Junior hunters get it done!

[Tunachaser]

First of all, I just wanted to thank Game and Fish for their efforts in promoting hunting to this generations youth. I think it is effective and awesome. It can be so incredibly frustrating to be a little kid and to be messed up by other hunters. On junior hunts, that almost never happens, which is awesome. I killed my first Coues Deer on this same Juniors hunt in 2009 and it was the hunt that got me addicted to the coolest animal on the planet. I haven't missed this hunt since then.

 

Unfortunately this year, out of all of my friends, brothers, sister, and my friends kids, only three drew the tag. My good friend Robby's two sons drew the tag; 16 year old Dillon, who has killed three Coues Bucks with one scoring over 95, and 10 year old Daniel who was so excited to go on his first big game hunt ever. And then our family friend, Ray from Flagstaff put his 17 year old granddaughter Victoria from California in for it and she also drew. On Thursday, we headed down, picked up my buddy JJ from the U of A, and got camp set up in the dark. My plan for the morning was to hike out of camp and hopefully find a small buck close to the road for Victoria.

 

I almost didn't get it done as it seemed that the bucks had been beat off the roads pretty good from the previous hunts. I began planning the rest of my weekend when I glassed up a nice little two point bedded down. I immediately got JJ on it behind the scope and grabbed Victoria, her parents Jeff and Lori, and Ray. We headed up the hill that the buck was bedded on and pretty soon, we were benched in at 235 yards waiting for the buck to stand. While on the stalk, JJ said something on the radio about the buck maybe only having three legs. I didn't really listen but as we were sitting there waiting the buck out, I saw what he was talking about. I was having Victoria do some trigger squeezing exercises without a bullet in the pipe when the buck stood up! It was mayhem for a second and we weren't able to get it done before he quickly laid back down. Darn! At this point though, we could see the outline of his body in the grass, and being at only 235 yards, I drew a picture for where she needed to put the crosshairs, and she let one rip. That was all it took and this So Cal girl had her first ever big game animal on the ground. As we walked up on him, we realized that JJ was right. What a weird deal!!!! I think it got hit by a border patrol truck because it was pretty close to a road, the front leg bone was broken pretty rough, and the back leg was completely shattered and full of puss. It was a little icky.

That evening, JJ, Dillon and I did a little exploratory hike to check out a sweet little canyon that I thought might hold a buck he would be interested in (100+). Unfortunately, we didn't even see a buck but I did flush a covey of Mearns Quail which made my heart so happy! Those are definitely my favorite birds in the world. =) That night, it rained hard so we all piled into Robbys tent trailer.

 

The next morning, we started hiking in the dark and got our pants completely soaked in the tall grass. A little after grey light, we were set up glassing a basin that I was sure would have a mature buck in it. Well, it didn't even have a buck in it. I moved a little to the east and glassed way far back into the canyon from the night before and finally picked up two nice bucks. One had potential. I zoomed in with our new spotting scope and let Dillon decide. For the second day with several great bucks already under his belt, he made a good decision and kept his 2014 tag in his pocket. After he decided to pass, I pulled out my calculator and field scored him at 2,000 yards. I came up with 89 1/2' but was hopeful that he might have something I didn't see. I quickly then called Robby and asked him if he was interested in making the long hike up to the spot we had the bucks bedded.

 

I convinced him to do it and by noon, we were in range. While on the stalk, I found this bomber deadhead! I cheated a little because a friend told me about the area because he had found it the year before when it was fresh dead but decided not to take it. The coyotes or Coati's must've pulled it into the sun because as you can see, it is pretty bleached out.

But what an awesome find!!! We did a little bit of moving around while the buck was tucked into a bush, trying to find Daniel a good shooing lane. We finally got all dialed in at 250 yards and at 2:15, the buck made the last decision of his life. He stood up, spun broadside, and 10 year old Daniel put one well placed bullet right in the boiler room. Legs went flying and an awesome buck went tumbling down the mountain.

 

It was such a great time hanging out in some of Gods finest creation ever; Southern Arizona! It is always nice to spend time with good friends, chasing an awesome creature! Thank You Jesus for another successful hunt. Dillon is still in the field passing up bucks (I actually just heard that he passed on a 90" class 2 pt with 9 inch eye guards!!!!!! Now thats a little silly. Haha) Robby is up to bat next tho!!! He was patient and didn't ever waiver from what he wanted and this year he finally drew his dream tag. A Late Whitetail hunt! 110" better beware. We are going to give him everything we've got in a few weeks.

 

Thanks everyone for reading. I hope you enjoy the pictures. I work pretty hard to do the best I can with the situation I have to work with.

[ready2hunt]

Awesome story and pic congrats to all!

[EnglishPointer]

Excellent report, congrats to the juniors!

[218buck]

Great job that 3 legged deer is wild looking congrats to both hunters and to you for helping them.

[cramerhunts]

Great job! Congratulations! Enjoyed the read.

[lancetkenyon]

As I have said before, I love seeing the new generation get into the sport. Congrats to both, and good luck to those still in the field or with hunts coming up.

 

Goes to show how tough these animals really are. A 3 legged deer, with one of the three remaining broken, yet still alive and moving, is pretty freaking tenacious.

[stanley]

Yes! Awesome!!!!

 

Thanks for sharing with the site!

 

S.

 

[AZHog]

Congrats to all involved! Great story and pics! Thanks for sharing.

[CouesWhitetail]

Wow!! That's a bunch of success and I love that skull you guys found! Congratulations and great job getting the young hunters out there and successful!! Great post, thank you!

[Old Buck]

Great story. It sounds like you might be a pretty fair whitetail guide!

[out2hunt]

Awesome bucks! Congrats

[Cola Blanca]

Congrats on two great bucks!

[Pine Donkey]

Nice bucks! Thanks for posting the story and pics.