rthrbhntng

Amanda, the ADA is working on it and will coordinate with Leonard Ordway from game and fish on the questions. The website will hopefully be a generic one that can be used again. I'm pretty sure that Mark Bool is taking the lead on this. They hope to have it up and running by the end of the week. Steve

For you Coues deer hunters that want to know there will be a survey just like the elk one for the deer hunt changes. Please take the survey as soon as you find out about it and tell every one that you know. Because of the success of the elk one the bar has been set high and the commission will only listen if you get the numbers. I am with the Arizona Elk Society and I was at the meeting on Sat to make a statement and the feeling I got was the commission is tired of hearing from individuals and groups that don't poll there membership. THE DEER SURVEY IS BEING PREPARED RIGHT NOW AND I WILL MAKE SURE THIS WEBSITE AND OTHERS GET THE INFO ASAP. Steve

I don't usually post on this web site but I read it every day. This is a picture of a deer I harvested down in Mexico. I have been hunting this same ranch for 6 years and have seen one or two great bucks every year but up until now the biggest I have is a 108". This deer grosses 122 1/2" and net right at 115". It has the largest body I have ever seen. Keep in mind that I am 6'4" and weigh about 270. Steve PS I will have Amanda post the pics.

No Chill I have never heard of them. I have been leasing these ranches and we self hunt them. We have been going down to the same ranches for 7 years. No need at this point for guides. Just some great times with friends, old and new. Steve

I have been lucky enough to hunt in Mexico the last few years for coues deer. I had a chance to lease some ranches, about 80,000 acres, for some of the best coues hunting around. Throughout the years we have taken many coues in the 95-114? range with my personal best of 108? gross. My friends and I have seen a few large deer over the years but have never got a shot and usually the big ones only gave us a view one time. The larger bucks were hard to find after the initial observation. During the rut we would see some good deer and that was usually when we would harvest the larger deer. I have rifle and bow hunted the ranches. There are many days down there when you will see 25-50 bucks per day. This December I went down with the task of helping some bow hunter friends of mine and when I had time I would glass for ?The Big One?. I had a friend of a friend there that got a nice 98? bucks with his bow on the third day and I was showing him around the ranches glassing some good deer along the way. We were on our way back to an oak grove to check on another friend when I spotted a buck about 600 yards up in a saddle above some rocks. The first thing I did was get the 15X60s on him then noticed more deer up the hill in the cut. As I went from deer to deer they kept getting larger until I glassed the big one. He was by far the largest deer on the hill. I have seen some great deer in the past but this guy was wide and had great mass. When he turned and I saw his tine length there was no doubt that I had to have this deer. I put the spotting scope in him and it solidified any question. Frank, the other hunter and I started around to the backside of the hill leaving Jose to watch the deer through the spotting scope. After getting into the saddle from the backside we came up and through the grass saw one of the bucks feeding. We videoed and watched this buck making sure that it was the 4X4 not the big 5X5. Even the 4X4 was a good 110? buck with long tines. We then dropped back and stalked to a higher vantage point where we thought we would be able to see the front side of the cut. When we looked over the edge we couldn?t see any deer. Then in a flash they were running. I didn?t see the big deer. We quickly followed the deer over the top and around the hill and were able to glass them as they crossed a wash heading into the mesquite. We still never saw the big 5X5. After leaving the hill and getting back to the truck Jose had the rest of the story. The big buck had bedded down and when the other bucks ran up and over he snuck around and down the hill. The next morning we were on the next hill glassing all around looking for the deer. There were deer all over in the openings of the mesquite. Then we saw the group of bucks back on the backside of the hill. The larger three bucks were nowhere to be found. We thought maybe they would be back in the cut on the other side so we headed to the top to look over and see if we could find them. They weren?t in the cut so we went to the edge of the hill and looked down into the flats only to see all three deer about 250 yards away sneaking into an arroyo. The desert floor was all cut up with arroyos. We started glassing the arroyo they went into and out the corner of my eye I saw movement to my right about 400 yards away. It was the big buck all alone sneaking from arroyo to arroyo. He was all by himself just like the day before. I was confident that if he came out again I could get a shot. He did but when I shot I hit him in the leg and knew that I had not taken into consideration that he was still walking away. Now the race was on. He had dropped back into the arroyo and we quickly scrambled to the truck to try to get to him before he hit the mountains. As we neared the mountain he was headed for I saw him already going into a cut in the hill. There was no time for a shot so we headed to the spot he went up and looked in the cut for about an hour. I went up the mountain as Jose went around and after looking for a while realized that he was not hurt bad enough to have to lie up. We worked the hill over for a while then Jose dropped down and went around to the other side. After I dropped down Jose came back and said he had located the deer. We went up the other side into some mesquite thickets and lost the deer again. It was now around noon and I had to go check on a friend that was in the acorns to see if he got a deer that morning. He hadn?t shot a deer so we left him there and ate lunch then climbed the mountain next to where we had lost the deer. After glassing for 2-3 hours we had narrowed the search area down to three mesquite thickets that I couldn?t see into and I sent Jose over to push the mesquite thickets. As soon a he reached the first thicket the deer ran out to the next thicket. I was a little worried that the deer may run back up and over the mountain but luck was in my favor. The deer ran out of the second thicket and stopped on a ridge to look back. I was able to take him with no problem. This was by far the largest bodied coues deer I have seen and we couldn?t just throw him over our shoulders and carry him down. We rigged a drag and drug him down the hill and all the way to the truck. It had taken from 9am until 5:15 pm to get him. To say that I was excited would be an understatement. I have been hunting coues deer for 7 years and finally took a great buck. We scored the buck at 122 ?? gross and 114 7/8? net. I finally got my B&C Coues Buck. Steve

I will put together the story asap. I have been leasing and hunting these ranches for myself and a few friends for the last 7 years. The ranches are located about 100 miles south of Naco. Near a town called Arizpe. This was an amazing year so far, at some water holes we were seeing 40-50 deer a day, bucks and does. There were deer all over the acorns and they would run right back to the acorns after you ran them off to get into stands. I bow hunt as well as rifle hunt but when the opportunity comes up for the big one it is with whatever weapon I have in my hand. I still get to go back in Jan. Steve

Some Pictures.

Jake, A self guided hunt in Mexico can be done but there are rules that should be followed. #1 to have a gun in Mexico you should have a U.S. outfitter with a Mexican outfitter handle the paperwork for you or you could get in touch with a Mexican outfitter and he will do it if you get the tag from him. #2 You need to find an outfitter in Mexico with the proper landowner tags. Some guys have tags that don't go to the ranches they want you to hunt and you could get in a ton of trouble. I have seen tags from $200-$2500. #3 You need to check the ranches yourself or have a reputable contact in Mexico. There are many people selling tags to ranches that have little or no deer. We have scouted ranches that the tags were cheap on and it is not worth it. #4 You will need the license to hunt in Mexico from a Mexican outfitter. I do this every year and it is a ton of work and by the time you take in food and gear you could have went on a guided hunt. There are a few rules and procesures you need to follw when taking a rifle into Mexico and bringing a cape, antlers and meat out of Mexico, and if you don't follow them to the T you could wind up in a lot of trouble. The only benefit is you may be able to go for extended hunting time and you could go down more than once if you set it up right. It is beneficial if you are bowhunting and rifle hunting so you can hunt prerut and rut. It is also nice to go in early and set up blinds if you are bowhunting. It would be better to go with a group of friends or post on the site that you would like to go down with others that already do this until you are ready to tackle it by yourself. If you need more info feel free to email me at rthrbhntng@cox.net Steve