Hard Earned Buck

[John O]

I am posting this story of my son's hunt, with hopes that others will be inspired to take a kid hunting and share in the excitement and lessons learned from a coues hunt.

 

I have been hard at work since January attempting to tag a coues with my bow. I have had several good opportunities, but have not been able to seal the deal. I picked up a leftover rifle tag for the late November coues hunt in 36a, in case I had not tagged one by then. With so many great experiences in January and Aug/Sept, I decided I would forego my rifle tag in favor of December archery. This left me the option to eat my rifle tag, or sign it over to my son, who was not drawn for the youth hunts I put him in for. After a little thought (about 10 seconds), I decided to transfer the tag to him, with the hopes of some memorable experiences, and some quality father son time together. Even though we had limited time to hunt due to school and holiday family commitments, I decided that we would hit it hard, and see what we could accomplish in a day and a half.

 

Day 1- Opening day, Nov 27th

 

We woke up at 4:00 am, packed up, and headed down south to an area I have spent a fair amount of time over the last 3 years. We arrived at our parking spot just as it was beginning to get light. We hiked up to the top of our glassing hill, and set up ready for whatever the day would bring us. I glassed up several does on various hills and mountains nearby, but no antlers. At about 8:30, I noticed two deer in an ocotillo thicket, about 1200 yards away. After watching them for a while, I could see one of them was a spike. We worked our way down the hill, and into a good shooting position 330 yards away. Jake had practiced out to 400 yards, so this was not new to him. We located the deer, but they had bedded, and were mostly blocked by the ocotillo and shrubs around them. Over the next hour I positively ID'd them as bucks, one a spike and the other a small forkie. We waited a total of two and a half hours, thinking they would surely stand up and stretch and switch positions. Finally, one shifted just enough that we had a clear view of his entire body. Jake got all comfortable on the bi-pods, and when he was ready and steady, he shot. Just high, and the spike blew out of there. Interestingly enough the other deer, less than 10 feet away, did not move. We watched him for 30 minutes before he got up and quickly trotted in the direction the spike had gone. Jake got two shots off, not able to connect. We hurried and skirted around the hill to try and relocate them, but with no such luck. We decided to call it a day, feeling it was important to spend the rest of the afternoon and weekend with the family for the holiday.

 

 

Day 2- Monday Nov 30

 

Jake was a little hesitant to miss school to hunt, as he takes his studies very seriously, but decided he could miss one day as long as he could make up his work. We decided to hit it hard, from dawn till dusk if necessary, and to steal a phrase from my high school basketball days "leave it all on the court". We were fortunate enough to be joined for the day by a good friend who goes by APatKelly on CWT.com. I appreciate his willingness to join us for the day, and share in what turned out to be quite a ride. We arrived at the glassing hill just before daylight, and made a familiar hike to our special spot. This was a different day than Friday. It was very cold and windy, and the hills I had seen deer on opening day were in the direct wind, and only displayed several does seeking calmer areas. Soon Aaron called me over, and had spotted a spike and a forkie about a half mile away. We got on our gear and headed down the hill, in hopes of another opportunity. After much searching, we were able to locate them 400 yards away, high on a hill side. We set up and Jake let me know he was comfortable and steady. He shot, hitting just below the buck. He made an adjustment, and shot again. It appeared to either hit the very top of the deer, or just over it. At this point they had blown out, and our opportunity was over. We decided to hike up and make sure we had not connected with the second shot, just in case. We were able to see where both bullets had impacted the large rocks behind the deer, and no blood, no fur, no tissue. We stayed up in the saddle of the ridge and glassed for half an hour or so in 30-40 mile winds with no deer located. We headed back to the car, and met up with Aaron for a snack and short break. With the wind so strong, we decided to switch to a location where we could glass some areas that might be better protected from the elements. As we pulled into our parking spot, we jumped two whitetail bucks that quickly ran over a nearby ridge. We geared up and quickly headed toward where they went, hoping to locate them. As we topped the hill, I scanned the thicket below, and located several deer, two of which had antlers. We made our way down to just under 300 yards and started to get set up. I put my binos on the tripod, and scanned the area. I had a good look at one of the bedded deer, and something was not right. It was a small deer, and his forehead and face was all a very light color. I have watched coues for many years now, and this was not what I was used to seeing. I scanned over to where the two bucks were bedded, and their antlers were white like a coues, and they were both small two pointers. I waited for one to shift, with a view of his backside, and sure enough they were all mule deer. The two bucks we jumped were whitetails, but were not the same deer I had located just below where we had seen them last. We packed back to the car, a little disappointed, but excited to have seen what we did. We then glassed for 45 minutes or so in some nasty wind and cold, locating several does from the bottom to the very top of the mountains, but nothing with antlers. By now it was almost 4:00, and we decided to head back to the same area we started the day to see if anything had moved in. We set up and glassed up some does, but time was running out. Just before 5:00, I spotted some deer skirting around the mountain, at least 1500 yards away. Aaron got out his spotting scope, and determined it was a doe, a fawn, and a little spike. We hustled down into position, and fortunately the deer continued to skirt the hill in our direction. They held up in an ocotillo thicket 300 yards above us. I helped Jake get set up and steady, and then set up my binos on the tripod to locate the spike. Jake was on him, and the first shot was a little low. Second shot was a hit, and a good one. It looked to be a heart, or low lung shot. The deer stood there bleeding at the mouth, and staggering. We watched him for a minute or two thinking he would go down, but he just stood there. I finally told Jake to chamber another round, so we could finsh him off. Just then he walked behind a nearby tree, and we did not see him again. With less than 30 minutes of light left, Aaron joined us from were we spotted them, and we headed up to go finish him off. As we approached the tree, it came alive and the deer flagged and jumped out, running along the hill at a fast pace. I couldn't believe it! I knew he was hit well, and was bleeding out, but for some reason still had some left in him. There was not enough light to see him well enough in the scope for a shot, so I figured we had to just go after him. Maybe if his heart rate increased, he would bleed out faster and expire. So the chase was on. Jake and I skirted the hill as fast as we could, toward where we saw the buck last. All of a sudden he jumped up, not 10 feet from us and ran down the hill (this is a good sign). We ran down toward him, with so little light left, that I was concerned the clock was running out on us. Just then we heard a rustling above us, and there he was. He had gone down as he ran down the hill, and we had actually ran right past him. This happened literally as the last bit of light disappeared from the horizon. I called out to Aaron, who we left in the dust back on the hill, that we had a buck down. Our concerns turned to excitement and gratefulness that we were able to recover this hard earned buck. Jake hung in there all day, without one complaint or problem. He is a special young man, and I am honored to be his father and friend. Special thanks to Aaron for your help and company for the day. Hopefully I can someday repay the favor.

 

Everything on paper indicated that this was not a great day to hunt. Rain was forecasted at 40%, 20-40 mph winds, and colder than usual weather. In the past, it has been on days like this that I have had some of my most memorable experiences. Considering the conditions, a 5th hunt leftover tag hunt, and a short time to get it done, we felt blessed to have shared such a great time together and an opportunity to harvest this little buck.

 

 

[COUESAZ]

Way to go. Great story and thanks for sharing your hunt with us. Congrats on a fine buck.

[stanley]

Way to go John!!!!! Congrats to Jake on his deer! I'm glad Jake had a great hunt!!

 

Thanks for sharing the pics & story!!

 

S.

 

[War7664]

GREAT JOB!

[cohofishing]

Congrates to your son, Jake. Great deer. My daughter, Courtney, also had a late November leftover tag. It was a tough first weekend for hunting. Good luck on your archery hunt.

 

Brent

[Red Rabbit]

Jake,

Congrats on your hunt success, especially on a windy weekend.

 

Doug~RR

[HUNTMUP]

Congratulations!! Way to stick with it and get it done!

[Apatkelley]

Congrats again to you and Jake. It was awesome that you were willing to sign your tag over to Jake so he could have a chance to hunt this year. Thanks for having me along, it was a great hunt and fun to watch Jake and see his smile when he got his buck.

[Chef]

I'm glad I took the time to read the story.

Good for you on taking your boy out!

Congrats to the young hunter on his hard earned buck!

[WadeNAZ]

Thanks for sharing. And great job to you and Jake for "leaving it all on the court". At any time especially with a younger one, it is easy for them to give up after a missed shot or conditions or circumstatnces are not in your favor. But...you both preservered and made it happen. You have made great memories with your son and will be a good experience to look back on.

 

You Sir should be commended as a father. Well done

[John O]

Thanks for the kind comments, and although this deer is no "trophy", it may as well have been 110" as far as Jake is concerned. Attached is a photo of the boiled out antlers. Good luck to everyone still at it this year!

 

 

 

[AZantlerhead]

Thanks for shareing and congrats to Jake!!