tommat

Not the biggest Coues I have taken but far from a spike. With having taken a cow elk in September, and my youngest son bagging a spike last month I was not short of meat so I set out to take a three point. Opening morning was cool and damp. It had rained on and off all night. I set out to my spot early to be there 1/2 before sunrise and was shocked to get there and have about 20' of visibility due to fog. After a half hour or so the fog lifted enough so I could do some limited glassing. Right away I saw a decent buck about 180 yds away side hilling up. Before I could get a better look he dissolved away up into the fog. I got back to the quad and went a couple canyons ahead of where I thought he might be headed and set out to lay in ambush. About a 1/3 mile or so up the ridge I spotted a buck, (not sure if it was the same one) feeding about two ridges over. A quick range finder reading was 280 yds. I wanted a better look so I dug out my Vortex 15 x 50 Vipers and placed them on the tripod. He was a neat looking 2 X 2, really tall. I set my Rem 770 .243 on the tripod and watched him through the scope. He busted me from the movement and was looking at me. It was such a sweet set up I couldn't resist and let it fly. Dropped him in his tracks. In this picture the "trophy shot" you can get a feel for the foggy background. I had to wait a few min for the fog to lift some to get some depth to the picture. Even though I had higher ambitions for this hunt I am very happy with this buck. He was very well fed, I have never seen so much body fat on a deer. I wish I would have taken a pic, even his rib cage had a thick layer of fat on it. Now if I could only harvest one with my bow........

Thanks Amanda....I have already entered it. Wish me luck!

Walmart stocks 100gr federals......about $13.99 a box. They grouped great with my sons Rem 770 .243 and killed his deer. Not much kick at all. He is ten and pretty slim. I also got him warmed up with a scoped .22 before the hunt.

Great hunt with an exciting finish! Opening morning found us glassing just as the sun came up. A hand full of doe were spotted but no bucks. His tag was any antlered and we were in an area that holds occasional mulies so we were on the lookout for either. My son is 10 and I wanted above all for this hunt to be a fun one. I for sure didn't want to drag him up into the canyons I favor so we planned on riding the quads to good glassing spots, and then some short hikes to other glassing spots. At one of these stops one of my buddies spotted a WT spike about 130 yds off but my son was unable to locate him with his eyes and he fed over the canyon top. My son was very dissapointed he didn't get to see it, let alone get the gun on it. He seemed to double his efforts from then on. He was glassing with Leupold Yosemite 8 X 30. Great glass for youth, very light, with a great view for under $100. I had him steady them with a mono pod. At another stop we glassed up a herd of Javelina and shortly after two deer hanging with them. My buddys with their swarovskis quickly ID'd them as bucks, spikes still in velvet. Clay, my son stayed very calm and after a min was able to locate them and select a target. The grass was tall and I helped him get the gun on a shooting stick. The range was just over 200 yards. The first shot was just off. They ran up hill into thick cover. After a bit we were able to locate them again and Clay had a very narrow window in that cover, of the larger of the spikes. The new range was 235 yds. I told him to hold his Rem 770 .243 dead on the sweet spot. Boom. The deer went down hard but we couldn't get a look at it so we waited 15 min and moved up to check it out. He was down. Smiles all around. I hope to enter the pic in the contest, and measured the spikes as 4 1/2" x 3 1/4". As you can see the deer was still in velvet. My thanks go out to my friends Darin and Chris for their help. Venison chops at our house very soon! Next season Clay says he will hold out for a deer with "some points".

Thanks for all the comments, Clay has enjoyed reading them. We made a meat loaf as soon as we got the meat back. Came out awesome, grilled tenderloins last night, perfection!

Their are no Couse Deer in 34A.

Awesome!

Great pics and a great camp.

My buddy had a similar thing happen with a three blade rage. High should hit, just a few inches of penetration and the Elk took off like her (cow) tail was on fire. That shoulder bone is one tough cookie in Elk.

Hey anybody out there know a good taxidermist that could repiar the rack? I guess a lot is still intact, just chewed the forks off. Can this be done?

Oh no! she worked so hard for her trophy! Thank God for the photos!.....you took a great pic.....get it blown up to an 8 X 10 and give it a place of honor in your home. Almost as nice as a rack. You must have all been very upset. Tell her I KNOW there will be many more racks in her future!

This is my 3rd cow elk, (2nd with a bow). Still trips my trigger! I know there have been some great pics and stories of the bull hunts but us cow hunters are people too! I will make a long story short however. She was taken Sun the 18th arond 08:30. I had just left the quad just before first light at my favorite spot where I had several close stalks the previous morning when I heard 2 to 3 herd bulls just screaming. Was on one of the herds within 10 min. They were feeding into the wind, ( as always ) 'bout 200 yds ahead of me. I closed to 100 fairly quickly, staying in the shadows, and just creeping along trying to watch all the cows and satellite bulls at once. Got busted a couple of times but froze and they returned to grazing. (try that with a deer!). An hour and a half later was within 80 yds of a couple cows but the forest was getting denser, so I didn't think I was gonna intersect a cow with a good lane. Around then a small 5 x fed right up to me from my side and held me up for 5 or 10 min and the main herd fed away and out of sight. He moved away from where he came and another herd started feeding just through the area I had just sneeked through. Wishing I had just stayed there, I began to head this new herd off. They were a little more alert and I had to cross some sunny areas. I was busted pretty quick about 120 yards off. A little apart from the main herd, the herd bull appeared, screaming and carrying on. He was much closer, ranged him at 60 yards. He was a respectable 6 X. I noticed a smattering of cows and calfs behind him and they were clueless as to my whereabouts. I was in the sun however and there was no cover between us. I carefully ranged the closest of one the cows at 72 yds. (Before you start, I had practiced at these long shots all summer, including at times with my broadheads, most everyday. I am fortunate to live in a rural area and can walk out in my front yard and do this easlily and often!) ((I also passed up a 42 yd shot three days previous because I just didn't like how she was quartering and was very restless as she had busted me as I drew)). I went to full draw, settled the pin and released! The shot looked great in the air, but I lost the arrow flight in a shadow as it approached. I was using a 100 grain schwacker and man, they aren't lying when they say you can here it schwack when it hits!. She jumped straight up and hopped a close by 3 strand fence. Unfortunatly, I didn't get to watch her run as I should have, as a calf got tangled in the same fence trying to escape the ruckus I had caused. She was screaming and bawling. I became distracted as to how I was going to free this calf as I approached the spot where the cow was standing. As I got in the area the calf broke free and trotted off. I began looking for my arrow and one of my hunting buddys approached. He had been stalking the same herd from a different direction and just about saw the whole thing. We didn't locate the arrow but found a couple good blood splashes in the path of where she hopped the fence. Since I hadn't located my arrow, and wasn't sure where she was hit I wanted to give her 45 min or so before taking up the trail. We got ahold of a couple more buddies in the area and got them coming. They arrived in a half hour or so. Meanwhile I looked hi and low for my arrow. We decided it must have not exited. A few min later one of my buds saw her about 140 yards off, down. We approached and she was done for. We gave thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ and shared high fives all around and of course took some pics. Her belly might look a little large. You'll have to take my word on this. That belly is loaded with gallons of blood and a lot of air as well. My arrow was just a skosh back. It punctured the spleen, and liver. I think I also got at least a piece of lung due to the air in the abdomen. (This also could have been caused by slicing the diaphragm also.) I had mixed results with my set up. The blade cut visciously as promised, with massive internal bleeding and a so so blood trail. It got less and less as we progressed to her. I am dissapointed with the lack of full penetration. I am going to blame this on relativly light arrow weight, about 350 grains and the distance of the shot. I will work on this before my next elk tag, especially if I ever go after Bull I know I need to get up and over 400 grains. The break point is misleading as the shaft was marked with blood to about 8" short of the fletching, working back out as she ran and fell. This gives me about 20" of peneration. My last cow was a complete pass through at 35yds with a similar weight arrow. We made quick work of the field care, completly removing innards, hide and hoofs in about an hour after being sure to drag her into some deep shade. I then treaded lightly in with my quad, loaded the front and back end on and treaded back out to the closest road, about a half mile out. I delivered 230 lbs of meat and bone to the butcher. Can't wait for that first Elk Burger! If your still there thanks for taking the time to share my hunt!

Im having it done boneless .........im hoping around 125 - 150lbs of meat.

From my front yard.....

*%&&$ !

None. Save your $$$. They don't work. wind wind wind wind.

YES! 5B South Cow archery. Time to put down the golf clubs and pick up the Bow!

Does anyone remember the date when they were announced last year?

I missed a pig a few years ago because I had the pig call in my mouth while at full draw trying to coax a pig out from behind a tree. It did, and as I shot the call was ripped from my mouth, shattering it, the cord it hung on about decapitated me. The arrow sunk deep into the tree, never to be extracted, and the Javelina is probably still running. I will never again go to full draw with anything in my mouth again!

I just purchased the Yosemities and love them. Sharp and clear. Got them to use for Turkey and Elk hunt when I don't need my Big Glass.

Almost every morning Ajo road is jammed with trucks at the gates.

Years ago on a Javelina hunt outside San Manuel we called for a couple Pizzas to be delivered to the "end of the road". Met the guy, tipped him and had hot pizza around the fire, cold pizza for breakfast. Good times!

They aren't 50mm. They are still 42mm objectives. Been eyeing them awhile on the Leupold site.....

Just looked it up A.R.S. 17-309 It is a violation to use the edible parts of any Game animal or any parts of any game bird or non game bird. It can be considered baiting. Sort of a grey area however....

I thought using turkey feathers was not legal? Not sure though.