Shortpants and COOSEFAN's adventure

[COOSEFAN]

Well we are finally home and in the lap of luxury and I can't shake this constant craving I have for ANY food that wasn't previously FREEZE DRIED! Neither of us had time to scout this unit, but had prior experience there and we were just going to hunt it as hard as anyone possible could and test our basic knowledge of hunting Coues. We headed down 2 days early and positioned our trucks full of supplies and (Dr. Pepper) on both sides of a big mountain range so that we had two options if we needed to hike out instead of one. We packed our camp in on Thursday AM and set-up camp about 2 1/4 miles from my truck and about 2 miles from Shortpants' truck. We found out quickly that there are alot more roads in this unit than any map will show, and it really isn't the best unit to backpack into 'cause of that reason. We had a road about 3/4 mile straight below us and alot of hunters we accessing our spot that way. We glassed up a ton of deer and bucks but not as many as you would think for the amount of ground we were covering every day. We watched hunters walk around bucks and even shoot them from where we were but never found a buck we wanted in the first couple of days. Shorty has killed some huge bucks and had a big bottom line score he was holding out for and I just wanted to kill my first 3x3 in AZ, but still held out for a big buck because of all the effort we were putting into it. My camera was always buried in my pack so I video taped mostly but here are some pics I did get.

 

 

Our water was getting low fast and the water sources were right by the trucks so we left camp and headed down to Shorty's truck instead to fill up.......actually, we could see his truck from our vantage point and the Dr. Pepper in the ice chest was calling to him About 1/2 mile down, Shorty remembered he forgot his keys and had to hike back up to camp, we stopped and looked back up at camp and there were 4 illegals eating lunch right next to our camp so that was an extra reason to run back up there and scare them off. I climbed a little rise and glassed up a huge 2 point working his way uphill past me. I didn't want to shoot a 2 point again.....that's all I seem to get......but this one was heavier and bigger than the one I killed last year! I decided if I could get the camera on him I would take him....well by the time I ran back and got the camera and got it set up, he had just crested the point across from me, so I missed out on the kill and the video. I told Shorty what happened when he returned and I was bummed, but he kept telling me it happened for a reason, and we'll find that big 3x3.

We decided at the truck that we would move both vehicles to the road below camp which was alot closer and continue to hunt the top of the mountain. We had been hearing alot of shots down in the low country and figured guys were whackin' a bunch of spikes but as we headed out, we talked to several guys and stopped at a camp that had a 100" buck and another camp had a 110" class! Those guys down low were whackin' TOADS! We then decided we were hunting way too hard and hiked in that night, packed up camp, and packed out in the dark. We planned on packing in to the low country and did it the following morning only to find people with fanny packs hunting what we thought was "remote" country! This is when we packed back out and grabbed the Rhino and threw our loaded backpacks into it and took off! We were hunting too hard and couldn't win, so we drove the Rhino all the way back around the mt. range and way deep into the farthest place we ( or anyone else ) could go, and camped next to the Rhino!

We hunted extremely hard from there and found alot of bucks but few that were shooters. We finally made a stalk on 3 bucks that Shorty had glassed up that took an entire day to do and we never relocated the one that Shorty wanted and made it back to camp several hours after dark.

 

This is the sunset that alot of us got to enjoy last week

 

Finally, sore and tired, we actually took the Rhino and drove to a glassing spot on the evening of the 5th day. Now we really felt like we were hunting the EASY way and hoped it would change our luck. I glassed up a decent 3x4 buck early and several spikes were between us and the buck, but I decided, second to last day, I'm not passing up the chance! Staying light, I left the video camera (bad decision) and Shorty on the point and took off. I made it around the spikes but got charged by a dang pig in the 5 ft. tall grass in the wash! That shook me up pretty bad but the stalk was still on! I belly crawled over the last ridge straight across where the buck had bedded and set up. I could not relocate the buck in the catclaw and scanned down. BAM! There below where my buck was supposed to be were 3 bucks bedded at 230 yrds. under a mesquite chewing their cud with their eyes closed! I pulled out my cell phone to call Shorty to tell him there is a change of plans, but couldn't get him. I then called my dad, who was at home, and filled him in on what I was doing! There was a small 2 point on the left, a very nice, perfect 85" 3x3 on the right and a broadside bedded 3x3 in the middle. I could tell the middle buck had a small crabclaw fork on his right but he had a ton of mass and width and height! I figured he would score about the same as the buck on the right and my dad agreed I should take the heavy older buck. I set dad down on a "cowpie" laying next to me, had the rifle dead solid on my tripod and shooting stick set-up, and rolled em' over, he never got up! Because of technology, my dad got to be with me at that moment and could hear the whole event take place. My initial buck jumped up and ran off with the other 2 bucks and mine laid still 10 seconds after the shot!

 

 

I can't put into words what it felt like to walk up to my buck, he surpassed what I had hoped for and is what I dreamed of taking on this hunt! All the miles of packing around a 65lb camp, all the hours of glassing and all the days of putting up with Shortypants made this my #1 buck to date regardless of score! He is super massive and wide and absolutely beautiful, the pics do not do him justice! We named this buck the "Big Easy", because of how hard we hunted only to end up in the end on the 5th day, driving the Rhino to our glassing spot, and doing it the easy way! I'll take em' however I can get em' though I had a blast hunting with Jason and learned alot about his dedication to hunting trophy bucks. He didn't take a buck on this hunt but I guarantee, outta the 40 or so bucks we saw, he could have! Next year "maybe" I'll hold out for a bigger buck.......well....we'll see when that time comes! Thanks, JIM>

[GTT]

Great job guys,What a beutiful buck! That's a trophy in my book, it's all about the experience. Great pictures too! Bret

[azpackhorse]

excellent story! congrats on your buck.

[azyoung]

Thanks for the story and pics. Congrats on a great buck!!

 

azyoung

[cramerhunts]

Congrats on a great buck Jim. As usuall awesome story and pictures.

Thanks once again for taking us along with you.

[azcouesandelk]

Man what a story.

 

What is the deal with shorpants smelling his foot in the first pic

 

Also those are some fantastic sunset shots there.

 

Now onto that massive ol' buck all I can say is nice.

 

Great job on what sounds like a blast of a hunt. I can't wait to hear about more of your hunts.

[bobbyo]

That is a nice buck. Congratulations.

Bob

[COOSEFAN]

I forgot to throw this in, this is a nice buck we found when hiking back to camp in the dark. Again, I didn't get great pics of it, but it's cool none the less! The skeleton was laying in the bottom of a wash in deep grass and the head was sitting above it on a cliff. I think an illegal set it there. There are no signs of it being a lion kill, and no arrow ( was in velvet when it died ) so don't know what cause of death is. JIM>

 

 

[azcouesandelk]

The pickup has some very similar characteristics to the buck you shot Jim. Great pick up.

[COOSEFAN]

Yeah....I can see what you are talking about similar characteristics. The pick-up actually is different because what looks like a crabclaw fork on the right is actually where some darn varmint chewed the main beam and g3 down. He was just a typical 3x3. You can sort of see that there is still velvet on the left beam. The kill wasn't more than a month or so old, he's white colored because of the missing velvet.

 

We did run into a very upset 3 1/2 ft. Blacktail Rattler, one Tarantula on the road, and several harmless snakes. I also had a panic attack in my little one man tent when I reached up to turn off my light, there was a Tarantula sized hairy spider directly above my face!!!!!! I couldn't move and Shorty wouldn't come to my rescue so I curled into the fetal position and cried myself to sleep it's actually a true story

 

I'm hoping Shortypants post his pics here, he took alot more of our camps and such....lets see em' Shorty. JIM>

[azcouesandelk]

I see still a beauty of a pickup none the less.

 

Sorry to hear about your terrible happenings with the 8 legged creatures that haunt me in my dreams. And also the forked tounged rattling demon. At least you didn't get bit by either of em.

[CouesWhitetail]

Very nice pics and story Jim!! Thanks for letting us share your hunt with you!!

 

Amanda

[coues4x4]

Great story and hunt.Congrats to you both on a very hard hunt.

[mulie hunter]

Coosefan, Great story and a nice deer. Just shows hard work and persistance payoff. You could of sent a couple of those 100" across the road.

[firstcoueswas80]

good job jim! way to go! that buck is nice and would be very nice if he wasnt short on that right side! his body looks pretty good size, was he a fat buck? i bet he taste good!