COOSEFAN

Thanks, he scored just under 92". JIM>

Thanks for the reply's! It was a tough late hunt in our units, very few good weather days and very weak rut, but we had an incredible season! Thanks again, JIM>

Well we're back from the first part of the hunts and some big ol' bucks hittin' the ground! The rut is VERY weak in our units and the weather SUCKED.....I HATE WIND! Anyways... I was in 34A with a first time Coues hunter lookin' to put himself one step closer to his deer slam. The hunt lasted one day, starting with two 90" class bucks in the scope at over a mile away across the biggest canyon in the area! George took one look and said he'd love to tag either one so the race was on! At 60+ yrs old, we were not crossing the canyon.....even though George wanted to....but 6 hours later and about 20 miles of pavement and 15 miles of nasty Arizona backroads, we were finally crawling over a ridge 300 yrds from the cut the bucks had gone into! Shortpants has a set of rules that is applied to Coues hunting and rule #2 is..."They're always where you last saw them", and this rule applied on this day! About 45 minutes before dark, the bucks reappeared and fed out. With camera rolling, I leaned over to George and whispered...."let me know when you are about to sh......BOOM! The buck landed on his back and my ears were ringing! He made a perfect shot at 290 yrds walking quartered away! I couldn't keep up with George on the way down to his buck, he was so excited about his first Coues! He now has a new appreciation for our little deer and is now just a Sitka Blacktail away from his slam! I wish you the best of luck in completing your quest George, we shared an awesome one day adventure with a great buck to show for it! During scouting I got to experience what it's like to be a hound chasing and treeing a bear! It was all fun until it dawned on me the bear was small enough to possibly still be hangin' with Momma Bear.......I didn't hang around long after he started huffin' and poppin' his teeth! Our boys in 36B had a great time and I can't wait for you all to see their photos and videos of their great bucks....let's see em' guys! Thanks JIM>

Thanks Casey, I'm on Pops 'puter now.....found out something called a motherboard and power supply took a dump on my 'puter and is very costly So for now I have to drive an hour to Pops' house to get on CWT.com and hang with you all. I will try to post a story and photos of that last buck. Thanks, JIM>

I got to see this when at Casey's house trying to fix a gun last Thurs. night. That is hilarious and not to mention stoopid! I bet you could cover ALOT more ground more efficiently with one of them contraptions! Thanks for the laugh AZGuide! JIM>

Thats awesome! Great job and beautiful buck! Thanks for sharin' the story and pics! JIM>

Thanks Mike! azwtcrzy (Bret) was actually the one responsible for the success they had in 36! They had very tough conditions during the hunt and came up with some great bucks! Both bucks took some dedication and skill to put em' on the ground! JIM>

I want it but I'm broke......I'll make you a deal though......I will trade you straight across for an immaculate, never been offroad , 2002 4dr F-350? ok...you drive a hard bargain................I will even throw in a brand new powered paraglider? Watcha think? It is a beautiful truck, wish I could buy it, good luck. JIM>

Honestly, you don't need to look elsewhere for Coues outfitters. The best Coues outfitters in the world are listed right here and are supporting members of this site. Several of the outfitters are actually guys I've looked up to and admired for years! With very few exceptions, you will be getting less reputable outfitters if you look elsewhere. My honest $.02 JIM>

Thanks and yes I do. Sometimes it's fairly easy, but on this last hunt I really didn't plan on video taping and didn't get a whole lot of footage to use and my lense was very dirty but it still turned out fairly good. I actually put this 2 minute video together just for this thread to share with you guys, and I just finished the full length video that I will send to the hunter. When I can get the hunt on tape, the hunters get to share their experience with family and friends just as though they were there with them! Pretty cool stuff JIM>

TLH, I had the hunter shoot in camp before the hunt and.....lets just say I was a little worried. In the video you can really hear how surprised I was when the buck dropped! Some guys are better shooting in the feild at a critter rather than off a bench and I was hoping this was that guy.....I'll never know if it was luck or not, but the shot on this buck was perfectly center-mass and needed to get done fast because we wouldn't have been able to stalk him again! The buck was already past the farthest point I wanted the hunter to shoot and any further I might have held him off. El Fuego, thank you....it means alot to hear your compliment......we have a great team with great guys who have all worked very hard this year....we have been blessed! Thanks again! AZGUIDE, I messed up this year and missed a couple great video opportunities, and I think it may have set us back a little on my goals, but I do have another hunt coming out on Extreme Bulls 4 and I am still planning on putting together a Coues video, it just might be a little while longer. We are working on it! Thanks, JIM> Thanks to the rest, hopefully we get a couple more before the years end........it's awesome to share the hunts with you all! JIM>

awesome pics, congrats on the catch! Doesn't sound like you guys will have a hard time finding a tag holder anymore JIM>

I realized I'm not that good at digiscoping but I tried at least. I saw this doe and fawn heading toward the Barrel cactus and figured they couldn't just pass by without taking a bite so I set up for the photo. Sure enough she took one of the fruits for the road and then headed off, but not before I got one picture off. Thanks, JIM>

Congrats on that buck! Welcome to the site! JIM>

B and H does have great prices and we haven't had any problems with them. We use the Canon's GL2, XL1, ZR's and Sony's DCRVX2000. You don't need the big cameras to get good video, just make sure you get a digital with 3ccd's, image stabilization and a high OPTICAL ZOOM, don't worry about what it's digital zoom is, you don't want to video in digital zoom anyway! I have a small Canon ZR 90 with 22X optical zoom and in good light, it'll do just as good as the big camera but it has to be on a tripod, and it is very reasonably priced. Best of luck, JIM>

Thanks Doug, Shortpants actually opened my eyes to this fact a few years ago and I've looked for it ever since. On our Oct. hunt we noticed the Staghorn Cholla fruit were ripe and the deer will jump on that with just as much enthusiasm as the Barrel cactus! I even tried eating the Staghorn fruit and it aint' half bad.......just don't put them in your pocket and make sure you peel em' before putting them in your mouth, otherwise you'll regret it....trust me Thanks, JIM>

It does look that way, but I honestly don't think so, I never saw a buck acting rutty in that unit, in the unit where I initially hunted, there were a couple small bucks checking out does, but the big bucks were still in bachelor groups and rubbing trees but no interest in any of the does around them. I'm sure it's picking up though, can't wait to get back down there! I do know the deer are having the same problem with all the sticky burrs in their coat just like we are! I couldn't believe all the burrs stuck in the hair of the buck we killed and I then noticed it on all the live deer from that point on, this doe might just have a bunch of burrs stuck in her hair. JIM>

Fantastic critters Jason! I love all the smiles....that's what it's all about Congrats to all, JIM>

The sun was setting fast behind the mountain and by the time I finished videotaping, I was only able to snap a couple of pic's with the sunlight still on the subject. All the rest were taken in the shaded part of the hillside from that point on. I actually thought about draggin' the buck higher up back into the sunlight but it was to darn heavy. George emailed me and said he took home 61 lbs of boned out meat! The shoulders and hind legs were still in it but that is 61 lbs with out ribcage, spine/neck, cape,legs, head and guts! It was the fattest buck I had ever cut up! Thanks JIM> Also, this buck had 17" tip-to-tip ears! And that wasn't me pulling them out either! They looked like floppy carp ears. His outside spread was 15" and with his height, he's one beautiful buck! Hey Casey, you are an animal! You can be my pack mule ANYDAY! JIM>

Thanks very much for your support and your time is better spent with your wife and kids anyway The price increase is way too steep in my mind. I could understand maybe $50 or less but not $200 It will hurt big outfits like USO but it hurts the smaller outfits like myself just as bad if not worse. I think something that most people don't understand, and something that Mr. Quimby pointed out, is that the cost of LEGALLY running an outfitting business is incredible! It always sounds like we make money especially when you see what most guys charge, but in reality most guys barely get by! I make all my money in the off season installing windsheilds, I "rat-pack" all my money and hope it's enough to keep food on the table during the hunting season and possibly have enough left over to hunt for myself. Nobody I know is getting rich off hunting, and 90% of the guides in this state have to have a second job just to stay afloat. With the price of gas, permits and now licenses.....it's very hard to come home from a hunt with much money in the wallet. Matter of fact.....I rarely ever make more than the guys that work for me.......and I don't have another job to go home to! I do it purely because I enjoy helping others experience what I love so much. When I looked over at my last client and saw he couldn't catch his breath and was shaking after taking his first 90" Coues, I thought......THAT is why I do what I do, no matter if I make money or not! That guy went home with a memory and a trophy that most likely would not have happened if it weren't for me! I take great pride in what I do and how I do it, I don't care if anyone dislikes me for guiding and trying to make a living at it. I do it legally and ethically and I have an incredible team working right along with me with the same values and passions. It sucks that we are getting hit with yet another added expense on top all the others but there's nothing we can do. The world is changing and mostly for the worse, live it up while you still can, you never know when we might be looking back remembering the good 'ol days when guides licenses were only $300 and animals were running freely and you could still draw a deer tag every year or two! "Enjoy every day in the field and make the most of it.............hire a guide" Thanks to all who don't resent my friends or myself for what we do, JIM>

Last night SE of Tucson in 34B/34A area, it was WHITE! It was getting too dark to get pic's but it was purdy! I bet it was an awesome sight this AM. JIM>

Christian and Casey (younghunter and firstcoueswas80) both teamed up and helped me out with one of our hunters and did a great job, they both have talent and knowledge that far exceeds their age and was a pleasure to spend time with them over the last couple of days. I also had the good fortune to meet Scottyboy as he stopped by and he even politely choked down a Moose steak that I overcooked and over seasoned sorry 'bout that Christian was able to digiscope some pic's and video of a nice buck that their client shot at and missed yesterday in it's bed. We all thought it was a done deal, the stalk was perfect, the setup and shot was perfect, but the placement was a tad low and the buck is still roaming the hillside! All you can do is put it in front of em' boys, the rest is up to them....you did good! Thanks for all the effort, JIM> Here is the pic's and video Christian took just before the shot yesterday. http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/CDWol...nt=PC180027.flv http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/CDWol...yofPC180025.jpg

Hey Jason, I was down in 9 during the windy days and it was COLD....i hate wind! I made it up to Kaibab for the last two days, dad killed on the last morning. He had to watch his client miss shots at some of the biggest deer he's ever seen, during the first part of the hunt! I guarantee he's not gonna guide another hunt when he has the same tag again! Thats a great buck you guys took up there Thanks, JIM>

Hey guys, finally home after several weeks of hard huntin'! We had a ton of success on the late elk hunts and alot of fun! My dad (Pops) had a 14 yr old client on the same deer tag he had drawn, so he left his gun in camp and hunted the first half of the hunt with the hunter. Unfortunately after 11 missed shots on unbelievable bucks, his hunt was over and a young hunter now intimately knows what "Buck Fever" is! Pops had to go home for a couple of days but with the elk hunt over, I packed up elk camp and drove to the other side of the "Big Hole in the Ground" and met up with Pops for the last two days of his hunt.........the only two days he had to hunt for himself! Saturday we saw several bucks but nothing big enough, the winds had picked up and the deer were holding tight. Sunday dawned calm and clear and the bucks were out chasing does! We had planned on only hunting the morning so the pressure was on! The first buck we found was a decent 4X4 frame but had a 5" kicker off his main beam and that was all Pops needed to see and the chase was on! We lost the buck in the flat, thick cedars so we walked out into one of the many big burn areas to glass a hidden bowl where my wife had missed a huge buck last year. We immediately found several groups of does and soon had another big buck trailing one of them! Walking away this buck looked huge and got both of us excited! We knew he had small front forks but score was the last thing on our minds at this point, this was a shooter! I stayed and Pops ran down and across a ravine to close the distance. As he neared the top, the buck pushed his does away towards the treeline, dad crested the top and saw what was taking place. I took off running down and across the same ravine to try and make it to the top of a small mountain to re-locate the buck, and hoped Pops would see what I was doing and do the same. As I was trying to catch my breath halfway up the mountain, a shot rang out from the top! I could not believe dad had made it to the top before me! I ran the rest of the way and found Pops, rifle up and still ready to shoot. I snuck up and he said he thinks he hit the buck but it was in the trees and there were very few openings. We scanned the treeline picking out does and just then the buck reappeared and stood facing us. Pops repositioned, we studied his rack to make sure it was the same buck and "BOOM", Pops made a perfect shot killing the buck before it hit the ground! We later found out the first shot was close enough to shave his back and the second shot was head on and through the heart. We were excited, it was a great buck especially for the last day, last hunt. I still am amazed and impressed with how my dad made it happen on this deer......... he was on this buck like a "fat kid on a twinkie"! Being aggressive was the only way to get this buck with how fast he was moving to the treeline, and Pops got his twinkie! I'm glad I got to share the last two days with my dad, it was a blast and I'm proud of you Pops! JIM> (p.s. no offense to any fat kids who like twinkies )

That's a fact!........oops....i'll go back into my hole now Jorge G.