Four deer with four bullets!

[C.C.Cody171]

My wife and I have been married for just over nine years now and many amazing times have been shared. Ups, downs and in betweens, as with relationships of any kind. From the days each of our four kids entered our world, to the days we've rushed them to the hospital over the years. From days like our engagement and our wedding, to days that can leave one wondering about the future. It's a lot like hunting, it can be tough but it's all worth the good times!

 

To combine hunting and marriage has been a special experience that I feel fortunate to have shared with the love of my life. To briefly recap over the last decade that led to our latest fall adventure, you will realize this huntress is tough as nails and really something. A couple weeks before our wedding, Alex joined my dad and I, hours before daylight, in preparation of her first lion hunt. Although saddling equine was within her knowledge, collaring hounds and taking off into rough mountains before the sun was all new. Embracing this, she kept up and was intrigued by the personality of each dog that can keep a positive thinker in stitches. After a few scrapes, scratches and steep climbs that day, we were facing down a tree'd cat. My fiancé brought the lion down with a pistol and put meat in our freezer for the first time, the beginning of her hunting career.

 

A couple months later, we were living in a desert ghost town RV park, as I was a welder on the border fence. As armed newlyweds, we were cruising two tracks on my day off, with nothing particular in mind. That's when I discovered the true level of her natural ability to shoot! The seemingly unlimited population of rabbits and birds stood no chance. Again providing meat for our dinner table. Between wildlife encounters she'd ask me to pull over for a round of vomiting, due to her newly acquired morning sickness. I felt terrible but, she'd jump back in and say "alright let's go!"

 

Once we were settled back in my home town in Southeast Arizona, we found ourselves on top of a small hill. Waiting for the sun with her first deer tag to fill. As I explained each step of what we were doing there, we began to glass the surrounding plains for desert mulies. Although, Alex's main concern revolved around the fact this was her first day away from our second child. It wasn't long before she casually mentioned "I see some deer, they have horns." I glanced at her and followed the direction of her optics to some distant mesquites. Excitedly, I found the two bucks walking broadside, way beyond shooting range. After retreating down the backside of our lookout, with my mind strictly studying the necessary steps for a successful stalk. I was taken by surprise needing to suddenly shift mental gears. Because she was an actively nursing mother, we absolutely had to postpone our pursuit of the deer right then. On top of that, we needed to return to the truck where everything she needed was left. I just wasn't used to considering these variables but, obviously there was no choice. Once pressure was relieved, I put the things we may need again in my pack and off we went. After skirting around our original hill, we gained enough elevation on a different hill and relocated one bedded buck. I could see his antlers, the 2x2 showing above the yellow grass in the distance. Not knowing where the 4x4 went, we circled down wind and crept within shooting distance across a shallow ravine from our target. After he stood up, Alex sent the bullet. At about 150 yards, she dropped her first deer back into his bed. Her tag was filled and she was anxious to return to our baby. Fortunately always her top priority. One bullet, one deer!

Alex's next hunt was also for mule deer. A couple days in, after some long walks, we were set up on two feeding bucks at 300 yards. She squeezed it off, placing a perfect shot behind the shoulder of the bigger two point. He went down within twenty yards. Interestingly, this deer wound up being a hybrid! Two bullets, two deer!

Finally, to my relief, she wanted to give coues a shot! We had friends and family along in deer camp for this one and our ten year old nephew, Ryder, and our good friend, Kendall, harvested their first deer! With limited time that fall and many tags to fill, we never located a deer Alex chose to pursue.

 

The next year, her and Kendall drew the late hunt in a unit I had never rifle hunted for whitetail before. They would both be near the beginning of their third trimester for this hunt and my wife tends to be very sick throughout her pregnancies. We glassed from roads almost every day after work and hunted the weekends, with the help of friends and family to babysit our three kids. Number four being in the oven, along for his first hunt! Kendall tagged herself a buck, shooting a further distance than I've ever killed anything, around 550 yards. Alex proved her toughness day after day of this grueling hunt, stopping to puke and dry heave periodically. Several days, I had to insist we call it and head home. She badly wanted to get a mature deer but I couldn't take her discomfort as well as she could. We went into one of our last days with 47 buck sightings behind us, not a single one appearing to be over three years old. We four-wheeled to a dead end road where we had previously seen one of the biggest bucks so far. Alex seamed as sick as ever so I asked her to get a little more sleep. I'd only be a short distance away glassing. I took off for the nearest peak, where I could still see the truck and have a decent vantage into some prime coues habitat. As the sun provided visibility, I located the same buck as the week before from this perch. I glanced at the truck to see Alex throwing up violently. I cringed and picked everything up to rush down. By the time I got to the saddle between us, she was there having a snack. She explained that she felt better that day. I was skeptical but informed her of the buck. Her attitude was positive and she wanted to get him so we moved up the hill on the other side of the saddle to have a look. We carefully navigated along a hogback ridge to get an optimum shot angle. Once set up, Alex couldn't believe her eyes at the intensity this buck chased a doe all over the hillside. I have witnessed this many times during the archery season but it never gets old. The most exciting part for me was watching the thrill my wife was getting out of this show. Never offering a clean shot, the deer moved into a hidden cut in the steep mountainside. We considered all of our options and decided to head back to the truck and take a different road around, to the canyon below where he had disappeared. After a twenty minute drive and another twenty minutes on the quad, we were in a better spot to stalk from. We grabbing everything we needed to hold out until dark and quietly made our way up the thick hillside. We had to find the only small clearing we had noticed from the hogback across the canyon. We reached it, realizing it was a piece of old mining road and a perfect shooting bench! As we set up, I occasionally glanced at the draw across from us, about 250 yards away. Catching some grey movement, I threw my glasses up. "That's a buck, that's him!" Trying to stay calm, knowing the deer had already pegged us. We did our best at achieving a steady rest, manipulating rocks and packs for a pregnant prone position. Alex was shaking pretty bad. After a brief moment, she had the buck in her sights and I was ready to watch the shot. As he was still staring at us, those few seconds drug by, knowing by his stance that he could bolt at any moment. The rifle erupted and an instant later I saw the signs of a perfect impact right in his bread basket! He jumped hard and expired within seconds into some bear grass, out of sight. She freaked out at my sweet words, "he's dead, you smoked him!" After a celebration and big hug, she didn't seem sick anymore and was ready to get over there. Reminding her to pick out land marks to find him, we packed up and she took the lead to her buck, all smiles! Three bullets, three deer!

This year, Alex and Kendall drew a muzzleloader whitetail tag. I had zero experience or knowledge with muzzleloaders. Since I was drawn for archery elk this year, there was no time throughout the summer to scout for anyone's deer hunt. Fortunately, my wife's brother, his wife, their two sons, my sister and two of her daughters drew whitetail tags in the same unit before the muzzleloader hunt. Helping everyone I could, would be the only time I would get to spend in the unit prior to my wife and Kendall's hunt. I got to be along for three days, four shots and three deer down! Two of those days, my eight year old daughter and six year old son were able to join in the fun, they loved it! This allowed me to check a couple of my go to spots off the list, considering all the recent commotion.

Our good friend Jeff, Kendall's husband, planned to be with us for the three days we had for the hunt but important family matters called for his attention on short notice. Alex, Kendall and I moved into the desert darkness well before sun up, on our first day, to reach our glassing hilltop in the rough country. Weighing heavily on my mind was worry that the hike was too difficult. Any sudden change in my wife's day to day has negatively effected milk production in the past. It may be strange to mention but this variable played a major role in every decision of this hunt. On top of that, just her stress of being away from our baby boy for the first time, may have an effect. She's not a mother who easily leaves her babies, something I love about her. About an hour and a half later we were scanning the beautiful scenery, trying to pick out shapes through the dim light. Over the years, their glassing abilities have improved greatly. They both spotted several deer, coyotes and javelina on that cool morning. Also, the sightings of deer shaped logs, rocks and cactuses have decreased greatly! Alex may have even outgrown her nickname "Blind Squirrel", maybe... As for Kendall's new nickname, I will get to that shortly. My brother, Caleb, drove in to glass the morning in a nearby spot too, hoping to find a shooter for us to come running at the word. As the morning evaporated, I had only spotted one bachelor group, about two miles away. The five bucks had gone into a shaded spot on a rolling hill, a place we figured they would stay. Searching in every direction for a couple more hours didn't provide better opportunity so we packed up and headed toward the group of bucks. It was far away for seeing details but there appeared to be a few three points, a spike, and a mule deer spike, surprisingly. I had actually borrowed this muzzleloader from a friend and had shot it just enough to know it was on and to get acquainted with this intriguing weapon. We wanted to get within 250 yards and have plenty of time to set up, undetected. We hiked down the backside of a long ridge towards our new destination, peaking over often enough to maintain correct bearing. As we poked over enough to see, the last time, we were at 260 yards. Sneaking single file, we reached a good size rock to shoot from, now at 250 yards! From here we could only find one bedded buck and after some consideration my wife decided she would like to take him. A short discussion formed our plan. Once Alex's deer was down, Kendall needed to move into shooting position right away while I reloaded and we all needed to look for another COUES buck to show himself. I'd then range him while Kendall found him in the scope. What a plan, trying to get a double with a single muzzleloader, haha! I placed a primer, instructing Alex to pull the hammer back when she was ready, finger off the trigger. She began to tremble behind the scope as she focused on her bedded buck in the crosshairs. We had all the time in the world because the deer was calm, I reminded her of that fact more than once. I tapped her leg and told her to wait several times. She was visibly shaking and even hyperventilated a little bit. I later learned that her ear plugs were causing her heart beat to be quite the distraction. This is one of the coolest thing I can witness because I can relate. I love when anyone I'm helping bag a coues deer starts feeling it to this degree. Giving her a few moments to just watch the deer and gain control of herself made a big difference, she was ready. I stared at the deer, waiting to catch any info I could from the shot. BOOM! "He's dead babe, you freakin smoked him! You shot him in the neck but you smoked him!!!" These killers stuck to the plan better than I did. Alex excitedly sat back but literally became sick as her adrenaline rush came down. After a brief hesitation, I rapidly poured powder and forced a bullet down the barrel. I felt scrambled and nobody was really looking for deer. Before long we were setup again, the hillside was motionless. Nothing moved so I started glassing, still no more deer were visible. I decided to slowly stand so I could see deeper into the gorge. There was another bedded 3x3 twenty yards below Alex's deer. Chewing his cud without a worry, we were money. Without any way to shoot, besides off hand, we needed to find a shooting lane through the brush. I grabbed the few items we might need, including the gun. Kendall followed, duplicating my crouch, cautiously gravitating left. After about eighty yards, we found a great spot but it was crawling with red ants, we kept moving. Another twenty yards, this spot would work. We were still around 250 yards. As she got comfortable, I crawled along carefully snapping weeds and small mesquite branches in order to clear a canal in the vegetation. To allow visibility through the scope and a clear path for the 50 caliber bullet. Everything was set, Kendall was on him and I was waiting for the shot. Studying the buck through my binos, his ears shot up as dirt exploded into the air above his back line. Kendall's nerves went nuts, as did mine, I rushed to reload. She remarked that she may have pulled it. So, this is where Kendall earns her nickname, "Battleship", haha. Miss, miss, he's up, hit! Oh no, liver shot. He laid down, miss, miss, let's get closer. At 160 yards, he's back up, he laid down again, hit! Alright he's done! Reloading as fast as I could every time made me feel like a one man pit crew trying to keep us in the race. With our last bullet, her buck was sunk. I've rarely been so relieved. We returned up the hill, gathered everything and the three of us made our way to their deer. Once we were about twenty feet away, a third 3x3 jumped up and looked at us for a few seconds before running away. We could have easily tripled with another tag... and some more bullets! Another exciting hunt, I wouldn't trade moments like this for anything. Cutting up and carrying two deer out made for a long day into the night. It also resulted in the heaviest pack I've ever carried, should have made two trips!

Alex is already talking about hunts to come and our kids are too. Meat and good times should never be in short supply! I'd like to thank anyone who has babysat for us over the years, allowing us to partake in these hunts. I appreciate Caleb for coming all he could, to lend his eyes in the daylight search. His wife and son came along too, very cool. A huge thanks to John, for loaning me his muzzleloader and giving me the crash corse that allowed our success to be possible. Also for using precious time off work to make all that happen. Always thanks to my dad, along with so much more, he taught me the importance of passing on knowledge and investing time into the youngsters and new hunters around us. I doubt I would have assisted in as many hunts without his example. Over the last several years, I've had the opportunity to watch many friends and family get their game, their first deer in many cases. I'd like to thank everyone for letting me be a part of these moments and take my verbal harassment with good nature, as it's intended. Also for being generous with cuts of meat here and there! Nobody seams to fight me for the heart, liver and caul-fat, although considering I'm always in on the field processing, it is odd that some of these deer were born with only one backstrap... Above all, I'd like to thank my wife for being herself and for being happy with me. I'm looking forward to many years and hunts together. Four deer with four bullets! What a women!

[Brooktrout26]

great stories, great bucks!

[SO I HUNT]

Wow what a great write up and great memories congratulations..

[creed_az_88]

Two bucks with one muzzleloader is quite the feat. Four bucks with four bullets is also quite the feat. It's a good thing you malbeoufs don't do all of your hunting in one spot or else you'd run out of deer to hunt. You guys straight stack em up. It's impossible for your stories to relay how much work you put in, but I know that all that hard work is the largest contributing factor to all the success. Your wife and family members are fortunate to have you there with them, and you are fortunate to have a wife and family willing to do all that hunting with. And you better hide all the guns if you ever make that woman mad. Another great read and another great season.

[Will K]

Awesome.

[naturebob]

Them Ladies are to Cute to be huntin...............LOL............BOB!

[azshtr]

Go Greenbay!

[tjhunt2]

What a great writeup. You certainly are a blessed man and a keeper of a wife. Can't wait to hear more exciting adventures from the field. Thanks for sharing with us.

[CanilleBowhunter]

Absolutely wonderful Cody! You and Alex make a great pair! And thanks for always mentioning your dad and your upbringing. I do wish I could have been more like him in those respects. He had fun with you and your siblings but also taught you how to work. Thanks for sharing all your memories with us!

[cramerhunts]

That's a whole lot of fun and coues slaying right there. Great work and congratulations to all!

[randyolson]

That's quite the read but very well written! Thanks! Enjoyed the pics too! Congrats to all!

[JakeUSMC]

Awesome read!

[Duggaboy]

This story is awesome........Duggaboy!

[Viper]

Awesome write up and awesome family. Congrats! You are blessed.

[CouesPursuit]

Fantastic stuff, Cody! Congratulations to your wife, daughter and family.