Friends, Family and Good Times

[azcouesandelk]

With the draw results out and no luck for myself, my dad and several friends we all opted to pick up leftover October tags this year again, but this time we opted to get tags in a unit I have not hunted in several years.

 

Wednesday before season Randy and Tyler were able to go down and meet up with my ol' man to do a little scouting and get familiar with the area. Lots of does and 1 small buck were seen but no shooters. I was able to make it down Thursday with about 45 minutes of light left for glassing and decided to glass from a spot by the road. I have heard stories about leaving your gun in the truck and I can say that I now have one of those. While sitting 100 yards from the truck I had a big mature lion walk no more than 75 yards below me!!! To say I was a little upset and disapointed is an understatement. I met up with Ryan and Jay on the road into camp and we made it there in time to go over a game plan and go to bed.

 

Opening morning found Randy and Tyler hiking up over a ridge to glass a big canyon system, Ryan and Jay getting up on a high point to glass a big basin and mountainside, and my dad and myself hiking in to glass over a series of ridges with a hidden water tank. My dad and myself had a very slow morning only picking up several does and fawns. Ryan and Jay had called us around 9:00 to 9:30 saying they had found a good buck so we opted to move to the point they were on to try to lead them in. Somehow the buck gave us the slip. We were finally able to get a hold of Randy and Tyler and they were on a stalk on a few bucks and they would meet us in camp that afternoon.

 

That afternoon Ryan, Jay, my ol' man and myself all decided to get on the high point they were on to try and locate the buck from that morning. We setup and glassed for about an hour in the heat without any luck when Jay said he had a buck. We all got our eyes on him and could tell he was a decent 3 point from over a mile away. At this time Jay and myself decided to cut the distance in half to get a better look. As we moved closer the buck grew a little bit and he now looked like a good 3 point. We watched the buck bed and waited for my dad and Ryan to meet up with us before we made our final approach. With eyes on the deer Jay and myself slipped down to get in shooting position. After a short stalk we crested over a small finger and had the buck bedded just over 300 yards away. After a warning shot Jay put a perfect shot on the buck and he went down. This was Jay's first coues buck and he had knee surgery just a few weeks prior. This buck was much better than any of us thought due to his mass and width!!! Congrats Jay on a great first coues buck, could luck trying to top it.

 

 

 

After getting back to camp we were able to here Randy and Tyler's story. Apparently they had glassed up a bachelor herd of bucks right off the bat and dropped off a sheer cliff to get on them. The country these guys were going through is nothing short of rough and nasty!!! They played cat and mouse with the bucks for a while and setup around noon to try and locate them bedded. Randy was successful in finding the bucks and Tyler setup to take the buck. With 1 well placed shot at 350 yards his first coues buck was down. Congrats Tyler on your first coues buck!!!

 

 

 

Day 2 started off with Ryan and Jay looking for the buck they saw the first morning, my dad and myself setting up on another point looking over some new country, and Randy and Tyler sleeping in after a very hard first day. Let me tell everybody the effort they put into Tyler's buck was more than what I have seen most camps put into an entire hunt let alone 1 day. We had a decent morning with lots of does spotted but only 1 small 2 point.

 

That afternoon we split up again with myself, Randy and Tyler glassing a big mountainside. My ol' man, Ryan and Jay went to glass the opposite side. I had told Randy and Tyler that I would shoot any buck they glassed up since I had not taken a buck on a leftover the last couple of years. Well Randy glassed up what we thought was a small 2 point so the stalk was on. We cut the distance down to 575 yards and we setup. After several shots to figure out the proper compensation for the angle the buck was down. When we walked up to the buck I was happy to see he had 3 on his left side. Only thing is I couldn't see a right side! After moving his ear I found a unique spike on the left side LOL!!! Even though this is my smallest buck I am very happy with him.

 

 

Day 3 we decided to hike from camp to glass a big valley turning up a bunch of does, a spike and 2 other bucks we were unable to get a good look at. Ryan and Jay had to head back home so Ryan had to eat tag soup.

 

That afternoon we went to glass from the origional spot that Randy and Tyler had found the bucks opening morning. We setup and found several does and a spike way out there. With about 2 hours of light left Tyler found a buck a lot closer and my dad decided to drop down and try for him. Long story short the buck lived another day and my dad was wore out from a very tough stalk.

 

Morning of day 4 we went to a new area that looked very promising. We glassed for over an hour turning up several does and I finally found a buck. He was a 2 point and my dad was meat hunting at this point so the stalk was on. We moved in, but lost the buck. After glassing for a few minutes my dad found 5 bucks on a large hill above us so we moved over 2 ridges and he connected with a 150 yard shot. I had forgotten my camera and phone at the truck so no pictures of the buck sadly.

 

That afternoon we went back to the knob we had found Jay's buck from since we could sit at the truck and glass. Tyler, Randy and myself were glassing complaining about the sun and heat when Tyler found a buck and he said it was a good one. I put the spotter on him and knew we needed to kill him. We left Tyler on the point while Randy and myself made our move. We dropped down in the bottom and made up on a main ridge and took that all the way out til we were at 415 yards. After 1 warning shot Randy put the smackdown on his biggest coues buck to date!

 

 

This definately was one of the best hunts I have been able to go on, not only because of our success on the hunt but for the fun times we spent in the field and the laughs we had.

[trophyhnter]

Great story! Congrats to all the hunters on their bucks!

[archerman]

Nicely done!

That's pulling alot of meat from left over tags!

[Pine Donkey]

Thanks for posting this great story! That is a nice bunch of bucks.

[creed_az_88]

Wow sounds like a heck of a time.

[antlerfreak]

BEAUTIFUL CONGRATS

[Coach]

Hey, that's a great job right there. Nice bucks and great write up!

[azcoues]

awesome man way to git r done,you guys did good for leftovers.

[Snapshot]

That's awesome! Great bucks and good times with family!

[Ernesto C]

Yes very nice Christian, congratulations to all!

 

Ernesto C

[shortpants]

Congrats to all you guys! Great write-up Christian thanks for sharing.

[AZbowhntr]

Christian, looks like a great time. There are some great bucks there. Give me a call when you get a chance.

[Mocha1545]

Great job all. Thanks for the write up. Congrats.

[COOSEFAN]

Great job to all! I love Randy's buck, beautiful specimen! Great writeup too, thanks for it and congrats to all! JIM>

[cramerhunts]

Great job Christian! Congratulations to everyone involved on some great bucks!