AZ_SAWBUCK Report post Posted October 28, 2015 Hey Guys, I don't normally post info on my hunts but I am pretty stoked about this one so I thought I would share................ I was not unable to do a lot of pre season scouting and only turned up a few groups of bucks in my unit. However each group was in pretty popular areas so I really wanted to go a different route to get away from hunting pressure. A week before the opener a friend and I checked out a new remote area that looked promising. On our initial scouting trip in we only saw doe and fawn but did see a lot of sign and the country looked very Couzey! Opening week rolled around and I decided to go with my gut instinct and head into our new found spot. I four wheeled in on Wednesday morning and got camp and my tent set up mid-day. Just as I was putting the fly on my tent it starts to pour down rain, so I spent the next two hours in the tent rearranging my pack and waiting for the rain to let up. Glassed from close to camp that afternoon and only turned up doe and fawn. Thursday started with a quick cup of hot coffee and a 30 minute steep hike to a better vantage point. Right before the sun started to hit the canyon I was in I turned up two decent two point bucks higher in the saddle. Decided to ascend to a higher saddle and look at some new country.............I glassed for a few more hours and turned up a couple of smaller bucks and numerous doe and fawn. My eyes were burning so I took a little break from the glass. Checked my phone and thought I wonder if Jay Scott has posted any new podcasts......low and behold the latest is "Early Season Coues Tips and Tactics". Turned it on and set the volume really low then started glassing again. Time is 12:30...........he starts talking about the window from 10-2 being the second most critical time to be glassing. BINGO the deer start popping up........ended up glassing up several more bucks and different groups of doe. Suprisingly listening to a podcast while glassing makes the time really fly by! The day before the opener ended with a few good elk hunting stories from my friend Pat that had just drove in to help me on the hunt. Pat just came from a limited opportunity elk hunt where him and some other guys were able to put four bulls down in five days (he and the other guys are hunting machines)! Opening day: Couldn't really sleep I was thinking about the long hike and didn't want to be late to the glassing spot, so I ended up getting out of the rack 30 minutes before my alarm was set to go off (I could tell Pat wasn't too thrilled about waking up even earlier). Mow down some oatmeal and some instant Starbucks coffee and ascend up the canyon to our target glassing spot. The steep hike by headlamp took roughly 1.5 hours. As it was just getting light enough to see we set up to glass with a chilling westbound breeze that made for pretty low deer movement. Pat ended up turning up two bucks 850 yards away, I was all excited and wanted to get closer but Pat convinced me that we could do a lot better. We decided to save the buck for another day probably a 90" type 8 pointer. As the morning progressed and the deer seeming to be bedded I asked Pat "what do you think"? ................I knew what he was thinking...................hike higher and look into some new country that we were looking at on Google Earth. He looks behind him and almost straight up and says " I think we need to get up there and look over into those other fingers". I told him you just want me to hike up there so you can point it out to everyone later and tell them you suckered me into hiking up there. We laughed about it then off we went. Just as we start to get to the top Pat suggests that we just might find some deer bedded in saddle that we knew was ahead. So I take the Scope Coat off of the scope and rack a shell into the pipe of the boom stick. It wasn't 100 more yards along the ridge and up pops a doe and a fawn. We crest the saddle into the country that we really wanted to see, we could tell as far off the beaten path that we were and all the places to hide there had to be some good deer around. Pat wonders off to the south and I head a few yards down a different finger to look at some other draws. I get set up and glass for about 15 minutes..........I'm sitting there on the point eating a snack, and see something bolt out of the corner of my eye about 100 yards below me. All I could see is the right side of a deep forked buck running. He stops 150 yards from me and is staring a hole right through me. Grab my .300 win mag and just as I get on him and am ready to shoot he bolts into the adjacent cut. I think "crap he gone" then a second smaller buck jumps up and takes the same path as the first one. I glance towards the bed and am looking for more deer. But nothing else pops up. My initial thoughts are should I call Pat?.......no his phone is probably on airplane mode.....So I head toward the cut where the deer went and see the bigger buck standing in the bottom about 250 yards away looking back, settled the cross hairs behind his shoulder and boom. Clean miss, I'm thinking what the heck I was right on him.......check my turret on my Vortex scope and its set for 600, it must have got bumped. Quickly set it to 300 and boom SWHACK, I knew I hit him! Glance over and see him take about three stumbling leaps and do a backflip into a nasty rock cut. About this time Pat is running over with all his gear bundled up in his arms wanting to check out all the commotion. I give him an overview of what just went down ......A few grins and a short hike and we are looking over my buck. I was hoping he wouldn't break on his crazy fall but he did. I couldn't believe that Pat found the tine but it only took him about 3 minutes to turn it up. Luckily I had some electric tape in my pack and we were able to tape it back on for the pictures. If it weren't for Pat I would have had to eat half the buck to get him out, these Coues are small but still a heavy load when you have all your gear and have to descend 1000 feet in elevation to get out. Opening day ended with some cold drinks and good grub! Pat cooked bear burgers with a side of Coues heart wrapped in deer belly fat over a mesquite fire. He got the idea from "The Meat Eater", it was actually pretty good! My hopes for this hunt were to harvest a buck worthy of getting mounted. I have to admit I was a little consumed over taking a big buck. But after getting up there and listening to Jays reminder right before the hunt my view changed a bit. I told myself opening day.............I'd rather take a buck with my friend there than try and do it all alone later in the week. Im going to take the first decent buck I get a crack at! Hard hikes and the opportunity to look at lots of deer with spectacular views are what really made this hunt most memorable. Your right Jay you can't eat the horns and if you can't have a good time and enjoy your time in the hills what are you really in it for? The lord blessed me with some meat to feed my family along with my biggest deer to date, taped him at 102 6/8. I'd like to thank my wife and kids for all your support also thanks to my hunting buddies for all your help.....look forward to more adventures in the future! JS 15 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pine Donkey Report post Posted October 28, 2015 Ogre at story, great buck, thanks for posting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Edge Report post Posted October 28, 2015 Good job, nice buck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azruger Report post Posted October 28, 2015 Awesome story!!! Congrats on a beautiful buck. Nothing beats hunting with family and great friends. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flatlander Report post Posted October 28, 2015 Great read Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kennyazman Report post Posted October 28, 2015 Heck yeah man. That's awesome Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Will K Report post Posted October 28, 2015 Good story. Sweet buck. Congrat's. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JLW Report post Posted October 28, 2015 very cool! James Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PelaPapas Report post Posted October 28, 2015 Nice Buck! Congrats! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Str8Shot Report post Posted October 28, 2015 Thanks for sharing an awesome read and congrats on a great buck ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
naturebob Report post Posted October 28, 2015 The guys gettin off the beatin path are doing some nice killing this year. Congrats. And You are right about horn hunting. The meat is nice , but when its gone that mount on the wall sure looks nice and it is forever...............BOB! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ElkyG Report post Posted October 28, 2015 Great story and Congrats on a nice buck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
no worries Report post Posted October 29, 2015 Great looking buck. Congrats. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Redman Report post Posted October 29, 2015 Good story, good friend, good times, enjoy it. Never know when you may never hunt again Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rancilio Report post Posted October 29, 2015 Thanks for sharing and congrats on a nice deer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
