SunDevil

Come on - let's be honest - how many others out there have done this (I have heard of it happening to a few people I know)? Fortunately it was a coues buck - unfortunately it was a dink. Fortunately I shot it in the head - unfortunately it had the potential to be a really good buck in a couple of years. Fortunately it was close to the road - unfortunately someone else shot the buck I was looking for the 1st weekend of the hunt. Here is the the short of it. The day before the hunt we went scouting and I found a buck I really liked and wanted to go after. Friday morning there were a bunch of people in our spot. Heard some shots and never saw the deer I was looking for.... Until a guy roDE by our camp at lunch time and I saw the buck I was looking for on his quad. I was pretty bummed. That buck had bladed main beams out at the end kind of like a putty knife. The next weekend. I found a nice buck but he had bedded before we could get up to where he was at. We busted 3 little bucks while we were hiking up there and Scout'm thought he was long gone. Glassed for awhile but never saw him. Scout'm and I split up that evening and sure enough, just after 5:00 the buck came out of the cut he had bedded in. He was with a smaller buck. Didn't have a shot from where I was so I moved about 50 yards to my left to a rock pile. They were over 300 yards away so I thought I would be safe to move. Must have spooked them a little because they started to get a little ancy. Looked in my binos and saw the big buck was on the left. Put my binos down and got my rifle up. It took a couple of seconds to find them in my rifle scope. There was only enough light to tell the deer on the left was a buck so I fired. Got my gear and hustled over to where they were. Was only wondering if I got him or not (not if I got the right one). I walked up and was excited to find a dead deer only to be shocked that it was the little buck. Was initially a little ticked but then shook it off because there wasn't anything I could do about it now. Later I was a pretty bummed because the little buck I harvested really had potential and would have been a really nice buck in a couple of years. Oh well - first time for everything I guess. CB

gotta love G3s that are longer than the G2s!

the really sweet thing about this buck is that it is very symetrical. only about 1 inch of deductions. about a half inch on the eye guards and then an 1/8th here and an 1/8th there. very, very nice buck. now you just need a cape!

you left the most important part out for 4X4ORD - the fact of where that buck came from.... 30A.

come on Casey - 75? just for kicks I put a tape on him and came up with 64. oh well - maybe I can change my name to 'seventhcoueswas64'. naw I'll stick with sundevil - even though they fired my coach. CB

just quit jamming your 243 ammo into your 223 rifle. I know you are always trying to get improved ballistic performance but come on. that should take care of it.

A LOT BIGGER - 3X3 with probably about 8 inch G2s. Short thirds but good main beam and great G2s. Probably a mid 90s deer. CB

Doug - Love your toilet bowl cartoon! I was alone. If Scout'm had been with me it would not have happened. Very rarely do we split up but we did that evening. There were however several benefits to this situation. One I did not mention is we found a little spot that holds deer but is difficult to hunt correctly. I am sure we will scout this spot in the future and who knows, maybe the bigger buck that got away will be in there next year. Anyway, here is a pic of "W" (short and code word for 'wrong'). I wasn't even able to get any field pics because I was alone and it was dark. Oh well - better pics would have been tough anyway because he had a hole in his cheek and his mouth wouldn't shut because his jaw had been shot out. Later. CB

Heard about it and just found a pic of it. CB http://www.azodchat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12950

1998 was the last year I personally saw any good bucks in this unit and I have been in there 6 of the last 8 years since then. I refuse to let Scout'm put that unit on our application but every year he asks. I was down there this year in october helping some friends with there hunt and saw 4 spikes and a fork horn in 2 days of hard hunting. Once again though, saw some good ole boys who had the key to the locked gate from Klump. Shot a buck right off the road as a matter of fact. Also found some kind of deer stand or something. Looked like some kind of plastic seat on top of a windmill stand. Should have taken a pic of it. Seemed kind of weird. Anyway - I personally have had enough of this unit to last me awhile. CB

That was Scout'm. He was there with his brothers. One from CA and one from UT. I would have been with him but was helping out a couple of other buddies down in the Dos Cabezas. We will be back in 33 on our Nov hunt next weekend. CB

I used the 150 grain remington core lokts in my 7 mag for years. then I switched to the ballistic tips. currently am using the remingtom ballistics but I dont think the winchesters are much different. CB

Went back and checked who drew unit 23 this year. here is the list I came up with: treestandman fatfootdoc (early Nov) TAM (early Nov) Bcoover Scott Adams (Oct muzzy) Flagstaff4398 (his son) Corkin it (early Nov) Phx hunter My hunting buddy and I will be over scouting from Oct 13th - Oct 15th. We will probably scout and hunt the Harden Cienega area. Anyone else care to share where they may be at to avoid stepping on each other toes when we are out there? Anyone hunting on a private ranch? Anyone going to be over there scouting on the dates I am? Good luck to you all and maybe we will meet up somewhere along the line. CB

Does anyone have any experience with this tent? I have found one that is like brand new for half price. Let me know. Thanks. CB http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/template...&id=0005870

the bear was up high. as were the bears we saw last year. in the junipers eating the berries. I also saw some bear tracks last weekend at another dirt tank. I guess it could have been the same bear but I doubt it. CB

how about lobocoues?

One other thing - once the shooting starts - start looking in the thickest, nastiest parts of the terrain. more than likely, that is where the older, smarter bucks will be hiding out. CB

look in the shade first thing in the morning as well. just because it is morning does not mean they will not be in the shade. have seen plenty of deer and bucks in the shade at first light. tough to glass but well worth it. CB

pretty much a bummer of a trip. only saw 3 little bucks. 2 were legal but not really shooters. maybe last day shooters and only because they were at a tank that was right off the road. did see a really nice rust colored sow with a cub. like scout'm said, got rained and hailed on saturday afternoon. ended up cutting the trip short and coming home early to avoid the thunderstorms. CB

Oct = find them before the season and keep an eye on them. Nov = try to figure out places where they get pressured too or find places that may not have been pressured in Oct. Dec = find the does. CB

WAY TO GO Austin but what is with the carp deer? You had first crack at the coues! Congratulations!! I am totally jealous. CB

off to NM in 13 minutes. will let you know what we see on Monday! CB

have worked for UnitedHealthcare now for 10 years. hopefully nobody out there has had any bad experiences with us. quite possible though due to how complicated health care really is. know quite a bit about health care in general and how to get through the insurance system maze. let me know if I can be of any help to anyone out there. CB

nicely done! should make it all worth while. CB

Bill - did you get scouting last weekend? where are the pics? hope you had some success. We are going this weekend for 3 days. Probably spend 1.5 days south of mule creek and another 1.5 days up harden somewhere. this will be our only scouting weekend before the hunt so what we find this weekend will probably determine where we are during the early Nov hunt. will let you know how things go next week when we get back. my buddy checked and there are still some bear tags available for that zone. we may pick one up before we head over. need to check on the price. Later. CB