COOSEFAN

Doug, those were some amazing pictures as usuall! Sorry to hear you never let any lead fly, I've heard the same tale from many on that hunt.....at least you were able to capture the beauty of being there on film! JIM>

Way to go guys!!! I knew there would be some nice bucks hittin' the dirt with you guys in those hills! I just needed ya over with me in my unit! LOL! Congrats to you and Bret, can't wait to see the videos and hear the full story's! JIM>

Dang guys, thanks a bunch for your very nice comments, I really appreciate it! I didn't buy the Buff tag and I actually stayed away from the areas that I know might have them......I couldn't afford to run back to Flag or even purchase the tag, so I avoided the critters altogether I killed the biggest buck I seen by far, I knew of bigger bucks but hadn't seen them by the time the hunt started so I went with what I had.....and happy I did! I know alot of folks were having a really hard time finding the big bucks and there were a bunch of smaller bucks killed on those first couple days. I think with this weather they are getting right now, the last few days are gonna be incredible up there.....there will be some giants taken I'm sure in the next few days! Thanks again guys! JIM>

That is a big ol' buck Jakob, I'm super proud of ya and can't wait to see what you tag next! Freakin' awesome pic's too dad! JIM>

Whew....you're tellin' me! You hit the nail on the head with "Self Inflicted Pressure".......I know that one all too well! LOL! I tend to do that on purpose though, it makes me hunt harder when I put pressure on myself. I was gettin' pretty cocky with all my text messages tellin' folks how and when it was gonna happen!.......tends to work though, but it is an amazing feeling like you said, all the pressure was off! It was nice having the Condor Chicks in camp, it had been a long time without any company at that point, I even told them exactly what the buck was going to look like that I planned on bringin' in.......just addin' more pressure Thanks all for the great reply's, I knew this was a carp even a coues lover could like! JIM>

Yeah, those extra tines definitely make him what he is, but I was in love with those G4's!!! G+F said 3-5 yrs old, but I would bet he had to be 5 or 6 going off his nose and ridglines on the skull, still not an old deer, maybe just gettin' into his prime.....would love to see him with another good year or two on him...maybe I should have held off? It was nice to be close to camp, I promised the "Condor Ladies" that I would pack out the guts so getting him to camp whole with the use of the Rhino made that an easy chore........no eggs in camp though so we settled for brats on the grill. The deer would come in at all times, no pattern, but the bucks were usually at night with the exception of the first pic of Sticks being late morning. I never got a single deer on cam up top.......maybe the fact that I had to pull ice out of the tank every day had something to do with that? There were deer up there though, just scattered and hittin' dirt tanks more than anything else. Trick tanks were definitely more productive down low as you would expect. JIM>

A few more details to the hunt..... It was neat that I got great cell phone reception while sittin' in my tent, so even though I was alone for that first week I bugged everyone on my cell phone list constantly! LOL! I was able to keep my close friends and family updated with cam pics and progress and they all got to be there on the emotional roller coaster with me....very cool! Thanks guys for not getting upset with me at all the "drunk-texting" late into the night, you all kept me company! Also, one boring day up top I decided that with all the dang squirrels runnin' around, I needed to get the dust off my trigger finger! After cleaning that first squirrel I decided that was enough, i forgot how much they stink but I cleaned em' and took em' back for lunch. Here's the before and after cell phone pics.... Before After I just fried em' up and put the peices in with my Green chile stew.......it actually tasted just like it should..squirrel and green chiles.......I ended up eatin' as much as I could but eventually picked out the squirrel peices. I wouldn't reccomend this recipe

Thanks for all the kind reply's guys! I'm still on cloud nine and can't believe it all worked out like i had dreamed! The G4's were 15" on the left and 13" on the right, G2's were over 19" on the right and almost 19" on the left. G3's were 13 6/8" on right and 13 2/8" on left. Main beams were identical at 23 2/8" and he did only have 19" inside. The mass was 34 6/8" total also. I never thought he would score that high, i did feel that he would hit the 200" mark, but those extra tines put him up there, just has tons of measurement with all that length! Here's some pics without that giant body attached!......and sportin' the colors too

ALRIGHT...Alright....I gotter done, my freakin' 'puter is almost dead and I have never been so frustrated with it...but for you all I endured several hours of downloading, copyin' and pastin' and the dang photos are up....FINALLY! Here's the link to the story........ http://forums.coueswhitetail.com/forums/in...t=0#entry126961

Also, thanks for letting me post up the first pics, i know quite a few of ya have them on your cell phones........and yes, Mike, you would have it too...need to upgrade for sure! LOL! JIM>

Sorry guys, I honestly am not holdin' out on purpose! My external hardrive was sabotaged by my dog and I've been clearing enough room on my internal drive to handle 426 full quality photos! I finally have them on the computer now have to sort and load up to Photobucket.....it'll still take a while...sorry again. BTW.......he's not really that big....he's only got a 19" inside spread credit!

Thanks, ehunt besides coues hunting that has to be one of the best times and places to hunt. It looks like a banner year up there for you guys that have tags. Been some giant deer seen this summer. Good Luck!!! That statement just got my blood pumpin'! Thanks for all the pic's guys, you all have some whoppers for sure! Eric, those desert mulies are a breed of their own and arent' as easy to come by, fantastic job on that collection!!! I'm leaving again for quite a while, so hopefully there's a bunch more pics on here when I return! It's been really nice to get my "Muley fix" here instead of going over to the other site! Thanks all for the great pics! JIM> Jim, I'm sure it has to do with scouting or hunting and hurry back with some good stories and some pics for us all. TJ I'm sure I will.....I just hope that this time everyone gives me a chance to pack up my camp and take a shower once i get home! All you guys here can be like a pack of wolves....but I'm proud to know ya! I'm home! I know quite a few of ya have already seen pics and the rest of ya will have to wait until I can get my computer fixed (by this afternoon) before I can get pics posted......sorry! I will say that scouting a week prior and using trail cams is the biggest reason I was successful, very tough hunt for the big ones, but I had the hunt I've always dreamed about while only carrying the rifle for the first day and an hour of the second! Story and pics to follow.......

Best of luck to ya Tony, can't wait to see the success pics JIM>

The hunt started out with my buddy Craig bringing his two boys (Tyler and Tanner) down for their first Coues hunt and I was helping a friend in the neighboring unit so we camped together. Opening day was uneventful for me in my unit but it was the opposite for Craig and his boys, here is Craig's story as he writes it...... Tyler harvested his first Coues Deer! We started out our day by hiking up the highest mountain possible. If it wasn't for the boys caring me up the mountain, we would not have made it. We started glassing for several minutes before I spotted a nice two point buck walking away from us. I told Tanner I spotted a nice two point buck and I asked him if he wanted to shoot the deer. With it being opening day, Tanner said he would like to wait for a three point or bigger. I turned and asked Tyler if he would like to shoot the deer. Tyler said this is my first chance to take a Coues deer and I would love to harvest that deer as my first Coues! We got up and walked about 300 hundred yards along the mountain side, when Tanner said, "there he is, in the bottom by the tall yellow grass". Tyler and I took our packs off and hurried down the mountain about 30 yard to get set up for a shot. The Coues disappeared by hind some trees for a long time. Finally, Tyler spotted the Coues walking up the anther side of the mountain. We moved along side of the mountain about 20 yards. I range the deer at 230 yards. I told Tyler he is 230 yards away, and he could take the shot when he was ready, the deer would not stop walking, so I made a grunting noise to stop the Coues. He stopped and the next thing I heard was the loud bang. The Couse ran about 20 yards when it hit the ground running! Tyler and I jump and yelled in excitemement. What a great shot he made, hitting the deer in the perfect spot. Oh, and did I mention he was 230 yards away! My friend and i returned back to camp that night and was happy to see Tylers success, but unfortunately my friend received bad news from home and had to drive all the way back to CA after just driving here the day before! So now that I was left without a tag in my unit I was able to hunt with Craig and his boys for the next few days. On Saturday evening, after hiking up into a remote canyon, Craig threw down his tripod and 15's as fast as he could.....he always does this to try and get a jump on me and that is the only reason he glasses up critters before I do Anyways, this time was no different, I'm still messing with my tripod when Craig says he sees a deer......then...NO, IT'S A LION!!! Craig was excited and I asked him if he had a tag.....I DON'T! WHOOHOOOOO......I DO!!! Tanner handed me his rifle as Craig ranged the Lion at 265 yards straight across from us, I swung my Jim White head over, slid the shooting sticks under the rear of the gun and soon had a broadside lion staring at me through the scope! I had shot Tanners rifle before which is a youth sized .243 and has a seriously stiff trigger pull. I have been shooting my new rifle a bunch lately and it's set at 2 1/4 lbs. so you can imagine what happened as I slowly squeezed the trigger on this gun.......nothing! I pulled off, checked the safety and then remembered I'm not shooting my gun! I settled back in, lined the cross hair on the lions back and in line with the back of the front leg and began applying pressure.....still applying pressure.....pulling harder.....BOOM....WHOP!!! Craig yelled "he's hit", the Lion rolled into a tree and was growling and screaming and you could here all heck breakin' loose! A split second later Craig yelled he had a second Lion moving uphill and I kept asking if it was hurt as I stayed on the tree where I figured my Lion was at. Craig said the other Lion was just slowly walking uphill and away and was not hurt but just then my Lion rolled out and stood broadside, I was on him fast and asked Craig if that was the one I shot because I couldn't believe it was just standing there, Craig said he sees blood on this one so I started applying pressure again....and as the gun finally went off the Lion had just jumped forward for a clean miss At this point we could see the Lion for only a second as he took long jumps down the mountain in into the bottom. With very little light remaining, Craig and I crossed the canyon and got to where the shot was, I couldn't see much sign in the grass so we took off on the trial hoping to find a dead Lion but soon ran out of light. That night I called my bro-n-law and he dropped what he was doing, grabbed his dogs and met me before light the following morning. We took the dogs around the trail and up to where the first shot happened and that's where I realized I had indeed hit the Lion and it was a body hit. There was a rock that had chunks of hair, skin and even deer hair with chunks of partially digested meat from the pass through, so I knew it was a gut shot but there was very little blood. The dogs did an amazing job picking up the track at each spot where the Lion had landed as he made his quick decent down the mountian. We would find small drops of blood every 50 yards or so which verified we were still on the track, I even found this chunck of stuff about 100 yards from the hit! With the grass being so tall, a 14 hour old track, jumped, wounded and running Lion and with the heat and 20 mph winds....the dogs had their work cut out for them to say the least! After almost a full mile of hot and cold trailing with very little blood we came to a big parking lot for the AZ Trail and the Lion walked across it which is a bad thing when trailing a Lion, for some reason the scent doesn't hold well on roads and this was a freakin' well used parking lot!!! My bro knew it was a bad deal when we noticed the dogs heading towards this area but we pulled them around and started doing loops for the remainder of the morning and never picked the track back up. Most people think Lion hunting with dogs is a "cake walk" and takes no skill.......that couldn't be further from the truth.....even with a wounded lion it's still very tough depending on the conditions and severity of the wound and this kitty was obviously not wanting to lay down and die anytime soon. I'm very bummed out about it but at least feel like I did all I could do. I have to give a huge thank you to Jimmy, my bro-n-law for coming to help me and to his dogs that amazed me at how well they trailed and how far they were able to take the track...I owe ya one big time bro!!! The next couple of days were spent helping Tanner find the buck he wanted. The grass made it difficult to locate bedded bucks but we did find a few great bucks and put on long stalks but ended up not filling the tag. We even found another Lion but it was running up over a distant hill so no effort was given on my part for that one I've got to give Tyler and Tanner credit though, those boys did a fantastic job and always stayed positive and vigilant when the going was tough! Craig's done a great job with them and they're definitely turning into killin' machines.......but we really need to get some trigger jobs done on their rifles Well thats my story, not really a happy ending for me, but at least now I get to head up to Kaibab where a big ol' flop ear is gonna die in a little more than a week!!! Thanks for reading this long story, JIM>

Catching him?.......I think Gina done got beat! Way to go Colton, freakin' stud buck....would be a dream buck in my book! Congrats to you!!! JIM>

Hey Tyler, I already spoke to Chrissy and he volunteered your services, once your tag is filled, to come help me in 35! I'll have food, water and shelter..you bring your bino's and those "coues findin' eyes" of yours

Thanks about the pic! I couldn't help but imagine what a "trophy photo" would have looked like on that hill at that moment with the sunset and backdrop, that would have been awesome! I'm sure Tyler will see everyone's posts, thanks for the reply's! JIM>

WhoooHooo! My blood is pumpin' now! I'm leaving tomorrow for my Kaibab hunt that starts in 8 days.....and counting! If a buck like yours steps out he's in trouble! Congrats to all on great bucks! JIM>

Great job on the video, filming and the hunt, congrats to your bro! JIM>

Freakin' awesome job to you and your pappy and awesome write-up with great pics! That Tyler is a stud, I'm gonna have to hire him to help me in a few weeks in 35A! Congrats to you and your dad, you guys definitely deserve bucks like that! BTW.....I like the hat, where can I get one of those? JIM>

One of the neatest character bucks I've seen, huge congrats to you on a once in a lifetime trophy!!! JIM>

Great story and awesome pic's as usual Doug, sounds like a great time in awesome country! JIM>

Definitely looks like you guys worked hard to get him! Congrats to your dad! We found 3 lions total this past week, there's definitely a few out there! JIM>

Doesn't surprise me at all.....you and your family always get it done with big bucks!!! Way to go on another great buck! Congrats to her! JIM>

Sorry for the delay, but here's the pics and story. My bro n' law "Jimmy" and a friend of his "Tim" had gone hunting near my house a week prior and jumped two lions and caught one of them. The lion wedged itself under a huge boulder pile and it was decided that although it was possible to kill it, it would be almost impossible to get it out, so they let it go. That's when they called me and I jumped at the chance to go the following week. Friday rolled around and Jimmy, Tim, another friend of ours "Bud" and I headed out to the same spot as before. The one thing I hate about Lion hunting with these dudes is they go just as fast as their pups......and I can't! I'm used to hiking and glassing and they are used to hiking fast and never stopping! I managed to keep up better than I have in the past, but it felt like a death-march for the first 2 miles of straight-up, non-stop hiking! Jimmy and I grabbed his dogs and veered off to the right, Bud took his dogs and headed up farther and Tim had gone to the north end of the mtns. to try and cut a different track. Bud called on the radio and said his pups had struck hard on a track and were blazin' outta there directly away from where Jimmy and I were! I cringed 'cause I knew there was a big canyon already between Bud and us and we'd have to cross that just to start on the trail with them! 3 big ol' NASTY canyons later we finally caught up to the dogs and they had a gorgeous Lion backed up on a cliff for us to admire! Bud was already on top with the dogs and Jimmy and I came in from below. We could tell it wasn't a big cat and the cliff it held up on was very dangerous for the dogs so we took the chance of pulling the dogs off and letting the cat go. The dogs had already caught this cat on two other rock piles so we figured we had a decent chance of getting it one more time. The dogs were pulled off, the cat jumped and dissappeared, and then the dogs flew out after her! We knew that the dogs were beat, but they worked their butts off trying to find that cat again. The problem was the cat had cut back across the trail it made previously and who knows where she went after that! We gave the dogs all of their water and then gave em' all of our water and headed out. It was very tough but without a doubt it was worth all the effort to see those dogs work and to see a Lion at the end of the trail! Thanks, JIM>