Manamal

Wow what terrible news. All we can do is pray for the family, and hope they get the bastards that did this. Last year my Dad and Cousin were drawn for the Oct hunt in 34A. I had the Nov. tag. For their hunt I went down alone to get a camping spot on Fri. Finally found one at the end of Gardiner Canyon road. I set up my tent, had a couple beers, and went to bed. About ten minutes after getting in the tent, a ford bronco and a monte carlo full of people proceeded to park not 75 yards away from my tent. Some of them were speaking english but most were not. Loud mexican music insued for the duration, they chopped down a tree and were peeling out in the dirt. Just acting like a bunch of a**holes. I have a large dullel bag that I keep my stuff in. I filled it up walked over to my truck and put it in the back. I then asked these guys if they knew what kind of f-ing idiots they were being, or if they were just that stupid. I was wearing a 357 and apparently one of the guys noticed it on my side. He then pulled a semi-auto from his pocket or wherever and said something like" Oh you gonna get all hard redneck, you and your pistol" he started walking towards me with a couple of his buddies in tow. I got the heck out of there fast, left my tent, and told my dad the story and that I was going to ride down with he and my cousin the next day. After a morning hunt, we went to try and get my tent. The mexicans were gone but had destroyed my tent.

Well I've been in unit 22 since Fri. glassing my butt off. So far it's been a great season. I found some of the bucks I had scouted out and put on the best stalk of my life!! I watched a buck bed down around 8:30 fri. morning. To his left there was another, bigger buck with his shiny velvet covered horns sticking above the grass and a small mesquite tree. Theese bucks were in the 60-70" range, and I had made the decision that when I got close I would take either of them. They were bedded on a small north facing bench below a ridge near the bottom of a large canyon. This stalk took a long time, and at one point while traversing the canyon I took a hard crash on an oak bush that made all kinds of noise. Thinking the bucks may have taken off, I still proceeded as if nothing had happened. At 150 yards I took off my boots and sliped on an extra pair of thick wool socks, stowed my gear under a juniper, and continued at a snails pace. I was about 45 or 50 yards from where I thought the bucks were and I noticed an ear in a juniper at only 30 yards. I nocked an arrow and waited. After only 30 seconds which seemed like forever a DOE jumped out of that juniper like she was on fire, which in turn spooked the bucks. I had never seen a doe with these bucks before, she may have saved one of their lives. I didn't see another buck worth going through the effort of a stalk untill Sun. evening. A very nice 3x3 w/ eyegaurds feeding enthusiasticly I estimated at 90 inches or bigger. Too late to make a stalk so I was back early Mon. morning. Never saw him again.Spotted a spike and a 1x2 hanging together this morning, decided to watch them for a while and just enjoy the beginning of a new day. I'll be back at it Fri thru Mon. Great job TREESTANDMAN on your bear sounds like you put in the necessary time scouting and were rewarded with a great trophy!!!

Couesnut, Congratulations on drawing an awesome Tag!!! I've been putting in for unit 22 for four years and have yet to draw. The fire did take out a ton of great country, but there are huntable populations of deer to be found. The area I hunt has always had more coues than mulies, however after the fire I have noticed an influx in the number mulies in the area. I n fact a couple of them are pretty nice! I'll let you know how it goes.

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Well I didn't draw any tags this year, so I will be hunting hard with my bow for coues in whats left of 22. I've been seeing quite a few average coues, and a couple carp that would look nice with my tag on their antler. I'll be up there for nine days. If unsucessful I will be hunting for gigantic mulies on the plateau during the second week of the hunt. I hope everyone has a great hunt!! Be safe and good luck.

teenhunter, Check out the Arizona Game and Fish website and click on the unit hunting reports icon. After finding out what they have to say about theese units, get up high, get comfortable and glass, glass, glass. You should also consider hunting the coues that live in theese units.

Wow! Well I'll tell you what, I havent found any 110" monster coues, or carp with a 35" spread. Those sound like great bucks I hope you guys get a crack at em!!! I have seen the same three coues bucks hanging together on three different days. Not record book animals, just good mature bucks that had better watch thier backs.

The geographic fringe thoery makes total sense. Also there is no doubt that lions can really desimate a population of deer. Personally I don't spend alot of time in the Bradshaws, however a reliable source told me about a buck he saw there with a doe in Jan. He described this buck as " A big a** 3x3 with eyegaurds". I read somewhere that on years of above average precipitation the coues will expand out of their "core" areas into new ones. Maybe after this drought cycle some deer from 21 will make the journey.

workhorse, don't work too hard you gotta get out there and scout. As with most of the AZ. coues units there are some dandy bucks in 32. I dont know how many days you are planning to hunt but for the first few days you might want to hold out fot a whopper. If you dont find him, then i'm sure with dilligent glassing you should be able to find just a decent buck of 3 years or so.

Wow, what a cool story TREESTANDMAN. You are really lucky to see a lion that close or at all for that matter. Well I guess you're also lucky he didn't pounce too!!! Sounds like you've found yourself a good spot. Good enough to keep a lion around unless he looked like he was starving.

Knowing the sneaky nature of the coues, I was just curious how close you guys have stalked them on a regular basis.

I was just wondering what types of trail cameras you all were using and the pros and cons of each model. I am thinking of buying a couple of them and would like to get some imput on witch ones perform well in the field. I have also heard of a homemade model: Anyone care to elaborate?

Im from Arizona and this will be my third year hunting unit 23. Originally I was looking for pockets of coues, that is untill I saw how big unit 23 grew the carps. We usually find at least one decent buck/ day of hard glassing. Last year I took a good 4x3 w/ eyegaurds lots of mass and a 22" spread. The biggest buck we have seen there was while scouting was a 4x4 with probably 24-26". Hunt the canyons others dont Shiras to get your trophy.

Hilarious story Redman, but for you I'm sure all of the humor was seen in retrospect. But you know what, exciting moments in the field like that keeps the fire burning and gives you a memory you will never forget. Galiuro Mountain Man I also wear mesh gloves and facemask while stalking. And after reading your post I realize stalking the coues, like anything else in life just takes a little time to get it right. As of now I have stalked 4 coues bucks w/ bow and 2 while practicing. With a rifle It doesnt much seem like a stalk, as it does just getting in position for a shot. I have killed three coues bucks with my rifle in as many years. 80, 250, 265 yards. Closest stalk with a bow was 61 yards. Watched two bucks bed down at 500 or 600 yards and made a huge circle to get above them so I had the wind in my favor. Maybe they heard or saw me, it was pretty steep and the footing wasnt the greatest. Anyways I had been keeping a juniper between the bucks and I, when I got to it ,I looked around the side and the smaller of the two bucks only gave me enough time to get a rangefinder reading. The other was just gone.

I agree, once within 100 yards or so it seems they can almost sence your presence. I would like very much to get a good whitetail with my bow and sometimes think of other options like, sitting in a treestand or calling or both. Have any of you tried calling coues during the rut? Or maybe sitting in a treestand over a trail, salt, or water? If so how have theese tactics worked for you?