Coues 'n' Sheep

Nice pics! To bad he was not there during the day. Did you get any shot opportunities?

Nice story Tyson.... the ending embodies the feeling that I feel everytime... well put! I, however, am going to be short and blunt on my first coues story!! I was brand new at the concept of hunting coues with a bow and I bought and set up two treestands in spots that I thought "looked good"!! What good was then I am not sure.... mostly blind luck I am sure. My thought was, "Those Eastern hunters do it, why can't I?" Oh and I thought I was being revolutionary!!! Who would EVER think to hunt coues from a tree???? What can I say I was young..... Anyhow, my first tree stand was in the bottom of a draw along two trails and the first afternoon I sat it I saw like 6 does cruise past the closest was 6 yds!!!! Man was I stoked!!! ......And a Junky was born!!!! I was so close I could see her eye lids blink... and that was just awesome to me! A few days or a week later I sat my other spot in the morning and the rut was on! I had a 80" (maybe better) type buck come past me on a trail, but he came from behind me and was past the shooting lane before I saw him.... ... man was I bummed! Than not an hour later I saw a deer coming back up the same trail and I was prayin' it was that buck. I saw that it was a buck and went into Shooter Mode... I knew it was a smaller buck and did not care, I wanted him! I was shooting an old Pro-Line bow and alum XX75 arrows and the bow was so slow that he almost completely jumped the string! But, luck was with me that day and I watched my first coues buck expire within my sight!! He was no monster, but I was aweful proud of him!!! This buck created a Monster Addiction... one that plagues my life to this day!!!! Sorry, I didn't ever carry a camera back then... so when I got to my Dad's house he snapped a couple for the scrap book....

TJ... Not sure but that might be considered trafficking..... I may be wrong, but I'd for sure talk to the rule guy at the AZGF before I even listed it for sale.... since it is still a "green" hide....

As grizzly puts it so well..... Tasty, tasty murder..... Thanks all! We had a ton of fun... It just goes to show you if you hunt the GPS Coordinates posted here on CW.com that anyone can find and kill coues deer with a bow!!!

I am not familar with Mr. Doyle or his work, but I would have him re-done and bring that AWESOME buck up to date and back to life... What a Fantastic first deer!! Congrats!!! May I recomend Mogollon Taxidermy (Payson) or Harlow's Wildlife Studio (Tucson).....

I started carrying butcher quallity boning knives and cheap pearing knives and a steel a few years back.. I'll never go back to a wet stone unless I have to....

Thanks to those that have read and responded. I was a very fun month and everybody except one of our group had the opportunity to pass a coues buck of some kind or atleast see a shooter while hunting. We cover a lot of ground and use a lot of different techniques to have the opportunities we do. There is so much country out there that I still have not hunted or even got to scout... each year we try to hunt something new, somewhere. This year our "new place" was our best place! Hunting further out in the middle of no-where... seeing no-one... that is where we have our best luck on big bucks, cuz we have them all to ourselves and no hunting preasure. Believe it or not we should have had several bigger deer on the ground by the end of the month, but just cuz you see a big buck does not mean you are gunna put you tag on him. We look forward to all getting together and doing this every year... I hope that next year can be just as kind to us... or maybe even better! Thanks.

LMAO!!!!!! Good thing I wrote the story as the month progressed!!! As fast as I type I might have gotten done next week!!!

Outstanding!!

Honestly..... You got a lot of choices!!! The best recomendations I read above, IMO..... .270 or the .270 WSM.... both very good. The .270 has been the gun of choice in our family many times for the kids and wives. However!!! If you really want a gun that a young man will never put down in his lifetime and Never out grow, go with the .257 Wby!! I want one myself!!! I also like the .300 WSM if he is up to the challenge. Don't go with a gun that he is gunna out grow real fast.... God knows these kids grow WAY too fast and any gun can be toned down to fit the shooter. I have had some very young and light weight kids kill stuff with my .300 Wby and they love shooting it!! That is a lot to chew on.... but the .257 Wby and the .300 WSM would be the first 2 on my list for my own kids!! BTW.... I know I am probably alone on this, but you could not pay me to put a 7mm-08 in my kids hands.... sorry....

Well if that ain't the "Pot calling the Kettle Black"!!!! Or did I just misunderstand what that article said??? The Eastman's have made how much from the comercialization of wildlife???? They just made a huge broad sword cut at a couple of tags (hunts) per year that generate more dollars than all the other general tags/hunts do!! Amazing! What a Self-righteous ... .. . ..... well you know the rest!!!! I hope that many of you will do what I intend to do from here on..... Boycott anything that has to do with an Eastman enterprise..... and when the ISE show comes here I will state my point in person! Talk about a slap in the face! He made me feel like a dirt bag and I will never be able to afford one of those tags, but I applaud those that do choose to spend those much needed dollars on wildlife!!

Great story! Great Bucks! Congrats an amazing adventure!

+1!!!! As I have mentioned before I have had my hands caught in leg hold traps more than once.... it does not break bones and it does immediately go numb.... and it might get kinda tingly for 6 monthes or so when your hands a really cold. Mother Nature is WAY more cruel than any normal method that humans use to take, dispatch, harvest or kill animals. Mother Nature has all kinds of wicked tools.... predators, diseases (mange, rabies, distemper, etc.), starvation, and even everyday life. A week in the life of a wild animal ain't no bed of roses! Next, they don't have the ability to reason.... it's not like they think, "Awe dang! I been shot!" or "How the heck am I gunna get out of this here trap?" Come on! Ever seen a bob cat "play" with it's food??? Yeah, that's pretty "humane".... We are just another one of Mother Natures tools used to manage the numbers of critters (her Renewable Resource). We all talk about ethics, longrange vs.short, gun vs. bow, sitting water/bait vs. spot & stalk.... but really does any of that matter.... I mean come on, does a Mtn. Lion stop to think if he is giving that doe he is fixin' to jump, a fair shake?? heck no! I think if we realize that deep down humans are in the predator group and that is what we do... we are the top of the food chain. Granted we have gravitated toward more pratical and "ethical" means of killing than our counterpart predators have because we were given the ability to reason.... However, this "ethical/humane" wagon that everyone is so bent on pulling around behind themselves is starting to resemble the government.... It has been WAY OVER THUNK!! We do all owe it to each other to see the pratical methods that other outdoorsman have been using for centuries, and respecting that heritage as well as the evolution of the outdoor past times that has brought us to this point. We owe it to each other to stick together! I MEAN..... Hank Jr. said it best when he sang of the Coalition to Ban All Coalitions..... "You do your thing and I'll do my thing, too!" And to the fella that mentioned a dog getting his nose snapped in a leg hold..... Sir, No disrespect intended but do you know what the odds Really are of any critter actually getting that one done??? Did you read that one one some Anti-trapping flame??? I am sure it happened one time in documented history and that makes it a good argument against trapping???? (Again no disrespect intended) Pigs are the only critters that I know of that mostly digs with their nose... all the furbearing critters pretty much use there paws. Matter o' fact we had a Yote we named "Digger" one time... he would dig up, and flipover every trap he ever came across. You might ask how I know that he actually flipped them over... cuz that should set the trap off, right? Well had one froze solid one day, dirt and all dug out and flipped over. He never got his nose caught.... but we always knew it was him cuz he was missing a toe. Never caught that dirt rascal! Had one set that he'd dig out once a week... but it was good when he wasn't around! I'm off my soap box... feel free to burn me at the stake!

Buck down..... that makes 6!! One more day ya'll! FYI... Coosefan is scared of heights!!!!!

I voted "Other"..... Here a few that I would have voted for..... 1) Boating/Water recreation on the pontoon... w/ my wife and my beverages of choice..... 2) Horn Huntin'.... w/ my dog.... 3) Road huntin'.... just drivin' the back roads and trails of this great state in my Ranger... w/ my wife, dog, and.... (you guessed it!) ...my beverage of choice!!! 4) #3 plus settin' and checkin' trail cams! 5) Going to my cabin and doing #3 and #4.... Dang, I can't wait for summer!!!

That is an outstanding buck and photo!

Congrats Tim on a Fantasic buck!!!! I know you have been waiting for one like this for a long time!!!! Great story and pics, makes me wish I was there!! Congrats again!!! He will great on the wall!!

i love stories 103'' come on G, stop treating us like a FAT CHICK and give it up, can't you tell the BOYS want it. EAST SIDE AND PROUD INKSPOT13 Gotta love anticipation!! I got 3 boys hunting Thurs. Fri. & Staurday.... and one hunting today... I am gunna hold out cuz I think we can get one more down, if the boys hunt hard! One of the three is a first timer that has passed up a lot of little bucks this month but will now shoot the next spike he sees! My son and my (almost 3rd) son are hunting where we have not been able to get a shot at the biggest bucks we have seen this season... and 2 of the bucks we took there are triple digit deer! So I have hope that they will get one last chance to see a No Brainer.... I am Prayin'!! And you guys can wait.... I know you all want horn porn... and I promise it is a coming!!!! good luck to them kids, they will tag out, i still feel like a FAT CHICK, i hope our lunch goes better than this. your treat Aweful windy this morning.... the boys are waiting for the sun hoping it will tame the wind a bit..... I'd never treat you guys like a F C..... but maybe like a mushroom. I'm thinkin' we should make Gamehauler buy our lunch!!!

I have had pretty good luck with the Irish Setters in the last 2 hunting seasons, but have been thinking on trying something from the LOWA line of boots.....

Mark, No worries! In history kids his age were doing a man's work.... I am certain he can man a blind on his own! I have had Colton archery hunting alone since he was 12.... safety belted 20+ feet up in a tree! We always had some way for him to contact us and checked on him regularly. IMO, this is a great way for kids to start to think for themselves and make good choices, it made Colton more independant and patient at a young age... it also made him the monster coues junky that he is today!!! Let him have at it!! I assure you will see the benifits of this! And good for him, for wanting to take this step!! Good hunting!

i love stories 103'' come on G, stop treating us like a FAT CHICK and give it up, can't you tell the BOYS want it. EAST SIDE AND PROUD INKSPOT13 Gotta love anticipation!! I got 3 boys hunting Thurs. Fri. & Staurday.... and one hunting today... I am gunna hold out cuz I think we can get one more down, if the boys hunt hard! One of the three is a first timer that has passed up a lot of little bucks this month but will now shoot the next spike he sees! My son and my (almost 3rd) son are hunting where we have not been able to get a shot at the biggest bucks we have seen this season... and 2 of the bucks we took there are triple digit deer! So I have hope that they will get one last chance to see a No Brainer.... I am Prayin'!! And you guys can wait.... I know you all want horn porn... and I promise it is a coming!!!!

+1!!! Dang shame that guy that hunted him for 26 days didn't get to put him on the ground!

You could have been in some of those pics if you had been Here!!! Life sucks that way.... ... Patients Buddy.... I will post them all when the hunt is over... I know three boys that plan on adding their name to the success colum for this January..... and I'd like to post all the pics and stories at one time. We are up to 5.... sure like it to be 6 or 7.... Lets pray that a couple of No Brainers are on the prowl this week!!

I got a pic on my phone! I'm thinkin' No Brainer!!!! Hurry home Tim!!! I want the story!!!! PS: Even if you PM me your phone number I will not send you the pic.... Casey....

Who says you have to wear camo to hunt predators!!! Way to go Brat!!! That sure is a Purdy Kitty Cat!!! I bet he is gunna look real good in the trophy room!!!! Way to get it done on the piggy, Court! Cold as ice, as always, I bet!! Proud of ya, Kiddo!! Ummm.... hey Kat??? I think Dad forgot to mention that if he would have let you shoot that one piggy you would have had one too...... Way to Go, DAD!!! You'll get one next time, Kiddo!!