AZantlerhead

Theres no way I could tell the story as he did....But heres some details. Tagged out on the first day, 28yd shot uphill ( He ranged it later). The exact location it was taken was . Eastern NM. I was unable to make the hunt (why no second hand field pic). It was an area we've scouted for years, mostly shed hunting. We had no clue there was a brute in the area though. He took the buck while still hunting a dirt road on a steep incline above water littered with good sign. Ummm He had some does with him and my dad got in between them, the buck circled to re join them and presented a shot. He was rutting hard and wasn't risking loseing his does, a fatal mistake. It's my dads first bowkill and boy did he get it done. UMM, Really old york compound with easton arrows and sattelite broadheads, O ring sights. The one piece of new equipment, a whisker bisquit. It will probly go #4 SCI Rocky Mountain mulie with bow. We've never ben much for numbers as i underscored the buck by 7 inches, and he waited till now to have it officially measured. Hey maybe I should have my Coues Really scored. Brian with P&Y said people are usually higher than his score so it was a nice surprise for all. Probly underscore all my horns . Brian is a super nice guy and visiting him with my dad was really fun.

Mas pics, The neck and head on this thing was SO big, reminded me of... well, a mule Field pics Back at home, One of my fathers proudest moments I'm sure

95" what? Great posts you guys... I think there are a lot of good reasons why it can be said all ways.... Yup, and coltons was a 110 gross or net i think? It made 100, that's a given. somewhere in there. But Johny you'd better shoot the first 95 you see, probly a booner, by far Heck, last year i thought i was shootin somethin way smaller than what I walked up on, gotta love Coues for their GROUND EXPANSION

HMMMM , good point, yes i'm more confused now

It seems it's all personal preferance. "Apples and oranges". Thanks for everyones opinions on this. It's why I asked. Different tactics/weather etc. etc. I'm sure the early hunt tactics will work for bow and the late season stuff will apply to the Jan bow season, so It's all good stuff. Anyones opinion, shared tactics and theories are grade A in my book. Just one thing, How can anyone rate a hunt As "poor" overall. I can't say I've ever had a bad day in the woods, let alone a whole hunt . That survey is double edged. I've had some extremely bad things happen out there and ben pushed past the breakin point but, A " poor" hunt, NAH, never. It's a gift just to be out there. I understand why they used that lingo though in the survey. Like some people talk about how "good" or "bad" hunting was in the old days but........ ahh never mind, I overanalize stuff sometimes

Glad I'm not the only one thinkin this way, is gettin lonely

No, I says keep applying for ummm. And leave My early tags alone!! . By all means , Cause we all know it's to hot to hunt in late Oct. and the big ones don't exist until December . And besides it could take you ten years to get an early tag again I heard . And who wants to have to decide Wich bomber in a group of bucks to shoot anyway. And nobody likes antlers that aint broke And it's no fun to hunt in the big boys hidey holes anyway, so thick and rugged ya know. You wanna wait till December when they roam aimlessly in the flatter stuff huntin nookie, trust me . And plus the oct and nov hunts will weed out all the inferior bucks, leaving only 110's left who've been sleeping for two months and have no clue theres still hunters out there. . All kidding aside though,Lot of good poitns in this thread, thanks for the insight on december hunts, sounds fun but you can have umm, or more often than not dream of haveing one anyway. Kinda does sound like golden ticket. NOT!!

Sounds awesome, just to be in the mescalero. I've heard and read great things about their lands. Awesome hunt, glad it worked out for you.Dandy Bear!!! Ive had several very, very, bad bearhunting experiences of wich the details I keep to myself usually. Wish it was like your hunt. Ive been soured so much I've vowed to never bear hunt again, unless a bear is hunting me again, then its open season. But still enjoy seeing others have a great experience. Nice job!!

It seems the majority here prefer a late hunt, lots of good reasons why, But, That explains the slim to none drawing odds for the 20-40 or so tags per late hunt. As well the very high success rates of those hunts. I'll stick with my Halloween hunts and TRY to hunt harder, smarter, longer and farther than the other 300 guys on my hunt, and hope to defy the success rates as we've done, knowing 9/10 years i'm getting my general tag and going hunting. ( besides the two OTC archery hunts ). It also seems most agree the peak of the rut is in Jan With the Late OTC bow hunt. So to hunt in cold weather and the rut this will be my option, even if I tag out in OCT. So is a win/ win in my mind. So you guys keep playin the lotto for those december tags and keep my drawing odds for early hunts allmost guaranteed, OK. Sorry, no ones said anything to make me want a december tag that bad. You guys can have umm. Like you're probly thinkin yeah, He can have all the early tags he wants. . Good conversation, as allways, thanks for the input. Maybe if I could tag along as a scout on a december hunt I'll change my mind, but i doubt it. If nobody noticed I'm pretty bull headed and set in my ways, even for a young whipper snapper.

So are there any defineing caracteristics between the two species? A definitive geography line? How do the clubs SCI and B&C see it?

Food for thought . Got my Coues fix for the day . I appreciate and respect everyones opinion and point of view . I've stated time and again on this site that any Coues hunt anywhere, in any season with any equipment is allways a challenge. I see this opinion is pretty much universal for us Coues hunters. Makes me proud to be one and share in the comradery of this site and it's Knowledgeable, skillfull and dedicated hunters of all levels and walks of life. I am seeing how a December hunt could be highly enjoyable and a whole different experience. Thanks for filling me in. Can you get the same action on a OTC jan bow tag? As for a challenge, a pope and younger coues is on my list( or any archery coues or Mulie for that matter), as well the ML world record coues spot( it's mine, don't even try it)!!!. And topping my "awards" B&C coues. with an all time record B&C buck. I've set my goals high and maybe in this life time I'll takle one of umm. These are personal goals. Notice i didn't enter the big buck contest last year. But guess i missed out on some nice gear!!! Dough!!! maybe the time will come again some day. But many many people say any coues buck is a trophy, And I agree fully with that. I know theres no compareing a DIY coues hunt to a guided texas ranch hunt. Just exagerateing how some would rather have a deer put in their lap than work for it. This of course does not apply to any Coues hunter anywhere.

sounds like you're ready to start spear hunting. , Is that legal? JK. I will be useing my ML on this years general hunt though. Is there a spearhunting record book?

Awesome info Amanda!! It's why I love this site!! But it seems they are rateing they're Hunt quality on how many deer they see, if they were uncomfortable or not and if they tagged out. I base my hunt quality on how challengeing it is and how hard I had to work on the hunt/ endure the terrain/ weather or whatever. And mentaly stay in the game no matter how tough the hunt gets, if i don't get one, Ohh well, It was a challengeing and rewarding hunt ranking very high in "quality" too me. The tougher the better. If I do get one, I'll Know it was hard earned makeing victory that much sweeter. For example, If I went to to let's say Texas,Drove too and sat in a heated blind that rivals a small house, Was in the peak of the rut and saw 100 bucks before shooting a Booner that someone else has been watching for 8 years on the first morning. Then had a guide field dress it and haul it on a quad for me. Well, wheres the fun in that? See what I'm getting at? IMO Quality= Challengeing hunt. But we all know a Coues hunt is a challenge( maybe the most challengeing) regardless of unit, time of year, weapon etc. etc. Some folks should just stick to tennis and get they're meat at Mcdonalds.

Growing up in Arizona and some in Florida I've seen or " heard" it all. Fore me the difference is it's a Mulie or Whitetail. Funny though, in the scoreing systems they fully count a "4x4" mulie with eyeguards as haveing five points per side. I think this disregard for a mullies eyeguards came about because allot of mulies either lack or have short brow tines. And the old saying of " if you can hang a ring on it's a point" used out east accounts for the 8 pointer or 10 pointer way of talkin deer. I'm torn between being a mountain man and a southern man I guess.IMO the eastern lingo gives full credit to each rack. Granted the point is a point if it's longer than it's circumfrence at the base, technically . My Mullie is a 3x3 with nice eyegaurds, and my coues is a 10 pointer I guess. or a 3x4 with three eyeguards . This debate has no end in sight, can't honestly vote on this full heartedly either way. If everyone wanted to be technically correct whitetails and mullies would be counted as a Blank x Blank, eyegaurds included. The way i see it both terminologys(east & west) are wrong.

I have the same great problem . As my father has put it when i asked of this dillema." You go out hunting Whenever you can with Whatever weapon you can.Strive to be Be a great " Hunter" and try to be well rounded and skilled in all styles of hunting with all weapons". Probly the old Adapt Improvise and Overcome echoing in the ol' mans jarhead. It seems most hunters are labeling themselves a " Bowhunter" or " Rifle hunter" These days . And trade one skill and knowledge of hunting style for the other. Anyone seeing this trend? I want to be the best I can at all. I'm a " HUNTER" I hunt every opporunity i have, wherever with whatever and whenever the opportunity arrises. Just my .02cents

I'll take either!!! Bombers!! What's the story behind umm? Ever score umm?

Now those are some Ivory tips!!

Awesome pics, that is a serious gun right there!!!

Bet that picture is treasured just like the rack. What a legacy for hunter and hunted.

Boy do I feel wet behind the ears ..... Dandy buck and goose, Thanks for sharin

Would love to have been there back then. For those kindaq days anyway. Thanks for sharing those!

Happy fellow right there!! One of his proudest moments I'm sure.

Very, very cool

Wow Alot of fine lookin bucks guys and gals!!!. My first and only Coues, this website and it's fine members sparked my interest greatly and is the main reason I put in for Whitetails in the first place.. I've taped him at 117 6/8 gross- 113 1/8 net. I used a Remi 30-06 with an old 9x32 simmons wich I had only put three rounds through at 50yds. 220yds downhill shooting though, missed the first shot, nailed him the second.It was the last morning of my hunt /a 7 day late oct. hunt, I actually heard him rakeing his rack on a overhanging limb and that's how i spotted him.It was a tuff hunt in a new unit to me, but i found the big buck hidey hole for the area on the fifth day and waited. My Dad heard my victory yell from a mile and a half. There was two more bucks with him but i didn't get a chance to judge them. I saw some nice antlers and shot within five seconds of knowing he was there. I was honestly feeling very down on myself that morning allready going through what I'd do better next time to be a better hunter. As well talking with god and asking him to please put one in front of me <img src="http://forums.coueswhitetail.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="wink.gif" /> . I had no clue of his size and freaked out when i found him. I thought i had missed both shots but he only went 20yds in the brush. I was looking around the wrong scrape. I looked up from where i'd shot from and decided the buck was actually 80 yds over from where I was lookin. Sure enough an allmost identicall tree and scrape with blood in it, followed it and there he was. Yes there was a moment......... that i'll not forget.

Thanks fellas , definately answered my question, down to wich side o the highway.