BABBITT_BOYZ

Please see my post in the Mule Deer Discussion Forum titled "Huntin' Fool Magazine!"

If you read our post of our coues deer hunt this year, called "3rd coues buck," you know my wonderful wife Stephanie left early to watch our boys allowing me to hunt 1 last day and kill a great buck. We were able to find her this AWESOME muley buck before the December archery hunt and keep our eye on him till the day she stuck him at 50 yards with her bow!!!!

High Expectations With draw odds of 100% we were assured a deer tag again. After a long years wait it was opening day, which happen to fall on my wife Stephanie’s birthday. She had the right to shoot first, no matter what! In the early months of scouting, I had found a couple nice bucks. In fact, I even managed to put an awesome stalk in and close the distance to just 60 yards. Of course, I missed the smaller of the two bucks in August with my bow. As he bolted off, the bigger deer came out of the brush with him. I had no clue he was even there. I guessed the buck I missed to be around the mid 80’s, the other buck had to be pushing the 100 inch mark. Both were beautiful 3 points. After making a few scouting trips and seeing them both twice the weekend before opening day, I really thought I had these two figured out. After last years shenanigans, we were up bright and early. Too early. We sat in the dark for about an hour before we could see through the binos! That morning we spotted a few mule deer does and that was it. With high hopes of getting Steph a birthday buck, it did not happen; the day produced nothing but does. That night my hunting buddy and cousin Brett showed up. He informed us that he was going to be a father again, so we had a few celebratory beers for the birthday girl and the father to be. Remembering last years events, I went easy on the drinks! We hit the sack hoping tomorrow would be a more eventful day. For the next two days, we saw nothing but does and the morale was low. My hunting party departed as the weekend came to a close. My wonderful wife selflessly went home with our boys, allowing me to hunt for one last day. After seeing no bucks for 3 days, I reluctantly made a call to a friend Steve, who is knowledgable about the unit and had volunteered to help out previously. I originally held out, hoping to find the two bucks that evaded me during the archery season. This call proved to be a good move. Monday morning we had a 2 hour trek to get into whitetail country. As it got light, it seemed our valiant effort would go unrewarded. The strong wind, rain, and fog would surely have the deer held up. We glassed for no more than ten minutes and I spotted two deer. Before I could get the pair of 15s out of my pack and set up to get a better look, the fog rolled in and obscured our view. After a few minutes, the fog blew out and I saw what I had been hoping for since opening day. Bucks. I set Steve up on the fifteens and headed off. Three ridges later, I was within shooting distance. Knowing the Ruger #1 was dialed at 300 yards, I was confident in my shot. It took me several attempts to get in a position for a clear shot of the bigger buck. They spotted me and started moving over the ridge. My buck stopped on the crest of the hill, presenting a hard, quartering away shot. His last decision was to stop and look back over his shoulder at me. I had no time to range him so I put the cross-hairs on his nose, thinking that if my range was off, my shot would still be fatal. I squeezed the trigger but as the rifle fired, I was startled. I quickly reloaded the single shot, frantically looking for the deer. Finally, through the tall grass I see him flailing about. He had dropped in his tracks. I decided to wait a few minutes to see if he was going to get back up. He stopped moving and I made my way over to him. Upon approaching him, I could see dark chocolate antlers sticking out of the brush. He was the solid three point I had always hoped of shooting. This was my fifth buck, and my first to be equal on both sides. However, after examining his head more closely, my curse had stuck again. 2 x 3 packin’ crazy eye-guards! I snapped a few quick photos before dressing him out. He was bleeding from his ears and mouth. The bullet entered exactly where I aimed just above the nose. This buck, whom I named Duke, grossed 98 3/8”. Special thanks to Steve and Stephanie.

Holy smokes that buck is AWESOME what a score!!!!

102 7/8 mass will carry him

Cactus Jack The sun had finally graced the earth, it was opening day of my much awaited early coues deer hunt 2009!! I had a date with a heavy horned 3x4 with with killer eye guards!!! Due to a little bit to much excitement the night before we were running a little late getting onto the glassing hill. We threw our packs and rifles on the quads and hit the trail. After a short ride and a longer than normal hike we were finally behind the glass looking for some bucks, It was kinda hard to glass while still seeing double but i cowboyed up. It was a slow morning only seeing a couple does, the bucks were nowhere to be found. After checking a couple spots I had seen bucks in while scouting we returned to camp for a much needed nap. Awaken by talking we peered out of the wall tent to see the Game warden in our camp talking to my father in law. After checking our credentials he wished us good luck and was on his way. We made a sandwich and headed back up the hill for the evening, having no clue what it had in store for us. We got set up and glassed for the better part of the afternoon seeing a few more does but still no sign of my buck or any buck for that matter. I moved to check another spot that just seemed to have deer written all over it, a sweet little draw leading into the main canyon. Immediately, I find a doe feeding through. After a few minutes, another deer appears and its a buck... I call out for my cousin Ben, “hey i got a buck!” I show him the deer through the binos, and together we watch him for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. It is his first deer tag and I promised him he could shoot any buck I found with the exception of the one I had picked out while scouting.. I eventually told him he better go kill him. Ben says back to me, “I think thats your buck,” . We continued to watch him, he fed to a distance of 800 yards from us; at this point I could see it was the buck I had my eye on. My heart started pounding as we came up with a game plan. I was confident out to 500 after taking my first coues the previous year at 480 yards. “Black Mamba,” my .270 short mag, was ready to do work again. All I had to do was cut the distance in half. After always teasing Ben about wearing camo while rifle hunting, I ate my words while I made him trade me his max 1 t-shirt for my bright green one... i was taking no chances. Sneaking down the hillside, concentrating more on the doe than the buck, I was finally in range. 400 yards is all that laid between me and the buck. The grass was to high to use my bi-pod and there was a solid 15 to 20 mph cross wind. It was getting dark, the odds were stacking up against me. I fell back on my Marine Corp shooting skills; I got into a kneeling position and put my second mil dot to the left on the buck’s shoulder and squeezed one off!! Dirt flies. The bullet hit to the right of the buck. My kentucky windage was off and so was he. I racked in another shell and now, from a standing position, I hold two mil dots left to compensate for wind. The buck is running at 400 plus yards at this point. Yeah right!! I squeeze and to my surprise the buck stumbles and stops.. I rack in the last shell and watch it chamber in slow motion. I ran to a rock about 20 yards in front of me to get a solid rest. I put the cross hairs center on the buck, (so the mil dots lined up one on the shoulder and one on the rib cage) and squeezed the trigger. The buck drops and I hear the beautiful sound of the bullet meeting with the deer. The best words I had heard that day were Ben telling me, “he’s down!”. My deer fell into a cactus and was thrashing around. The cactus was stuck all over his face and ears not to mention the back of my head and neck after the grueling pack out. I named him Cactus Jack. The awesome buck ended up grossing 101 5/8 with one eye guard measuring 4 inches, the other 3 1/2. Not to shabby for my second coues buck. Ben also tagged out the next day killing a beautiful 3x3. It was a great hunt and I think we will be putting that hunt for our first choice for years to come. cactus_jack_3.pdf cactus_jack_2.pdf cactus_jack_1.pdf