My wife's first Deer

[Big Browns]

As some of you may already know I was really upset after the draw results came out this year. I had apparently made a mistake on my wife's application. I had thought I had put her in for 2 December hunts, but made a mistake and put her in for 36A October hunt. I was really upset, because She went into the draw with 3 points. She had received her hunter safety bonus point after the draw. If she didn't draw she would have had 5 points going into the next draw season. That would have given her a great chance at getting a December tag down south.

 

My wife has had some very challenging deer hunts in the past. Unfortunately 2 prior unsuccessful deer hunts have left her with little hope of getting a deer. After reaching out to the CouesWhitetail community I was given some great info and new hope for the hunt. Thankfully several members offered their help. A huge thanks to Greg(Big or Bust) for showing me around the unit prior to the hunt.

 

Unfortunately due to helping on several Elk hunts I was only able to get to the unit 1 time prior to the hunt. Thankfully I was able to find several great glassing spots that looked likely to hold Deer for the hunt.

 

I was admittedly a little nervous camping with my wife due to the illegal issues down south. Thankfully a few days prior to the hunt anther fantastic CouesWhitetail member offered to come with us to help. I cant say enough great things about Chris (Predator). He was a tremendous help on this hunt!

 

Unfortunately we were not able to hunt until Saturday. As the 0130 alarm rang my wife and I slowly got out of bed and began the 3 hour trip to her unit. We met Chris at 0400 in Marana and made our way to the unit from there. Thankfully we arrived long before sunrise, because the first 3 spots we drove too were already taken by guys reading themselves for the days hunt. I personally refuse to park and hunt next to a guy who arrived before me so we continued on to another spot. Thankfully our 4th spot was empty and waiting for us.

 

When we arrived to our spot the sky already had a little light to start glassing. I decided to glass a nearby hill before getting out packs out to see if I could find anything. I walked about 50 yards up the road to see the hill in front of me better. As soon as I started glassing I found 3 Bucks 200 yards in front of me feeding on the hill. I was very, very excited and couldn't believe our luck. I thought we would be done before the sun came up. I told my wife to keep an eye on the Deer while Chris and I got our stuff out of the truck. Unfortunately we made too much noise and the Bucks walked over the hill. I was extremely disappointed and frustrated! I couldn't believe I had screwed up a perfect opportunity!

 

We decided to follow the Bucks over the hill to see if we could locate them again. After several hours of glassing we never could locate the Bucks. I was able to locate 3 more Bucks, but they decided to head to California after 2 guys busted them when they hiked over the hill on top of them. Did I mention we were hunting with the entire population of Tucson & Phoenix in this 2 mile area!!!! The hills were crawling with people. It also sounded like a war zone, because of all the shots echoing around us. Every time I heard a shot I couldn't believe everyone else was getting shots and we couldn't. It was very frustrating.

 

After the morning hunt we decided to find a camping spot to set up camp. After camp was set and a short nap we headed out for our evening hunt. We were able to locate a water hole that had a LOT of deer tracks. I convinced my wife to sit the water with Chris while I scouted for better spots. I didn't see any more white tails that evening, but my wife and Chris had a Mulley doe and 2 fawns walk into the water. My wife thought that was really cool and really enjoyed the experience. After eating a fantastic dinner of hot dogs, beer and my world famous dove bites we went to bed awaiting the next day's adventure.

 

The next mornings alarm was again way too early. Thankfully we were able to beat everyone to our number 1 spot and began the slow hike to our glassing spot. I had really expected to see a lot of deer that morning. Unfortunately after the first 1 ½ hours of glassing I had only seen 4 Does. We moved a little deeper into a basin in hopes of seeing more country. At about 0800 I found a bedded deer in a shaded cut. My initial instincts said it was a Buck, but I was having a difficult time seeing anything attached to his head. After about 5 minutes I was finally able to make out a rack. I wasn't completely sure of his size, but I was almost positive he was a decent 3x3. As soon as I determined it was a Buck my nerves kicked into high gear. I did my best to stay calm in front of my wife, but inside I was EXTREMELY nervous and excited! I've never wanted anyone to get a deer so bad in my life!

 

I ranged the cut and was surprised to find out the deer was only 600 yards away. I would normally have no problem letting my wife take that shot, but the wind had picked up to about 10 mph and was a quartering wind. I have always had a hard time determining what wind value to give a quartering wind so I knew that kind of shot was absolutely not going to happen. Thankfully there was a hill between us and the Buck that was only 300 yards away. I knew if we could make it to that hill unnoticed we had a great chance at getting a shot. We left Chris on the hill to keep an eye on the deer while we made our way to our shooting spot.

Thankfully it only took us about 15 minutes to get to the hill. As soon as I could see over the hill I could see the deer with my bare eyes. He was still bedded and had no idea we were there. He was only 278 yards away. We had the wind in our face and had plenty of cover. Since my wife is still learning I had to set the gun up for her and did my best to get the crosshair on the deer. When my wife got behind the scope she immediately found the deer and was ready for the shot. I heard the radio crack with the sound of Chris saying hes up! The deer stood up and took a few steps up hill and stood there quartering away. My wife kept asking if she could shoot, but I couldn't see the deer, because of the sun glare. I kept telling her to hold on until I could see it. I was freaking out inside, because I didn't want to miss out on this great opportunity. A second later I found the deer and told her to shoot whenever she was ready. Almost instantly she fired! I heard the report from the bullet hitting the deer in the shoulder and knew it was a great shot. I watched him run a few yards and fall into a bush. To say we were both extremely excited would be a huge understatement.

 

We waited for Chris to get to our shooting position before we all hiked to the deer together. I made it to the deers location first to find the deer was gone! I was baffled, depressed, frustrated, miserable and extremely sad. I seriously wanted to cry! I couldnt believe the deer was gone. As I started looking around I could see blood everywhere.. I didn't understand where the deer was. How could there be that much blood and no deer. As my wife made her way to my location I could hear her ask Did you find him, I didn't answer right away. I didn't want to face her disappointment and heart break. I eventually told her and Chris that I couldn't find the deer. The three of us started looking around in hopes of finding sign of the Buck's direction. I started re-tracing the blood to the initial hit. After a few minutes the blood trail didn't make any sense. I then started thinking the deer might have doubled back and down the hill. A few more steps and I found the deer lying under a bush about 50 yards from where I had seen him go down. I immediately yelled I found him. I couldn't believe we found her deer. I was convinced we were never going to find him. The sense of relieve was overwhelming! Again I seriously wanted to cry I was so excited!

 

After finding the Buck I couldn't believe the damage the new 6.5 Hornady Eldx bullet did. This is the second animal we have taken with this bullet. A few weeks earlier a friends son killed his cow Elk using my gun at 533 yards. The bullet went through both shoulders and left a 4 inch exit wound. It's a very impressive bullet.

 

After a lot of pictures and processing of meat we finally started the long hike out. The sun was brutal. Thankfully the breeze helped, but we all wished and hoped for a magical elevator to appear in front of us to relieve our pain and discomfort. It felt great reaching the truck. AC never felt so good in my entire life!!!!

 

This turned out to be a truly memorable hunt! My wife is Amazing! She is willing to hike into any heck hole I ask. She is becoming a great glasser and can shoot anything you point her too. I love her more than anything and cant wait to go on more hunts with her.

I owe a huge thanks to Greg (Big or Bust) and Chris (Predator) for helping me on this hunt. I couldn't have done it without you guys! Thank you very much!!!!

 

FYI, I'm pointing at the truck:)

[Eagle mountain ranch]

Heck yeah.. Congrats to her way to get it done...

[CouesPursuit]

Great job, Adam, Wife, and Chris! Great job!

[Couestracker]

Congratulations to the successful hunter!

[Allforelk]

Great write up and congrats to the Huntress!

[stanley]

Awesome!!! Congrats to you guys!!

 

Thanks for sharing the story!

 

S.

 

[Tikka]

Awesome man!!! Congrats to the two of you....

[Big or Bust]

Glad you got it done bud....

[AzDiamondHeat]

Well done. Very happy you were able to make good out of a "mistake".

[kennyazman]

Very cool!! Congrats to your wife.

[ready2hunt]

Awesome job!

[Zeke-BE]

Way to go! Tell the wife congrats

[lancetkenyon]

Awesome thread. Awesome wife. You are a lucky man.

[tjhunt2]

That was a great write-up Adam. That is absolutely awesome. Congratulations to your wife and big kudos for the cwt member's help. Great pictures as well.

 

TJ

[AZbowhntr]

Congrats to you and your wife. That is a great write up and pictures.