COOSEFAN

+1, also, I have no ties to this post. To re-iterate, typically a fully outfitted Mule Deer hunt on a quality ranch is around $10K. Also, a fully outfitted Coues hunt will average around $4K. You can get cheaper prices if you DIY or negotiate less accomodations. I've seen combo Muley/Coues hunts go for $16,500.00 on high quality proven ranches and they had no problem booking hunters! Fortunately for american hunters, most of the outfitters and ranch owners in Mexico have realized the economic situation we've all been dealing with and most have dropped their prices accordingly. But even with dropped prices, $3,500 for Coues and $7,500 for Muley is the norm and I'd be worried if I paid less than that for a fully outfitted/guided hunt!

I'm not sure to what extent it gives windage, I just know you still needed a wind meter to get the wind speed. I don't know the max yardage, it acquired everything I ranged with it and the farthest target I ranged was a coues at 1640 with the G7 resting on top of tripod mounted binos.

Gino, I just used the new 12x50 EL's in Mexico last week and all I can say is there is absolutely no better optic on the market! Both guys I hunted with had traded their 15's in on these new EL's and haven't looked back! I was being out-glassed by a guy using the 12x50's at long range and I was using my 15's! Their insane clarity and quality makes up for lacking 3x of magnification. PS...I also carried around the new 10x42 EL Range binos for a full week and I can't begin to accurately describe how amazing those are!!! JIM>

No offense to those folks using factory ammo and 300 yard guns! I'm just saying if that's the type of shooter you are there are much more user friendly and cheaper rangfinders on the market.

Hey Justin, I used one a couple weeks ago on a hunt in 24A. The guy I was helping is actually my rifle builder and also a retired engineer that LOVES any knew gadget that hits the market related to long range shooting. He had recently purchased one and we tested it out on rocks at very steep angles and very extreme yardages and lastly I used it to range his buck. The G7 is basically a little computer that calculates EVERYTHING for you except wind speed! Just carry a Kestrel wind checker and your set! The angle corrections were amazingly accurate as we tested it out on rocks between 1100-1250 yards at very extreme angles which seemed like straight up and I watched as he crushed small rocks consistently with amazing accuracy by simply shooting the adjusted MOA readings! Another cool thing about it was you could enter multiple rifles and save them in the unit so you can just tell it which gun your using and it calculates all the variables and gives you readings based off the specifics you entered for that certain rifle! The G7 is amazing at what it does but I will say it's not for a beginner. Somebody that doesn't have a decent understanding about rifles, MOA's or the many variables involed with long range shooting will only be confused with the G7. Also, somebody that just uses factory ammo and a 300 yard gun will just be wasting their money if they bought the G7. If your serious about getting a G7 Justin let me know and I'll put you in touch with my friend, he will talk your ear off about it!

To all my fellow "Leftover Lovers", I am needing a fix! I have been trying to do searches for posts related to 35 A and B hunts and it gets frustrating because I know there's been more posts then what I'm finding! We've killed a bunch of deer on leftover tags and I consider myself a "Leftover Lover" and perfectly fine with that! I'll take the scraps anyday and I'm excited as heck about my "scrap" 35A tag this year! These hunts are tough and after each "buck-less" day I spend in these units i'm reminded of why there's leftover tags available every year! Despite the buck-less or no-deer-days, I still love these hunts, the challenge of them, the beautiful country and how rewarding it is when you finally find and kill a buck is awesome! So, help me get my fix and post up any stories or pics that you have of hunts in the 35's, leftover or not and regardless whether it's been posted before or not, I wanna see em'! Thanks, JIM> aka... "Leftover Lover"!

I was just browsing a Mexico website not long ago, can't remember which one, but it had an article about a Jaguar survey in Mexico and concluded there were at least 4000 Jags alive and well in Mexico! I was happy to hear that! Most amazing animal I've ever seen! JIM>

I did see one while hunting south of Obregon, MX several years ago. It was darker colored than some pics that I've seen but not black. My client, Steve, was sitting with me and my friend, Craig, was doing a push through the canyon below us with a machete. The country was way to thick to be hunting coues in! Craig radioed me saying he smelled something dead, I told him to find it as I hoped it was a buck and would give us a better idea of the genetics on that ranch. As he slashed his way in the thick stuff he heard something run out and radioed me saying something busted out. I spotted it climbing up out of the canyon from where Craig was and immediately thought it was a lion. The sun was coming over the hill in front of me so I was looking at the shadowed backside of him, he looked too dark for a lion but had the long tail. As he neared the top of the first ravine he turned broadside and my heart stopped beating! I could plainly see the spots and he looked like a spotted bear with a tail! I yelled to Craig on the radio that it was a Jaguar and instead of a reply back, all I could hear was some serious machete slashing as he ran back to us full speed! Craig was a little scared to say the least finding out he just kicked a Jaguar of a kill! Steve and I just sat in awe for probably 5 mins as we watched the Jaguar climb slowly up out of the canyon and over the top! To this day I kick myself in the butt for not running to my pack and getting the video camera! I had full intentions of getting a trail cam on whatever the kill was but guiding duties wouldn't allow it and my client didn't want to lose half a day of hunting to do it Also, prior to us hunting that ranch, the cowboys found a dead cow. They put poison on it to kill the Lion that they thought killed the cow and the next day found a dead Jaguar! The ranch owner took the dead Jag to a taxidermist in town to have it lifesized. I told them I didn't believe it so they took me there to see it for myself! The cape was in a 55 gallon drum with tanning solution and I tried lifting it up out of the barrel but even while holding the Jags face with arms fully extended the back end was still in the bottom of the barrel! It was huge! That Jaguar appeared darker colored than the one I saw but I figured it was the the tanning solution making it appear that dark.

Awesome job Chasin' A Dream Crew!!! Huge congrats Colton, the character on that bull is phenomenal!!! I personally know one of the clients and he was thrilled with his hunt and his bull, you guys did awesome! Congrats on a producing a great late season in tough conditions!!! JIM>

Hey guys, I just got home from our first hunt in Mexico and just saw these replys. My hunt in 35A was fun only for the fact I got to spend time with my friends Craig and Tyler (elkhunter) and share a camp for a few days with my dad and brother Matt. Another high point was getting to hang out with Brad Fulk of Rio Sonora Outfitters, he's a great guy and someone I'd love to hunt with someday! I hunted my butt off and it seemed like the whole time all I did was try to hold my tripod still as the wind blew nonstop. Anytime you have a tag in your pocket and have a chance to carry a rifle around in the coues woods it's a good time so I did enjoy that. The problem is I'm a killer and put a lot of pressure on myself to produce and no matter how hard I tried the luck wasn't on my side. It's all good though, as I mentioned earlier, I got to hang out with some great guys in coues country! It was after all my gear was soaked and the truck was loaded and heading out when I finally saw a buck. My wife had told me not to come home without deer meat so I jumped at the opportunity. I initially didn't know it was a buck, just got a glimpse of it running down a canyon from the road. I took off after it with some serious last chance enthusiasm and finally relocated him across a canyon. He was running sidehill and in the scope I could tell he had bone on his head so I made him dead. It ended up being a spike but I didn't care, it was a perfect deer to bring home to the wife! If I had taken pics I'd post em' up but I didn't. I do have to say that little deer was the best tasting meat I've ever had! My wife and I have already eaten the entire deer and she keeps telling me I need to shoot little deer more often! BTW... It really bugs me when guys sit 10 feet behind animals in kill photos trying WAY too hard to make it appear bigger than it is. I have a general rule I try to follow, more than an arms length is too far and you are just trying to fool people. If your sitting so far you can't reach the antler or ear with your hand then you are trying too hard to make him appear bigger. Sitting back or to the side at no more than arms length is usually all it takes to show off a trophy in a classy way. just my $.02 JIM>

Price changed! I'm very surprised he hasn't sold this yet, It's a great deal! JIM>

Yeah I checked earlier and it still said "Not Yet Available" but the results are up if you veiw the results. I didn't get my Goulds tag but I'm excited as heck about the Turkey tag i got! Also got 19A HAM! Gonna be a fun spring! JIM>

I got charged for 2 Turkey tags and a Pig tag! I put my wife in separately for Turkey because I applied for Goulds! I did have a normal Unit 9 hunt 3rd choice, but I've got my fingers crossed I got the Goulds tag! The wife only wanted Turkey so I got the pig tag and i'm sure its a HAM tag. The Turkeys are in trouble this year, Whoohoo! JIM>

Also, a donation will be made to CouesWhitetail.com if it sells here! This rig would make for a perfect hunting vehicle, everything works on it and it will go anywhere! Thanks for checking it out! JIM>

VERY pic heavy and VERY long story.......go check out the pics then come back and read it! .......now there are more pics on page 3 too! Well I know I rubbed it in a little that I drew a Kaibab tag but I seriously was excited for it! I drew the same tag 7 years ago and didn't have the time to scout and didn't have the patience to hold out, so this was finally my chance to hopefully accomplish my goal of taking a great Muley buck! Several folks graciously offered advice and info and I really am grateful they went out of their way to help me out! Kevin H. (wetmule), Lance, Bing (grandfather of the 'Bab) and several close friends all went out of their way to give me tips and ideas that really kept me busy for the whole week prior to the season....Thanks very much guys, I owe ya all one! My goal for the hunt was to try and enjoy it as much as possible, it's not very often I get my own tag and I wanted to cherish every second! Everyone asked me what I was holding out for and all I could say was I wanted a "special" buck! I really didn't care about score, I just wanted something that stood out or was a one of a kind and I was prepared to be there for 17 days to get it done! I planned on being in the unit for a week prior to the hunt to scout areas that I hadn't been to before and devise hunting strategies for each. I started at one end of the unit and planned on finishing at the other end, then picking my favorite spot for the hunt. With the way the weather had been, there were deer at all elevations from one end of the unit to the other! Here's some pics I took along the way at the different elevations i scouted....some of these are cell phone pics so quality suffers a little....there were deer in all these places! I found it very tough to find any concentrations of deer and even tougher to find the big bucks! I burned A LOT of fuel driving back and forth changing thousands of feet of elevation each day setting cameras and marking waypoints for glassing areas. I figured the older bucks were still way high and really thought I would start there but I cringed at the thought!!! I HATE rifle hunting up there and almost had Pops bring up an open sighted rifle for the task! The country where some of these big bucks were held up was really thick and nasty, areas where you were relying on a whole lotta luck! I have loved this late hunt mainly because I love hunting the winter range and that's where I wanted to be, but I still felt like i needed to be up high. Thankfully, 4 days prior to the opener I finally had an awesome buck on camera, and he was off the rim....Whoohoo!! The pic only showed the bucks back half of his rack as a doe was standing in front of him, but I could see enough to know that he was indeed a "special" buck! This tank was within walking distance of my camp and was situated in some really thick country at the base of some tall and thick mountains. I kept this buck in mind and excitedly checked the camera daily as I continued to make my way up to the top of the plateau to scout....cussing the whole way up Did I mention I hate rifle hunting thick pines? Here's that first cam pic...... So many people were telling me to hunt high so I felt i had to continue but my heart just wasn't in it. I was having no luck with cams or glassing up there but I know the bucks were there, the sign proved it, but there are so many hidey holes it's not even funny....I have patience, but I didn't have enough to stay up there, especially with a shooter buck right next to my camp! Luckily this buck wasn't real rutty yet and still had a tight pattern, so I was able to get him a few more times on camera which kept me interested. Here's some more pics, I never got any that really showed me what he was, but it was enough to get me excited!!! With the hunt now only 1 day away I had to make up my mind. I sat in my tent and went through my pictures and studied the topo. The non-typical buck near my camp was really growing on me and I decided I needed to see him in person. The cam pics I had of him never showed his whole rack but it was enough for me to figure he had to be low to mid 190's with lots of character, and that was enough for me so he then became my #1 priority. I had no clue where he was coming from, but I did know where I hoped he wasn't! The mountains directly to the east are big and thick, and to the west it was long thick canyons with open tops which would make it a lot easier to locate him. I set out opening morning with the thought that I would try different routes around this tank until I found him.......no matter how many days it would take! I walked out of camp on opening morning and couldn't believe how many road hunters were cruising around, you would have thought it was an early hunt! I think the ones that saw me thought I was wasting my time walking around, but little did they know they were driving past some great bucks every day! Shortly after hiking out of camp and still very near the road, I found a doe in a window on a thick slope and then saw a large bodied deer move behind her then disappeared over the ridge but it was still too dark to tell what it was. I made a mental note of it and moved on. After making my trek through several canyons i had found and passed up several decent bucks and was slowly working my way back towards camp. My plan was to slowly work some other bedding areas behind camp but as I topped out I noticed a buck walking slowly along a ridgeline. I threw my binos up and lost my breath.....it was him! I ranged him at 323 yards and then watched him again in my binos.....and continued watching him.....and still continued watching......I HAD BUCK FEVER! Yeah...i'm not ashamed to admit it, I was freaking out, very short of breath, legs were weak, and I watched as this buck slowly walked well within my rifle range and was now starting to disappear! I realized I was messing up by staring at him through the binos, so I dropped, loaded a round, ranged him again, found him in the scope and tried my darndest to hold steady! His body was slowly disappearing behind the ridge while I had the crosshairs on his shoulder but I didn't feel comfortable with how unstable I was so I just watched him disappear!!! I ran to the top of the ridge and found that he had already gone into the sea of thick trees and the wind was blowing right in where he went, so I ran back down the hill to get my wind right and then returned to camp. I was upset at myself, thinking of all the different things I would have done if I was guiding somebody and trying to figure out why I got so worked up! It's been years since I lost my senses like that and I felt like a rookie.......but I loved every second of it, that was the largest buck I have ever had in my scope!!! I just remember barely seeing daylight through his rack with all them tines, it looked like a bunch of sticks sticking up, so from that point on his name was "Sticks"! I now had my heart set on this buck and it was him or nothing........well, at least until the last day Pops, my brother "Tommy", and long time friend "Gary", all came up that afternoon to help me for a few days. I snuck back in to where I last saw the buck once the wind changed at around 1:30 and "the A-Team" as they are commonly referred to as, went to different points to watch the backdoor areas for me. The road hunters were out in force that evening and it really got on my nerves but it didn't seem to bother the deer that were in the canyons out of sight from the road. The buck never came out, but I felt good that I would see him again! The morning of the second day had Tommy and I hiking out of camp to do the same trek I had done before. Pops and Gary drove out and were going to hike around close by to watch the backdoor areas again. I stopped at the point where I had seen the doe and big bodied deer the morning before, threw the binos up and there was another, or same, doe standing in the same window! I started losing my breath again, my heart beat started racing and I wasn't even sure there would be a buck.....but I just knew there had to be... everything was the same and this is where "Sticks" probably came from on the previous morning! Tommy got the window in his binos and soon we noticed a small 2 point feed through.....followed by a BIG RACK!!! HOLY...THAT'S HIM! I didn't know for sure, I just knew I saw enough that it had to be "Sticks" and I kept asking Tommy what he saw. Tommy just said "BIG BUCK", so that pretty much confirmed it was probably Sticks! Tommy started ranging areas on the hill while I set up on the tripod and shooting sticks, constantly telling myself to calm down! The hill had only a few more windows from our vantage point before the deer would feed over into a thick ravine, so I knew we had to get him fast...that is IF he appeared again in the next window! Through my scope I could see the doe appear in the next window and Tommy ranged her at 381 yards, I turned my turret up to 375 and then deducted 2 clicks for the elevation (figured that out several days prior!) and held firm on the window and saying my prayers! The 2 point then stepped through and Tommy said "NO, no, not him".......just then long tines appeared! Again, this is just after shooting light, but even with the low light I can see enough to know it had to be Sticks. I held on the shoulder as he stopped perfectly in the window.......CLICK!!!!! OMG...I FORGOT TO CHAMBER A ROUND! I slammed a shell in faster than ever before, centered the crosshair on the now quartered away buck and......BLAM!!! I'm blown off target but coming back down with another shell already loaded, I cranked the power down and scanned while Tommy yelled out the "play by play"........ "He's hit....he's runnin' left......he's still runnin'".....I scream "How Far LEFT??!!" I can't find em' through the trees and I'm freaked out that he's runnin' but Tommy then yells out......"HE CRASHED"!!! WHOOOHOOO....STICKS IS DOWN! I couldn't believe it, I even yanked out my 15's just to verify I had indeed killed Sticks and sure enough he lay still about 70 yards from where I put a 180gr bullet in and out behind his shoulder! Pops and Gary had still been close enough to hear everything go down and were right there with us immediately after the shot! I have killed a bunch of muleys before, none of them were ever big, but it has always been my dream to take a really big buck and I had just realized that dream! What made it special for me was all the nights thinking about this buck, staring at the cam pics and topos, trying to figure out what his rack looked like, where he lived, what he did everyday, getting buck fever like it was my first time, and to finally seal the deal with all my practice and equipment working perfectly.......was just an amazing experience that I most definitely will never forget! Thanks if you read the story, I felt bad for leading ya on earlier so I figured I'd give ya the full story and a bunch of pics to make up for it! With 6 other guys in camp helping me figure out where to run the lines for the cable, we came up with a gross score just over 218" with 14 scoreable points! I definitely underscored him off cam pics but never got a great pic of him, once i saw him in person, though, I knew he was "special" and I still can't believe it's MY tag stuck to that rack....WHOOHOOO!!! Thanks again, JIM> ....Ain't no Coues deer!!!

Yep, that was me. That was the toughest hunt I've ever had! I'm still having nightmares about my bino's shaking violently while I'm trying to glass! That wind sucked!

No freakin' way Justin.......I know you drug that deer across the highway from "B"! Ha, just kiddin'! HUGE congrats to you man, that buck is a stud!!! To kill a buck like that out of that unit is something special, awesome job to all involved! JIM> That unit still sucks

"Also, I believe Jm Mullins totally jinxed me because I read a post of his in his thread the 35s that said he hated 36A. Dang Jim! " HA! Sorry Justin! If a guy just wanted to kill a spike, 36A is the perfect hunt, tons of deer but very very hard to find anything of any size. Truth be known, I don't have enough experience there for anyone to take my $0.02 to heart, but I have spent enough time there to know that I don't like it! There are folks who have little honey holes in 36A and consistently kill decent bucks but I have no clue where those spots are, and I've tried hard in the past to find my own. I personally think that most of the decent or big bucks are found in the vast flat areas that are predominantly Muley country, but you have to rely on lots of luck to bump into those bigger Coues bucks out there. In 36A, I've had better luck NOT glassing the mountains, but rather getting up on the mountains and glassin the flats. Best of luck if your still hunting Justin! JIM>

Alright, I just got home from 35A and I'm seriously trying really hard to say i'm still a "leftover lover" but I just got done with the hardest coues hunt I've ever seen!!! I can still say I haven't eaten leftover tag soup, but I can also say that I glassed my A$$ off for 4 days through hurricanes and blizzards and I never glassed up a buck! I chased down the only buck I saw yesterday evening, which is the smallest i've ever killed, and hammered em' just to end the misery and go home. I still love the leftover tags, I just picked the wrong one to buy this year. The hardest weather to hunt Coues in is high winds and that's exactly what we had the whole time! I HATE WIND....but, i still love the leftover tags JIM>

I'll be there on the late Nov. hunt with 2 tags. Will be using horses to pack in so i probably won't be in anybody's way Found 2 really big bucks and several decent bucks while scouting, but definitely not impressed with overall deer numbers tho. I'm expecting a tough hunt but hoping for the best! Best of luck to you all! JIM>

I just got back from Mexico scouting ranches so I haven't been hunting AZ yet. My leftover hunt starts this Friday and although I am excited for it I'm also sick now so that's gonna suck! Hopefully I can shake it before Friday! I've never had to eat a leftover tag, but even if I do on this years hunt, I'll still be a leftover lover! You just can't beat a guaranteed tag! One day we'll no longer have this opportunity and we'll be wishing we did! I'll post up a big story with pics when I return, kill or not! JIM>

Howdy folks, I initially had other plans to hunt in Texas but that fell through so I ran down and bought a leftover 35A nov. 4th tag! I'm excited as heck to still be able to get this tag this late and am surprised there were that many leftover still? I have been out of the loop recently but I know there were some serious fires down there. Does anyone know how much of 35A burned or where the fires were located? I remember hearing about the Huachucas burning but never heard if there were any fires near the Canelo's or down by the lake? I typically hunt areas on all sides of the unit so I'm sure I can find a place that isn't burned...well, at least I hope! Thanks for any input! JIM>

Mr. Quimby said it perfectly........ "As for the answer to your question, hunt places with deer that others do not. Many are remote; many aren't."!

I think the country in the 35's is the most beautiful in the state! The hunts can be very hard but anyone that puts in the effort and stays positive has a chance at killing a nice buck! Ya know, I keep saying how I "love" these leftover tags, but the reality is that once the hunt starts every year I start pulling my hair out and cussing the tag, the heat, all the other hunters and the lack of deer! But, the beauty of it is that all of a sudden when that bachelor herd of nice bucks materialize within rifle range, you think it's the best hunt in the world! LOL! I can't wait to start pulling my hair out! JIM>

Let's see some pics and story!!! I'm seriously getting WAY too excited for my hunt this year! LOL! JIM>