gotcoues

I have to start off by saying thank you to Cody Whiting AGAIN! He took me into one of his spots and put me on this buck. I bought a left over tag in 36a a couple weeks ago. Archery deer didn't go well this year for me, but I did have a great time spending time with family and friends. Also it was my son Dillon's first archery hunt and he ended up missing a forky due to extreme buck fever. Didn't do a lot of scouting for this hunt due to the fact I just wanted to fill this tag with a mediocre buck, have fun and put some meet in the freezer. Also, the family and I got drawn for a lot of top notch hunts and a family man can only spend so much time in the woods. Opening day my good friend Hank and I found ourselves struggling to hold our binos down in extreme windy conditions. We found pigs, does and very small bucks. Day two my son Dillon and I went out. Again we could only find does, pigs and small bucks and an abundance of road hunters driving around like rats in a maze while we glassed. Dillon and I tried again on Sunday and on the drive out I told him, "If you glass it up, then I'll shoot it!" Wouldn't you know my boy has a buck in the first half hour or so. Only problem is it was the world's smallest whitetail at less than 300 yards. I just couldn't do it and we kept glassing to Dillon's dismay. Although we glassed tons of deer in every direction we just couldn't find anything bigger than a forky.We decided to head home and I took the family out to Texas Roadhouse since I obviously was failing in my duties to bring home the bacon. Sunday night I posted up asking if people like 36a and how things were going for me. I received a PM from Cody (CodyWhi) and he asked if I was going to hunt anymore. When I told him yes, he replied with an offer I couldn't turn down. He had a spot that he had permission to hunt and he thought we might be able to get on a buck. He also said he had been in the same area Dillon and I had glassed and they didn't find any bucks either. I got off early today and grabbed my boy Dillon from school, then we headed over the meet my buddy Harvey. We grabbed some food and waited to meet up with Cody. Cody hopped in the truck with us and we were off to the races. As we were putting on our packs, Harvey glasses up a fork and again I opted to pass to give Cody's spot a chance. We started glassing a little late, it was already 4 by the time we set up. We glassed til about 5 with only finding does and a javelina. We decided to make a mad dash to another vantage point. Within minutes Dillon is whispering "I got bucks". It took no time to realize we had a decent buck and we grabbed up the gear and made a beeline towards the bucks. The sun had already set and I knew time was fading fast. I set up at 425 yards and settled in on the buck. First shot was a hit and he hunched up but just stood still after turning around. He laid down and it took quite some time to reacquire him in the scope. A bedded coues at 425 halfway behind a bush is a tough target when heart is POUNDING! My second was high and I lowered the crosshairs and ended up shooting right under him. At this point I was a complete mess and pretty upset at myself. I was able to finish him off where he lay but it wasn't my finest hour behind the scope. I was struggling to gain my composure after the first shot and found it incredibly difficult to finish the deal. There was some serious ground swellage on this buck, we were blown away at how bad a@!ss this deer was. We never got a good look at him because we bum rushed him as soon as Dillon found him, no time to waste! I feel truly blessed to be so dang lucky and to have a complete stranger offer to help and take me into a spot that hadn't been over run by other hunters. Thanks again Cody, I owe you one or maybe a few... and to my buddies Harvey and Hank. Also to my boy for glassing up this monster for his Ol Man! Life is good The Lucky Duck Buck..... A 5x5 107 inch 108lb field dressed coues

I know, I find it pretty silly myself Bob. Favorite unit is still.......... not 36a, but my favorite deer came out of....... 36a! I'm so confused

Very nice gesture on giving some of your meat away. Also, I believe predator hunting helps tremendously in supporting deer populations and certainly benefits the rancher. Your last argument doesn't make sense to me though. If a younger animal gets a chance to breed, but he holds good genetics he will pass those on. When you take a mature coues out of the population he has already passed his genetics on (good or bad) genetics can only be manipulated in a controlled environment ie: high fence scenario. If every strived to take bigger deer, then my guess would be we'd all see more mature bucks because all the small would have more time to grow and the age class average would go up. Again, can't really manipulate this scenario either I guess. Do enjoy reading posts about deer management though. Hope this topic takes off a bit.

You rock bud, I've been proud of you since the day you were born!

Leaving now to go over to WGP and pick up the head. I will be putting the tape to him asap!

I bought a left over tag for this unit and was forced to get the 11/4 hunt due to other hunts. I checked out the map and talked to a few people about the unit. I had been in this unit for archery hunts in the January season only. Here's what I gathered from some folks. Big deer were able to be found. Magee ranch kept coming up and I was told they had locked all the access and didn't want people in there. Looks like they have the prime higher elevation stuff I like to hunt. The family and I took a drive a drive on the NW end by OJ Ranch road and found locked gates before you get into too far. Ended up scouting an area on the SE side with some friends. Although we liked the country and glassed up about 15 or more deer that morning, I knew it would see a lot of pressure from people and road hunters (lot of roads everywhere). Upon getting some info from someone else I ended up hunting the first couple days just N of Arivaca. (yea, I'm all over without a good plan). With only spikes found, I ended up going back yesterday to the other spot and came up empty on anything bigger than a small forky. We have glassed up 3 different herds of pigs, coati, and plenty of deer in a very limited amount of time hunting. So, is this a tough unit or am I just getting a little unlucky? Also, can you hike into the Magee Ranch, foot traffic only or is it truely off limits? I would have prepared more, but with much more important hunts and only a desire to fill tag with a mediocre buck I didn't. Headed back tomorrow afternoon with some glassing help for the evening for one last attempt at filling this tag. 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!

Gross score is the only thing that means anything to me.

Thanks everyone. Ya, Cody deserves the credit on this one. I actually asked if I could put his name in the story cause I didn't want to be responsible for people asking him for help. Cody's definitely a cool guy who has the passion we all share. Haven't scored him yet, but I will tonight. If anyone has a guess, throw it out there. It's a little hard to tell but he's actually a 5x5 Coues&Bass

James, I checked out the link you posted. A couple of the animals looked ok, but I can believe some are even posted on a website. No braggin rights there! No way! If you can't afford a good mount, do a euro mount. I pay around 550 and I get high quality work. Turn around is a year to a year and half though. Like youngbuck said it's hard to get all three qualities. Price and quality are the most important to me. I can wait a little longer as long as is doesn't go over 18mo.

I'm in for a day or maybe a weekend. I'd like to get my family in on this too. I stopped hunting the southern units due to trash and illegals. Really detracts from the outdoors experience in my book. I would like to start hunting down there again in B or C. My son and I were doing some hunting over the weekend in 36a and he was absolutely mystified by all the trash. He just kept saying he didn't understand why any one would do that. He has spent most of his time in 33 and was disgusted by the reality of the border units.

Yeah, I'm going to go out tomorrow after work. We'll be glassing by 3 and I don't plan on being too picky. I didn't plan on holding out like I normally will do on any of my hunts, but I couldn't drop the hammer on a spike. Yesterday morning I told my 12yr old son Dillon I would shoot any buck he glassed up, wouldn't ya know he glassed up the smallest spike I've seen in some time within the first hour of glassing. He fed at 250 yards for over a half hour. I'm prepared to shoot a "meat buck" but I'd like to put more than 10lbs of meat in the freezer

Now, I'll admit I don't know the unit very well. But, with all the mining roads EVERYWHERE, how can you hike a mile and not cross two roads?

I needed a good laugh, thanks

I am way behind when it comes to gun knowledge. But for what it's worth, I have done my own experiment and came up with different results per bullet grouping. I tried out 6 or so different types of ammo for my Weatherby Vanguard 300wsm and found that indeed it preferred one ammo over another. Groups actually varied quite a bit. All my testing was done at 300 yards off of a rock solid cement bench with a lead sled to secure the rifle. I cleaned and let the rifle cool between each ammo and repeated everthing twice. I found the results were very similiar the second go around, matching the first. I ended going with federal premium 150gr nosler ballistic tip for my round of choice. There was one other that shot well, but I thought the federal premiums would be easier to find in a pinch if I was out hunting somewhere. Some of the ammo did shockingly bad in comparisons A good friend of mine who I consider a gun guru absolutely thinks ammo is everything. He reloads for all his weapons and trys out all sorts of combinations for alot of them.

I hope "Billy Bob" does right by your deer. This post scares me! I suggest you look at pics of bad taxidermy work before you seek out the cheapest bidder. I would recommend a european mount for your deer, much harder to screw that up and it will still be a great reminder of the hunt. When I see a poor quality mount, all I can think is....... "so glad that POS is not hanging on my wall"

That crafty fella is sure to make it to Booner Status!

Too funny!

Congrat's Regan, T gave me the story first hand and your write up just mirrors what he told me. Great job on the right up and your buck is a beauty for sure. Love those long tines and I would have guessed him to be higher than 93. Nonetheless, he's an awesome buck.

I'm not offended by any picture posted, I hope you weren't referring to me. I hang all my game in a tree to skin it just like everyone else. I suggest you go back and read my post if it is why a couple of you have seemed to respond to it in the way you did. I never saw the picture either and never said it was in poor taste. It seemed to me, this thread had changed into a discussion about people other than the hunting community and how they might view certain type photos. To me, posting certain pictures rather than all your pictures is no different than a video of a kill shot being switched right after the animal goes down and not continue to focus on animal taking his last final breaths or kicks. It just common practice, if you don't agree with this line of thinking makes no difference to me. But, it might however be the deciding factor if a mother sees something she doesn't necessarily like and changes her mind about her "Little Johnny" going out with one of the neighbor kids and his father on what could of been his first deer hunt. Now, I realize this example is a little far fetched, but it's the concept of how people on the fence view what we do that is important. You’ll never convince an anti what we do is right. It's the people sitting on top of the fence who are important to the future of hunting. The "independents" if you will. AZPACKHORSE, My post wasn't even directed at you, I apoligize if I helped hi-jack your thread. It seemed it had turned into a general discussion by the time I read it.

Man I am guilty here on this one. I have used the word harvest among certain people and I also sent one pm last year about a pic of a deer that I felt was in poor taste. I myself am always eager to get someone involved in hunting including friends that have never tried it and always find myself debating about the positive, wonderful thing that hunting truly is. I like the idea of posting the most tasteful pics possible. Not saying I wouldn't take a pic that I wouldn't share in tighter circles, but I choose to only post certain pics. Pretty simple math to me. If I sent my kid to show and tell w his class mates, I would send him with the most tasteful pic we had. Although most people on hunting sites would have zero issues with any pic, even graphic ones, I choose not to post them. I would like to consider my a sportsman who portrays this sport in a positive light to everyone, not just other hunters.

It was my understanding G & F is trying to keep success rates low and will continue to increase tags until sucesss rates are where they want them. This would just be one element in tag allocation obviously. Does any know the success % they are content with. I remember thinking it was really really low. 15 or 20% maybe?

Beware trying to call pawn shops. To them "you" are the enemy and they will treat you as such. They thrive on stolen merchandise and do not want people who lost items to thieves snooping around. Good luck but act like an interested buyer, not a victim looking for stolen stuff.

Just a side note to this topic. My kids and I try and pick up a few trash items each time we go into the field. I feel this is an excellent way to teach the younsters for when they take their future familys into the field. We don't go crazy or anything, god knows they're a lot of slob sobs out there leaving lots of trash, but we do pick up a little each and every time we're out. It really is too bad about are fellow hunters leaving trash and not to mention all the cameras that are stolen by other hunters as well. Just boils down to self respect and pride. Bums who do this kind of stuff have no respect for themselves or others in my opinion. And one more thing. YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID.......

Just got through reading all these awesome stories of the young ones and their fantastic hunts. I'm so excited for all these fathers and their little ones. What great times and thank you all so much for sharing these great stories of quality time with your families and friends. This stuff is what it's all about IMO. Youth Hunters! Gotta love it

Great pictures guys! Congrats on your first deer, the smile does truley make it all worth while. Hope you were able to figure something out on repairs for the antlers.