Good tag, good hunt, good buck, good friends.

[Redbeard]

 

Well, I finally broke the curse and got a nice coues buck. I've had some pretty bad luck with Dec. tags over the years including wrecking two trucks, two dogs died, blew my knee out, and had a friend die. Because of this I always approach these seasons with some caution, wondering what will go wrong this time. This season started out with a dead battery, wrecking my quad trailer lights, and having problems at work before I got out of town. Par for the course but I had a feeling that it might still work out.

 

I hunted 8 days and froze my butt every one of them except the last. Even in the desert some mornings were in the teens this Dec. I had been so cold for the previous hunts that I broke down and stopped at Cabelas to buy some decent wool camo on the way down for this last week. I love that stuff now.

 

The story of this day of hunting started out kind of funny. I had found this area by studying maps and aerial photos. I was looking for the right habitat and for a place away from the crowds and it worked pretty well since I had hunted this area for 3 days opening weekend and saw lots of deer but never saw another soul. Until the day I shot this buck that is.

 

I was a little disappointed to see somebody else's fresh tire and boot tracks ahead of me this morning. I hiked in about 1/2 mi. and glassed for an hour and spotted 6 or 7 deer including one little buck. I continued on to another spot then saw the other hunters. I was relieved to see they were bowhunters but as I got closer I realized it was my friend Andy (Little Bear) and his girlfriend Jessica. They were trying to get a deer for her. Neither Andy nor I knew the other even knew about this place let alone would be hunting there that day. Andy had just discovered this little spot himself a few months prior while lion hunting.

 

We were excited to see each other and spent the rest of the morning glassing together. Things were kind of slow although we did see one nice buck chasing a doe. He was a big 2 point but not big enough. About 11 am Andy saw a couple of does coming over a hill about a mile away and while trying to put antlers on them he suddenly said, "Dude! There's a giant buck following them!" We spent the next hour or so watching the deer come our way and down a steep canyon. We even saw the deer actually jump off a couple of cliffs as they worked their way down through the rocks. I was holding out for a buck at least 100" B&C and was pretty sure this buck would make that cut but even with a spotting scope it was hard to tell. Andy thought it was bigger than I did and even though I am an official measurer I also knew he had been looking at several big bucks since the summer that had since been killed so he had some good perspective.

 

We hoped that it would bed in a place that I could easily stalk it but unfortunately it went into a small side canyon out of sight. I tried going way down the ridge we were on to look back into the canyon but I couldn't find it. I hiked back to where Andy and Jessica were and he assured me it had not left that canyon so I went across the big main canyon to get on top of the ridge above the (hopefully) bedded buck.

 

After long stalk that ended by me crawling to the edge of the side canyon I spotted two bedded does but no buck. I was in the sun and in plain sight of them at 150 yards so I just stayed put. For two hours. As the shade crept into the canyon the does got up and started feeding up the opposite side. As if by magic the buck appeared right where one of the does had been bedded. He was destroying a cactus with his antlers while facing away from me. That made it hard to see his points so I wasn't quite sure what he looked like but it was such a cool stalk and situation I didn't care. I ranged him at 165 yards set up my bipod and readied for a shot. A few minuted later he turned quartering away and I touched of my .300 Weatherby magnum. He instantly flipped upside down and landed belly up with his antlers stuck in the dirt and never even twitched. I was a little worried that he might have broken a point with his poor landing but I just remained calm and gave thanks for the opportunity and the events that came together with that shot. That .300 WTB had belonged to my Dad who died two years before. He had hoped to use it to shoot a big buck I had found for him one year but couldn't make the shot happen. I kind of felt like this shot was still in the gun from that hunt.

 

Andy and Jessica finally heard the shot they had been waiting for and I hiked back up to where they could see me and waved them down. Surprisingly, I didn't even feel like hooting and hollering but when Andy let out a yell from half a mile away I had to answer. I met them at the bottom of the canyon then we all hiked up to the buck together. I still had no idea how big he was just that he was big enough and it had been a really cool day of hunting. We marveled at how long his beams were and how great he looked but didn't try to figure a score or anything. Just by first impression we guessed maybe 104-106" which would be my biggest coues deer so far. We took a bunch of pictures then caped and quartered him for the long hike out. The hike out involved almost two hours of thrashing up a steep canyon with head lamps fully loaded with meat and lots of gear. We reached our vehicles at 7:30 pm tired thirsty and hungry. I realized I had gone the whole day from 4:30 am on one package of Pop Tarts and a liter of water. I spent the night in Tucson at my friend Lance's house and had a bacon ultimate cheeseburger and a beer for celebration. Lance was away hunting himself so it was pretty quiet. I finally had to put a tape on the rack but I'll play the game and hold off on giving the number so you can all play guess the score.

 

I had been trying to draw this tag for several years and considered it the coues deer equivalent of a "Strip" tag for mule deer but I still had a hard time getting started on the hunt. By the fourth day I was back in the mood and overall I had a great time. I glassed up several hundred deer but only 50 or so bucks. I did see one nice mountain lion and a coatimundi that was as big as a Labrador Retriever. After 8 days of hunting the only other hunters I ran into happened to be good friends and their company and help was very welcome and appreciated. It couldn't have ended better.

 

Now it's time to get one like this with my longbow....

 

 

[Coues79]

Great hunt and story it sounds like. Fantastic buck too. Congratulations

[azryan]

that is an awesome buck!...congrats to you

[azcouesandelk]

Great looking buck and great write-up. I just set foot into 33 this year and want to learn more about it now.

[KidBowHunter]

Great buck!! I'd say 109-110

[Azlongears]

Congrats again Redbeard, you have waited long enough for a buck like that. Glad Jess and I got to be along for the expereince!!!

 

Now put that heavy a$$ rifle away and break out that stick and string!!!!!

 

I still say he is 106" Ha Ha Ha.

[jim]

Awesome buck and great story.

[kcw]

congrats on a great buck....after 8 days of hard hunting you deserved him.

[dave]

Nice buck Chris

 

Congrats

[bobbyo]

Nice story. Great deer. It sure is neat meeting friends out of the blue.

Congratulations,

Bob

[Simple Hunter]

Nice Buck Chris! Hope you waited to skin it and quarter it right on Lance's front porch.

 

Scott (Lance's bro)

[COUESAZ]

Way to go Chris. What a buck. Looks like you found another green horned buck Seems a few of them have that in that area. I said on another post that Crong said to Andy. That i can see you with that big old buck strapped to the bars of your dirt bike.

[Snapshot]

It's amazing how "Murphy's Law" can rear it's ugly head at the worst possible times. Sorry to hear about your past experiences, but that buck sure is nice, and your December tag finally paid off. Way to go!

[Redbeard]

Thanks guys.

 

I want to hear some guesses on the score from those that don't already know. I want to see if you guys are as bad at estimating score as I am.

[matthewp45]

That is a great looking buck Congrats! I would guess 108 - 111".