crazyaboutcoues

Dat two- I left 30 minutes earlier today so I could get to the stand in the dark. I felt really good today, it just seemed like the opportunity was going to present itself. This is the sixth year hunting coues deer with a bow and in those six years i've only shot one time and luckly the shot was true. I was thinking about this during the wheeler ride to the top of the ridge. I told myself this is my year. When I arrived to the stand you could barly see the sun trying to peak over the eastern ridge. The morning was crisp but I knew it wasn't going to be as cold as yesterday. The first two hours were pretty quiet. A tassel eared squirrel jumping from tree to tree kept my mind off of the morning cold. At 10:00am I heard the sound of footsteps in the snow. Before I could reach for my bow, a doe walked out in front of me and right behind her was the buck I was looking for. He was a solid three point, dark horned with long tines. In that split second I felt my heart race knowing that it's about to happen. The buck stopped at 45 yards. I had a quartering too shot but he was standing just behind a small ponderosa pine. My mind raced, can I sneak the shot thru? No the angles not right. So I waited what felt like an hour which was more like two minutes. Finally he stepped out, I started to draw and the doe looked up at me. I came to full draw and the buck (of course ) stopped behind a tree, leaving me no shot. I held the draw as long as I could but unfortunately I had to let off. The doe saw the movement and bolted. The buck followed here into the trees. It was a pretty exciting day, I almost had the shot. After it was all said and done it was disappointing knowing that I was so close to taking a good buck. I was playing the scenerio over and over in my mind, of things that I could have done different. It's not over till it's over. I'm staying home with the family tomorrow, i'll head back up on Friday.

Day ones over, I got to my stand at exactly 7:00am and the morning was very very cold . At about 8:00am I started rattleing and grunting to see if I could get something to respond, nothing. At around 9:00am things got better, I could hear deer moving around in front of me about 75 yards away. I stood up and got ready, it sounded like the deer were running from something. Sure enough it was a hot doe being chased by a buck. I couldn't get a good look at the buck as he was chasing that doe in and out of the trees. It was good to see the rut was in full swing. After a while things just got quiet again, no movement, no nothing. I figured the buck chased the doe down the ridge away from my stand. Oh well at least the adrenaline got me a little warmer . At 12:00pm I decided to head back to the wheeler, I couldn't stand the cold anymore . Hopefully day two will be a little better. to be continued J- ...what do you mean 30 feet high. My stand is not one inch more than 27'

December 30th - Just got back from my last scouting trip before the hunt. The snow was alot thicker from last week. It was actually still snowing off and on. There's about 10" of snow on the ground from the last two storms. I checked around the stand for scrapes but I didn't find any. I picked up my trail cam and headed back hoping the big buck made another showing. Unfortunately I didn't get another picture of him but that doesn't mean he wasn't in the area. It just means he didn't step in front of the camera. I did get pix of what I think are the same does coming thru just about every day. I'll be hunting December 2nd thru December 7th I know he has to show up at least once. To be continued

No wonder you didn't see any bucks on your hunt, you we on the wrong tree. hehe I hope we get another storm before the hunt.

Way to go Jeff..I know you're going to score it's just a matter of how big.

Mike...yep that's the spot. I told you there were Coues deer there. If you look closley at Mikes pic the second Ponderosa left of the Oak is where my treestand is. I'll head back up there December 30th to pic up the trail cam and look for scrapes. I'll miss opening day though because mama is tired of spending New Years eve without me . And Jamaro is just waiting for me to leave "dang Sancho".

Finally we have a year where there will be snow on the ground for the Coues archery hunt. Seems like I have better luck when we have snow. Now I'm getting excited.

Here's something interesting. If you look at the first pic it looks like a doe running from something. The second pic shows her running staight away. The third pic looks like a buck that got there six minutes later. I might be a sign of the rut. Oh yeah I almost forgot this is the one I hope gets within range. To be continued!!!

After seeing the pix in the Trail Cam, I can safely say that i'm pleased with the outcome hehe There were does that came thru just about every day and I got a pic of a very nice muley too. Here's the muley that came thru early Wednesday morning There was all kinds of activity on Thursday to many pix to down load. Little button buck that was there just before I got to the cam

When I got to my trail cam I was pretty happy with what I saw the camera took 26 pix and that place was just destroyed with track. . I climbed up the treestand and took a few pix of the trails. Here's a closeup from the treestand. I replaced the trail cam with another cam and went off to find the water holes. First water hole was about half a mile from the stand. It wasn't to promising the water was froze solid and only one set of mule deer track had gone by since the snow. So I set off to find the other tank. This tank was more promising it was positioned in th sun enough to thaw one side out by midday. Saddly I didn't see any fresh track at the tank, but there were plenty of track in the area. I had seen enough so I headed back to the wheeler. I was anxtious to see what was in the trail cam.

Kevin, I use a rattle bag for Coues, it's worked pretty good when they want to respond. I've tried using Coues sheds and small muley sheds, they both worked the same as the rattle bag. So for me it's easier to carry a rattle bag than lugging sheds around. .02 The can works real well too. But for me the best call has been the grunt call, especially when they are within sight of your stand. I try not to make to much noise with calling. They are always in alert mode as it is.

Whoa!! That's the exact same stand that I use, except I don't use the arm rests. Hang in there Mike (no pun intended) God Bless!!!

Jeff didn't you draw a Burro Mountain tag? You should give us the play by play too.

Test HMMM This might be dangerous!! hehe Thanks Amanda!!!

We're supposed to get hit again with snow this weekend. Man I hope my trail cam has something decent, time will tell. Amanda can I post a pic directly from my C drive or do i have to have it saved in Photobucket first?

I guarentee there will still be snow around my tree stand!!! I set up a Trail cam last Saturday, I was planning on leaving it there for two week, i'm thinking since it snowed i'll go pick it up and set another cam in the same tree. Providing there are pix in the original cam. I'm going to start another thread giving the play by play of my hunt. Hopefully I can post something exciting.

Kevin, I hunt pretty high so i'm sure the snow will still be around. There was still snow up in my area in Unit 24 that had snow from the last front that came thru. I wish I had a BM tag, but I guess I can't draw it every year hehe

Here are a couple pix from our KS hunt. The Pheasent hunting was unbelieveable and I did manage to take a small eastern whitey on our last day of the hunt. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/cra...pg?t=1165630409 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/cra...pg?t=1165630767

Thanks for the kind words... Here are some more pix of the pheasent country: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/cra...pg?t=1165707587 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/cra...pg?t=1165707650 Just after a double: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/cra...pg?t=1165707905 This is the farm where Dennis Plecher lives (the guy that owns the ground) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/cra...pg?t=1165707748 The weather was great for the Pheasent hunting, overcast with little wind. But the Deer hunt was freezing (2degrees with 20mph winds) until the last day when I got my buck. We hunted with www.highplainshunting.com thier website has more pix and info if anyones interested.

Morning all, In just 15 hours on the road from now. I'll be knee deep in Pheasent /Whitetail country. Doing our yearly Kansas thing. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Be back in a week. T

What else is there to say Scotty? You da man!! Tell Rhonda congrats for me?

Why is there a link to Coueswhitetail.com on there website? Amanda tell me your not a sponsor.

Way to go AG Rock The House We did not fare as well in 22. Lots of Does and one very good Coues buck that only gave my boy a running shot.

Travis, Gabe my youngest is taking anything legal Coues or Mule. Tito on the other hand is going to shoot for a Coues on the second hunt. I've hunted 22 about 10 total years. I think we have a good game plan hopefully it will pan out. It depends on how bad the Muzz hunters moved them last weekend. Take Care

Good luck Bill we'll be on the other side...Unit 22 with my boys.