Chef

Good news for a change! That's awesome and best of luck to your daughter!

Nice and crisp captures. Really like the third pic.

Sounds like you are looking for Jim White's head. I have it and love it. It's everything you are looking for. You can buy it straight from this site. http://www.coueswhitetail.com/bookstore/tripods_tripod_heads.htm

I should hopefully be needing some Javi skulls cleaned if all goes well! They look great!

Congrats again Jim and also to your brother. I like the first pic you posted of him with his trophy, looks awesome!

I'm going to start a new thread here soon. (Other big game section) We got the kill shot and an after harvest interview on video. I have the interview and pictures uploaded, I'm just waiting for my Buddy to send me the dvd of the kill shot. I may or may not be able To convert it for youtube but I'm going to try.

Fantastic buck! Congrats!

Congrats! Love your recounts at the end too! Nice looking Aoudad Ram and great shot. I was bearing the miserable cold as well in New Mexico. Shot my ram at 430 yards.

That's awesome Jim! Congrats! X2 on waiting for the stories and pics! You've been gone forever!

LOL!

Sorry to hear the news. Sad day.

Justice maybe served here real soon. I'll be watching the evening news.

We still may be able to move things around Bill. "We gots pull!" I just got back from another hunt and didn't see your post until today.

Disregard my voicemail Amanda!

Thanks again everybody. My mind is already racing at what the possibilities are next year down there!

. . Planning and Border Crossing: This hunt all came about while at last years ADA banquet. Whilst at the CW.com tables, Phil (cramerhunts) and Jimmy (rut) were telling me about a ranch they hunted in Mexico. They were going to hunt it again in Jan of 2011 and had one tag left. They invited me along and well, it didn’t take much to have me write the check! Apparently I wrote a lot of checks that evening! Fast forward to this new year and well, the hunt was finally upon us. I have to admit, I was worried about all the dangers and red tape that can come along with a trip like this. After doing a lot of homework and knowing how the ranch owner would take care of us, I felt better. I have to give credit to Phil, all the pre-planning and details were ironed out and we set off in the dark hours of the early morning towards Nogales for our fourteen day adventure. The ranch owner (Justo Sr.) along with his son and another gentleman, actually crossed the border and met us in Nogales, AZ then accompanied us back across the border into Mexico. They escorted us through Mexican customs (Aduana) and assisted us in self-declaration of our firearms, both there and with the soldiers at the military base. Our hosts stayed with us and helped acquire the proper tourist and vehicle permits as we were pulling trailers with utility vehicles. All of their help and assistance certainly gave us piece of mind and made us feel a lot more comfortable about our trip into Mexico. Accommodations and Food: Once we got to the ranch, I was expecting to rough it. As Kevin (Peloncillo) pointed out, the accommodations were super sweet. Beds to sleep on, hot showers every night, hot coffee in the mornings, fireplace to take the chill off. This was Heaven! Justo Jr, was to prepare our dinners every night. We all ate as much as we could! The tortillas were local and homemade, the cheeses were local, the re-fried beans were to die for, and the salsa! A person can get used to this very quickly! Here is Phil and I with some of Justo's family that would come visit to see how we were faring... Chile con Carne! Chiles Rellenos con Bistek! Tortillas Sobaqueras! (delicious I must add) Carne con Vegetales... Cream Cheese filled Breast of Chicken with Ham and Bacon! Shrimp and Spinach Lasagna! (Jimmy's favorite) Other dishes prepared and not pictured were Caldo de Queso (Cheese Soup), Carne Asada Tacos, Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Birria Tacos, and much more! Terrain and Deer Population: We hunted many parts of the ranch. It consists of flat-lands with washes, rolling hills dotted with mesquites, prickly pear, chollas, and ocotillos. As well as rugged mountains with the occasional “couesy” terrain of grassy hills and oaks. Almost all of it was glass-able and we were able to reach the high spots and sometimes glass all day from the same area. The deer herd was large and rutting activity was great. Especially the first week. Bucks were chasing does and if you glassed up a doe, it wouldn’t take long for a buck or two to show up. At one time, on the second morning, I was able to count ten bucks on the SAME hillside. This made hunting the area extremely fun and rewarding. Video of rutting bucks... My Harvest Day: The day I killed my buck, we decided to try and hunt one of the most remote areas of the ranch. After driving the rough roads to our parking spot, we had to hike an easy 30 minutes to a glassing area. After we set up, Jimmy spots some deer through the spotter at about a mile and a quarter. We make a plan to hike into a different vantage point and an hour and a half hike later, we finally reach that point. Jimmy finds the buck again at 880 yards and we can see that the buck is tall. We plan a method of attack, and I tell Jimmy that if I could make the stalk, I would not second guess the buck, I would take him. Jimmy gets some footage of the buck as I make my stalk. I was lucky and fortunate to be able to have the ranch vaquero Marco come with his horse and pack out my buck! My buck! Below is a view of my stalk from our glassing position 880 yards away from the buck...(enlarge for detail) Below is a view of our glassing position (880 yards away) from where the buck lay...(enlarge for detail) Below is a view of my shooting location (220 yards away) from where the buck lay...(enlarge for detail) View of the moon as I was with the buck... (antlers in bottom right corner of second pic) My FAVORITE part! Marco coming to pack out my buck!!! Video footage of my buck on the hoof... (courtesy of Jimmy and his Swaro spotter/video skills) Extras: After my hunt success, I stayed the entire length of the trip. Helping out Phil and Jimmy in their quest to fill their tags. I was able to see a lot more deer and filmed a nice buck on two separate occasions. We also saw to other bucks that were definite shooters and are out there still. Video footage of the buck I filmed later on in the hunt. We went looking for him and couldn't find him. Only to have me stumble onto him again a day later! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekUCHTTsLAE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvEQ4p95EvQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTVNlex2m9M Chiltepin chiles growing wild all over the ranch... Saw plenty of these out on the flats. I actually saw them sit in the shade of mesquite trees and allow birds to stand on their backs while picking ticks off of them. I thought that was pretty cool to see. Birds nest in a cholla cactus... Lion kill I glassed up... Cool morning shot... ....Finally.... . . . The End!

Good call Bill! Hopefully there is enough interest again this year as we all had a great time at last years event. I'm keeping an eye on this thread for sure!

Much congrats! You sure didn't waste any time!

Great buck Josh! I too love the main beams almost touching! The moon and heat played havoc with us too on the second week. We were wondering how you all were faring. Congratulations to you both!

Thanks for sharing the pics with us. Best of luck next year as well.

Gnarly buck! Congrats!

Welcome to the site and congrats on your success! I look forward to hearing more about your adventures past and in the future.

Nice! Just in time for breakfast for me.

Sad news to hear about Tony. Hope you and yours can stay strong through this. I wish people and dogs were more alike. We would all be better people, and dogs would live longer.

Nice photos Scott. Your views are tremendous.