tjhunt2 Report post Posted December 15, 2012 Lots of good advise here from good hunters. I recommend you purchase a book from the cw store called "Hunting Coues Deer". It's written by Duwane Adams and Tony Mandile. It is well worth the asking price of $20 and I believe there's a 10% discount going on right now. Spend more time glassing than walking. That doesn't mean you can't put some miles behind you it just means once you get to where you think you should be then sit down and pick the country apart behind some binos resting on a tripod. You don't have to buy the most expensive binos on the market to start out but buy the best you can afford. You'll find over the years of hunting the higher price binos will let you glass more comfortable and longer hours. Good luck on your hunts and I'll be looking to see your post. TJ 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gaps Report post Posted December 15, 2012 Well everyone we got it done! Last Sunday is when our hunt ended and we killed a 3x3 that afternoon. I have been busy this week and haven't had time to write up how it happened but I plan on doing that this weekend. We have it all on video too so as soon as I can put all the clips together I will post it as well. Thanks again to everyone who shared their opinions and how they hunt, it has been fun to read and talk with my buddies about all this! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sjvcon Report post Posted December 15, 2012 Nice. Make sure you post pictures and your story. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gaps Report post Posted December 15, 2012 I'm working on it right now.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cohntr6 Report post Posted December 16, 2012 Looking forward to it! Was it close to the road? LOL Congrats. Jeff 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gaps Report post Posted December 17, 2012 First of all, thank you to all that offered advice and posted to this thread. Although there is no absolute, it is always interesting to hear what works for everyone! So one of my best friends, he is more of a brother to me since we have been hanging out since t-ball, and I drew a rifle whitetail tag for November 30 through December 9. I was pretty excited since we didn’t get drawn for elk this year and it was my first time ever being drawn. We start hunting opening morning and hunted hard for three days and didn’t turn up many bucks. My friend saw a doe and button buck opening morning that were about 50 yards from him, but that isn’t quite what we wanted…….Opening day we also found around a dozen doe on a hillside that we were able to glass from the road. Since we found so many doe we thought we would have to see a buck somewhere close to them. Well the next day we found a little forky where we saw all of the doe and while my friend was trying to find him in the riflescope another hunter shot at the forky before we could. Then they shot again. We were pissed at being so close to filling his tag and it not happening. The other hunters were on the same road we were on just around the bend where we couldn’t see them but could hear them talking a bit. We ran into them later and found out they missed both shots. We stayed hunting that mountainside for the next two days and didn’t see anything but the same dozen or so doe… Both of us had things we needed to take care of so we headed home on Sunday night. After replaying the 3 days of hunting in my head, not seeing hardly any bucks, and being frustrated I decided to make this post looking for some advice. We went back out Wednesday afternoon and hunted that night and all the way through Saturday morning. My friend stayed on the same mountainside with all the doe while me and my brother in law took some advice and hiked in away from the roads, which put us on the backside of the ridge where the doe were. We thought the hunting pressure would put us in a good spot for some bucks but again, nothing but doe. After being 9 days into a hunt and hunting for about 7 of them I found myself sitting at home frustrated. Frustrated because we had tried everything and nothing was working, and also because we knew of others hunting the same area were able to fill their tag. Of course we were happy for them but I was frustrated. So Saturday night I called my friend and said hey, tomorrow is the last day, let’s make a day trip of it and throw a “Hail Mary.” Let’s hunt another part of the unit and switch up things. I was sick of where we hunted before. We did it and it worked! We went to another popular area but only saw a few camps and didn’t see anyone where we went. We were driving down this FS road and I was telling him we were about 3500 feet and I thought we would start seeing more Muley than whitetails and that’s when he said “Stop, there are two deer in the road.” We both jump out and he sees through his scope they are doe, but they were whitetail. We decide to start glassing for some bucks that should be near. A minute later I found two bucks pushing a doe but we lost them over a ridge before we could get a shot. I looked at the map and saw a nob that would maybe give us a view of the backside of the ridge they went over. We got to it, hiked up, and within minutes found them. I set up to shoot and they were 810 yards away. It was 2pm and there was no way to get closer so I dialed the scope and sent it. I missed the first two shots for not holding for enough wind but got him on the third. At the time we didn’t know I hit him with the third shot. He didn’t go down but I was out of ammo since I was shooting at some rocks a few days before. I told him to get his gun and to shoot him. He missed the first shot because of wind but then connected and the buck bedded down behind a bush. I stayed on the binos watched the bush he was bedding behind while he hiked 40 minutes to him. He found him dead behind the bush and then I packed up and hiked over too. Once I got there we were looking at the blood trails and found a trail that lead to a pool of blood in the area where I took my third shot. We figured that I hit him and we just didn’t know it. Once I realized this I was pumped, we both ended up killing the buck together! This is pretty fitting for us since we are pretty much brothers and do everything together. For being the last day, and only hours left in the hunt, and both of us being part of this buck, I wouldn’t have changed this or had it end any other way! One thing I did learn was to always have a full box of ammo with you and to buy a wind meter for those windy days! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gaps Report post Posted December 17, 2012 Here are some pics, ill add the video when i get it done.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gaps Report post Posted December 17, 2012 Looking forward to it! Was it close to the road? LOL Congrats. Jeff Kinda funny because it was pretty close to the road, actually right where it ended. We were on a 4x4 road that was tucked way back there. We didn't see or hear anybody all day. I think what really helped was being away from the crowds, I am a big fan of that! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gaps Report post Posted December 17, 2012 Lots of good advise here from good hunters. I recommend you purchase a book from the cw store called "Hunting Coues Deer". It's written by Duwane Adams and Tony Mandile. It is well worth the asking price of $20 and I believe there's a 10% discount going on right now. Spend more time glassing than walking. That doesn't mean you can't put some miles behind you it just means once you get to where you think you should be then sit down and pick the country apart behind some binos resting on a tripod. You don't have to buy the most expensive binos on the market to start out but buy the best you can afford. You'll find over the years of hunting the higher price binos will let you glass more comfortable and longer hours. Good luck on your hunts and I'll be looking to see your post. TJ I'll have to take a look at that book. I'm a big fan of hiking in and putting my Vortex Kaibabs on the tripod and picking apart the area. I feel it is really tuff to glass without a tripod. The Kaibabs are my first and only pair of optics and I'll agree with you that they are more comfortable and let me glass longer than some of the less expensive glass... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Redman Report post Posted December 17, 2012 great story and way to stick with it.. rule of thumb, where there are junipers there are WT (WT are found even lower.. i shot mine this year at around 2500) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jmall Report post Posted December 17, 2012 Congrats on a great hunt. It took me a few years to learn this ,so please dont take offense, get the skin off the deer asap the meat will taste much better. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trophyhnter Report post Posted December 18, 2012 Way to stick with it! That unit is a tough hunt because it has a lot of tags! Congrats on your bucks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gaps Report post Posted December 20, 2012 great story and way to stick with it.. rule of thumb, where there are junipers there are WT (WT are found even lower.. i shot mine this year at around 2500) Congrats on a great hunt. It took me a few years to learn this ,so please dont take offense, get the skin off the deer asap the meat will taste much better. Way to stick with it! That unit is a tough hunt because it has a lot of tags! Congrats on your bucks! thanks for the advice guys, i'll remember that for the future. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gaps Report post Posted August 22, 2013 Just want to thank all of those who responded to this post and to Amanda and those involved with the making of this website and community. I have learned quite a bit from everyone and I am thankful for it. I finally finished putting the video together, hope you guys enjoy! Click the link below, then click on 2012 Coues Whitetail. http://www.youtube.com/user/19gaps/videos Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trphyhntr Report post Posted August 23, 2013 Here are some pics, ill add the video when i get it done.... ok i have to ask. why did you cut his face off? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
