Finally.... after all the attempts....

[AZ_Native]

Well, it was bitter sweet. Can't count how many times I have gone empty-handed bow hunting over the years. The past few years I have been putting in for rifle tags too. Was drawn for October Muley, then Coues last year, and once again Coues this year. On the Muley hunt, saw nothing but nice Coues bucks every day. Put in for Coues the next year and only saw a couple Muley bucks... Then, I go out on a last-ditch archery hunt, spot a toad of a buck 1,000 yards or so away. Make the 3.5 hour perfect stalk of a lifetime, only to arrow him at 55 yards, follow a solid blood trail for two days, and never find him. Total bummer. Not to mention, within two months of that I tagged a nice 5x5 bull with the same bow at 47 yards and watch him run away with my arrow sticking out. No blood found and after countless hours searching, we gave up. Needless to say, I have a new bow now!

 

This year, put in for same unit, October Coues hunt. One hunting partner got called on a business trip and the other one (airline captain) got hosed when the company changed his yearly training schedule and forced him to go right during the hunt. So, instead of going solo my neighbor's son, who is in college, came out for a second set of eyes. We were only finding does, and one day I found a spike, but couldn't get them to stay still and being on a steep down slope I couldn't get the right shooting position. To top it off, the later half of opening day I took a bad fall. The good news is, my $1,000 rifle scope broke my fall and I walked away uninjured... I was prepared to take a 500-600 yards shot with that rifle. Now I am on my backup rifle, a Rem 700 in .308. Ironically, that gun shoots .15" groups consistently with my handloads. However, the scope is not the nice Vortex Viper PST and I had not spent any time using my closed turrets to dial out to different ranges. I knew my gun was zeroed at 200 and I shoot the 300 yard steel blind folded, hands tied, facing backwards.... all day long. But, I second guessed myself. On day 5, and the last day I could hunt, I went out to a new glassing spot that gave me a different vantage point of the same general area. Facing one way and glassing the larger chunk of land, I decide to stand up, walk over 10 yards and take a look at the hillside closer to camp. (I had hiked from camp that morning just over a half mile to the spot) What do you know, the very first spot I lift my bino's up to lands smack dab on a nice Coues. Literally, as soon as I put the bino's to my eyes he was dead-center in my view. I had to do a double take, as it was a nice rack and heavy bodied deer. Now, I range him at 405 yards. I should have completely trusted my .308 at that distance using 5.08 MOA on the App. But, not having spent much time using that scope like I do on my 7mm I second guessed my self. I would have comfortably pulled the trigger at 600 with the 7mm. There were a couple more deer with him and being 7:10 am, I figured I had time. I decided to close the gap with a simple walk to 300 yards. What happens then? I made the mistake of not glassing up the buck every 10 yards or so just to keep tabs... I get to 300 and he is no where to be found. I saw one deer go over the top, but given the terrain, there was likely no way I would have found them had I tried to follow. I was sure the big guy went the same way. Enter the spike on the same hillside. He starts feeding toward me a bit from 350 down to 300 yards, then beds. I didn't have a clear shot with him bedded, so double checked ranges, set the gun up, dialed for 300 yards (2.5 MOA), and waited. This gave me about 40 min to look for the big guy. Only ever saw a couple of Mule does, then spied up a nice Muley buck about 200 yards away. Decision was made, as soon as this guy stood up, I was pulling the trigger. Well, he did, then I did. He went about 4 yards and dropped. Bullet went right thru, and oddly enough, no expansion. Perfect 308 cal hole in and going out. Double lunged him though. I was just surprised the 168 gr VLD Berger had no expansion at 300 yards... I was kicking myself found not taking the 400 yard shot on the big guy with a gun that regularly shoots .2 to .15 MOA with my handloads, but when you don't have the really nice scope on it and have not practiced at varying ranges, then it was the better choice to follow. Moral of the story??? ALWAYS bring a backup gun! Sub-moral 1 of the story? Always practice out to 600 yards with your backup gun... My .308 I am guessing will shoot 2" groups at 600 yards... Sub-moral 3 of the story??? Always buy Vortex! I called them, told them that the scope broke my fall, and they told me they would likely not even attempt to fix it and just send me a new one. Which is exactly what they did, free of charge. Gotta love their warranty! Another moral of the story... Always be happy with a buck, no matter what it looks like, how big it is (mine was still a good size for a spike) and enjoy the simple fact you get to spend days out in the wilderness hunting! On top of all this, the meat has been nothing short of phenomenal, and I even decided to process this one on my own. Too bad the neighbor had to go home the day before. Would have been nice to have his help humping out the deer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Shawn]

Congrats man

[dcshorthairs]

Congrats

[Big Browns]

Great job and congrats!

[SO I HUNT]

Nice way to stay with it..

[CatfishKev]

At least you got out, got some meat and saw some pretty country. The picture of the sunset could be on a post card. Absolutely breathtaking. Congrats

[naturebob]

Nice pictures. Maybee You should try Hunting with a Spear for better Luck..Congrats.............BOB!

[thunderbolt]

awesome write up. congrats on your deer.