Sam

Senior year - 1986. At lunch, I was transferring my shotgun from my Jeep (no top) to my buddies truck to go on an afternoon Quail hunt. The security guard (we called him Sneaky) walked up and asked us what we were doing. We said we were going quail hunting.....he said good luck. The next day we got called into the office and we were given Saturday detention for ditching Physics and 7th hour hour. No mention of the guns.......of course we had a trap and skeet team and were allowed to reload on campus. And yes this was in Phoenix.

Unit 33. He bedded down 20 yards from the hit. I thought he may have slipped away, so I blew on my grunt call and he magically stood up and limped away another 30 yards and bedded down again. I waited two hours and went to check on him, but he had moved again. I tracked him about 200 yards on a ridgetop, where he had bedded down twice more, before he went over the ridge top and down the other side. I stopped where he crested and gave him four more hours before going over the edge and bumped him up 50 yards beneath me. He limped away into the brush before I could get a shot off and I never saw him again. All three of his bedding areas had about half the blood volume on the ground compared to his first bedding spot as shown in the picture. He had a decent blood trail all along the ridgetop as well. I went back today to search for his final bedding spot beneath the ridge to check his blood loss and found maybe a six-inch blood spot on the ground. Not a sign of blood after that final spot. Glassed around and pushed the thickets, but he was gone. I definitely learned how tough it is to arrow a coues and respect anyone who has accomplished that feat spot and stalk. Keith - that's too bad you lost this deer. It sure looks like you had plenty of good blood trails to follow and you gave it plenty of time to die peacefully. This was just bad luck......it is never easy to lose an animal and I am sure you have lost plenty of sleep over this.

My daughter was lucky enough to have a late whitetail tag this year. Final exams kept us home opening weekend. I was excited because I new we had all of Christmas break to hunt. However, like most teenagers, my daughter didn't want to spend the whole break hunting - but she said she would if we had to . Driving in, the weather was coming in and we spent the first day glassing in horrible wind. We saw some does and felt like we would see some bucks. The rain forced us to pack up early and head back to camp. The weather man said the storm would blow over in a day or two, so I figured why have my daughter suffer. My friend John was with us and he thought the same......by time we got back to the truck in was pouring. It rained all afternoon, through the night and through mid day the next day. Glassing mid day on day two we began seeing does. Most of them were bedded and within 300 yards. We spotted a small buck. My daughter started getting excited and started getting pretty good with the glasses. Soon we saw a larger buck move in on one of the does - head down, neck stretched out and had one thing on his mind. The does bedded, trying to dry out and find some sun. They looked wet and cold. The wind was still blowing, but the rain stopped. The deer seemed pretty sheltered and weren't going anywhere. We watched the buck for about hour and a half. It was just over 300 yards. We had our 15s on it and then got the spotting scope on it. He was a decent 4x3. We went back and forth about whether she should shoot. John and I felt like she should hold out for a bigger one. We had many days left to hunt. For practice, I set up my daughter on her tripod and stool. She found him in the scope. We watched him some more. The wind got worse, the sun went in and it got colder. The buck bedded. At this point my daughter was too cold to shoot. We hiked back to the truck, she warmed up. At this point it is about 3:00. We talked more about the deer. She said she would be happy with this deer. We said ok, let's go find him. We hiked up to the ridge and found him bedded at 150 yards. As we were setting up, he got up and made a beeline for the bottom of the canyon after the does. Off course the wind picked up and it started to hail. It took my daughter a while to find him in the scope. She finally got him at 300 yards. He was walking straight away. He finally turned and gave her a broadside shot - she missed. He stood there, she took another shot. A little high. He started walking slowly away. He stopped again broadside - 350 yards - she pulled the trigger, he went down. Perfect shot, that was it. She was so excited! I learned alot on this hunt. A trophy is in the eye of the beholder. We almost had her pass up this deer. Her and I looked at alot of big deer before the hunt. The rut was on and there was alot of promise for a big deer. But, there are no guarantees. The conditions were good and she shot her first Coues. And I think it is a pretty good deer. Plus, now she gets to spend some time over break with her friends instead of being stuck in the woods with dad and his friends.......

Great deer and pictures. I too am surprised how animals adapt after a serious injury.

Thinking back, I always thought I have done pretty well, but not compared to most others on this thread. Started hunting 30 years ago......... Mule deer - 5 Coues - 3 Elk - 5 Javelina - 1 - only have had a few tags, don't hunt them often Turkey - 0 - left a few running away from some pellets Antelope - 20 points

Thanks alot - I may think about the other units. I have been putting my daughter in for 19A. Maybe we will both give it a try this year.

Antelope - 20 points - looking at unit 9 or 10. Thanks alot! For either draw, I do not think it matters much, as I don't have the max.

Thanks for the info.

Dang, that's a great buck. I can't believe you passed on a few of those other deer, but Unit 27 has some monsters in there. Great write up and you have better patience than me. And that is about as last minute as you can get - Congratulations.

Wow! What a great deer. Congrats to your daughter. I'm sure you both were very excited. And yes, the girls are getting it done!! That was special for you to sign over your December tag to her - I would have done the same thing. On a side note ( I don't want to distract from the great picture) about signing over tags. One year I wanted to sign over my elk tag to my daughter after she was unsuccessful on her youth elk hunt. I was told on the phone by a Game and Fish rep, that I could not sign my tag over to her because she was drawn for elk during the draw and she could not have two tags from the same draw. Did your daughter draw her first tag or was it a leftover?

Nice job!

Has anyone recently bought Levi's that were made in the USA? I have been trying to find some new 501s and they all seem to be made in Mexico or some other country. The label is different and it no longer says "made in the USA". Maybe I am shopping at the wrong stores........

Nice deer - Congrats.

Yea - you guys are right, they are still out there, but I am not paying over $100 for jeans.

You're right Keith. But, now I get to write those last minute letters of rec for kids who all of a sudden decided to apply to college by the Jan. 1 deadline. Maybe I shouldn't have checked my school email......

Great looking deer. It is hard to pass up other good deer. But, I guess that is what you have to in order to get one like this - congrats.

This is beautiful country and was hoping for one of these tags. I agree on the use of a sled. A few years back, I used a tobaggan to take a whole cow elk. One trip over at least a foot of snow. I have also used a plactic sled to take out quarters.....always worth bringing on a an elk hunt.

My daughter has a late whitetail tag. As you guys know, the hunt goes from 12/13 to 12/31. She has final exams the week of the 16th, so missing school that week is out. Too much review for exams - 4 honors classes. We will have from the 20th to the end of the month to hunt. It is a 3 hour drive to our hunting area. Would you - a. Hunt the 14th and 15th and come home with plans to return. Quick trip, kind of early for the rut and she will not get any studying done. b. Skip opening weekend and leave on the 20th and hunt until the 24th. And then go back after Christmas if need be. c. Wait until the 26th and hunt through the end of the hunt. Hopeing that the rut has kicked in and she doesn't kill a smaller buck if we choose b. She has a good tag and is excited at a chance to get a nice whitetail. My wife and other daughter are not excited about us being gone so much around Christmas, but hey, at least we will be home for Christmas .

Great deer.

Very cool deer. Last day or first day, I don't think I would have passed him up. Congrats.

I agree with all of you guys.....but, I haven't really asked her what she wants to do. I think we sometimes forget that we should give our kids a bit more credit, especially when they are 15. She should have say. I just hope she wants to hunt as long as I do. And the lion tag is a must, but she already shot an elk this year, so I may have to shoot the lion.

Great hunt for the family. Very nice.

Great looking dog. I had one growing up. Ours was very friendly, not aggressive at all. Lots of energy, but very good dogs. I hope someone takes her.....wish I could.

Great job and it is nice when hunters lend a helping hand....

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