elkhunter

Hey Houston, that's awesome, I've been following your hunting stories for quite some time now and it's great to see you got your first archery coues, congrats. Tyler

Some of the biggest whiteys i've seen live in typical mule deer habitat.....shhhhhhh!

5998

Jim- it was a pleasure hunting with you, Perky and Greg...I learned alot from you boys on the hunt. It sure was tough but it ranks as one of the most fun hunts I've been on. Thanks for having me there.

I dont remember this

Howdy I was pretty excited to go on my deer hunt this year especially since I knew I would be able to scout out the area for many days. I started scouting a month prior to my hunt and my family and I were not seeing the numbers or high quality of bucks as we saw last year. After many days in the field my scouting showed 3 different bucks that I would be happy to have. But one buck stood out over the other two, he has crab claw 3's and I’ve seen him many times and watched him for hours, watched him feed, bed, sleep, wake up, feed, bed, scrape, chase does, spar with other bucks...just bout everything a buck could do. I decided to give him a name, George. Anyways I decided that he would be the buck I would try to find and take on the hunt. Some picture and video of George Picture of another buck, 2x3..pretty neat picture A cross buck (beams 1 inch away from touching) Opening day came and I was at my grandparents house with my family and Christian (azcouesandelk) was going to meet me off a highway that leads to where we would hunt. I said goodbye to my family and headed out to meet Christian and we rolled into camp about 1:30pm. There’s a decent hill nearby camp where I have never seen a buck but it just looks like a great area for deer. We glassed for an hour, trying to find any deer under trees but we saw pretty much nothing...not too surprising since it was early afternoon. Then I told Christian lets go and get George. I had seen George 3 days prior to opening day and I know he does not move too far from his home canyon. Christian and I got to the top of the glassing hill and we set up our gear and started glassing. I swear, about 2 minutes into glassing I looked over to Christian and said....I found George, we watched him for a few minutes as he went along side a ridge and out of sight into mesquite trees. I know George loves to feed for a few minutes and bed down, he hardly ever goes more than 50 yards while feeding. So Christian and I hiked up the opposite side of the canyon to get a broadside view of the ridge, as we got closer we would stop to glass the ridge for George...nothing. We got to about 300 yards and I was able to glass up George bedded down under a mesquite. Christian stayed back on lookout while I tried to get closer and into a clear shooting lane. The ocotillos were pretty thick up there. I made my way down to 234 yards and I set up the rifle, my “sitting up” shooting position was the crappiest position I’ve ever tried to shoot in, if a hunter had seen me from a distance, he woulda been thinkin “what the heck is that boy doin up there?” Where I was setting up to shoot it was a downhill area and the grass was more than 2 ft tall. The stance was so bad that my crosshairs were hardly ever on the buck...so I adjusted a little and put myself into an even more awkward stance but much more sturdy then before. The butt of the rifle was basically on my sternum and my head was forward and down looking through the scope. The crosshairs were finally stable and I flicked the safety off and fired. I saw 2 white tails running from the area, I know George occasionally travels with a spike and fork but most of the time he’s alone. I could not find him again in my scope and did not bother looking at the 2 whiteys I saw running away. Soon enough I looked uphill and Christian had his arms straight in the air. We had our moment of whooping and hollering and going over what had just happened. I basically placed the bullet perfectly on his shoulder, after the shot he staggered up and scrambled a couple of yards and collapsed. The blood trail from where he was bedded to where he expired was unreal. George is my 3rd largest buck out of the 5 bucks I have taken, but he is the buck that I am the most proud of. I hope I get another chance to follow a buck for a long time and be able to harvest him during the hunt....next time I just hope it lasts a little bit longer! Thanks to Christian for helping me out hunt deer for a couple of minutes, I would have not known where the buck expired if it wasnt for him.

Congrats on a great pair of bucks, you guys pulled out the odds and got it done. Not only did you get a good buck but dang you got a good name too

I just put a tape on the buck before I put his head in a boiling pan, he scores 82 5/8th so he's actually my second to the smallest buck but still the best buck I have taken!

The shot had hit him behind the shoulder about the lower 1/3rd of the body, I was using my dad's reloads and they've been fantastic so far, check out the blood trail from when he walked 10 yards or so, I was using 180grn barnes triple shock, the bullet pierced the heart, only to make a nice cut but hardly ever expanded

Christian and I were listening to snoop dog on the morning drive to his hunting area before we got his buck

Hey Christian congrats on your buck and same goes for your dad. I just wanted to say it was a pleasure to hunt with you guys again and both you guys deserve those bucks, toughin it out the whole way and hunting hard from dark morning to dark night. Once again congrats...it really goes down as one of the best hunts I've been on

Don't take naps at midday, go towards the bottom of a canyon and glass upward and find bucks hidden among the trees, as for the morning and afternoon I glass from a point where I can glass both north and south facing slopes from one spot, usually a small knoll between 2 large hills or mountains Midday bucks will look something like this

Happy Birthday and thanks for making this site!

It's NAU research

I listen to Snoop Dogg when on my way to hunting, is that bad?

photoshop? That's insane, far by the best batch of sheds I've seen....and the fact that they're coues is simply crazy There's a whole lotta shed freaks out there but a majority of em are elk shed hunters and they don't even have half as many sheds you have Thanks for sharin Just outta curiosity, do you have a favorite set of sheds? I bet you have too many to choose from

122 1/8

Amanda- Thanks for taking the time to post the stories and pictures, I sure did enjoy it. Glad to know you got opportunites to chase big bulls, I know you'll have better chances and luck the next time you draw.

Brad's a good guy, lives down in Herford and law enforcer for AZGFD, havent spoken to him much but got to lift some weights wit him at the local gym for a year, he knows his stuff and he'll be able to carry any bucks or bison out of the field for ya

As long as it's a kill shot, hittin a deer in the heart aint all more fatal than double lunging him...nor hitting the spine, if it puts the deer down fatally then it's good enough But again it's good to have confidence in your rifle, say you have .5in groups at 100 yards and a coues buck walks by at 107 yards...you'll have all the confidence in the world Controling yourself during a shot is a different issue, .5in groups doesnt mean much if you can't control yourself enough for a shot, even at 100 yards or less, I've heard stories of missed elk at 25 yrds with rifle/muzzys and got to witness myself some close missed shots on elk with rifles (40-80yds) this question can be answered in many right ways, each to their own and whatever works for each hunter

Congrats to the kid and the Mullins Crew By the way- is Ian deaf?

Once again Congrats Jay

I'm not sure about what you just said but that is a dandy bull and congrats to you on a good lookin animal

great bucks on the west and south side of huachuas and if you're lookin for a trophy buck go to mustang mtns, be prepared to see no bucks for a few days and a trophy will pop out when ya least expect it or just about given up, don't even bother hunting canyons close to herford and SV unless you're a meat hunter or hike wayyyy up to the very top, good luck

Born and raised in Elgin and Sonoita, started huntin pigs and deer at the legal hhunting age, I still hunt the same place I grew up hunting