Call it what you want

[creed_az_88]

Call it an infatuation. Call it an addiction. Call it a passion. Call it an obsession. A waste of energy. A waste of money. A waste of time. Call it a problem, or a sickness. Call it whatever you'd like. If it's a sickness, I have it, and it's incurable. If it's an addiction, an intervention isn't going to stop it. Trust me, I think my wife might have tried that in the beginning. If it's a waste of time, and money, then that explains why I'm so far behind on chores and why i cant afford luxurious vacations. If it's a waste of energy, then that explains why I feel so dang old. It's not going to stop however. The reward is too great. Succesfully spotting and stalking coues bucks with a bow is the ultimate satisfaction, second only to creating and raising a family. Hunting coues deer with my bow has consumed my soul for many years now. It's a high I've continuously yearned for since I felt it for the first time many years ago. This late summer archery season was as productive as any season I can remember. It cost me money, and time, and energy, and sleep, but each day I got to spend in those desert mountains this season was a day that all non-hunting related stresses left my mind. It is unbelievable how healing it is to climb out of the desert floor, glue your eyes to a pair of binoculars on a tripod, and pick the landscape apart. I was able to lay my eyes on many good deer and had some very close calls. Unforeseen events caused me to miss more days than I would have liked during the season, not counting the days I missed because of work but all in all the this August /early September was one to remember. It flew by and before I knew it, I was down to one day of hunting left. My good buddy Randy Landwerlen made the drive down to hunt with me on what would be the last day of the hunt for both of us. I had a pretty good idea where some shooter bucks were living so we made a game plan that included parking trucks in two different spots and hunting from one to the other. This would allow us to cover most of the country that the big bucks had been calling home. We dropped Randy's truck off and then continued on in my truck. As usual, it was a race against the sun and we sucked wind climbing to our first glassing spot of the morning. It was one of the better glassing spots in the area, but it definitely wasn't a great hill to start a stalk from, primarily because of the effort required to make a move in any direction. Randy was the first to spot bucks. They weren't shooters so we kept looking. I was feeling more pressure than normal to find bucks. It was our last day to hunt and I actually had a spotter to aid in a stalk. I primarily archery hunt alone, unless the stars align and I can get out with my hunting partner Cody, so I really wanted to take advantage of this opportunity.  Aside from the bucks Randy glassed up, things were pretty slow for the first bit of the morning. I eventually found a shooter far off on top of a big ridge but he didn't stay visible for long and he wasn't in a spot that wasn't going to take less than 3/4 of a day to relocate. Randy spotted a few more deer and then we elected to glass back behind us. I found a group of bucks and began to direct Randy to them and before I really got finished giving him all the details of their location he says "those are nice bucks." "I dont think they're shooters." I responded. "That deer on the left looks big." He replied. I obviously wasn't looking at the same deer he was. About 100 yards left of the deer I was looking at were a group of bucks and with them was a deer that both of us agreed was a shooter. We watched the bucks for probably half an hour before deciding to cut the distance some. They were two canyons over and one of the canyons was quite large. . .and deep. We crossed through the smaller of the two canyons and thankfully the bucks had not moved. They fed towards the top of the ridge and eventually bedded down. Randy and I went back and forth about who would stalk the deer and how to go about it. You know you're hunting with a top notch guy when the guy is an avid coues hunter but he's adament about letting somebody else go after a deer rather than himself. Randy convinced me to go after the deer and as you can imagine, I didn't need much convincing. The thermals had pretty much settled and the wind had been pretty consistent for about an hour. I chose a path and tried to memorize some landmarks. Crossing the canyon between us and the deer was not going to be fun. It was going to take me some time and I was afraid that the deer were not going to stay put. I made it about 2/3's of the way up the opposite side of the canyon when I hear Randy holler at me. I knew what that meant. It was over. I looked at Randy through my binoculars and he gave me the signal that they had crossed over. Without a spotter I would have wasted the next few hours stalking deer that weren't even there. Ask me how I know. I climbed a little further until I got phone service and called Randy. He told me that the deer ran up and over but he didn't think they were spooked. I decided to climb to the top of the ridge and just walk down it towards where the deer went over and maybe glass off the other side. Before I made it to the top, Randy text me and said that he found them again. What a relief. They bedded again down the ridge about 400 yards from where they were when I originally started my stalk. Talk about catching a break. The wind was steadily blowing on my right side and slightly in my face. The deer were in their second bed of the day, and they were bedded near the top of the ridge. For once, I felt like I had an advantage. Unsteady wind is my arch nemesis. Finally, today, the wind was steady. I continued down the ridge until I felt like I was getting close to where the bucks were at. I noticed a doe feeding where I thought the bucks should be. I also noticed two cows fifty yards to the right of the doe. The advantage was tipping back into the buck's favor. The best route with the most cover was not available to me now because of the doe and the cattle. The doe laid down, so I crept a little closer and stopped for awhile. Eventually one of the bucks stood up about ten yards past the doe and came and rebedded near her. My goal at this point was to get within shooting distance of the buck that had just rebedded and then sit tight. He wasn't the shooter but I wasn't sure exactly where the shooter buck was and I figured he wasn't too far away. I was 120 yards at this point and the wind was still blowing on my right side. It took me about 20 minutes to crawl to 80. After sitting at 80 for a bit, another buck stood up and fed over to the doe and buck closest to me and bedded. I now had two bucks and a doe at 80. The shooter buck was still out of sight. I could see the head of the second buck which was actually a plus. Now I could move and keep an eye on his ears to know when my noise levels were too high. I crept in to 60 and the buck's ears never perked up once. At this point I could make out the antler tips of the shooter buck. The tree he was under was 74 yards away. I got to 70 when the wind died and I began to run out of cover. I stayed there for a good while waiting for some wind and one of the small clouds in the sky to give me some shade. After being there about ten minutes I felt the breeze against my face. A few minutes later, a cloud provided some shade, so I began to crawl some more. It took me about 15 minutes to cover another 10 yards. I got to 60 and felt like getting any closer was too much of a risk with the two bucks and the doe at only 45 yards from me. My adrenaline levels were beginng to rise and I could feel the fever coming on. I knew I was close to making this happen. Fortunately I had time to gain my composure. In my younger days, this multi-hour stalk would have taken me all of about 30 minutes. Like a grizzly bear, I would have blundered my way in there, hoping this buck tolerated my presence long enough for me to take him down. Today though, I chose to take the form of the Nile crocodile, hiding in the depths of the waste high grass until I got close enough to let the jaws of my BowTech snap, and letting the teeth of my rocket steelhead tear into my quarry's flesh. After sitting at 60 for awhile, the buck stood up and offered a broadside shot. I wasn't completely confident that he was exactly 60 so I tried to verify his range by ranging him rather than the tree above him. I had a hard time with the tall grass, but I finally got a range. He was 60 exactly so I attached my release and raised my bow to draw. He flopped back into his bed before I had a chance to completely draw and the waiting game began again. I wondered if I had wasted my only oppurtunity. It was now afternoon and I was in deep consideration about whether or not to try and crawl closer when out of nowhere, one of the closer bucks jumped up and darted out towards the big buck. Both of the other Bucks jumped and followed. I didn't know what happened. The wind was good. I was motionless. I thought the gig was up so I jumped up and got ready to draw. All three bucks soon realized that their jittery nature had gotten the best of them and they decided to all head back out of the sun into their shady beds. As the big buck approached the tree he had been bedded under, I drew my bow. He got right back to here he had been bedded and stopped, quartering to. I held for about 10 more seconds before he turned broadside. I settled my 60 yard pin at the front of his lungs and applied pressure to the release. As my arrow left the bow, the buck simultaneously began to twist towards me and drop his front end, attempting to drop back down into his bed. My arrow flew true, but unfortunately his vitals were not in the same location they had been when I initially shot. The deer was hit lethally, but it wasn't the perfect double lung shot that I had anticipated. The buck bolted directly towards me and stopped at a mere 15 yards in the tall grass. I couldn't see anything but his head but I took a guess at where his body was in the grass and let another one rip. I heard the impact and the buck bolted off out of sight down the steep, rocky hillside. I immediately called randy to see what happened. He said the deer went down. He was able to watch the entire thing. I was ecstatic. So much work had gone into this. My emotions came to a peak and I let out a schoolgirl yell that echoed through the canyons. I really could not have done this one without Randy and I intend to return the favor someday. Randy made his way over to me and I could see he could appreciate the deer for what is was, which is a rare trait these days. It was refreshing to see somebody view the deer as something more than just a certain amount of inches. We took pictures, deboned the deer, and began our pack out. I'm sure many would wonder why I would bother climbing to the top of this mountain, crawl through the chigger infested weeds and grass, and sit in the baking sun for hours . Maybe I am infatuated. Maybe I am obsessed. Maybe I am addicted. Maybe it is a waste of time, or money, or energy. Maybe it is a problem I have. Or a sickness. Call it what you want. I call it living. 

[brademan76]

Thanks for sharing the write-up and pics. Great buck!

[BOWUNTR]

Outstanding... Congratulations.  Ed F

[turbo]

Crawling works.  Good job.

[wildwoody]

You ain't old, congrats

[chico]

Congratulations on a well deserved trophy--thanks for sharing with us all....

[MTNSGT]

Great story and one awesome buck! Congratulations!

[CouesPursuit]

Very well done, Creed. Congrats on another awesome archery coues!

[MULEPACKHUNTER]

Man nice post right there, congrats 

[no worries]

That’s a great write up.  It was like being there on the hunt.  Congrats to both of you.  

[GreyGhost85]

Some of your skills need to rub off on Nick! Congrats man

[dustin25]

Always enjoy your writing, very well done on both the write up and another great buck

[creed_az_88]

Thanks everybody.  And greyghost, that's funny, but it's not skills, it's just luck. I think there's a big buck in store for him at the end of this month though. 

[GreyGhost85]

1 hour ago, creed_az_88 said:

Thanks everybody.  And greyghost, that's funny, but it's not skills, it's just luck. I think there's a big buck in store for him at the end of this month though. 

Call it what you want but i don’t think someone gets lucky every. Single. Year

[mattys281]

Outstanding buck & great write up!  Congrats & thanks for sharing with us.