Tines

Mr. Jonathan, Ha! He blows mine up too! Wish he was alive when my buddy found him. Although picking them up is almost just as cool...

Congrats on the tag! There's always too many variables in hunting, even with "trained eyes" and "quality equipment". I'm also not sure if there's a "right" answer to any of your questions but here's my opinion if weather permits: 1. Expect 10-15 bucks a day. 75% being branch antlered bucks. 2. Doubt there are any stats but I'd venture to say that 100"+ bucks taken during a December hunt are less than 15%. Give or take a couple. 3. Would I shoot a 100" buck on day 3 of 5? Depends on what I'm seeing. Is that the first buck of that caliber during my guides' pre-hunt scouting OR seen during the hunt? Once again, too many variables. But the main one to consider- does that 100" 3x3 blow your skirt up? If he does, shoot him. If you won't be happy with him, let him go and keep hunting. A philosophy I like to follow is "don't pass up today what you'd shoot tomorrow....." 4. Pretty sure this is the "major Coues forum" and doubt you'll find much more information anywhere else. It might not have extensive unit by unit info but everything you need to know is here.......and hopefully in your outfitters head. Let us know how you do. Good luck!!!

This girl is RIDICULOUS! Her poor husband won't have anything to teach her of the outdoors.... Just awesome!

Thought I'd share some youth hunters and their success this year. This was their first big-game hunt. And all of them had a great time. This is Augie. Augie had been hunting for a couple of days and this is what his dad had to say: We decided to split up so we could glass more of the country. No more than 5 Mins in i glassed up 3 bucks and some does. but for some reason they were looking down the canyon and very alert. they were not aware of our position but didnt like whatever was in the canyon. I called PJ (Tines' brother) and told him where the deer were and he glassed them up fairly quick. With the deer on the move i figured it would be harder to get a 11 year old on them. as i watched the deer work their way over the mountain PJ worked his way over to me. We decided that the deer probably just went over and were pretty certain we could locate them again. once we made the hike around the mountain range we glassed awhile with only does located. PJ had to leave early so we said our good byes and i decided to stay and glass from a point that gave a good veiw of the whole mountain range. As Augie and i sat there talking and trying to get some rest for the evening hunt. I just had to start glassing and to my surprise i glass up the small 3x2. All i could see was the top of his back and head since he was directly behind a rock. As i got Augie up and situated the deer got up and walked right behind the bush to his right, So i figured we had pleanty of time to wait him out. With Augie in the prone we waited 1 Hour and 15 Mins for him to get up. During that time we just talked about the shot and what he needed to do. At 1:29 the deer got up and Augie smoked him at 350 yards to claim his first of many to come. Funny how thoughts of hunting with my own father came to mind. I guess full circle came around. The bedded buck The next first timers were Jada and Brant (brother and sister). Jada got first shot because she was "born first", she said. These kids can SHOOT! Jada took her great buck at 250yrds with one shot! Brant came next and took his buck at about 200yrds. Awesome times with their dad too! Kids just need a chance, I think, and they'll be hooked. Take time out for the young ones, otherwise they "grow up" (the boys) and end up on your doorstep trying to date your daughter with pants that don't fit them. I'm still not sure which is worse, sagging pants or skinny jeans......

Chris, Did I miss something?

Hahaha! You die hards are comical. Although there are always exceptions to the rule, most die hards I ever knew didn't play a down, inning, or period after junior high. Even the rest of us are all "has-beens", living some other guys dream. Just accept the fact that YOUR team (UofA or ASU) is never as good as you think. Why do we even talk about it anyway? Bragging rights? What a joke that we care THAT much to prove which sub-par collegiate team is better.... Isn't there an animal to hunt?

Spoken like a true admirer of UofA's history, SunDevil. Typical "fair weather fan" comments, as well. The basketball program played terribly against BYU but Fredette's no chump, no matter who he's playing. They'll pull it together. Why don't you do us all a favor and just "pin" this thread. We'll see how much you have to say in a couple of years....

Interesting read. Everyone makes excellent points. I'm not sure if I have anything credible to say but I think that the term "average" needs to be emphasized. IMO, "Average" Coues deer bucks don't grow to be the monsters that get talked about on CWT. There's a big difference between age and genetics. "General" Coues deer habitat is infested with lions. "Typically", predators (including us) are the cause of death to most Coues deer. Not to start a pissing match, this is just what I've seen....

I agree on how tough the hunt is. Phenomenal job to all involved! Big congrats on some true desert giants...

STUD of a buck!

Unbelievable!

Get the 20x....

Congrats, Nick! Beautiful!!

Cool! The "ear of the Puma" in the video looks more like a coyote's, though....

I'll try to make this a condensed version. We had a great time. The first 2 days I spike "camped" in with a buddy who had the same tag. We couldn't locate any big bucks but saw plenty of young bucks with great potential. We took Sunday off and I was able to go out with my dad on Monday. Earlier that weekend, my brother and dad went out and my brother was able to shoot a buck. Congrats to my brother, and sorry to everyone as I don't have any pictures..... Monday was pretty uneventful as my dad and I saw plenty of deer but nothing to get us excited. My wife called that afternoon and I had a leaky sink to fix. Seriously, I did. And BTW, when you're replacing a garbage disposal, don't forget to nock out the cap where your dishwasher hose goes into it, the dishwasher doesn't work that well if you don't . Luckily my wife had a good sense of humor about it because I was in such a big hurry to get things in order for my dad and I to leave Monday night. We made it to camp and before we knew it, we were sitting on our hill watching deer all around us. Those who happened to be in the field Tuesday morning will attest to how cold it was. I LOVED it!!So did the deer because they were everywhere. I found several bucks and one that was really nice. He was too far for my dad to go so I decided to hang tight, find a closer buck for my dad to go after, and save that bigger buck for the next couple of days by myself. Sure enough, I found a 3x3 across the canyon and my dad was ecstatic to shoot him. A well placed, 1-shot kill was all it took and we hiked over to find the buck. We couldn't find him so my dad hike back to the hill we shot him from to walk me in. I found him, dressed the buck and loaded him onto my pack. There was no need for my dad to come back and help me. Which is why I don't have any pictures of his buck.......sorry. As we were hiking back I asked my dad if we could stop on the last point before it dropped down to the truck. It was 445pm now and it was perfect glassing conditions. I really wanted to rest too. I glassed to the West while my dad looked to the East. The sun was making it difficult to look to the West so I turned to glass with my dad until the sun went down. Not 10 seconds after looking with him I found this buck towards the bottom of the canyon. At first he looked like a giant 2-point but the I saw his 3rd on his left side. It didn't matter what he had, he just had "the look" and that was enough. I yelled to my dad to get me rifle and rangefinder. I think he thought I was joking because I JUST sat down! But he sensed the urgency in my voice and brought them to me. We got set up and my dad was spotting. I ranged the buck, dialed the turrets and actually dry-fired a couple of times to calm myself down. It all happened pretty fast. Everything felt good and I sent a round the bucks way. My dad told me that it was just over the bucks shoulders. I shot again, with no changes just in case it was me that made the bullet hit high. I hit in the same spot. So I lowered the crosshairs at the bottom of his chest and shot again. "He's down!" my dad said. So, in good ol' Jake fashion, I put another one behind his shoulder just in case. We hiked down to the bottom and set our heavy packs down. We're now about to pack a second buck out. Knowing that my dad couldn't do it, we decided to just pack one out that evening and come back for the other in the morning. After getting to my buck I was just as excited as I was when I glassed him up. Basically a big 'ol 2 point with great mass and a right main beam that just kept going!!! Way cool. We hiked my buck down to the bottom and wouldn't you know it, we can't find our packs. After looking for 45 minutes and being tired, we decided to come back for everything in the morning. Not an easy thing to do when considering more than $5,000 worth of equipment you're leaving behind... :( We made it back to the canyon bottom first thing in the morning to find everything, well, where we left it. Well, everything but the backstraps to my buck! Some little critter must have run off with them during the night. Guess they know their cuts of meat.... Anyway, thanks for reading if you did. I'm tickled to death to shoot such a cool buck and even happier that I experienced it with my dad.

Too bad.....

Yes, found the pack, thankfully!

He was 555yrds.

I'll give my .02 on this. I've hunted elk in all but 6aSouth. Successful in all of them too. All hold awesome potential. Let's face it, we're talking about hunting Arizona bulls. That said, it's obvious that some (including myself) have preference over another (or none) because of personal experience. If you're talking to a reputable outfitter and have contacted his references, what more can you do? You just apply where he wants you to if you're gonna book anyway, right? Keep in mind that a reputable outfitter probably isn't going to have you "burn some points" on a unit just because he wants you to book. Chances are, if he's reputable, if you don't book someone else will. Money probably isn't his motivating factor either but knowing where and how to hunt the unit IS. I will say this about 7E. When I first hunted 7E I wasn't impressed at all. But I also learned that it's no different than any other unit where sometimes they're quiet where you're hunting, and screaming their brains out only a couple of miles away. How many times do we all read posts that read "They're not talking in unit xx at all!!"? In the mean time, maybe we were just there and the places we were hunting the bulls wouldn't shut up! It happens, and that's hunting. 7E will kick your butt if you don't know what you're doing. But it rocks just like any other if you do! Like most places with a decent amount of critters, time spent in a unit will build confidence. You asked this question based on the BP you have. Maybe your choices would have changed if you were going in with 15 or so. But there's no way around that. Don't let some number (i.e. 5bs, 7e, 6a) dictate which unit you apply for. Trust your outfitter, call his or her references and go with it. Good luck!

I've asked several experienced hunters their thoughts on this buck. Each of their thoughts differ for various reasons. Just thought I'd share with all of you and get yours. My buddy and I found this buck on our NM Coues deer hunt a few weeks ago. We were in what we would call "typical" Coues deer habitat/country. Although there were MD within a mile of this buck. Without giving you much of my own opinions, I will say that this bucks mannerisms were all WT. As he turned to walk away, that's when we thought "huh????". His tail is a stub and about 1.5" long I don't care either way. I'm a HUGE skeptic of anyone who "glassed up a hybrid". There's just too many things "wrong" with this buck to convince me either way, IMO. One more question, how do you legally harvest an deer without a tail??? Have fun with them....

What do you know, Andy shoots another P&Y animal with his bow...... Congrats on a stud buck!!

Congrats to the both of you! He'll look great on your wall, for sure. Is it me or did that buck have an exceptionally large body?

Way to go, John!

Since drawing a tag in AZ is difficult enough, I decided to take up an offer by a good friend to go to Wyoming and chase some public land goats around with his family. I've turned him down for the past 3 yrs but decided that I just needed to go. VERY glad I did. Amanda asked if I'd give a report on how the hunt went. It was FANTASTIC! Those who have been to Wyoming will agree that there's no shortage of antelope. About an hour into Wyoming I'm sure I surpassed the number of goats seen in AZ in my lifetime. It's just not right! Share the wealth, Wyoming! We got to camp, set up and my buddy, Luke and I went out for an afternoon scout before the hunt started the next day. We found PLENTY of antelope and two pretty nice bucks that I'd definitely shoot given how short our trip was going to be. I figured one for 75+" with awesome prongs and the other coming in a close second. Later, after a traditional German meal (pork chops, homemade sour kraut and potatoes) prepared by my buddy's dad, we slept hard! Opening morning Luke and I were dropped off and we started the hike. It didn't take long for us to find antelope after first light. I found what looked like a good buck and we stalked in closer. It was still early and it was hard to tell which buck he was. Regardless, he was nice enough to lay prone and shoot. He kept moving but finally came to a stop. I squeezed the trigger and the bullet went right under his chest! I couldn't believe I missed! It's difficult to range those animals in the flats so I think he was a tad further than I ranged him at. That's my excuse anyway.... He ran about 200yds and stopped against a hillside to give me one more shot. I didn't have time to dial the scope so I put the crosshairs a little high.......right over his back. He took off. "I suck!", I thought to myself.... We then moved over a few more hills to find some does and some small bucks feeding. We both were just about to shoot a couple of does when I glanced over and saw a coyote staring at us at about 200yds. I decided that controlling the predator population was much more pressing at the moment so I sent an Accubond through his chest. The antelope never moved so we both lined up on a couple of does and before we knew it, we had 2 does down. Keep in mind, I had a buck tag and 3 doe tags. Luke had a buck tag and 4 doe tags. As we walked up to our does we noticed some antelope running about 500 yds away down into a small basin. We ran over to check them out. There he was with about 20 does, the buck I originally wanted to shoot with big prongs! Obviously the first one I shot at wasn't him but at this point it didn't matter. We got about 150yds closer and I laid down. The buck was standing in the middle of the herd on a hillside. He quartered himself to me and I hit him perfect through the front of one shoulder and out just behind the other. He went about as far as the coyote did. Antelope ran everywhere and so Luke shot one of his does right after. At this point, there's no use holding back, right??? So with 3 more shots, I filled my other 2 doe tags and Luke filled one more of his. That's right, between the two of us, we had 7 antelope laying on the ground within 500yds of us. It was pretty dang cool, if you ask me! A little more than three hrs later we had all 7 antelope completely boned out, in our packs and off to the truck. Yeah, they were HEAVY packs but luckily we got to a road about 3/4 mile away. With ice chests waiting in the truck, we managed to have them all on ice pretty fast. The next day and a half was spent helping others fill their tags. Several people who were first time hunters and many that were just meat hunters all got to shoot antelope. Some of them I made hold out for better bucks since they were so used to shooting the first legal animal they found. I wondered if I was doing the right thing but the look on their faces after shooting "dinks" (compared to AZ bucks) was priceless. So it was a GREAT time. It was a blast. All together in camp there were I think 15 tag-holders with a combined 49 tags :blink: We managed to fill 47 of those tags and other than my own, I got to help people fill about a dozen of those. It was sooooo much fun!! I'm only going to post one of the doe pictures because, well, its obvious why. Once again, this is Wyoming, so remember it's all relative in size, guys. This is not a trophy hunt although I feel like I shot a great buck for any state! If any of you are contemplating a fun hunting trip for you and your buddies, the family, or maybe great opportunities for first time hunters (I think the minimum age in Wyoming is 12), it's perfect for all of that! My first doe My buck. Right at 77" with 6"+ prongs!!!! Woohoo! Another buddy in camp, Hugh, that I helped him with his first buck in the last 10min of our hunt

Sorry for not getting back to you until now. If you haven't found it out on your own, the buck tag is like $270 or something and doe tags are like $30.