2009 Coues deer

[Packer]

I will post the story and a couple pics here if you want to see more pics follow the below link.

 

http://www.azsj.org/forums/showthread.php?...0913#post140913

 

The obsession with hunting Coues deer can start slowly but will inevitably grow strong. There are few hunts like it, and if a person is willing to work hard, it can be as rewarding a hunt as you can find. Over the last several years I have become obsessed with getting into the backcountry, away from people, and looking for animals in areas that are seldom hunted. It all began several years ago when two good friends and I went on a successful backcountry bear hunt. My buddy Chris ended up killing a great bear 12 miles from the trail head and from then on I have been hooked. Since that time I have been on several trips with friends or solo and they have all ended successfully, although not always in the traditional sense of “success”. Most of the trips I have come back empty handed, but I have always come away with a stronger bond of friendship, or with a sense of accomplishment that is hard to describe. This year was no different in that I was blessed with the time and ability to go on several backcountry hunts.

 

Fall 2009 was busier that usual, and I had not had much time to think about my Coues deer hunt until the week before it started. I planned on hunting an area I had only seen once, and had never been into on the ground. I spent many evenings pouring over maps and looking at aerial photos to determine exactly where I should be. My biggest concern was finding water since we had had a dry summer and I could not pack enough to last for as long as I wanted to be in the area. On the Monday before the hunt, I decided to do a rocket run into the county to look at three different tanks to see if I could rely on them for water. The first tank was all but dry, but did have four small Coues bucks sucking down what water remained. The other two tanks were completely dry. Luckily I located a small pothole in some rocks that contained what I would almost classify as clear water, albeit it was teaming with a myriad of aquatic organisms of unidentified varieties. I decided that this was as good as it was going to get, so I filtered and “purified” about 2.5 gallons and packed it to an area I would use as base camp. When all was said and done, I had hiked around 14 miles and felt a little better about my upcoming hunt.

 

Thursday morning found me throwing things together and deciding what gear was going to make it into my pack. My Uncle Bret was going to go with me and he arrived at the house around 10:00AM. After hurriedly getting some last minute things together and kissing the wife and kids, we took off for our destination. We arrived at our starting point around noon and took a moment to decide what we really needed, as we didn’t want to pack in any unnecessary gear. After some debate, we got the packs together and hit the “trail”. Several miles and hours later we arrived at base camp and set things up. This was going to be our home for the next several days as Bret was supposed to head home on Sunday or Monday. After getting everything set up we still had a little time, so we hiked up to a point and spent the evening glassing to see if we could find any deer to go after in the morning. Sitting in the blasting wind for an hour and a half revealed not a single deer, but we were able to enjoy a beautiful sunset.

After a dehydrated meal for dinner, we hit the sack early in anticipation of what the next day, opening day, was going to bring. As I lay in my sleeping bag, I suffered the same hunting induced insomnia that generations of hunters before me have experienced. Every time I closed my eyes I was either visualizing what I thought the next day was going to bring or I was fearful of sleeping into the day and missing that magical moment when the light slowly appears and the hills begin to light up with the predawn grey. Either of these two scenarios eventually caused my eyes to snap open to the reality that it was only a minute later and the night was barely beginning. Finally, my mind became at peace and I was able to drift off to sleep.

 

Five o’clock opening morning finally arrived and Bret and I got up and ate a quick breakfast of oatmeal. First light found us perched atop a hill in anticipation - in anticipation of what we would see and also of who would be the first one to spot something. As we sat there pressing our eyes into our binos, we did not immediately locate any animals, as I had hoped, but we were able to watch as the predawn grey was replaced by that golden hue that comes just before the sun touches the highest peaks of the landscape. This transformation is always spectacular and can never be done justice by my lack of skills behind the camera. As the sun quickly spread over the hills we decided that we wanted to see what was over the next hill, so we quickly packed up and moved to a new vantage point.

 

As we changed locations, Bret was the first to spot some animals. Across a small saddle we spotted two nice Mule deer bucks as well as what I believe was a small Coues buck. Regardless of what they were, all of the animals moved out of sight. We slowly worked our way to where they had been and tried to relocate them over the next rise. As we topped out on it, we were greeted by a somewhat intimidating canyon. You know the type, one that you pray you can work your way around because only mountain goats should be attempting to go through it. As we glassed across the canyon we quickly picked up two more mule deer bucks that were caught up in a one-on-one battle. Although they were too far away to see any detail, it was apparent that they were sizing one another up in a little early season sparring match.

 

The canyon and hillsides in front of us deserved further attention so we sat down to give them a good looking over. Before I could even get my binos to my eyes, Bret reported that he saw another deer on the ridge we were on, about a quarter mile away. As I swung my binos in that direction, I could immediately see that it was a buck, a Coues buck, and a good one at that. As the buck fed away from us, I noticed that its antlers were well outside of its ears and that it had some great mass. This is the moment that we all dream about. Opening morning and there in front of us is the buck of a lifetime. As we sat there watching the buck, it was apparent that he had no idea we were in the area. As the deer fed out of sight we began to make our move and started to work around behind him. We hadn’t moved too far and again located the buck, still feeding. As we watched him, suddenly, out of nowhere, there was another deer. It was a doe, and also had no idea we were there. As the deer fed out of sight for a second time, we continued our stalk. Each step had me wondering: Would the wind shift and ruin our stalk? Would I ever see the deer again? As I continued to move forward I knew that soon enough I would find the answers to these ever repeating questions.

 

As we approached the location where we had last seen the deer, the wind was not blowing in a great direction, but it was quartering enough that I thought we had a good chance of not being winded. Every foot was placed with the utmost care so as to not step on anything that may sound like a firecracker in the early morning calm. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, but which was in reality only several minutes, I looked forward and spotted the buck. He was still feeding but there were numerous dead trees between the deer and myself which prevented the shot. He was about 100 yards away. After removing my pack, I slowly crept around a tree which gave me a shooting lane toward the deer. I sat down to get a steadier rest and set the crosshairs behind his shoulder. Once the crosshairs were settled, I slowly pressed the trigger until the gun went off. After one quick follow up shot, the buck was down for good. As I looked back at Bret, we were both all smiles. I looked at my watch and it was 7:55AM. I grabbed my pack and hurried over to take a look at my buck. As I approached the buck, there definitely wasn’t any ground shrinkage. He was very wide for a Coues and had some great mass. This was by far better than any other Coues I had ever harvested. At that point, I didn’t care what the animal would score; I was just thankful to have harvested such a magnificent animal and have family there to share in my triumph.

Now that the deer was down, we got to work taking pictures and breaking the animal down to get it back to camp. By 11:00AM we were at camp and had the four quarters hung in the shade to cool in the breeze. Because it was only the first day of the hunt, we hadn’t even had time to look around at the country. We decided to enjoy the rest of the day and pack things up in the morning. That afternoon we hiked around looking at areas we had not been in and just enjoyed a beautiful day in God’s creation. At dusk, we decided to build a camp fire and spent a beautiful evening reminiscing about old times.

 

Saturday morning we were back up before dawn and started the day with a quick breakfast of oatmeal again. We then got to work taking down camp and getting ready for the pack out. Once camp was about packed, we took the quarters down and de-boned the meat to minimize the weight we had to pack the four miles back to the truck. By 7:00AM we were on the trail and headed out. The hike was fairly uneventful as we only jumped one group of seven mule deer. Shortly after 9:00AM we were back at the truck and my deer hunt for the year was over. We ended up driving around the unit for several more hours just looking at the country and trying to locate some cousins that also had tags for that unit. We did end up finding their truck, but they were up in the hills trying to fill their own tags at the time.

 

As we traveled back home we were able to relive some of the good moments we had had in the backcountry. I was grateful that my uncle was able to accompany me on this adventure and thought about the many years I would be able to enjoy hunting the backcountry in the future. When I finally got home I knew that my wife and kids would also be thankful for my success. Not only because I killed a great deer, but because I would be back home with them and not gone for the next five days! As I thought about their joy, I realized that the prospect of spending some quality family time at home was going to be a great ending to a great hunt.

 

 

[firstcoueswas80]

Awesome buck!

 

I read you think that buck was only 2.5 years old?! Good lord, if he was only 2.5 and was already 106, that thing was going to be even more of a monster than he already was! Congrats!

[erucker]

Great buck and an even better story. Way to go. Sometimes we all forget about just being out there.

 

ER

[JWag21]

Nice Job, Aaron!!! Brent had told me you got a nice buck. Well deserved.

[joeybari]

Great story nice big buck

But you are only putting him at 2.5 years 0ld if that the case i hope he had some fun with the does in the area bcs he has some good genes

 

[IHunt2live]

Nicely done Aaron!

[Coues79]

Great job! Killer buck!

[Young]

First of all I want to say that was a great write up of your hunt. I love to hear the stories about the hunt. And second, that is one heck of a buck. Congrats to you on your success

[cramerhunts]

Great write up and what a great buck! Felt like I was right there with you.

[AZ RANGER]

Great write up and what a great buck! Felt like I was right there with you.

 

+1

Awesome!

[WOODSAZ]

Great buck Aaron! A Well Deserved trophy. Congrats!

 

Jay

[CVLCADMAN]

Congrats on that great buck!!!

[Coues Archer]

Wow. What a TOAD!! That is truelly a buck of a lifetime. Great job man.

[aztrophytakers]

What a fantastic deer and a great job on the hunt. I am curious to know how you arrived at 2.5 years of age? I would think it would be difficult to grow such great beams and width at such a young age. Again, huge congrats...

[mcgrew24]

very nice buck and awesone story. hope to hear lots more in the future.congrats