SunDevil

That is a REALLY NICE buck. Let the carbon fly. I think you should do it the "hard way" and use a long bow to give him a chance. CB

Personally, after using a 50 mm scope and then a 40 mm scope I would never go back to 40 mm. I have a 50 mm Leupold on my Ruger M77 7 Mag and do not have to use higher mounts but when I got a bull barrel gun I could not use the 50 mm scope. I got a 40 mm scope and did not really like it. I found a Nikon 44 mm scope this summer, picked it up and used it this fall. I like it almost as much as the 50 mm and a lot more than the 40 mm. Paralax adjustments are also nice to have. Both my Weaver 40 mm and my Nikon 44 mm scope have it. Can't help you much with the recitle or ballistic questions. Good luck. CB

My brother in law was visting from Virginia and my dad took him for a drive in 30B. I stayed home and watched the Duel in the Desert. Yea DEVILS!!! Anyway they get home that evening and my dad tells me he saw the biggest Coues buck ever while they were out driving. Here I thought there wasn't any deer left in 30B. CB

I heard of a 115" buck a guy from NV harvested in 32. He had some guys from Benson helping him. CB

JLH, that is a great buck. Could you imagine being a junior hunter and getting that buck? Might as well pack it in after that because the chances of topping it are pretty slim. As for 120", I personally do not think that buck is 120". I would say probably 115" Lets break down what that buck would need to get to 120". Lets say a 14" inside spread, thats 106". Divided by 2 is 53". 18" main beams brings us down to 35". 14" of total mass is a good number for a good, mature, heavy buck which puts us down to 21". I do not see 21" of eye guard, G2 and G3. 5"/5"/6" is 16" which is 110" total. 6"/6"/7" is 19" which would be 116". Please do not get me wrong, that is an awesome buck. In general, I would say we overestimate the live deer we see. Lets face it, 18" of main beam is a tough number to hit. 8" G2s and G3s are hard numbers to hit. 14" of total mass is a hard number to hit. The day before my hunt in NM a couple of weeks ago, my buddy and I watched the buck I took the following day for over 2 hours. We swore he was 120". I even got him on video and we watched the footage that night. I was very fortunate in being able to harvest that deer and his gross score is probably right at 113". We had made the mistake of estimating his G2s at 8". They were only 5". There was the 6" we were off. If someone had told me he was 113" I probably would have told them they were wrong. If I had known he was 113" instead of 120" I still would have gone after him and taken him if given the chance. Do I feel any different about my buck because he is 113" instead of 120" - NO. That is a great, great buck you have there. It is kind of sad we get hung up on the numbers. I know I am just as guilty as most people. The fact is the minimums in B&C are tough numbers to crack. I also have an 80" anteleope. He is a great buck but 2" shy of the magical number of 82" - oh well - it doesn't make him less of a trophy to me. I hope you are successful in finding that buck and your junior hunter is successful in harvesting him. To find such a great buck before the season, find him again during the season and then harvest him would truly be an incredible accomplishment. GOOD LUCK - GO GET EM TIGER!!! Make sure you let us know how it turns out. CB

Those are some nice pics Doug. Hope you are going back for some more of it this weekend. Good luck and shoot straight. CB

Alright, I think we need to get some definitions out here for terms used to describe bucks based on their size. I think 6 sizes would be good. Lets use: 1) < 80" 2) 80" - 89" 3) 90" - 99" 4) 100" - 109" 5) 110" - 119" 6) 120" + My definitions would be as follows: 1) Little 2) Nice 3) Good 4) Whopper 5) Toad 6) Monster What does everyone else think? CB

That is a good one Redbeard. Made me laugh out loud. I would totally agree that it is based on experience. 5 years ago, any 3 point would have gone down. Then I had a Dec tag and passed on so many 90"+ bucks before taking a 93" buck on the 10th day. Now I pretty much hold out for what I estimate to be 100 inches until the very end. That Dec tag totally changed my mind set. I am a strong believer that you can't shoot big bucks if you keep shooting little ones. I just talked to a friend of mine who passed on a buck he estimated to be right at 100" Friday morning because he was holding out for something bigger. Of course he has taken 5 bucks over 100" so little ones don't mean much to him. Most of the guys I scout, hunt and talk to about Coues deer would call any buck under 90" a little buck. Personally, on an Oct or Nov hunt, any 3X3 over 80" is a pretty darn good deer. Now I probably wouldn't shoot an 80" deer opening morning but if I took him on the last day in Oct or Nov I would still say he is a pretty darn good deer. I did that 3 years ago, passed on an 80" deer opening day and ended up shooting that same deer 5 days later. He doesn't have much mass and only 13" main beams but he is still a pretty darn good looking buck. I still would have to say anything less than 80" is a little buck. Lets get some more opinions. Maybe we can get Amanda to put some official nickname definitions on the web site. CB

That looks like one of those native French coues deer. Crazy things can't keep their tongues in their mouths. CB

My buddy and I will be up there late tonight. We are planning on scouting up the Harden Cienega road on Friday and will probably be camped just north of the highway tonight and Friday night if we find promising bucks tomorrow. We will be in a white extended cab F150 with a cabover camper and a white extended cab Dodge Ram with a white camper shell. We will keep our eyes peeled for you guys. CB

That is a tough one Timber. This will be the first 23 hunt for me. I am from Tucson and have spent a lot of time in the truck the past month driving back and forth to NM (not to mention gas money). My buddy and I have scouted a lot of places and sometimes we see deer and sometimes we don't. We are crossing our fingers that there won't be other hunters in the spots we have seen deer in but we will not know until 11/5. CB

COWS for me. Thanks Bill and Scott. Here I am a native Arizonan and have been hunting these deer since I was a little kid. I made a personal decision about 10 years ago to pronounce them correctly. CB

I thought it was hopanish (kind of like spanglish) for good bye (aaddiiooss). CB

Here is one more. Previous post would only allow 1 pic. CB

4 of those 5 deer are bucks. 3 of the 4 are 3 pointers. The biggest one (on the left) is around 95. The one on the bottom had really short points, only 1 - 2 inches long (eyeguards, G2s and G3s) but was pretty wide and had a good main beam. We also saw another 3 point one canyon over from these bucks that was in the low 90s. I was in unit 23 and have the 11/5 hunt. CB

Here are a couple pics from my scouting trip last weekend. 4 bucks and a doe. CB

Is the close 3 point in the top right pic the same 3 point as in the bottom right picture on the left side of the pic? It is hard to tell with the angle on the top right pic. CB

There are 4 bucks in this photo. Maybe I should send this pic to Amanda to put in the "find the deer" area. I have the new Canon S2 IS camera. It is 5 megapixels with a 12X optical zoom and an image stabilizer. This pic was taken off hand at 430 yards. CB

I just got back from NM. All of you people that love the outdoors and live in AZ need to move to NM. I went there on a deer scouting trip this last weekend and my buddy and I saw: 1) Bighorn rams 2) Turkeys 3) Coues deer 4) Mule Deer 5) Javelina 6) Mtn lion 7) Scaled quail ALL IN THE SAME AREA. AZ outdoor enthusiasts need to check out what they are missing in NM. The cost of living is less, tags are easier to draw, etc. etc. etc. CB

I was in NM this weekend. We saw two three points that already had their velvet rubbed off. They were sparring with each other while the other bucks just stood around. CB

Went out Friday after work and saw 19 deer (3 bucks). I also ran into this monster walking back to the truck. Also saw 2 rattlers on the highway driving home. Enjoy. CB

The bucks were all 3 points (all together). A little one, a medium one and a big one (90+). CB

I also would be surprised if he was over 100. He just isn't wide enough and I think that will also hold back the length on his main beams. Still a great buck though. Thanks for posting. CB

Scott, I have a real cool picture I printed off the internet a couple years ago. I think it was from a "big bucks" website. Anyway, I haven't been able to find the pic again and it is a really cool picture. I carry it with me in my wallet. It is of a big mature typical 3 point with some ocotillo stalks coming up in front of his neck and face. I will make a photo copy of it and send it to you if you want. At a minimum the outline could be traced and you could decide if you wanted to use it or not. Let me know. CB

That looks like a sheep from that pic. CB