crazyaboutcoues

I got to the scrape about the same time as yesterday. The woods were so quiet I could hear myself breathing. I was optimistic that something would come thru. Every picture I have is either late evening , night, or early morning, 75 percent were early morning. I sat there for three hours and nothing came thru. I decided to still hunt because it was freaking cold..... I text J- (Jamaro) to see if he was on anything. I could practically hear his frustration thru the text message. Muledeer had infested his area and he hadn't seen a Coues in two days. I did have a chance to let the air out of a small forked horn. I was walking across a saddle and I spotted two deer thru the trees about 75 yards away. They busted me and calmly walked away, I circled them over a ridge and as I stalked around a Juniper he was standing broadside at 15 yards. I drew back and he just stood there looking at me. I couldn't bring myself to shoot the little buck at least not this early in the season. I found this cool lion kill Thanks for all the encouragement guy/gals I really appreciate it. Good to see your still around Scott

Day one was a very interesting morning, I was in the ground blind by 6:30am. Unfortunately the wind was wrong for my set up. I sat there for a while trying to figure out what to do. I decided to move to the other side of the draw to try to have my scent blow away from the scrape, it didn't work. Come to find out the wind was just swirling in all directions. I decided to go back to my ground blind and see what happens. At 8:30 am I did a rattle and grunt sequence, about 1 minute later I heard foot steps and sure enough i had a 90" class buck headed to the scrape, moment of truth . The buck was coming in very cautious as if he knew there was something wrong, but he kept coming in. At 25 yards I started to draw as he went behind a Ponderosa, as luck would have it he heard or saw me. He just stood there like a statue and I'm at full draw with no shot at the vitals. I held as long as I could but he never moved, I let the bow down and he took off like a bat out of heck. At 12:30 the wind picked up I decided to "still" hunt to see if I could sneak up on one. About a 1/2 mile later I spotted a decent buck making a scrape about 100 yards away. I slowly stalked to within 50 yards but I wanted to get a little closer because he was quartering away and at 50 yards it's to risky. Sure enough he heard me or winded me and took off. Oh well that's hunting. Look at the buck that is using the scrape I think it's the same buck as the first picture on this thread just a different angle. I hope he shows up in the next few days. I also found some preety big sheds To be continued

Well tomorrows opening day, Jamaro and I have done all the home work. Wish us luck...I try to give the play by play like I have the last coouple of years. Happy New Year To Be Continued

There is exactly 6016 beans in that jar.

Thanks for sharing your hunt with us Josh Take Care

The news forcasted 50 mile an hour winds for the next two days. This was the sixth day of a seven day hunt. We were holding out for a mature buck but our plans changed after the front hit. As the sun peaked we found ourselves on top of a high peak glassing some rolling hills with no luck. We figured the deer were going to be in the bottom of the canyons to get out of the wind, so we decided to see if we could push something out and get a cross canyon shot. After about 2 miles of walking up and down ridges we still hadn't seen a single deer, but we started seeing fresh sign in the creek bottoms and I knew it was just a matter of time. Finally we scared out a fawn from the bottom of a creek, Gabe got set up on the shooting sticks just in case more deer decided to bolt out, and they did. A doe came out and just behind her was a buck. I ranged him at 234 yards and told Gabe to set the scope. I whispered to him aim small miss small,then squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, he softly replied K. About five seconds later he touched it off. The sound of the gun made me finch so I didn't see the hit. But the tell tale sound was a solid "thud". The buck was hurt and trying to make it over the ridge when Gabe touched off the second round which dropped him for good. This buck is only two and a half years old and his neck was swollen like he was in full rut. He wieght about 180 pounds on the hoof. Here's a picture of Gabe skinning his first deer all by himself. Good job Gabe you make a father proud.

That first buck has a weird looking rack. I hope that's the one that taps out. Last Friday I was blessed with the flu so I couldn't set the camera back up until Christmas Eve. I was tired of being at home and against my wifes advise I went to set up a ground blind near the scrape. I'm still not feeling up to par so I'm going to give it a couple more days before I scout again to recover fully for the hunt. I got a couple of PM's and e-mails asking me what a "community" scrape is. Here's a couple pictures of what I call a community scrape. It's a scrape that is two to three times larger that a normal scrape and for some reason it attracts just about every buck in the area. Right now there are 7 different bucks that hit this scrape in one week. I'm going to try something different this year and hunt from the ground. to be continued

Great story Kevin...Sometimes it's hard to take the whole family but it's well worth it in the end. Congratulations to your wife...time for some great tasting meat. Merry Christmas

Well I just joined the " I got my trail camera stolen" club Didn't think it would ever happen to me because of the country I hunt is really not that easy to get too. It looked like the camera was just ripped from the tree, the strings that held it on were still there but the camera was gone. I thought maybe a bear might have taken it but I couldn't find any bear sign. On a good note I found several scrapes on a small ridge leading to the water source. and very large scrape that has been hit by several bucks. I put a trail cam on it yesterday, I hope this one doesn't get poached.

Tim You're like the little spoiled kid with the ice cream that doesn't want to share . Hey Josh...wake your assets up and give us a report.

Oh well, those are the chances we take when we set them up. good thing about it is it was a cheaper moultree cam Jeff My camera was set up by the "dam" you guys built last year. Have you had a chance to look at the "dam" lately ?It silted up from the monsoon rains.

Gabriel read all of the replies and wanted to say Thank You to everyone who responded.

Thanks for the tip Amanda...i'll look into the scoutguard/covert I cams

Congratulations on a great buck!!!!

dang, I'm Jealous..... Good luck man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I couldn’t wait anymore, I put my cross hairs where I thought the buck was and took a shot .

Whoa ...I talked with Tom on Saturday and he told me you scored a monster. That is a great great buck. I kinda know where he came from, Tom told me to hunt in that area last year. Congratulations on a great buck

Tim You are very much welcome, You guys had a couple of bad days where the wind was blowing, just like today, I glassed up two does in eight hours. But you made the most of it. Take care and good luck in Mexico. PS. I agree my girlfriend Stella is a great cook. OOHHH

This buck is a freak of nature for sure ... he was not killed in the Grey Ranch but in a ranch close to it. Awesome buck!!!!!!!!!

Great story MIke...Glad to hear you guys had a great hunt. Take Care T

Happy Birthday Brian...I hope you give me a present for your birthday. One more week.

I already called the publisher and they said they did not have anymore. Scottyboy-I have a November issue you can have, just send me your address. Chris - is bookmans in the internet or a place in AZ?

I'm looking for a two issues. Does anyone have one they want to sell? Thanks Tommy

Great job Donnie there's been quite a few big one killed this year.!

When you hunt with Jamaro you're better off hunting alone OOOHHHHHH!!!! Seriously...I sometimes get the same feeling (funk) when hunting alone...I get burned out from guiding, scouting for clients ECT... i think it's good to hunt with different people and different states to keep your motivation up. I'll be hunting with AZpack in a couple of weeks in AZ and i'm really looking foward to that hunt. Plus he promised me a 110" two point ha ha