creed_az_88

Wow I must be missing out on alot of good hunting throughout the state. I really like this unit. Everybody seems to hate it compared to other units. Nothing like hunting all week long and seeing no other hunters.

does anybody have any experience with the swift horizon 10x42's? I am looking to buy a pair of "budget binos" for my wife and have seen some good reviews about these binoculars. They score really well on allbinos.com but I would like some input from coues deer hunters who look at similar stuff that I do in similar conditions! Thanks, Creed

Great bull congrats. I enjoyed every minute of your story. -creed

Nock, draw, anchor, release, repeat. That was how my entire summer was spent. By the time the archery deer hunt came around, I carried more confidence than ever before. I was for the first time ever, shooting fixed blade broadheads, and I was amazed at how accurate my setup had become. I was also for the first time ever, preparing for an archery elk hunt. Thanks to my good friend Cody Malbouef, I had a few more bonus points going into this years draw than in years past. He sacrificed a few points by letting me put in with him and it payed off for both of us. We were fortunate enough to draw unit 1 bull tags. I was only able to make one scouting trip prior to the hunt, and he was not able to make any due to commitments to work. With what I saw during my one scouting trip in august, and past years experience in this unit, I felt very confident for the upcoming hunt. Rather than scouting during late august, I chose to stay near home and deer hunt. With a few updates from my Uncle living in the unit, I was eagar for Mid September to arrive. The Tuesday before the hunt started I pulled my bowtech out of the closet for one last shooting session before opening day. I followed the same routine that I followed all summer long. Nock, draw, anchor…….snap! My upper limb folded in half!!! I couldn’t believe it. My heart sunk immediately. The only postive thing about it was that it happened prior to the hunt rather than during the hunt. The next few days were stressful to say the least. I contacted bowtech, and they were helpful but it seemed that the was nothing that could be done before the hunt started. Purchasing a new bow was out of the question, so I pulled my old faithful Alpine out of the closet. I threw a few new accessories on it and had it tuned by lunchtime, the day before I left on my hunt. I sighted it in out to 60. I never before realized before how hard this bow was to shoot. It was hard to adjust after being used to the bowtech but I was hitting where I was aiming and that’s all that mattered. In a matter of days I went from being the most confident that I had ever been with my setup to the least confident I had ever been. Negativity started to take over and I wondered if I should even head to the hills, or just wait for my bowtech to get fixed. I thought about the animals that I had taken in the past with the alpine, and remembered how reliable it had always been. I left the negativity at home and put tread on the blacktop, headed in the direction of the country that I had dreamed about all summer. Opening morning didn’t start as well for me as it did for Cody, but I did lay eyes on some 300+’’ bulls and a toad of a mule deer. Cody really got into them and passed on some oppuurtunities on some nice bulls. The bugling stopped around ten oclock where I was hunting so I headed to camp to shoot my bow. Each arrow I shot left me more confident. Cody showed up at camp around 2 oclock and told me of all the bulls he had seen. Cody said the bulls were still bugling when we had left so we both hunted the same spot that evening without much luck. Cody decided to hunt the same spot the next day and I decided to hunt an area nearby where my uncle had said he heard a lot of bugling the day before. At sunup we were closing in on some bugles. The elk we were following were headed up a ridge into a deep canyon. We got a good look at the herd bull on that ridge and I decided that I wasn’t interest in shooting him. There were two more bulls still in that canyon that we had not yet seen but we saw a truck parked in the bottom of the canyon so we decided to leave that canyon alone. We moved two canyons to the south and I got a bull to respond to me. We made an aggressive move towards him and ended up 60 yards fom him and his cows. His cows busted us before I could get a shot at him and they ran into the next canyon, with him bugling the whole time. The satellite bulls in the area followed suit, as did we. Some bulls bugling in the distance made their way into the same canyon and before long there were about 6 or 7 bulls bugling withing 300 yards of each other. All of the bulls were were across the canyon from us on the same ridge. We setup to call but shortly into our calling sequence we saw a few other hunters right below us. The wind was blowing from north to south down the canyon so we decided to go to the southern most bugle in the canyon and start working our way north, hopefully calling in each bull or somehow getting a look at each bull until we found a shooter. We got to where we felt we could call in the southernmost bull and got setup. All of the bulls in the canyon were lighting off and the bull closest to us sounded very close. Before started calling my good friend, and at the time of this hunt, cameraman, Dana Mcclean spotted the bull across the canyon. He was feeding towards us and my Uncle Vince hit the cow call a few times. The bull continued towards us. I had yet see him good enough to decide if I was going to shoot, but as he came around a tree and I saw his second on the right side stick out and around the brush, there was no stopping me. He continued towards us and got to 12 yards with no shot. He spotted me and bolted, stopping at about forty yards, still offering no shot. A few cow calls got him to take a few steps to right into a very small shooting lane. I drew and crouched as low as I could to the ground, hoping that my arrow would clear under the branches I was trying to fling it under. The arrow flew true, pushing perfectly through his heart. Shortly after, we heard his last attempts at bugling before he expired. What an experience! We gave the bull some time and while waiting, a few other hunters walked up on us and had decided to tag along on the track job. I cant remember their names but one of them is a member of this site. On our way up to the bull a different bull bugled just above him and the other two hunters headed up after him. On their way up they spotted my bull and signaled to us that they saw him. I never got a chance to thank them, but if you guys happen to read this, thanks for your help. I couldn’t believe the character on this bull. It fit my desires to a tee! My old alpine came through, and put an arrow through the bulls shoulder and through one rib. I couldn’t have done it without my uncle Vince Waters and Dana by my side. Thanks Guys. Cody tagged out the next day, which was the last day that his dad could hunt with him. We spent the next few days videoing some incredible bulls. Good luck to all of you still out there hunting. Creed

Sorry for the bloody pictures, hope nobody gets offended. My wife doesnt hunt with me much. She likes to hunt when she has the tag, but hiking around up and down all those mountains without a tag in her pocket just doesnt interest her much. But when she does go she is all about me shooting anything with horns. This archery hunt was no different. I hunted a few days without her without getting any shots. When she tagged along she just about begged me to shoot four different bucks prior to the one i shot. I finally told her that if she spotted one with 3 points for me that I would shoot it so she could watch. Just before dark that happened. I got to 45 yards with light fading fast and managed to put an arrow through this buck as she watched it all. Unfortunately the shot was a little low, which I did not know at the time. It was dark when I decided to look for my arrow. It did not look too promising with very little blood and some fat on the fletchings. I was worried so I backed out and came back the next morning. At sun up i came from down wind from where i hit the deer and ended up bumping him. I managed to notice that I had hit him perfectly horizontally but too low to hit any organs as he was running off. I noticed that he stopped running and came to a walk about 150 yards in front of me so I circled to cut him off. I caught up to him and managed to get a 70 yard shot and put it through both lungs. He went 20 yards and piled up. He is definitely not a giant but im glad I decided toshoot him. I sometimes get caught up in trying to find the “right”deer and forget to just go with the flow and take what oppurtunites are givento me. I worked my butt off this year holding out for a good deer and although I saw some really cool stuff, I did alot of it alone. Having my wife next to me on this one and knowing that she spotted it meant alot, and I can only hope that she’ll keep the memory as long as I will. Now it’s time to focus on sept. 14th! I hope she can understand me being picky on that hunt. Thanks for looking. I couldnt get any of my video of the bucks I saw on this hunt to load but i managed to get a few cell phone pictures of some of the bucks. This years horn growth seemed to be pretty good. Cant wait 'til January. Creed

Mje1, I don't know the guy with the black dodge. I saw some good bulls in the back of trucks on my way home also. Thanks for all the comments guys.

Congrats on a nice buck.

Any luck on the hunt?

Schwacker 100 1 1/2". Hard to beat the price of em on their website...... Thanks for all the comments guys.

I'M LOOKING FOR A WAY TO SECURE MY BOW TO THE RACK ON MY QUAD. ANYBODY GOT ANY RECOMMENDATIONS? THANKS, CREED

elk hunter, how are the blood trails from a schwacker that did not exit on bigger animals like elk on say quartering shots. ive seen them in action on deer and ive been pleased with the results but ive wondered about their effectiveness when there isnt an exit...especially on bigger game like elk, or that musk ox you shot. did they bleed like normal? thanks, creed

56 6/8. big big shed.

180 1/8 Creed

Sweeet buck Brent. Congrats. Look at the neck on him! creed

Wow. Cool looking deer Brent. Congrats. creed

Very nice deer Gabe. Congratulations. I'd say that you've got this whole hunting thing figured out. What a year! Creed

Congrats to both of you guys! That is a beautiful buck. Phil i can only imagine how proud you are. Good job jaycie... It's gonna be hard to top that one. Creed

Good job guys! Glad to hear it went well. Creed

Thanks for the help guys. Its a long ways away but I'm really looking forward to putting this hunt together. Seeing some pics would be great antler obsession...cant wait. Creed

Ive decided to slash something off of the bucket list and I am wanting it to happen next year. I have decided to plan a high country archery mule deer hunt, preferably in Colorado. Are there any early season tags that have a fair likelihood of being drawn without any preference points? Utah would probably be my next choice if i was unable to draw in CO. Are there any units in Utah with above timberline elevations that can be hunted with an otc tag? Thanks in advance for all of your help. Creed

115 3/8 awesome deer.

Thanks guys. The guy doing it for me is very talented and very artistic but does only as a hobby. I was just trying to help him out by looking around for a form. Creed

I am getting my January buck mounted and I'm trying to decide on a pose. I really like the way the dan king deer looks at sportsman's in tucson done by weller's. I dont want a full body done just a shoulder mount but I want the pose to be very similiar to that deer from the shoulders up. The chin seems to be sort of tucked downwards and the neck is very upright. I can not find a form similar to this in any catalogs. I have seen finished coues shoulder mounts similiar to this but i do not know what the pose is called. Does anybody know what this pose is called or any forms made that could be used? Thanks guys. Creed

135 6/8 what a huge deer. congrats to the hunter. creed

128.75 lbs nice cat.