy! Honestly I don't blame anybody if they do have info and would rather not share. I probably wouldn't myself. I can keep a secrect but feel most can't so I usuallly don't bother. We'll probably head down to lower Eagle from the Point of Pines road off of the the 70 and glass and give it heck. I'll also take PM's as well

Which scope is it? Pics?

Thank you for the info all. CouesTaxi those are some beautiful birds! I had heard that most taxidermists would not mount fall birds but wasn't sure why. The molting thing is what was never explained. I will pass this info along to him and wish him the best of luck. Don't think he'll be happy to hear he may not be able to get his Tom mounted.

I have a pair of the 10x42's that I absolutely love! Compact, light, and very very crisp. Great in low light. Don't think I'll ever give up my pair. For my 15's I do have Swaro's and the quality compares. Definitely great glass for the money.

This bow case will fit a switchback. I sold mine when i got rid of my switchback though. Cool case and keeps bow very secure. You can also travel/fly with it safely which I did.

I have tried many over the years, including the 2 above, have owned 3 different Trophy Takers and I personally liked the Regular arm the best. I had some contact issues with my blazers and the pronghorn arm. I currently have a N.A.P. Quicktune Smart Rest which I really love!!! everything is adjustable. Spring tension, micro adjust for the wind./elev., forward/backward. adj. It has a plastic arm cover which is very wide. Great for arrow stability/pickup and very quiet when the mole skin is put on shelf and over the arm itself. Little movement required to lift it up and very smooth. All around the best dropaway I have used. Do yourself a favor and look into it. May not be the most popular, but the most practical IMO. My 2nd choice would be the Spot-Hogg Whammy drop away.

Thank you again for the help. Turkey are my biggest Nemesis by far! Have had bad luck after bad luck, year after year with these simple little birds over the years. hoping to break my streak and start out right this year. Any other info or tips is appreciated. Thank you all!!!

After five years of a buddy and I talking about getting a turkey tag we finally got one in time. We'd always talk about it and mess around and miss it. Can't wait for the hunt though. They only had a few tags left and only had the early hunt (March) available. Have read a bit that the March hunt is too early and not very succesful, and the April is much better but not the best time either. This will be our first. We have fished the Black River a few times and seen Turkeys once down there below the pump station. Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated, maybe just what type of areas to start scouting and what really to look for. Will just be the 2 of us and don't know anyone else who would ever hunt down there. Was told it's too early for the rut or calls. Anyway we are excited. Thank you!

I have the cableas 65" full sized tripod that I use for most of my glassing. I took the bottom metal and rubber feet off, and inserts out and replaced them with just some little rubber feet over the carbon fiber and lost about a half pound by doing that. The legs weigh 3 1/2 lbs and I have the 701rc2 which I love, and is a must have for me when using my Swaro 15x's. I pack it with me everywhere. I would like a little lighter setup but is not too bad considering that I can use this standing up, or use the 3 way postion to get all the way underneath it and it is very solid. Don't know how much weight I could actually shed and still have it this tall or steady enough. I am 5' 11" and if you plan on glassing standing up I'd reccomend no less than 65" tall. It is on sale right now also..... http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/template...s&noImage=0

Yes I am talking about the San carlos Res. Thank you for the tips so far. You say above the rim, I assume just North. That is where we were actually going to start, at least around that area starting around point of Pines and North of there. We'll hopefully be up there in a week or two to start. I appreciate the info!!!

Just wanted to post my 2008 javelina that I took this year with my longbow. Have been getting into traditional more and more and wanted to up the challenge this year and could not be happier!!! This is one of the more rewarding things I have done. Had a few busted stalks and any of them I could have had a pig had I used my compound. My last day a few hours left I spotted one last bunch up a hill. Stuck with my longbow and it paid off in the end.

I had an etrex legend before I upgraded to my 60CSx and really liked it. The legend is inexpensive, good reception and worked well.

This info came out in the October 2006 Hunting Highlights on the azgfd.com I printed it and carried it with me for a while just in case I ran into an uneducated warden. Here is a link to the info. 2nd column down on the right side, 7th paragraph down. 6" max nonhunting handgun. http://az.gov/webapp/portal/SiteSearch?sit...esheet=azportal

I hope this has not been beat to death on this site. Hello all, I started getting serious about Coues just recently. I have finally evolved and am very excited about it! Jan. 2006 was my first real whitetail hunt looking for a decent buck, and was archery. Have hunted them growing up but never for trophies. I am looking for the perfect Coues gun. Was wondering what you all use and why. I want this to be non-controversial such as the other thread on here, I don't think I have to name posts. Just looking for info for the years to follow and open my mind instead of bashing, like "mine is better,and if you don't use this type of gun you are not a good hunter" and so on. I have read most of the post here and only see them going back a month or so. Not sure if this forum is brand new or just does not retain posts after a month or so. Please help a newbie for the up and coming years. looking for a long range flat shooting gun with minimal wind effects. I am using a .300 Wsm this year. Have been considering a .270Wsm for the up and coming. What would you reccomend Cal. wise, and why? Thank you in advance. Please keep it civial, just looking for useful info, not bashing by anybody to anybody. This is such a friendly positive site from what I have seen the last few days, except when it comes to stuff like this (mine gainst yours).

Unit #31. I'll only be able to hunt for 4 days, Nov. 15th- thru the 18th. I am so excited though, can't wait! thanks for the respnse all.

Hello all, this is my first post to Coues Whitetail. I have frequented this great site and am excited to post finally! I have a Whitettail hunt coming up and have chosen my .300 wsm this year because of it's trajectiry. I do have a .22-250., .223, 243, 7mm mag, and a .270 that would and have made fine deer rifles in the past. Wanted something this year that will reach out there and touch them with a semi heavy wind resistant flat shootin big game bullet. You can't kill a deer too dead and that mount will long outlast the remaining meat in my freezer. Was wondering what the better, most accurate 150 grain bullets are that you have used. I am shooting 165 grain Fusions out of them and aren't grouping all that well at only 200 yards and stopped there. I am shooting a Browning Stalker A-bolt .300wsm with a 23" barrel. Shooting from a bench and holding steady. Shot them out of my .270 the year before and shot acceptable. I am considering the winchester Supreme ballistic tips. What would you all reccomend? I would like acces to ballistic charts and wind drift. thank you all in advance!