Search the Community

Hey so I pulled a 30a late Dec hunt just seeing what everyone thinks of this hunt?

I picked up a leftover tag for unit 30a with a Nov 25th open date. I've never hunted whitetail or the unit.... anyone else pick up the same tag and want to join me or have me join your group? Any tips on the unit would also be appreciated. Thanks!

I am a new hunter, this is my second season, I got a leftover tag in 30A and I hear its a tough unit. Last year I was in 30B, did not harvest but met a lot of good guys who helped me and I learned a lot. Invested in some good glass this year. Part of my problem is I only have a two wheel drive truck and no ATV. I was fine last year in 30B but 30A looks very tough to get into. Any help would be greatly appreciated. JD

I was able to take my brother and cuñado back to 30a on the late November hunt. I was a little nervous as during the October hunt as I had only seen one buck, which I was fortunate enough to harvest. Neither had hunted Coues before, so I was both excited and nervous at the prospects of getting 2 bucks in a challenging unit. I saw some campers at the entrance of the spot where I had hunted during the October hunt so I moved on down the road. We headed up into a nice bowl where I had seen deer during a late September scouting trip. After a short hike halfway up to our glassing spot. I turned back and glassed up a buck standing under a tree at 520 yards. I put my cuñado on him and went and got my brother. We glassed for a while in that spot and picked up another deer as they both bedded down. I told them to shoot from where we were but they wanted to put a stalk on them. I stayed back and kept glass on the deer while they moved down the canyon and along the ridge until they got in at about 250 yards. No sooner had they settled down then three more bucks emerged in typical grey ghost fashion. All bucks were 3xs or large 2xs. They had been there all along just hidden due to the vantage point and vegetation. As the bucks rose and started to graze I got a good pic of the largest buck. All five are in this pic. My brothers were in a good position to shoot so I was expecting a shot and the quickest Coues hunt ever. I waited 5 mins, 10 mins, and nothing so I radioed, "don't get greedy, just put two down." After another five mins the bucks spooked and ran up over the hill. Needless to say I was extremely upset, as I was in the dark as to why no shots had been fired. Prior to the hunt, we decided my brother would have first shot on any buck as it would be his first big game animal. Apparently as they set up to shoot my brother got a little case of buck fever and jammed up his rifle loading a round. My cuñado had been holding on the big buck while he waited for my brother to shoot. With the patience of a mule he held on that deer for ten minutes while my brother fumbled with his gun and watched it run away through his scope. The next day we returned to the same spot and glassed up what we believed to be 4 of the same bucks, but within minutes they crested the ridge. We decided to try and track them so we got up to hike and no sooner had we done so then we spotted 3 more bucks (all 2xs) headed right towards us. They came in about 340 yards sparing a couple times on their way. Suddenly, they spooked and ran across the bowl and stopped. I ranged them at 540 yards and told my cuñado to shoot. He managed to hit the middle one while the other two ran off and met up with another deer. After field dressing the deer we hiked up to the ridge and glassed a few more spots over the next few hours. We planned our route off the mountain and headed down glassing a few drainages on our way. I decided to stay lower on the hillside and let my brothers stay high, hoping to stir up some action. Just as planned I stirred up another 2x and instead of running up hill it headed straight down the hill and I lost it. I radioed to my brothers to get in position and they picked it up running up the other side of the canyon. After a few shots to range the deer, it paused at the top and my brother put a perfect shot on it dropping it at 410 yards. This was a really fun trip and I was surprised to have seen so many bucks. There's a really nice one in there, hopefully for another day.

Shot this two point a couple of years ago in 30A, never got a chance to put a picture up. Just wondering if anyone's ever seen anything like this before. When we glassed him up his antlers looked like the horns on an antelope. My guess is he was an old deer, but I really have no idea.