briant_az Report post Posted December 7, 2010 I don't know if anyone will remember but a couple of months ago I posted a topic on this site about a coues buck that I missed during the archery season. Since that day all I have thought about is these little whitetail and how I wanted to get one sooooo bad. I decided that I would pick up a leftover tag down south and hope for the best. Opening day a buddy,Chad and myself are glassing for about an hour before we see any deer. The first deer that I see is a buck, even though I didn't know it until he told me. The problem was he only had one antler. I watched him for about 20 minutes and decided that I was not going to shoot a one antlered buck for my first. About 10 minutes later I decided that I could not pass on this buck and I want to take him. I try to find him in the last place that I saw him and all we can find is a doe and a fawn. Oh well I guess it just wasn't meant to be. That afternoon we decide that we are going to drive around the unit a little since we are not really familiar with it and try to find a good spot to glass from. As we are driving down the road all of a sudden it starts to turn really bad. We decide to get out of the truck and walk up the road a little ways and make sure we can make it. As we are walking back to the truck we are talking and decide that this is as good an area as any to glass. All of a sudden Chad yells right there! On the other side of this huge wash these two bucks must have been watching us the whole time and we had no idea that they were even there. The one thing that I learned from this hunt is never get out of the truck without your gun. I run back to the truck grab my gun, load a round in the chamber and he says shoot the first one he is a big buck. The only shot that I have is kneeling and it was 300 yards. I shoot at the big buck twice and miss both times. Then the little buck steps out and I miss him too and they run over the ridge. I am pissed and ready to go after them, the only problem is the wash is so big and the sides of it are so steep it would take us too long to find a spot to cross to chase them. We decided that it would be pointless to try to get to the other side. We hike to the top of one of the ridges and glass the area until dark. Day 2 was pretty uneventful until about 10 mins before dark. I spot a deer on a ridge 500 yards away and Chad says he is a spike. I get all set up and he turns broadside, I squeeze the trigger and shoot right over his back. He runs straight down the mountain he is on and because there is another ridge between us we never see him again. Day 3 is windy and we decide it is time to head home. I have Monday and Tuesdays off from my everyday job but I am starting my own pest control company and have to come home to do services. I get everything done that I need to Monday and hope that my wife will let me go Tuesday morning. She says she doesn't care so I call Jake (outdoorrush) and another buddy (Dustin) that works with us. So tuesday morning we get to a spot to glass and 10 minutes in I spot some coyotes running across the mountain. Next place I look I see 3 bucks running the opposite way around the mountain. I tell them I have bucks and we decide that the first one is a really nice buck. The only problem is they just went over the side of the mountain. We make a plan and start to hike around the opposite side of the mountain. When we get to the other side of course there is a bunch of new mountains and no bucks in sight. We spot about 6 does but just cant find the bucks. We start to move around the mountain and all of a sudden we jump up a buck. He is running toward the top of the ridge and Jake tells me it is 200 yards. I am feeling very unconfident after the four misses at the previous bucks so I lay down with my bipod to shoot. I can't get on him before he goes over the ridge. Then he runs up the ridge behind that and Jake tells me he is 400 yards. I can't get on him fast enough and he steps behind a bush. We wait about 5 mins and Jake says I think he bedded down behind that bush. Jake also says that it looked like he might be hurt because he was kind of limping when he went over the first ridge. We wait about an hour and a half and decide that I should just try to get closer. Dustin walks up to the ridge between us and the deer to see if he will move if we try to get closer, he never moves. I follow Dustin to the next ridge and it is a 150 yard shot. After a few minutes the buck sticks his head out the front of the bush and looks right at us, then he backs up and starts to walk out from behind the bush. He stops right behind an ocotillo and I just can't take it anymore. I have a clear shot at his vitals and I shoot. He takes about two steps and I shoot again, he takes two more steps and falls over. I am super happy that I got to shoot this buck. I was hoping for a bigger buck for the first but at least I finally connected. I hit him with the first shot and I am still not sure if I hit him with the second or not. It turned out that someone had shot the deer in the back leg and it was not looking good. I didn't take any meat of that leg and the front leg where the bullet came out was nothing but hamburger. I shot him with a 168gr berger bullet in a 280 remington, the deer went down fast but man did that bullet ever do a number on the meat. I want to thank Jake and Dustin both for being there and helping me with my first whitetail. Thanks to Chad too for helping me the first 3 days. Maybe next year I will practice shooting farther distances kneeling instead of only practicing prone. Anyway sorry for the long story and here is what everyone clicked on this post for.........pictures! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
outdoor rush Report post Posted December 7, 2010 Yea that was really something going down there for one last go and actually putting one down. Dont worry we will shoot a bigger buck with our bows come jan. Congratulations on your first whitetail! jake Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Couzer Report post Posted December 7, 2010 Great job Brian! Way to stick with it and going back down there! Next year that big buck will be waiting for you! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coueshunter Report post Posted December 7, 2010 Great job. Nice buck and good story. I am curious about your gun/load. That is what I plan on using for long range shooting. Are you happy with the .280? Thanks.............Allen.............. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Red Rabbit Report post Posted December 9, 2010 Congrats on your first Coues, but sorry about not being able to eat all that great venison. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
