daryl_s

Love the thread. Most of what I know comes from doing things the wrong way at some point or another. Just a few that I can think of off the top of my head. I had a December tag in 2008 and knew where I wanted to hunt from my preseason scouting. When it came down towards the end of the year I decided I would go to work Monday and Tuesday and then try to fill my tag on Wednesday which was the last day of the season. My dad had the time off from work already so we decided he would go down on Monday and spend the next 2 days watching "my" deer. He calls me Monday morning at work and tells me he's been watching "my" deer for over an hour and that he's bigger than we thought. Later in the morning somebody else is shooting at my deer and he sees the buck run off and we never know if he was harvested or not. I hunted Wednesday and never saw a buck, tag soup. I should have gone hunting Monday. The following October I hunted the same area and had a nice 90"+ buck right where I thought he would be. I got some video of him but decided to stay back until he bedded down instead of moving in right away. I watched him for over an hour until he bedded down. I made my move from a little over a half mile out and no sooner than I started I see a white blur bounding over the hill and gone. Two hunters walking right down the middle of the ridge on the skyline scared him off, they never even saw him. I should have slowly started making my move when I first saw him. January of this year I am down in the same area again with my bow. I see two spikes, a doe and what I believe is the same buck I was after in October. I am up near the top of the hill and they are down in the lower area. Every single thing about the conditions was perfect for a stalk and it just felt like everything is finally going to come together. There was the slightest breeze in exactly the direction I needed it to be. It had rained all day the day and night before so the ground was very quiet. They were in very small rolling hills allowing me to come up from the opposite side of another hill and come out very close to them. So I stalk in and kick off my boots before I come up the backside of the hill. I wasn't exactly sure where I needed to come up but end up coming out at exactly the right spot. I had what I believed to be a 40 yard shot and this buck had no idea I was there. To this day I don't know where or how I missed this buck but I blew it. If I hadn't found a bone dry arrow with no blood or hair you wouldn't have been able to convince me that I missed this buck. I replayed that shot in my head a thousand times over and kicked myself every possible moment over the next few days and even weeks. I will never again hunt without a rangefinder. From these mistakes I was able to do things a little different this time around and actually was able to drop this buck less than 40 yards from where I watched the other bed down last October: http://forums.coueswhitetail.com/forums/in...showtopic=21692 This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my mistakes but these are the most recent. I am sure there will be many more to follow. If you're not making mistakes then you're not out hunting enough.

Wow, I can't believe I got my 5th choice for javelina. Really???? I must have been all the way at the bottom of the pile. Archery in 37B/33. Still excited either way.

Not to mention, I bet it bothers your dad more than it does you that he has to teach you this lesson. I say that because I have 2 boys who will be able to hunt in the next 6 years or so and I can hardly wait to take them.

I bet these aren't the responses you were hoping for right???? I drew my first December tag 2 seasons ago and hardly even got to hunt because work was so busy. I have a wife and kids that I have to provide for so hunting had to take a back seat to responsibility. What you learn in your youth is what is going to stick with you for the rest of your life so it's best to make sure you get it figured out when you are young. First we work and then we play, that's the way we spend our day

That's what it's all about right there!!!!! Great job helping out your brother and great write up.

My son has been asking for this bow for his b-day for the last 8 months or so since they let him shoot it at Sportsmans Warehouse. He turns 4 this weekend. Normally kids will ask for something for a while and then forget about it. That hasn't been the case with this bow. He hasn't let up at all. Extremely great range in both draw length and draw weight. I bet you have a blast watching your boy shoot.

Seriously, you noticed a water bottle in the guys crotch while he's holding THAT rack?!?! +1 I had to scan back to the picture after reading his comments to see what he was talking about All I had seen were antlers.

I got my deer opening morning this year and took it to WGP based on the recommendations on here. He was out hunting but there was someone to drop it off and do the paperwork with. Got everything back in less than a week even though he was out hunting when I dropped it off. The jalapeno cheese summer sausage and snack sticks are AWESOME. I can't wait to cook some of the other meats this weekend.

That's me!!! I actually live in Florence off of Hunt Highway but am frequently in Coolidge. Daryl

Sounds like a hard to beat couple of hunts. The stories and memories will last forever. Congrats to everyone involved!!!

Still there????? Lucky!!!!!! I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip and have a safe drive back.

Wow, great buck!!! Love the character and width. Congrats.

Losing the hunting gear is worse than losing the Jeep. Sucks either way.

Okay, I will try to keep this short. My dad and I both drew the same October hunt and we planned on hunting an area that we named "Buck Mountain." This is our third season in a row hunting this spot and we were determined to make it happen this time. We have seen tons of bucks in this area and it seems like the ball just bounced the other way somehow or another every year. We are pretty confident in our glassing and deer finding capabilities but things just hadn't seemed to work out the past few seasons. Last year I hunted this exact spot and had my buck at first light on opening morning. Not long after I started to make my move 2 hunters walked right down the middle of the ridge and scared him off, they never even saw him. I never did relocate him with only a day and a half to hunt that season. In January of this year I spotted a good buck from about 400 yards out and stalked into about 30 yards where I shot over his back while he just stood there. I didn't have a rangefinder and guessed wrong on my yardage . This was in the same area. I tormented myself by replaying that shot in my head about 1000 times a day for the next few weeks. I put the October hunt second choice because I wanted to get an early crack at this spot this year. I was as determined as ever to make it happen. I spent time shooting. I used many tools including a ballistics program and chronograph to make sure I had an exact knowledge of where my bullet was at different yardages. I checked many times over that my scope was dead on and sighted in exactly where I wanted it to be. I felt prepared and confident that I would make it happen this time. Opening morning proved to be what I had hoped for, bucks not long after first light. There were a total of five bucks together. 3 of them were smaller 2 points and there was a 3x3 with my buck. We were glassing from a little over a half mile away when we saw them. My dad stayed back and I made the move. I moved in and ranged the bucks at 450 yards. I set up the Harris bi-pod as tall as it would go. I turned the scope all the way up to 12x and put it on the spot. The deer were gone!!!! My view to the left was blocked by a tree so I moved up a little bit to another area where my view wasn't blocked. I set up the binos on the tripod and re-located the bucks about 30 yards to the left of where they had been. I ranged them at 425 yards now. The Harris bi-pod was rock steady and gave me the confidence I needed to make the shot. I let 'er rip and the recoil took me off the deer. I found him in the scope again, clean miss. I had rushed the shot. I steadied on the deer for a second shot and let 'er go again, a second clean miss. The deer almost didn't move. He had no idea where the danger was coming from and was hesitant to make any kind of move. He was standing broadside showing the right side of his body. I held right where I needed to and felt rock solid and confident as I squeezed the trigger. I found the deer in the scope just in time to see him stumbling forward almost doing a cartwheel. The .270 130 grain Hornady interbond drilled him right at the base of his neck and tore through the opposite shoulder. He was dead right where he went down. I knew he wasn't a huge buck when I decided to go after him but I knew that he was a decent 3x with great mass. I knew he was pretty narrow but that didn't matter much to me. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked up to him and saw that he had great character. He is actually a lot better buck than I realized when I shot him. We'll call it ground growth . Many bigger deer will be taken this year but I am thrilled to death with this buck. This is a personal best for me but what's more important is that my dad was there with me and he saw the whole ordeal through his 15's. We had a great time and everything when exactly how we had hoped and planned. I really don't know what this buck would score and it really doesn't matter. I love character bucks the most and this one has plenty. We went back out this morning to our other spot and found some nice bucks a long ways off. We went after them but never did relocate them. I had an absolute blast on this hunt and was very glad that my dad was there with me to see it all happen. Congrats to all those that have filled their tags and best of luck to those who are still hunting or waiting for their turn. Daryl This is what I saw when I walked up to my deer. Exit wound showing. A very happy hunter. Thanks for reading and thanks Amanda for this site.

Congrats on a great deer. One shot kill from 600 yards is amazing.

Great job. When you work for it the satisfaction is even greater. Congrats!!!

Stick with it and don't get discouraged. I enjoy reading the updates. Hope you get the big guy you are after.

I have worn this one out with my friends and co workers ever since you posted.....love it!!!!

You guys are right. It always drives me nuts when people do that. I apologize and will have pics up within the next few minutes

I will have a story and pics up hopefully by tomorrow night. We have 1 more tag to fill.

Can someone please post contact info for Devin @ AZ Wildlife Designs?? I want to take a deer to him today and I can't get his contact info to come up on his website. Thanks, Daryl

Hahaha, good one Tony. Although the scenery isn't quite as nice in San Carlos I will be down there sometime next year. I only get the odd years though

That was me. Gotta get the new tires before I get too busy with hunting.

Pretty sad. I haven't gotten into the trail cam game yet, mostly because of this. I still plan on it, eventually.

I was the one in the white Saturn that honked and waved while you were in the drive thru at the credit union. I saw the sticker and then the plate, wasn't hard to figure out who it was