second shot

My hunting partner's dad has a bad habit of missing deer becuase he always sets his rifle down out of reach when nature calls and almost every time a good size buck walks by. His son, my hunting partner, hasn't fallen far from the tree. About ten years ago we were hunting near Patagonia. It was the last day of the hunt and neither of us had shot a deer in three years of trying. We were about to give up when my partner decided nature was calling. As soon as he walked over to a tree to do his business a buck walked out into the clearing we'd been glassing. My partner was in mid drop when I shot the deer. He came running back to me and was pissed that I shot the deer becuase we'd decided earlier that he would take one if we saw it. I couldn't pass up the opportunity though. That was my first coues and it took him another six hunts to bag his first. His dad almost died laughing when he heard his son missed the deer becuase he was going to the bathroom.

I've been out a lot in unit 33, about once a week or every other week. I've seen some nice bucks and quite a few little guys. Hopefully they are still around when the season starts.

Thanks for the information on preserving the skull, I appreciate it. If I can get a digital camera I will post a picture sometime. As for where I found it; I was in unit 33. The skull is doesn't have any puncture wounds in it. I don't know how to judge of it's a big mountian lion or not but the skull is a little over 7" long and 5 1/2" wide. One of it's canine teeth is broken but the othe one is big enough that I wouldn't want to mess with it. I've seen lion tracks in this area but no live ones yet. thanks again for the info.