Dec 36A

[coueselk]

Day five, December 20th: Rusty and I decided to go to a ridgeline across from where I had taken my buck. Maybe spotting the one that got away. This peak offered a really good view of a lot of country. We were picking up does right away, but no horn. Rusty finally picked up a small 3x3. Nothing more exciting for the rest of the morning.

On the afternoon, we decided to hit some lower hills. I mean really, really low. We saw both muley and coues running together here. But looked as if all does. We saw a couple of bowhunters walking through and Rusty thought that he saw a flagged deer with antlers run over a ridge, but wasn't sure. He then picked up a couple of whitetail on another low hill. I looked at them through the spotting scope and seen a dink 3x3 and a doe. We just didn't have good luck finding decent bucks on this day.

[COOSEFAN]

This is nuts! I can't find anything else to look at in the meantime!

[COOSEFAN]

Great job, and one exciting hunt! Now where is the dead deer!

[coueselk]

Day six, December 21st: We started this morning with going to a totally different area. I dropped Rusty off for him to go to a vantage point and I proceded to another one. Again, lots of does being spotted. I glassed up a small 3x3 muley feeding across from me.

 

 

As I was glassing, I then spotted a small 3x3 whitetail. He was a real dink though.

 

 

I then glassed up a couple of more small bucks feeding but nothing over 70". We spent all morning glassing deer in every direction. But these were the only bucks to be seen.

 

The afternoon took us to the quads again. This to be continued on the next reply.

[DEERSLAM]

OUTSTANDING

To bad they didn't catch them.

If a deer hunt is going to get ruined this was well worth it. Good job guys.

[Guest Ernesto C]

Wow Danny......what a super succesfull hunt...you get a deer,a coyote catch a couple of illegals and then confiscated the drugs from smugglers..........wow! my hat off for you and Rusty.

 

Now tell us...........did Rusty harvested a buck?

[coueselk]

Ok, well we were on our way to look for the buck I had found on day one, when Rusty asked me if there were any roads into some lower hills. I said yes and we decided to go and have a look. We came up into the hills and spotted two small bucks. A 3x3 and a 2x2, but not shooters. We also kicked up a couple of whitetail and muley does. We stopped and glassed numerous times, but not seeing anything. It was really, really hot. We were commenting on how come we were hunting in July. Well, we kept going and seeing more country. We came to a gate in the road, which I had never been through. I told Rusty I wasn't sure where it went, so we decided to see. We drove about a 1/4 mile and stopped to glass some ocotillo covered hills. I threw up my binos and immediately spotted a buck bedded under a mesquite tree. We got the spotting scope out for a closer look.

 

 

He looked good. Rusty said that this was his buck. We ranged him at 440 yards, but lots and lots of Ocotillo was in the way. Rusty was going to try and stalk up an ajacent canyon to get a clear shot.

As he was making his way up, I noticed another deer laying to the right of the buck. I turned my attention to see if it also was a buck for not more than 20 seconds. When I saw it was a doe, I turned back to see that the buck had disappeared. I searched feverishly all over, but the buck was gone. I notified Rusty that the buck had went over the ridge, and had done it quickly. He made his way higher to get into the canyon the buck went into. I kept a close eye on the opposite ridge, in case the buck decided to go over it as well. I then spotted two does feeding on it. I could see that they kept looking across back up into a spot I couldn't see. Rusty no sooner made his way over into the canyon, when I spotted the buck running up the other ridge. I saw a big poof of hair fly from him and I heard the report of the rifle. He went down and attempted to get up. One more shot and he was down for good.

 

Continued on next reply.

[coueselk]

Here is Rusty's harvest. A fine buck.

 

[coueselk]

Here is some more pics.

 

 

[COOSEFAN]

Wow! Awesome buck and story, VERY suspenseful! Big congrats to you both on an incredible hunt with great bucks! JIM

[DEERSLAM]

WOW, what a hunt! Congrats to you both on a couple of great bucks and an even better story

[coueselk]

Last day, day six, December 22nd: We are on our way home, but not before doing a little coyote hunting first thing in the morning. Here is the 3rd coyote I took.

 

 

I can honestly say that this was an interesting hunt. It was way too hot and way to much traffic. I do believe that we will not be putting in for the southern units for many more years. Until all of the traffic is almost stopped. All the trails that we drove over had fresh tracks over ours everyday. And I mean trails, not just one or two but around 20. The deer are there, but having to worry about leaving stuff out of sight isn't worth it. I carried a side-arm also, which is added weight that shouldn't normally be needed. But it was advised by the rancher and some BP agents.

[Guest Ernesto C]

Wow,where can I get bucks like that? Really exciting story,please tell Rusty congrats on that bucks.Again,you are the man Danny,two thumbs waaayy up for the both of you!! God bless.

 

Ernesto C

[Guest Ernesto C]

Awesome story, thanks.  Those are great bucks, how about some scores?  I will take a wild guess rustys looks to be 99-101 and yours looks to be about 87 or so???  Congrats guys Great story

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Craig??(spelling?) is that you?

[azcouesandelk]

Wow am I glad I wasnt looking at this before. All I can say is great job. Sounds like alot of nice bucks were seen and 2 dandies were taken. Great job and as always great post and thanks for the pics.