Coach

Well, this year's hunt started about 11 months ago when I came home with an unfilled tag. Not that I didn't have opportunities to take bucks, I was after a real bruiser. I spent days scouting, hours pouring over maps, you know the drill. Packed in far away from all other hunters, saw tons of deer, a mating pair of bald eagles, a young lion (which didn't present a shot before taking off on a stalk of a pair of young does I was watching). All in all, it was a great hunt, but the trophy eluded me. As luck would have it, I'm going back in for another tour in the same unit. Hopefully all the retrospective second guessing, weekends of scouting and hours of rifle practice will pay off with. The camper is parked, time-off from work secured, ballistic charts taped to both rifles. It feels really good. Here's wishing all of you coues addicts lucky enough to draw a December tag good luck, and a hope for hunt as fulfilling and enjoyable as last year's! Take Care, Jason - AKA AZOnecam

Well, thanks to all you well-wishers out there! It turned out to be a tough hunt. My partner and I were finding only a few small bucks in the first couple days of the hunt. One of the guys in our camp who was helping my buddy's brothers spotted a big buck but they weren't able to get a shot and ended up taking a smaller buck. They told us where they had seen the big guy and after a couple of days of hunting him hard, I got lucky and was in the right place at the right time. This buck is a 3x4 and rough scores around 106 5/8 gross, and just over 100 net non-typical (unofficial). A special thanks to Steve who found the buck. We still have 2 tags in our group to fill, so we'll be going out after Christmas. Hopefully our luck will continue.

Went out Sunday and saw lots of does and one small buck. Kept expecting to see some bucks hanging around all those does, but never did. Don't think it's quite started in the central part of the state, anyway.

That's what I love about mil-dots

I long considered the .257 wby as the ultimate coues gun. As many above have pointed out cost of shooting it may be a major factor. I've found Weatherby rifles/ammo to be accurate, but since they are generally overbored, tend to be much more finnicky than std. cartridges, and take more practice to get consistently accuate - both shooting and reloading. If you are going to reload and put a lot of time into getting it just right, I think this would make an excellent coues calliber. As for being "too much gun" I respectfully disagree. With long shots the norm, you need to look at the downrange energy. According to Weatherby's ballistics pages you'll see that the .257 wby has just under 1400 foot pounds at 400 yards and 1138 at 500 with a 100 grain bullet, and 1656/1419 with the 115 gr. bullet at the same ranges. Compare this with 917/745 with a 100gr bullet from a .243 and there is no doubt it has a LOT more punch when a long range shot is required. I personally shoot a .300 Wby, and think it's the ultimate all around rifle, even for little coues deer, so if a .257 is too much gun, I'm definately overgunned A great site to get lots of good information about just about any caliber is accuratereloading.com. You'll find a wealth of information there about just about every caliber. When I posted regarding the .257 wby, I got a "split decision". About half of the folks out there who had owned them absolutely loved them. The other half considered them too finnicky and generally significanly less accurate than the other quarter bores. However, everyone pretty much agreed that the ballistics and energy of that cartridge set it apart from the other .25s Jason

A couple of years ago my buddy and I were hunting unit 23. We glassed up a decent buck on a little shelf and he chased a couple of does over the ridge. When we got to that ridge, he spooked out of tall grass and my friend with the tag shot at and missed him. The next morning we found him again on the same bench. This time he didn't get away.

azpackhorse, can you give me a link to the toad on Monster Muleys? I can't seem to find it. Thanks Jason

I had what I believe to be one of Nikon's top-of-the-line spotting scopes, the fieldscope III (non-ED glass) and found that while it was a good scope, I didn't gain enough over swaro 15's with a doubler to justify carrying it around. If you are going to get a Nikon, look for the Fieldscope III and you may even find one with ED glass for near that price range used on Ebay.

There is a lot of excellent advice here. One thing I would add, is that nothing can take the place of actually going out shooting at longer ranges to see exactly where your bullet drops. It takes a lot of time, I know, and it's not always easy to find a place to practice at 500 yards, but the more you do this, the more confident you'll be in a real long range hunting situation. You'll also get an idea of how consistent you are at 500 yards. It's amazing how big a 4 inch group at 200 yards can get out at 500. Jason

Very nice bucks! Good luck this weekend.

I've heard of a huge (130's) buck taken in the Whetstones (34B), but haven't seen a picture or gotten any solid details.

Interesting story about the blaze orange from last year. I was sitting on a rock outcropping and saw a Grandfather/Father/Son group heading my direction. To be safe, I took a blaze orange vest from my pack and placed it on a bush next to me so they would know I was not a deer. When the group stopped below me I swung my bino's toward them just in time to see the young boy say, "Hey dad, what's that?" and proceed to "glass me up" with his riflescope. I of course hit the deck immediately, but the father quickly pushed the gun down, and gave him a stern lecture, but it scared the bejeezers out of me. Back to the main subject - my hunting partner and I have been discussing this for some time now. Out of say 400 permits for a given area, one has to wonder how many are die-hards. Each year I only see a handful of guys who seem really well prepared and know what they're doing. One thing for sure is the VAST majority don't practice shooting enough.

I can recommend the Cabela's Alaskan Guide scopes. I put 2 on my rifles this summer and they are very bright and clear. I have one on a heavy magnum and it takes the recoil witout a problem.

You guys are doing a heck of a lot better than I am. A couple of weekends ago went out and saw 12 does and no bucks. This weekend was out and saw 9 does and 3 small bucks. Are you guys in the Southern or Central units?

I shoot a .300 Wby Mag. with relatively hot handloads for the ballistics. My longest shot is 319 yards so far, but I'm comfortable out to 400 yards with a good rest, plenty of time, and little wind. Been practicing out further, but it would have to be a "now or never" shot at a huge buck to consider it - for me at least. Some people can shoot very well out to long ranges, and some can't hit a barn from up close. I always laugh when I hear people trying to tell everyone the max range they should shoot based on their OWN abilities.