Pine Donkey

I was pushing the shoulder back too far when reloading. Many people we very helpful and taught me how to adjust the dies to just "bump" the shoulders. I also checked the chamber with a go-no go gauge. They gun is fine, it was just my adjustments to the dies that was off. This gun is a very good shooting gun out to 600 yards. It also performed well on my buck last week. Thanks to all who gave advice.

If he is only 95 then you are a master at posing him for a picture. Congratulations, great buck.

Thats a great buck.

That is a great buck. Congratulations

I have been on several coues hunts this year with friends and we have see multiple bucks just about everyday. This includes a hunt in a different unit where we saw the biggest buck I have ever seen; we spotted it several times over a two week period. With all this, I was pumped for my December hunt. I had put in a lot of time hiking, glassing, hanging and checking cameras. I was confident and ready to hunt hard in a few different areas and get a good buck. Opening weekend arrived and we struggled to find deer. In three days of hard hunting we were only able to find two small bucks. A friend was looking to fill his tag on the first weekend so on Sunday we took him into our backup buck, a 90ish buck we always find in the same spot begging to be shot. We could not even find this buck. Some friends scouted throughout the week with the same pathetic results. Thursday was rainy and cold so we hoped it would get the animals moving. Saturday morning Mark (MJE1), Garrett and I started out before first light. We rode mountain bikes for 1.8 miles, then hiked almost another mile. As we approached the area we wanted to hunt, Garrett glassed up a buck. Mark set up his swarovskis and said, "Thats a good buck, you need to take a look at him". One quick look and we decided to get closer. Mark stayed back to spot as Garrett and I closed about 500 yards to get on the next ridge. We set up on the buck and began to debate his size. "he is not very wide, inside his ears" I said, "look at his g3's" Garrett said, "yeah, but weak G2's" I replied. It went like this for a couple minutes when Garrett finally said "dad, if you pass this deer, you're a fool". Not wanting to look like a fool to my 16 year old son, and really liking the symetry of this buck, I decided to take the shot. I guess he help up his part of the bargain by carrying the buck all the way to the bikes, then riding the bike pulling the equipment trailer, with buck in it, most the way. Mark also worked pretty hard once this deer was down. He rode back to the trucks, hooked up the trailer, brought it in, and pulled it out for the part of the trail that Garrett did not. Thanks to both of them for making it a great day.

The buck has not been officially scored, but we came up with 104.

Matt, That is a great buck. I know how hard you work to prepare for a hunt, and you deserve that trophy. Congratulations

Doug, Thanks for all the wonderful pictures you have shared during the year. Hopefully you will keep them coming.

Those are some great trophies, congrats. I would love to be able to "settle" for a carp like that one.

Looks like we were not the first ones to climb this hill looking for game.

I could not find that pinned thread, but now I see it is in the campfire. My bad

Firstcoues, The shot was 304 yards. I used a gun holder that Garrett and some friends have been developing for a while, we call it "the hoof 3.0". I hit him solid on the first shot, but he did not go down so I put some more in him. I was using Garrett's newly made .270 which he had built on a mauser action. This gun is now 4 for 4 on big game. This year it has taken an antelope, elk, mule deer and now a coues. We have worked out the problem we were having with cracked bases on our reloads, (see post in reloading about 2 weeks ago). We are using 130 grain Speer soft point boat tail bullets in front of 53.5 grains of IMR 4350.

Science fair judges like visuals. I would suggest a chart that shows the each bullet's trajectory vs line of site. Choose a "basic" laod for each and graph it with some color. Good luck.

You may want to let the Boarder Patrol office know how to contact you. Once he gets hungry, the dog may make friends with one of the agents. Could be a long shot, but...

Not too sure about the background of this story. I received the pictures in my e-mail.

Great story! Congratulations to DeeDee.

This is such a tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Webb family.

Thanks for all the pointers. I will be looking at all these things.

Great news, it will be a good Christmas for your family.

Great bulls, can't wait for the story.

I agree that a night cap helps...I prefer bourbon, but tequilla works well also.

Wow, those are some great bucks. I would hate to have your archery bill. How about some pictures of you brother's elk.

Bill Quimby has a very good point about monster bucks hanging in a carport. I grew up with Ed stockwells son. He told me that for several years after the world record was harvested, the horns hung on the side of the shed under a little poarch at his home in Arivaca. It wasn't measured until about 10 years later when Mr. Jensen saw it and convinced Ed to let him take it to his store in Tucson. Ed stockwell was a hard working family man who scratched out a living raising bees, guiding some hunts, and doing whatever work was available. I bet there were many just like him.

That's great. He'll be ringing arrows at rabbits in no time.

This is a discussion I have had several times with my hunting buddies. 25 years ago, we would talk all year about 90 inch bucks, and dream of someday getting a 100 incher. Now, 100 inch is not some mystical animal we are sure we will someday find. I remember when a guy from town shot one about 105 inches, everybody "knew" it was a cross bred muley because coues just don't get that big. I think there are many factors which have already been mentioned, but to me the most significant are trail cams and the culture of hunting which is driven largely by the internet and sites like this. If you have a couple large bucks, say 110ish, that keep posing for your game camera, it makes it much easier to pass up that 90 inch buck and you are motivated to work harded for what you know is around somewhere. Also, when a big buck was taken years ago, the stories spread, usually in the local area, but so did the skepticizm. Now, that big buck is on everybody's cell phone in a matter of a few hours. A picture is truely worth a thousand words. Additionally, through sites like this one, many hunters are better educated on the animals, techniques, and equipment. I look at my son who is 16 years old. His knowledge and skill are higher than mine was at twice that age. I had the desire, but did not have the resourses to learn how to hunt coues. I was pretty much limited to reading about Eastern whitetails in magazines like Outdoor Life, and trying to apply that in the desert. Everybody has their theory, but are there any facts to back it up? Has there been an increase in the entries into Boone and Crocket? How about the field checks done by wildlife managers, are they showing an increased average? Great topic Coach, should make for interesting reading for a while.