My fall of coues thus far (long and lots of photos)

[PatrickJr]

This year I spent more time out scouting and glassing than I have in the past 9 or 10 years. This is probably because I became MUCH more independent once I got my drivers license. It was always a hassle for my dad to drive me to a friends house so I could go out on their hunts. I had never seriously scouted before in my life. In July, I felt the need to go glass. My buddy from school, Reyes, is an avid hunter and he didn't mind going out. He had an area that was much closer than areas I knew of. We went out and found some small bucks. Reyes still had his archery deer tag and we figured that we should keep watching these small bucks so he could kill one in August. We went out more and just saw small bucks. Fast forward to Archery season, we got out and right away I found a buck that we had never seen before. With him were two other bucks and one was a whopper. Reyes and I debated on how big the buck was, and I got tons of video of this buck in the following weeks. At one point, we got to 90 yards of him but no shot. Reyes had the first youth hunt in this unit and we knew he would have the first chance at this buck with a rifle. Reyes killed a buck in the area a couple years prior that looked VERY similar and so we named the buck we had found "Geno". The other buck that was with him, we named "Wacky" because his right side was a big fork and an extra main beam. Reyes also killed a buck that looked exactly like Wacky but the left side was messed up, not the right.

 

Wacky:

 

 

 

 

For comparison, Reyes' buck that must be Wacky's father

 

 

Geno:

 

 

 

 

We later found a good buck that we named "Tips" because all his tines appeared to tip in.

 

 

There were some smaller 3x3s and one very large 2x2 that seemed difficult to keep track of. Needless to say, we had a good amount of buck Reyes could kill. His hunt came along and the bucks we had been watching DISAPPEARED. Three days of hunting and couldn't find any of them besides the forks and a couple small 3x3s. His tag went unfilled.

 

I went out a couple of evenings with my buddy, John, while his father and daughter had tags. We were able to fill both of them and I videoed both killshots. We had found a really good 3x3 with long G2s and I kept in the back of my mind. Spent some time around Halloween glassing and narrowing down areas where I wanted to take my 23 year old brother on his first deer hunt. He never got into hunting but now that I am addicted he wanted to try.

 

Tall G2 buck:

 

 

 

On opening evening, I was able to find the 3x3 with long G2s at 118 yards bedded. We had to circle around to get a shot. He got up and our first shot was at 250. My brother was rushed and forced to take the shot off of a Bog Pod (not ideal). He missed and missed again at 300 yards when I whistled at the buck to stop. He ran over the hill and almost instantly we heard 3 shots come from the other side. We believed that someone had killed the tall G2 buck. My brother decided hunting wasn't his thing after Saturday morning so we called it.

 

My junior hunt was next. I went to a spot I hadn't been to in 2 years and found a buck that I would absolutely shoot. Here he is

 

 

 

 

I took Thursday and Friday off and left Wednesday night. I set up camp in the dark then figured out where I wanted to go for Thursday. Checked out a spot in the morning, saw tons of deer just not any bucks of decent size. That evening, John told me to go into the canyon where we had seen the tall G2 buck to see if he was even still alive. I honestly got there and didn't think I was going to see much in this tiny canyon. Saw some does and spikes. I laid down for a nap and woke up to a text from John asking I had seen anything more. I started glassing and found more does then out of nowhere I find a group of 6 bucks. I had never seen any of these bucks before except for one, the Tall G2 buck. Got some good video of him and also noticed he had good sized devil horns coming off of his bases. While videoing I heard a lot of commotion coming from the cut to my left. I thought it was a lion dragging a deer or something. I saw a dark animal dart across and opening and then I figured they were pigs. To my surprise another came out and I identified them as Coatimundi. These were the first I've ever seen in person! Too bad I was videoing the buck so I couldn't video them a little. The bucks worked a long ways down to an area that would make in tough to get a shot in the morning.

 

More pics of the Tall G2 buck:

 

 

 

 

 

John took off of work Friday since he couldn't hunt on Saturday. He knew of a really nice area we could hike into and hopefully find a good buck. We didn't end up seeing anything of any size but did see tons of deer. We wanted to go back into the canyon where the Tall G2 buck was living. I texted Reyes at noon and sent him photos of the tall G2 buck. We hiked down to the canyon and found a good outcropping that I could shoot from. John and I were planning to glass some then take a little nap. Right away John finds some bucks way down in the bottom. It was 12:30. He points out a buck that caught my eye. (FYI I have always wanted to kill a big fork) This buck had a big fork on one side, and was 3 on the other. I weighed my options for roughly 30 seconds and decided I liked the buck and wanted to kill him. John is such a good guy that he wasn't going to get in my way, even though he should have talked some sense into me. We hadn't really even glassed the whole canyon to see if the tall G2 buck was there. I started taking video of the buck while he was raking a tree. The buck moved up out of frame and started sparing with a small fork but I never adjusted it, and that is my fault. John told me the buck was at 258 yards. We waited 5 minutes until the buck gave me a perfect, clear, broadside shot. He was still sparing with the fork when I touched it off. John immediately told me that I hit him and he was rolling down the hill. He rolled into the bottom and out of sight. I'm very happy with him. He means so much to me, I look at him and all the work I've put in comes to mind. The shot was perfect. The 110 Accubond out of my 257 Weatherby Magnum that my dad had worked up and perfectly hit high shoulder on the left and broke the right shoulder. My father put in so much time getting this rifle and load ready for me. He believes this is one of the best, if not the best shooting rifles he has ever worked with. And I can't thank him enough for that. I just wish he was there to see it in action. And a big thanks goes out to John. He has taken me under his wing and has helped me more than I can even describe. I'm excited for what is to come in the future! Good luck to everyone who still have tags!

 

Like 5 minutes before I shot

[Tucson John]

Good job Buddy!

 

I think you have a future as a Coues guide!

 

TJ

[wildwoody]

Where did the big ones go. Good job

[couespatrol]

Great write up. Congrats.

[Zeke-BE]

Nice Job. You put in the time you can make out big

[Green Bullet]

Textbook. Hard work = results. Congrats!

[Brow tine]

Great job congrats on a nice deer

[nighthawk]

Great job!!! Scouting makes all difference!

[CouesWhitetail]

Very cool! thanks for sharing your scouting adventures and the hunt with us. Looks like you have some interesting genetics in that area! congrats on your bucks!

[ElkyG]

Nice, Congrats

[trophyspike]

Nice work. Thanks for sharing.