swcouesfanatic

I'm of the opinion that attention to the wind and being patient is far more important than being totally quiet. Keep in mind that the animals we hunt are used to other animals around them knocking rocks, cracking a dead stick on the ground, and even running through the woods. The wind is always your first priority. Whether javelina, deer, or elk, they all smell better than we see and hear combined. Once the wind is right, it's about moving with a purpose. You should always be careful where you step, and avoid rocks, etc. as best you can. I have been on rut elk hunts in the woods where we were either running half the time and still right in the middle of them, or walking very close to them and them even seeing us, but not spooked because they didn't wind us.

To spot and kill a Coues with your bow is the ultimate hunting achievement in my opinion. To have it be such an incredible buck, that's just plain as good as it gets. Congratulations! I well know the commitment, teamwork, and perseverance it takes to harvest one on your feet with a bow. That's just awesome!

Coues N' Sheep, thank you for the kind words. This hunt was by far the most challenging archery rut hunt I have ever experienced. Yes, this bull was killed in Arizona, but that's about all I can say about that. This is by far the largest straight 6x6 bull I have ever seen on the hoof. It was a real pleasure to be included on this hunt, and my congratulations to Mike, the hunter. This bull was actually discovered by my good friend that helping scout for this hunt. We had gone in looking for a different bull we had seen at over a mile away, and that we estimated would go approximately 390". Needless to say, when we found this bull it was everything we had put into him. Mike did an incredible job stalking in alone on this bull. The bull will unofficially score over 420. Definitely a bull of a lifetime.

I recommend the name Tanner. That is the name of our son. We love it.

OK, I have been asked a few times for the name of the Outfitter, and I have struggled with this one. I will tell you that the name of our contact we dealt with is Carlos Robles. He has a contact here in Arizona named Brett(not giving the last name) that books the hunts for Carlos. The general area of their ranches is in Magdalena. I don't want to disclose any other information, as I only posted this to make interested hunters that are considering going to Mexico, to do their homework, get solid references, and be aware of the risks they face. As for hunting quality bucks in Arizona, I agree, and I believe you can harvest as big and quality of Coues right here. But, I have also heard of many wonderful experiences in Mexico as well. There are many quality guides and outfitters to select from that never have any issues.

In my opinion, there are very good bulls in most elk units in Arizona, you just have to get out and find them. I've been in most of the big name units in the state, as well as several others. Even in the "non-big name" units we have been able to find and kill bigger bulls than what I have been told to expect to see. Even like Coues hunting, the more time you can spend in the field looking, the better your odds. 5A & 5B are fine units, but definitely not ones I would recommend to kill solid 350 class bulls.

Irregardless of where you hunt, and where the big bulls are for the summer, the best time to scout is 2 weeks before the archery hunt opens. If you already know where the cows stay year-round, or most of the year then start branching out to find where the big bulls are hanging in the heat. Most likely they are either in the bottoms of canyons that have thick cover(with plenty of shade) or up top the highest surrounding mountains in the pine areas if there are any. My past, and very deep experience has shown me that bull elk will move more than 20 miles to get into their preferred rutting grounds. You can not pinpoint them like Coues bucks. They will not spend their entire life in a 2 square mile area. The rutt has been so erradic at best the last few years, so it makes it tough to pinpoint big bulls before the hunt. I have elk hunted in Units 9, 10, 3A&3C, 22, 23, 7, etc. It is always the same in that you either get lucky before the hunt and can pin a good bull down, or you spend the first part of your hunt truly scouting. The point I am getting at is 2-fold: 1) Where the cows are when the rutt starts is where the bulls will end up, 2) the more time you can take off during the actual hunt is more beneficial during the archery rutt hunt, than spent scouting before hand. Just from my experience.

I am only writing this post, to share the experience I had last January, and to further educate others who are considering going to Mexico to hunt our beloved Coues. I finally broke down and decided to hunt in Mexico in January of 2008. My experience was awful to put it lightly. Now, to my own demise, I did not research the American guide, nor the Mexican outfitter. I did not, because I was going with friends that supposedly knew these people for years, and had hunted with them before. What they did not tell me, is they had been disappointed before by these very people. Everything was fine as far as getting through the border, gun checks, etc. But, after that it was a joke. We were supposedly scheduled to stay in a hotel in Magdalena. Half way to our destination, the outfitter pulls over on the highway and tells us the hotel never reserved our rooms. We ended up staying in a small trucking town, roughly 30 miles of mountainous ascent to get to our hunting area. It was a joke to say the least, but that was only the beginning. We were told that the ranch had not been hunted for 3 years. On the first day when we pulled in on quads, any whitetails within mile were running for the highest point they could find. Hmmmm, I wondered, could this be true? At the end of the first day we realized that the outfitter had never given us our tags. When we finally reached him on satellite phone, we were told he was in Hermosillo, and would be back before we departed; NOT TO WORRY. I had shot a solid 95" buck, as our original 6 hunters had declined to 4 with one guy missing the trip, and the next going home sick the first day. We ended up down to 2 guys by the third morning, as one gentleman's son was in the emergency room, and 1 other guy left to drive him back. This is when the fun really begins. Our 2 buddies had left my truck door open, on the side of a mountain, 30 miles from any real civilization. After several hours the 3rd night, of driving on the craziest highway in the Western world, with 1000' drop-offs off the unguarded edge of the mountain highway, and almost getting run over by insane bus drivers and truckers, we were able to get help from the ranchers to jump-start my truck and get us back to our motel/dump for the night. That's when it got better than I could imagine. When we pulled into the motel parking area, we were assaulted by 15 Mexican Federal Agents. Not only did they physically rip us out of the truck, and rough us up at gun point, they also stole valuable gear. Thank God, we had our paperwork for our weapons and passports; oh yeah, our buddies that left last also took all of the paperwork on the trailer and four 4-wheelers I was pulling. You can imagine the headaches. As if that wasn't bad enough, we had a 2nd buck down the 4th morning, and then found out that Carlos, our outfitter, wasn't going to be able to meet us any time soon. Basically, we packed up, headed for the border, and left both bucks at the ranch. The story goes on, but that's enough. The point I am getting to is, do your homework, do some more homework, and really do your homework. Find trustworthy sources, and depend on sites like this one to do it right. I will definitely go back some day, but for now the sour taste in my mouth still lingers.

This is my first time posting a topic. As I sit here unemployed, I have a lot of free time for once to sit and ponder. I got to thinking. Which is better? Wide bucks, or tall bucks? Which do you all like better? I've attached a photo of the mount of a very wide buck I shot last year. I really gotta say I love wide bucks!

As I am currently unemployed, I have now called over 50 times, and checked the website at least 100 times. At least it keeps my mind busy.

I want to give special thanks to Tim Coonen, Cody Nelson, Erin Bittner, Jay Scott, and Darr Colbrun for the commitment of their time, efforts, blood, sweat, and tears. It has taken me almost 20 years to shoot a good Coues buck like this one. I couldn't have done it without the team effort. Especially the brutal pack job that took us 4 hours to get out of that hole. Thanks you guys! Cody G