Hi, my name is Jimmy. I have been going on coueswhitetail.com for the past several years, but I have never posted. I can barely run my cell phone let alone post on a forum. One of my buddies "Raul" who was hunting with me wrote this story, so I thought I would post it. I hope you enjoy it.
It started like every other year with Jimmy, my brother "Ismael" and I discussing where we should put in and if we should do separate applications or not. These last few years, as many people I'm sure can relate, have been very hard on our families due to the fact that if you're in construction of any type, work is scarce. So we finally decided to settle on putting all three of us on the same application in one of the hardest to draw units in Arizona. First, because we probably wouldn't get drawn and second, if we did, we could combine what little money we had between the three of us to pay for the hunt itself.
As the season neared we talked about possible scouting trips and where we might start looking for bulls. All three of us had hunted unit 10 helping other people but they were all late hunts so we had a little knowledge about this unit. In the end we never had a chance to scout for the exception of the two days before opening day so not much time at all. I had the entire hunt off from work and Jimmy unfortunately didn't really have any work for the next two weeks. Ismael still wasn't sure he was even going to be able to go at all. So Jimmy and I got camp set up and began to scout with little luck in terms of finding any good bulls, but we were optimistic we would stumble in to them sooner or later. On Thursday night a friend of ours, Sam, showed up and had dinner waiting for us and I ended up owing the boys a drink on the side bet Jimmy and I had. (Thanks Sam for being a hard worker.) Friday morning we headed to a spot where Jimmy found a decent bull on Thursday evening while glassing and we had a great first day. I chased a screaming bull for a few hours that morning but when I finally got a good look at him he just wasn't what I was looking for.
After the morning hunt we had breakfast and talked about what on earth we where going to do to locate some good bulls. We shot our bows and talked that morning about possibilities and decided to take a chance on a spot that used to hold monster bulls. As we drove out that day I guarantee none of us could have ever imagined how good we would have if for the duration of the hunt. That night alone we say half a dozen giants in the glass but none we could get to that night. Our biggest problem now was the fact that it was an hour and a half from camp. Next morning we hunted near camp with no real success. We called my dad and brother and they were going to be able to make if for Saturday evening hunt.
I was happy that I was going to be able to hunt with my old man, and two brothers. I know things were going to work out for us because we seem to make each other better when were together. My dad and I hunted a spot, the "honey hole" together that afternoon and totally blew a stalk at a 380" bull, leave it to your hunting partners to rub it in and make your feel bad about screwing it up. It sucked but my bro and Jimmy messed up that same night on a huge bull as well. It's all part of archery hunting, can't win them all. We ended up moving camp about an hour close due to money reasons, gas isn't cheap. We found a sweet spot not to far from camp where we were in bulls every morning, and would go to our other spot every evening. All three of us passed a few bulls for the next week. I know it sounds crazy but we were very lucky and had choices and no hunting pressure from other hunters.
On the 8th day Ish and Jimmy were in the "honey hole" and had the unthinkable happen, two awesome bulls came in within a minute of each other, both Ish and Jimmy's shots were less than 30 yards and 30 seconds apart. Both bulls died within 80 yards of each other. I was down hunting the cedar breaks not to far from the boys and had made it back to the truck before them. All I could hear was laughter and excitement coming my way as I waited for them in the dark. Their first words were "we did it, a double, and they are two great bulls."
My dad and Sam H. would come early the next morning for pics and a ton of work to get the bulls cut up and caped. I would hunt the rest of the hunt just to stick a great bull the last morning and lose him. Ismael's bull grossed 392" and Jimmy's was 366". Special thanks to my dad for lending us his truck to hunt out of for the three weeks and Sam for all of his hard work.
Ish, Raul Sr., Raul, and Jimmy
