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Every year I do one trip with some old friends to hunt whitetail in Sonora. This year was especially good since I harvested probably the second largest Coues deer I have ever gotten. My friend also got a huge deer that unfortunately had one whole side knocked off due to fighting. I grew up in Sonora and hunting Coues was a large part of my childhood. My dad thought me the ins and outs of these animals and every year they still amaze me with something I had never seen before. This year the level of rut activity was off the charts. Broken antlers, deer oblivious to our presence or gun shots, scrapes and rubs everywhere, etc. The first photo is the buck I got. It would have been a nice typical 10 point, but the back point was broken off probably during a fight. I got him just about 100 yards from the road. I usually don’t like taking running shots but I took the split second decision to take a shot while he was darting between some mesquites and ocotillos. After I got off the truck, I had probably a 6 feet clearing between some ocotillos and some dense mesquites. Took the shot and the deer turned from broadside to a straight run. Luckily the bullet went in middle of the ribs and exited through the neck. It was only 7:30am and one of my friends still hadn’t taken a shot at one, so we decided to go on search of another buck. After a few hours of hiking we got to an area we knew would probably be fruitful. We spotted a buck following a doe on the same hillside we were hiking. After three shots, my buddy had downed that buck. He was hypnotized with the doe he was following and did not even flinch when my friend narrowly missed on the first two shots. By 11:00am he had his buck and we were on our way back to the truck. Not a bad Sunday morning!!! The second photo is the buck my friend got along with the same one from the first photo. It has awesome mass and the deer itself was huge; unfortunately it had almost a whole side of antlers broken. It had hoofs as large as many mule deer I have seen! The third picture is an old one of my old man with the best buck he ever got in 50 plus years of hunting down there. I believe it was between 2008 and 2010. We haven't scored it yet, but given that it is a typical 10 point buck, it will do pretty well.

The "Agua Blanca Ranch" in Sonora, Mexico has produced this MONSTER mule deer. Ranch sits close to Puerto Libertad just SW of Caborca. The ranch owner, Vicente Contreras is very happy with his hunters' success. The Canadian hunter, Dennis Dale, is one lucky man. Big time congratulations to him and a big thank you to the Agua Blanca Ranch for sharing these with us. (I got these photos in an email this morning from a couple CW members, and it's been a flurry trying to get permission to post these. Amanda had us working overtime so we could share with you all!) Preliminary scores range from the 250" to 270"...WOW!!! These are all the photos we have as of now. Please excuse the quality of the second. *click on the first pic for a larger view*