Son's youth hunt

[gotcoues]

I've been struggling with the idea of posting this and I probably wouldn't have, but it was my oldest son's (13) first coues deer and we were unable to recover him. As of late it seems the internet has provided some assistance in what would normally be impossible.

 

My son Cody shot a nice 3x3 in the youth hunt and we were unable to recover the deer. I'm guessing the score to be around 90 + or -. We looked for the deer everyday glassing for birds or the buck and also combing the area. The buck went down hard after the shot but he fell behind a giant whale size boulder, so we couldn't see him where he lay. After 20 to 30 minutes we dropped off the canyon to hit the bottom and head up the other side. When we were coming up the other side, we got a call on the radio that the buck was up again. Well, it went really bad from there and although we came close to being able to get a follow up shot at close range, it didn't happen.

 

We were hunting the Oracle side of 33 and would be grateful to share exact locations if someone happens to find a buck similar to this or hear through the grape vine of someone finding a buck. Cody and I were already celebrating and talking about how awesome his mount was going to be when the dreaded call came in. He passed several small bucks and was holding out for a "trophy". I feel terrible about making in hindsight less than great decisions in this situation and even though I know this is a one in a million I figured it's worth a try.

 

The blood trail was non-existent and we were unable to figure out which way he dropped off the ridge top making the search much more difficult.

 

I've been told by a friend that lots of early rifle hunters have been hunting the same area. I'm hoping birds might have or will put a hunter on Cody's deer.

[couesbowhunter1]

was just recently up up there and didnt find anything i found a little puddle of blood but it was just one spot sorry goodluck hope you find it