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We had quite a successful Fall/Winter last year in 2012. It seemed like we were just moving from one hunt to the next. It was awesome. I started off well, posting the story and pics of my archery buck in August but fell short keeping up with the rest of our success. Well, we are off to a great start again so I figured I better get caught up on last year before I share this year's success. August 25th, 2012 after a short sit in my stand in the morning dark this beautiful buck came walking down the trail I was sitting over. To read the full story click on the link below. http://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/topic/35028-finally-broke-the-100-mark/ October 2012 was Angie's first elk hunt. She drew a rifle cow tag in a unit we didn't know a whole lot about but I figured since it was a cow hunt it shouldn't be too difficult. I was definitely humbled on this hunt. The first two days of the hunt we struggled to find elk. We did have some luck the first evening but were not able to get an elk on the ground. On the third day of the hunt my good friend Ron (ibowhuntaz) came up to help out on the hunt. He was familiar with the unit and his help made a huge difference. The first evening Ron took us to a place to glass that I would have NEVER thought we would find elk at. It looked more like some prime antelope country than elk country. Sure enough as the sun was setting I glassed up some cows EXACTLY where Ron said they would be. I was amazed! Unfortunately they were a little too far away and we were not able to get on them before dark. The next morning again with Ron pointing the way, we headed to an area that Ron knew held elk. After getting busted by one herd we soon spotted another herd out in again some of the most open country I have ever seen elk. Angie, Ron and I crawled into position and waited for the elk to move closer to us. There was about 15 cows and one nice bull in the herd. The bull was pushing the herd back and forth and slowly in our direction. He had the cows rounded up so tight that there was never a clear shot on any single animal. We waited as they closed the distance over the next 10 or so minutes from 250 yards to about 150 yards. Finally the biggest cow in the herd broke off and walked away from the rest of the herd and stopped broadside. Angie took her time and made a great shot on her first cow. Although it was a great shot the cow stayed standing and Angie put two more rounds in her before she finally went down. Finally Angie had her first elk on the ground. It was a great morning and a great experience! I can't thank Ron enough for coming up to hunt with us. It was with his guidance and his knowledge of the unit that we were able to make it happen. Thanks a million Ron! I still owe you one! Angie while we were out hiking around. Angie's beast of a cow elk! November rolled around and my good friend Regan (azwest16) and I had rifle coues tags in NM. Neither of us had hunted in NM before but we just wanted another opportunity to get after the grey ghosts. We really didn't have high expectations for this hunt as the unit that we drew tags in is not known for having a lot of coues or big coues bucks. Our hunt started on a Saturday morning but I had to work on Friday. After getting off work on Friday evening we were loaded up and leaving Phoenix by 7:00 PM. As we were leaving Phoenix I told Regan that we were jinxing ourselves by bringing his Arctic Cat Prowler on a coues hunt when it doesn't have a coueswhitetail.com sticker on it. I knew this was no way to start off on an out of state hunt so I called Amanda and asked if we could stop by and pick up a sticker. Amanda was happy to help solve our problem and agreed to meet us in Globe. Thanks again Amanda! After getting the sticker put on the Prowler we were headed to NM for 5 days of coues hunting. We did not pull into where we planned to camp until around 2:30 AM so after a few hours of sleep in the truck were not exactly rested for our opening morning hunt. We glassed for a few hours with only seeing a couple of does before heading back to the truck to set up camp. We set camp and took a very much needed nap before heading out for the evening hunt. The evening was slow going with only some does being glassed up. The next morning Regan and I were up early and feeling refreshed. We headed out in the dark to glass an area that we picked out on the topo map the night before. As it got lighter outside the first deer to be found was a nice mule deer buck that Regan glassed up. Too bad our tags weren't good for muleys or that buck would have been coming home with us. After about an hours or so of glassing I spotted some deer way out on the furthest ridge we could see. The deer were so far that we could only tell that they were deer but we really couldn't tell if they were bucks or does. The deer were back up in the shadows of a huge cut that ran up the hills we were glassing. We watched the deer for a little while and Regan and I both kept thinking we saw something on the head of one of the deer. Knowing that there were so few coues deer in this unit we decided that we better take what we have and move in closer for a better look. I left first while Regan stayed and watched. I had to cross a big nasty canyon on my way and it was so steep with such loose ground that it was one of the few times I was seriously concerned for my safety while out hunting. It was down right scary coming down off the side of that canyon. It took me an hour and a half to get to our predetermined location. Once I was there Regan dropped off our glassing point and headed toward me while I tried to relocate the deer. They had moved down the last big canyon between us and were getting closer to me. I could see that there were two bucks in the group and one appeared to be a really nice buck. They were over 800 yards away and slowly but surely headed in my direction. That was a good thing because I was as close as we were going to get being that another big canyon separated us. After Regan made the hour and a half long hike to where I was the deer were now within shooting distance. The smaller of the two bucks had bedded down but the big buck was still up standing. We decided I better get set up for the shot while there was no wind so I quickly set up my pack and proned out on the edge of the canyon. We did not have a lot of room on the rocks where we were so we decided that I would shoot the first buck and then Regan and I would switch positoins and Regan would just shoot the second buck with my rifle since it would already be set up. I ranged the buck at 528 yards and dialed my turret for the distance. After getting my breathing under control I prepared to make the shot as Regan watch over my shoulder through his 15's. I slowly applied pressure to the trigger until the report of my rifle broke the dead silence throughout the canyon. BOOM! Immediately Regan calls out my shot, “Missed left 8 inches! Reload and give him 8 inches of wind, aim right!” Although it felt as if there was absolutely no wind where we were there was a crosswind in the canyon we were shooting across. I racked in another round and was back on the buck in less than 2 seconds. With no time to adjust the turret for windage I just held right, settled in again and eased the trigger once more. BOOM! Regan calls out again, “You hammered him! He's still up, moving to the right but he is hit good!” I rack in another round and as soon and as I look through the scope the buck was walking into my cross hairs. BOOM! That shot dropped the buck and sent him rolling down the side of the mountain. When the buck stop rolling although unnecessary, with all the excitement I put one more round in him because his head was still up. The buck was down for good! Regan and I had no time to celebrate as we quickly swapped positions so Regan could shoot the other buck. I jumped behind the 15's and searched for the second buck as Regan settled in behind my gun. I searched and searched but could not find the second buck. I was feeling pretty bad as a good 5 minutes passed without seeing the other buck. I was starting to think that with all the commotion of me shooting that the second buck must have slipped out without us seeing. Just when I thought it was over the second buck stepped out from his bed at just over 500 yards. Regan was already behind the gun and settled in as I watched through the 15's. BOOM! “Perfect shot!” I called out. The buck rolled down the hill and into some brush. We could not see the bucks body but I could see his rack moving in the brush. I couldn't believe he was still alive after the hit. He tried to stand and Regan let him have it with another shot. The buck went down in the brush again and we could not see him at all. We moved 15 yards to the left for a clear window on the downed buck and Regan put one more shot in the buck to seal the deal. Then the celebration was on! It was a great morning as we had just exceeded our expectations on this hunt. We hiked down in and crossed the big canyon to retrieve our trophies. Regan's buck was way bigger than we thought. He has some really neat forward hooking eye gaurds and a whitish color to his hide. Definitely an old buck. He is the biggest bodied coues deer I have ever seen. My buck was the opposite. His body was so small that it made his rack look bigger. He was thin and and without eye guards. Although not what we thought he was he is still a nice buck. It was a great morning! We glassed these bucks up about an hour after day light and at 1:00 in the afternoon we had both bucks on the ground. From that point on the real work began. We had our bucks quartered and packed out right at last light. This was one of the most adventurous hunts I have ever been on. We had very low expectations, didn't really know where we were going and went out there and got it done wit two respectable bucks. Good times with a great friend! Our NM coues camp. Some of the country we were hunting. Our NM bucks! The pack out. Bucks back at the Arctic Cat with the good luck sticker on it! Back at camp. You can see the cool eye guards and the lighter color hide on Regan's buck. Later in December we were back out chasing coues again. This time Angie had a December rifle tag that we all want so bad. My buddy Justin was helping out on this hunt and we hunted for the first four days of the hunt with only seeing on shooter buck. We never had an opportunity on that buck as he was so far we could not get on him. The rut activity was nonexistent during the first weekend. We glassed out tails off and even had a 90+ doe day without seeing a single buck. It was pretty disappointing. We headed back home Monday night as Angie and I both had to work Tuesday through Thursday. Unfortunately my truck had a major mechanical problem when we headed back down to hunt the second weekend and we never made it out. We were down to the last 4 days of the hunt when we were finally able to make it out again. Angie, Justin and I headed out to one of my “go to” spots and within the first minute of glassing I found a nice buck pushing does around a canyon side. After looking him over in the spotting scope we decided this would be a good deer for Angie to put her tag on. After a long morning stalk to within 350 yards of the group of deer we watched them for quite some time and the buck was no where to be found. The wind kept shifting on us and it wasn't long before it was at our backs and the deer were blowing out of the canyon. We headed back to the truck and tried another area for some midday glassing. As the day was getting later we discussed our options for the evening hunt and decided to head back to the same area we were in earlier that morning. We would be glassing the same canyon but from a different angle. Within minutes of setting up to glass Justin and I both, at almost the same exact time, picked up the same buck that we stalked in the moring. The buck was only a couple of hundred yards from where he was in the morning. We gathered our gear and head off to cut the distance between us and the buck. We got as close as we could to the buck and had to make a decision. We could drop down into the canyon and try to shave some distance off the shot but Angie would have to shoot from a sitting position as we would be on the steep canyon side. Or she could take a longer shot from the top of the canyon but she would be able to prone out. We decided it would be better for her to take the longer shot from the prone position as that is her favorite, most accurate shooting position. We moved all around the canyon top until we found the perfect spot for Angie to shoot from. Once we go the packs and jackets laid out Angie proned out behind the gun and got comfortable. I ranged the buck at 479 yards and dialed the turret accordingly. Things got a little chaotic as Angie was struggling to find the buck in the scope. I would have the scope zoomed all the way out for her and then she would get on the buck. As soon as I would zoom the scope in she would loose him or she would be on the buck just ready to shoot and he would walk behind a cactus. I was getting a little panicky as the sun was setting and we just couldn't seem to get Angie on the buck. Thankfully Justin was the calm one and kept reminding us (mostly me) that its okay and the buck has no idea we were there. Finally the buck stopped long enough for Angie to get the cross hairs on him and allowed her to take her time and make a great 479 yard shot. When she hit the buck it turned to walk down the canyon side and I could see a tennis ball size exit hole low behind his shoulder. Justin was watching through the spotting scope and confirmed that the buck was toast. He slowly walked over to a mesquite tree and went down for good. We were all so excited but had to get moving to get to the buck before it got dark so off we went. We got to the buck and immediately started taking pictures. The sunset made for some great pictures. It was a great hunt and one I will never forget. Thanks to Justin for coming out and helping us on Angie's hunt and of course for being the “calm one”. Hahaha! Angie and I while we were hiking to one of our glassing spots. Angie with her December buck! Angie and I with her buck. Angie, Justin and I with Angie's trophy. Packing out Angie's buck. Thanks to everybody who stayed with me through my story. I knew I needed to get caught up on last year before I post our great start to this year. As always thanks to Amanda for this awesome site where we can share our passion with each other! -Tracy