Not bad for the early hunt. Hunting a unit that I haven't been in for a couple of years, but things worked out. The first 3 days I saw at least one buck a day just nothing that I wanted to shoot, or could get close enough. so Monday morning roles around and I go to pick up my cousin, an extra set of eyes is always good. On the way down half way there I decided to call my buddy AZPACKHORSE for some guidance. He gave me some directions and we headed that way. Driving through some of the dirt roads my cousin asked, "Do you know where we're going?" I replied, " Nope, just guessing." I don't think I ended up where AZPACKHORSE wanted us to go but things worked out. My cousin and I found a spot to park and started our climb up a hill what seemed to be a never ending hill, in the dark, but it looked like a good vantage point from where we were. Waiting for the sun to come up we start glassing, just looking for movement. As it is just coming light enough to see, my cousin whispers, " I think the hill side behind us is better". I agreed so we went over our ridge to the other side. After sitting there for about ten minutes we started seeing deer of in the distance. Just doe but at least seeing deer. As I work my binocs closer to us I see a head pop up out of some octatillo, it was a buck, a good buck. He was still a little far off for a shoot so my cousin and devised a plan, he would glass from where we were, I would work my way closer. If the buck lifted his head from eating, he would whistle, I would stop. So working my way down this was working, and i was closing ground faster than I thought i would. But then the buck decided he wanted to go the other direction. He was headed towards a saddle and was going to disappear soon, So i dropped down to get ready to shoot. He wasn't in to much of a hurry so I had a chance to range him. The buck stopped in the open and I dropped him. He looks like an old dog but still a trophy for me. Thanks to my cousin Dave and Brian for the help. It was a fun hunt.
