Two Brothers Two Bucks down

[COUESAZ]

Well yesterday morning was the opener for our 2009 hunt. We only had a couple days for scouting in the unit, But knew we had a few spots from psat trips that we wanted to check into. We found out that those spots had a good turn out of bucks being taken in the first hunt. We decided that most of the bucks had been taken closer to the road and went there in hopes that maybe no one else had gone in as far as we wanted to go.

 

As we drove up to the first spot we had chosen to glass from, Wouldent you know it there was two quads on the hill top. As we drove up to drive past a hunter met us on the road. He asked us if we could hold off the spot until leagle shooting light. He said they had some deer bedded on the oposite hill and one was a buck. We honered his request and headed off the other dirtection and glassed some steeper canyons that we thought looked good as well. After about an hour those guys drove past us so we knew the buck must have been a small one. We glassed around and found a fresh ( that early morning or the night before) lion kill at the opening of the canyon they had the deer bedded in.

 

So with mister kitty in the area we knew the deer would be acting diferent. At this point it was going on 8:00 am and nothing but Javis had found our wandering glass. So as we start to question if we have forgot how to glass for our loved Coues deer we decided to head to another high point to glass. When we got there my brother said he wanted to hike down the canyon to the main road. I took the rino and headed down the mountain. On the way down i bumped a spike and doe and pointed them out to a father son hunting team. I do not know if they ever got on them.

 

When reaching the main road i traveld to the mtg point. I called him on the radio to see if he was close yet he said he was still on top of the hill were I left him. I thought oh great i have an hour to set and wait as he hikes down. He had glassed up a few does and bucks and was looking them over to see if he could find one to go for. I thought i would just hike around some of the breaks in the spot while waiting for him.

 

I parked in the mouth of a wash And started to hike around. As i went up over the first big hill i was looking at a location that i thought WOW how have over looked this area in the past and I hope everyone else has over looked it as well. It was full of deep steep breaks and it can not bee seen from any roads. I was about 30 minutes into the hike when i thought I better head back incase my brother was getting close. There was one break that ran a diferant direction than any of the others. So i said in my mind that i had to look into it. When i walked up to the rim of it I looked down to the bottom. and I was looking at them they were looking at me and at the same time as i thought Oh crap those are two bucks at about 65 yards. they said in there minds Oh crap there is a guy at the top about 65 yards away and he seems to have a gun. Hw did he ever find us in this spot. Honest that was the way they looked at me.

 

Anyways they jumped and i took one shot at the wider of the two. And yes I missed. They went into a deep split in the canyon and i knew they were gone. Just then they did the dumb thing. We all know that Coues deer never do the dumb thing. They turned up into the open side of the hill. They could have stayed down and i would have never seen them again. So my second shot hit My buck and he spun around and fell into a thick tree. The other deer was headed right for the top of the canyon to the location i thought my brother would be.

 

I got on the radio and told him i had a nice buck on the ground. I told him it was a wide four point and i think it was another four point with him and he was headed over the top in his direction. Well about 10 minutes latter i hear a boom from his ultra Mag he radios back and tells me he had just shot a buck that was going to run him over. And he said by the way it was not a four point just a nice two point. OOPS . He shot it at about 60 yards also.

 

Well when i walked up on my four point Coues buck I relized he was just a two point as well. You see to me every deer seems to have horns and be a buck and they all seem to be big four points. HAHA I get that from my grand father. I guess it is my form of buck fever. Well anyways at this point I relize i am in trouble. I left my pack at the rino to make my short hike. I had to gut my deer with my swiss army knife that i pack everyday in my pocket. ANd the worst thought was just about to hit me. You see I challenge my brother every year at how far he can pack my deer before he puts it down. Well he had his own deer to pack now too.

 

I gutted my deer and headed down to the rino. It was all down hill for me and not to bad of a pack out. My brother on the other hand had some big hills in his path to deal with. So i got the deer down to a side road and drove to it to load it. I wanted a coke so bad but thought of my poor brother with nothing to drink heading down or up at this point. Well just by chance he sees a road and tells me i better do what ever it takes to get on it. He is just about done. So with a little luck i find this side road and jump on it. It was one of those that makes you pucker the cheecks when you head up it and you know all you can do is go forward because the last thing you want is to go backwards. What luck it was to find this hiden road. It drove right up to the ridge just about a hundred yards from the spot he had made it to. As we looked at the whole thing he was about 3 quarters of a mile away from me when he shot this deer. That little buck was getting the heck out of the country after having been shot towards by me shooting his bud.

 

This turned out perfect as we only had the few days to hunt. He has jobs waiting in Showlow to get done and i am very short on days off at work. It is always good to enjoy a good hunt with friends but even more when that friend is your Little Brother. Thanks for the good hunt Brother.

 

And to Team Jesus (travis) there were some of the biggest pigs i have ever seen at that first location. You know the spot. Have fun doing your yard work. Glad we could get our deer the first day so you did not have to give up your chores to come lend us a few more eyes.

 

No we did not shoot them in front of picketpost mtn that is were we spent the night before the opener.

[BAG'N'TAG]

Nice job! congrats

[TAIL CHASER]

Those are some great lookin bucks. Congrats on a great hunt.

Jason

[jakehaffey]

Awesome bucks! Congrats!

[DUG]

Great bucks and great story! Way to go.

[WOODSAZ]

Sweet! Great job both of you. I only have 5 more days til my hunt and I can hardly stand it!!

[cramerhunts]

Great looking bucks! Thanks for sharing the hunt with us!

[Coues Archer]

Wow. Some great looking deer. Great job.

[Sonof12]

Well done Mark. See you at church tomorrow?

 

Jon

[bonecollector]

Congrats!

[tjhunt2]

Thanks for the story and pictures. Sounds like you had a great hunt. Last year I saw one of the biggest muleys I have ever seen around Picket Post Mt. Thanks again for sharing.

 

TJ

[COUESAZ]

TJ I have seen that mule deer buck as well.

[Eagle Eye]

I have also seen that muley. I was chasin him around in January. Two of my buddies have the rifle hunt comin up.

[COUESAZ]

Thanks guys it was a great hunt. Starting to look forward to next yearnow. I can not wait because my son will be one of the shooters next year.

[Antlerdog]

Rough lookin country!