Coach

I don't bugle much when chasing elk, but the Elk Inc. Power bugle is pretty easy to use. Good for getting them talking. IMO, bugling to call them in has become pretty ineffective over the past 10 years or so. From what I've seen, bulls in AZ are getting pretty call-shy. They'll respond, just to know where you are. I'll bugle to get responses, kind of like shock-calling turkey, but once they are going, I think it's better to let them do the talking. Cow calls, especially diaphrams or reed calls, are way more effective, once you have a bull located. I'd avoid the "easy" calls like the hoochie mama, because the older bulls have heard those so often, they know how to distinguish them from the real thing. Sometimes, using a mouth call might not sound "just right" but it's enough to get their curiousity up. I've heard recently of guys using diaphrams or reed-based calls as if they were calling coyotes - just wailing on the mouth calls - having better success than the more "typical" sounds produced by the easy calls. Just a side note - my dad worked for B.I.A. on the White Mountain Apache rez for a long time. Many of the top guides on the rez were day-workers on heavy machinery in the off-season, so he got to know them pretty well. Some of the best and most successful guides on those high-dollar hunts preferred some of the most "jimmy rigged" calls you could imagine. They used copper pipes smunched down at the end or in some cases, kids' whistles like you might falling out of a pinata. I guess where I'm going with this is, you need to make your calls sound unique, more than "authentic". What we humans percieve as the "perfect" elk sounds are not always what the bulls will respond to. Good luck on your hunt! I hope you get a stud bull!

LOL - Priceless!!! Don't forget the cookies and milk.

Wow, first-off congrats one one heck of an archery speed goat. Secondly - well, just looking at the pix, I might have met you this morning way back in some bad-a$$ NM goat country. Did your buddy just arrow a buck with a recurve about the time we crossed paths? Anyway, my buddy has an archery antelope tag in Western NM, and I spent the last weekend with him. I know a lot of hunters consider archery coues to be the pinnacle of bow-hunting, but I'd have to say trying to spot and stalk antelope in the plains has to be amoung the most challenging bow hunts in North America. To take one of these guys takes out in the flat with a bow takes serious mettle. some luck and a sh!t load of tenacity. My hat is off to anyone who can make that happen. Congratulations on an truly amzing hunt.

Looks like a broadhead from the pix.

Heeee-eeeey MACARENA!!!

Holy moly! Great bull, and great job putting the hunter in a position to take such a great bull!!! Thanks for sharing the whole story with us!

I have have a Savage 110FP in 25-06 that is a very accurate gun, but heavy (would be a perfect antelope gun, if I could ever draw a tag). Also have a 14 American Classic in .300 WSM that is my "Go-To" rifle. I'm very happy with both. I've never owned a Remington rifle, but I really like the 700 CDL. I'd love to have one of those in .257 Wby Mag.

What is the max draw length? Would it require different cams/modules to go up to 29"?

Lots of great advice already posted here. One thing I'll add is, there are certain animals that just have that "wow" factor. Elk, coues, muley, antelope...Some guys are really good at judging score from a distance with good optics. What I've found is, if you find a good deer, elk, whatever, you get a really quick "gut" reaction. Some guys will find ways to start making it bigger in their mind, then experience "ground-shrinkage" when they walk up on it. Personally, I think that some animals just immediately jump out at you as a shooter, or not. If the minute you see it, your blood gets pumping and you really feel like you have found "the one", you know you have to take the shot. If you are uncertain, usually, there is something about it that isn't quite what you had set as your goal. Of course, distance is a major factor. Coues especially can look marginal at very long ranges, even if they are really nice. If you do glass a coues buck from a long way off, and can see quite a bit of horn, he's probably bigger than he appears. I made that mistake several years back. I found a buck about a mile or so from my glassing spot, and he didn't look all that big but the details were sketchy even through spotting scopes etc. I moved to a different area, and a buddy later hunted that spot and found the same deer - turns out he was estimated at around 115" as a 3x3 when viewed from 1/4 the range I had been watching him. My buddy missed, unfortunately, but I seriously kicked myself more than once for not getting a closer look myself.

Got 'em yesterday - looking forward to trying them out! I'll let you know what I find.

BTW, Brian, that buck of your brother's is awesome!

Last Fall, I took my first ever coues with a bow - also my first ever deer with a bow. I knew he wasn't a "congo" buck, but I passed on a dozen or so forkies and spikes to make sure my first would be a good, mature coues. Being my first deer with a bow, and not a bad one at that, I decided to have it mounted - something I typically hold off on unless it is something special. I'll hold off the field photos, for now. I just got the mount back and I have mixed emotions about it. Here are some solo shots of the finished mount... Next Post...

Thanks everyone for your input, and the congrats. For the most part it sounds like everyone would expect a fall deer to look quite a bit smaller and that he isn't abnormally small. I would have liked a little more girth in the neck, but it it is, overall a very pretty mount.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Don't start likin' those pain pills too much -

Nice bear! Congrats. Got a story???

Thank you, Buckhunter. From my perspective, the buck just looks really - well, small, when compared to the other mounts - especially in the neck. It's hard to capture with a camera, and I have the upmost respect for the artist who worked on this deer. It just doesn't really seem like the deer I brought in. On the other hand, it truly is "prettier" than the other two. Thanks to all who have commented.

Prayers sent from our family to yours. Godspeed on a fast recovery.

Here are the field pix...

Not bad!!! Thanks for posting some cool pix!

I didn't want to rush to any conclusions, so I put this mount up along side some other coues mounts. While it is beautiful in many aspects, it really didn't capture the realism of the deer I had brought in. After spending a couple of days looking at it, it seems too "dainty" - yes it was a young buck, and I LOVE the facial features. But the neck and face are so thin, it almost looks like a fawn with a 2-3year-old rack. Maybe even a Springbock. My wife's take is that it looks like a small, African species with a coues rack. For the record, I DID choose the form it was mounted on, and I DID tell my taxidermist that I wanted to preserve the young appearance of the deer. What I didn't anticipate was a mature coues looking so thin and so young, as to not capture his beauty, the way I saw it when I finally walked up to my first ever, hard earned archery coues buck.

Here are the other 2 close up.

My first impressions were mixed. The cape and colors looked amazing, and the velvet had been very well taken care of. Then I put "Rio" up on the wall next to a couple other coues I had previously mounted, one at the same shop.

Don't forget us Muzzle Loader guys!

Jason Jones 6302 Wagon Wheel Lane Lakeside, AZ 85929

LOL!