two coues in two different units

[wildcat]

My dad and I headed out early Friday morning to a unit we had never rifle hunted in. I did some scouting while archery hunting to get familiar with the area and ended up finding a nice spot. We parked the truck about an hour before sunrise and headed out with our headlamps. We walked as far as we could before it started getting light and set up on hill so we could glass.

 

We glassed for quite a while and ended up only spotting about 20 does and a tiny spike. A little while later my dad heard some noises coming from the draw below us and we watched as a doe and a nice little fork popped out at 100 yards. I had him in my scope but decided to pass since I had my hopes set on a 3x3 or better. I started to regret that decision because I had never taken a Coues and I wanted one badly.

 

After glassing for a little while longer we decided to start walking further into the hills. We would stop every once in a while and just glass. It was starting to get HOT and the deer weren’t moving anymore. We would see an occasional doe but that was it. We decided to sit under a tree and eat lunch before climbing over the biggest hill in the area. Once finished, we walked over the small ridge to look at the hill we were about to climb, just then a deer started running up the hillside. I saw it was a buck and got down and ready to shoot. He stopped broadside, I ranged him at 278, and fired my 30-06. I saw the dust cloud hit just above his back. He didn’t flinch so I put another round in and held a little lower and nailed him. He lunged forward and ran about 30 yards before piling up under a tree.

 

I was so excited; I couldn’t believe how it all worked out. I hustled up that hill to my deer as my dad stayed and guided me to it. It was a nice little 3x3 (3x5 if you count the little stickers). Once he came over we took some pictures and gutted it. Then we were ready for the hard hike back to the truck. We ended up strapping it onto my badlands 2200 and took turns carrying it on our backs all the way back to the truck. It was an awesome hunt and I couldn’t be happier with my first Coues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since my hunt ended so soon and my dad was staying in town the whole weekend, we decided to go help my uncle and cousins on their hunt in a neighboring unit. We left early Saturday morning and met them at their camp before light. We drove a little ways, parked the vehicles and set out.

 

The area didn’t look like typical whitetail country but right away I spotted some bucks. They made a plan and were gonna try get my 14 year old cousin a shot. It didn’t quite happen the way we had planned because the deer ended up almost running over my cousin and uncle. He did get a shot at 30 yards though but unfortunately missed. The deer took off and disappeared so we decided to move on. We walked and walked and glassed and glassed but weren’t seeing anything.

 

It was now 1 o’clock and getting miserably hot with no real shade trees around, only little bushes, so we decided to head back to the truck. While coming off a hill we stopped to take a break and all of a sudden my uncle said “deer!” so we put the binos up and saw a nice little 3x3 standing in some shade about 150 yards down the ridge. We watched as it bedded down and then my other cousin and I moved down the ridge a little so he could set up for a shot. The terrain and angle made it difficult but he eventually got steady just as the buck stood up. He ended up hitting it in the shoulder with his .270 with the bullet passing right through the heart. Amazingly the deer still managed to run a little ways before expiring. My cousin and I were pumped and we all anxiously made the hike to the buck. It turned out to be a nicer buck than I thought and definitely made for another nice first Coues. After gutting it we tied it up to a yucca pole and took turns carrying it on our shoulders all the way back to the vehicles. That was definitely a long and hard hike but worth it. Two bucks in, two days, in two units made for an awesome weekend of hunting.

 

 

 

[cramerhunts]

Congrats to two very nice bucks.

[bonecollector]

Congrats on your first coues and a nice one too!

[Sam]

Every coues hunt is exciting, especially when you tag your first one. Congrats to both of you!

[mcgrew24]

congrats on two nice deer and thanx for sharing

[king4wd]

Good Work! One day I'll get one.

[hunterdude]

Very well done!

[Gr8 White Jr]

Congrats on 2 fine bucks! Thanks for sharing your story with us!

 

-Tracy

[johnnie blaze]

you picked a good spot to start your coues hunting in. Stick with that area, theirs some gooduns in there.