Coues and Effect

[azryan]

Just thought I would share my hunt this year. I spent a ton of time scouting and it made this hunt an enjoyable one. I was lucky enough to see lots of different bucks. It was an any antlered deer hunt so I made it my goal to try and find shooters for both species. I am strictly a coues guy, but secretly I would love to kill a muley! I never found a muley buck that would make me stray from my love of coues. That was until the day before my hunt!. Back tracking a little bit, I found a few coues bucks that I was considering hunting. There was one in particular that I kept coming back to. I 1st found him in early August and had kept my eye on him up until a week of the hunt. He was a typical 3x3 with a big frame. Here are a few pics of him in velvet

 

 

As it got closer to the hunt I decided to get a little closer to get some better pics of him hard horned

 

 

He was always in the same general spot. I just had to hope he made it through the 1st season. Here is another cool buck that I would love to see what a few years will add to him

 

 

The hunt was only a few days away and I had the next 2 weeks off of work. My dad joined me for the first few days which is always a great time. We spent the day before the hunt in an area that I had not checked out yet and was dying to see what was in there. This is where killing a muley really had me excited. The day before the hunt my dad glassed this buck up on the move to get out of the sun and into his bedroom. I have a ton of pics and video of him but due to the distance I could not get the best pics of him. Here is a couple, he is a big ol typical 4x4

 

 

We watched him all day Thursday to see what his plans were for the evening. I decided he was my goal for the next few days.

 

 

He topped over the ridge that night, into a spot where I was not sure how I could glass good enough the next day. The plan was made to hike to the top of the mountain in the dark and try to glass him up down towards the bottom. Opening morning came and we got up to where I wanted to be and almost instantly was able to locate him further down from where he was the night before. We watched him for the next hour to see where he would bed. He topped over the ridge and out of sight into a spot that was impossible to look into. I was thinking to myself that I should have tried to make a move to get into position for a shot before he disappeared, but I did not want to push him. I had my dad go down and drive over to a spot that might give him an opportunity to see into where he went, while I stayed up top. The rest of the day we glassed and glassed with no breaks trying to locate him. No luck there, I was starting to get antsy and impatient. I knew where he was most likely bedded and the only option was to come over top of him getting in close. I decided that was my plan of attack. I very slowly moved down the ridge over the next 5 hours. There was only about an hour of light left and I was still working my way down to where I thought he would be. I waited just a little to long to get to that point. I finally got to where I thought he was going to be and could not find him! I worked down even more with only about 5 minutes of light left. I finally find him just the top of his back working his way to the left of me. I quickly put the binos down and ranged to where he was 140 yards. Now I get setup and CAN not find him through my scope! I was frantically looking and just ran out of shooting light! I was pretty mad at myself for not working down to that point sooner, to where I still had plenty of light! So I backed out of there and made my way down to my dad. The plan was set next morning to start from the same spot as the morning before. Long story short the next morning we could never locate him again. My dad had to leave to go to a wedding so I was going to be by myself. I was pretty depressed that I could not find him. So I decided that afternoon to go look for the coues buck earlier in the story. I get there around 130pm and start my hike in. I am getting close to my glassing spot and I just decided to take a quick glance up there. Best decision I made, The buck was right in my glassing spot just feeding! I get the camera rolling and setup for the shot, 234 yards

 

 

Here is the youtube link to the kill shot (I know I know I dont know what happened on the first shot )

 

 

Sorry for the long read!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RAM]

Great buck and great read!!!!! Congrats on a killer buck!!!! -Ryan

[4Falls]

Cool buck. Love all the scouting photos too.

[desertbowhunter]

Great story. I enjoyed it. Congrats on a stud of a buck!

[az_shooter]

Great buck, congrats on your deer.

[Kaffer62]

Great buck! Looks like you had a blast and that looks like great country too

[rclouse79]

Very cool.

[trophyhnter]

great writeup! I was pulling for you on the big muley!

[100%DIYazCOUES]

Great story,well put together,nice buck.congrats!

[azpredator@work]

Awesome. Congrats

[Pine Donkey]

Great buck, nice second shot!

[Tunachaser]

Congrats man! Super solid.

[lancetkenyon]

Love the Roman nose on that buck. Big ol' Coues, nicely done.

[AZbowhntr]

Great well deserved buck. You put the time in and it shows. Who knows maybe that big muley will make till next year and you can hunt him again. Congrats on a great buck. Enjoyed the read.

[creed_az_88]

Good job on a stud of a coues buck. Good job on the story.