COOSEFAN Report post Posted February 3, 2008 When you get to your glassing point.....with sweat dripping off your hat and you are only wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt......and the sun hasn't even come up yet........you know it's not a good day to be hunting "rutting" Coues deer! It was 70 degrees just as the sun started to peak over the horizon and I knew we were in trouble. The ranch that we have been trying to develop is so thick you need rutting deer to increase the chances you will have a buck walk through an opening, or hear them at least. We had decent ruttin' activity the week prior but weren't lucky enough to have the big bucks stop long enough in a clearing for a shot, and I had hoped it would be colder on this hunt and see more activity, but I was wrong. It did get down to around 40 degrees just before sun-up towards the end of the hunt, but it didn't take long before it was in the mid 80's on those days. Regardless of the temps, we found a couple bucks everyday and even seen a few great bucks but they were too fast and too far. Finally, the day after I had my experience with the "big kitty", my friend and client "Steve" and I tried out a new spot. We had gone in the evening before using machete's to cut a trail to a glassing point and cut down trees and bushes on the point so that we could sneak in the following morning. It was nice to walk in that morning and not have to do the "chop n' dodge" with all the cactus and we settled in on what was now our best vantage point yet and it was also our coldest morning of the hunt at around 40 degrees. With the sun lighting up the adjacent ridge we started finding deer and soon Steve excitedly said he found a shooter. He got me on it as he slapped on his shooting fork and readied his rifle. This was our 4th day and this was a shooter if it would stand long enough for a shot. I grunted loudly to stop the deer and it worked, but Steve couldn't relocate the buck in his scope. The buck started walking again and I stopped him again, this time I kept grunting and he stayed put listening to me. I looked up realizing Steve was pointing in the wrong spot and quickly got him back on the buck just as he started to go again. I stopped em' one last time and told Steve the range was 453 yards.......BOOM.................................WHOP! The buck went straight up on his hind legs and continued over flat on his back and never moved again. Steve is the gentlemen who lost the buck in Dec. with me that got back up and later was seen running around, so you could imagine how cautious we were before taking the rifle off the "appearantly" dead buck! The buck was indeed dead and after an hour of using machetes to hack and cut our way to the buck we finally had our hands on em'! This was one of those small bodied bucks that are impossible to judge when standing by itself, it looked ALOT bigger than it was but it didn't matter. With the incredible difficulty in finding deer in this terrain and getting a good shot on one, we knew that any buck would be a great trophy and this one certainly was! I don't like hunting really thick country, but the big bucks live there and we saw a few on this ranch. The problem is that you need the rut to help get them moving around and you have to be ready to judge quality fast and shoot even faster! Next year I'll be hunting near Hermosillo and I'll leave the machete's behind! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Huntn coues Report post Posted February 3, 2008 Great buck and as alway's awesome pics. 80 degrees OUCH! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZP&Y Report post Posted February 3, 2008 Coosefan, Thick, appears to be an understatement! Wow ! Great job getting your client on a buck! Congrats! Looks like they need to hire some locals to go in there and clear some desert country to open it up a bit... Thanks for sharing! AzP&Y Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firstcoueswas80 Report post Posted February 3, 2008 Coosefan, Thick, appears to be an understatement! Wow ! Great job getting your client on a buck! Congrats! Looks like they need to hire some locals to go in there and clear some desert country to open it up a bit... Thanks for sharing! AzP&Y Doug, he has! Thats basically the only reason deer can be spotted! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZP&Y Report post Posted February 3, 2008 Casey, What's the elevation of the ranch down there? Just trying to figure out what kind/type of trees they are? Doug Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coues Sniper Report post Posted February 3, 2008 Thick, appears to be an understatement! Wow ! AzP&Y Agreed, that's insane. I got 2 words... "Controlled burns" Congrats Jim, sounds like you guys earned that one. Nice buck. Oh and by the way, you said you guys saw some big bucks... how big? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firstcoueswas80 Report post Posted February 3, 2008 Thick, appears to be an understatement! Wow ! AzP&Y Agreed, that's insane. I got 2 words... "Controlled burns" Congrats Jim, sounds like you guys earned that one. Nice buck. Oh and by the way, you said you guys saw some big bucks... how big? Kevin, when I was down there two weeks ago, we actually talked about how a controlld burn would help lol! doug, I killed my buck (same ranch) at 379 ft. above sea level Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hunterdan Report post Posted February 3, 2008 Congrats. Great story as always. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hunting6 Report post Posted February 4, 2008 Good story.... almost sounds like your hunting near the jungles of Equador. Congratulations on your clients deer ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
COOSEFAN Report post Posted February 4, 2008 I don't think a day went by where I wasn't thinking about startin' a fire! I really did enjoy the heck outta choppin' cactus and trees down with the machete.........that relieved alot of the frustrations for sure! That ranch is mostly under 1000 ft. elevation, the ranch house is at 350 ft. and one of my glassing points was right at 975 ft. LOTS of Palo Verde, Mesquite, Organ Pipe Cactus, and a bunch of trees and cactus that I've never seen before. The bigger bucks I saw "looked" like they would easily meet or exceed that 110-115" class................BUT, after puttin' my hands on a few of these deer I realized they can have VERY small bodies. Those "dwarf" deer can make a 110" class rack look every bit 120"..........so I really don't know how big they were, but they were big regardless Thanks for the replys', JIM> Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coues 'n' Sheep Report post Posted February 4, 2008 I don't think a day went by where I wasn't thinking about startin' a fire! I really did enjoy the heck outta choppin' cactus and trees down with the machete.........that relieved alot of the frustrations for sure! That ranch is mostly under 1000 ft. elevation, the ranch house is at 350 ft. and one of my glassing points was right at 975 ft. LOTS of Palo Verde, Mesquite, Organ Pipe Cactus, and a bunch of trees and cactus that I've never seen before. The bigger bucks I saw "looked" like they would easily meet or exceed that 110-115" class................BUT, after puttin' my hands on a few of these deer I realized they can have VERY small bodies. Those "dwarf" deer can make a 110" class rack look every bit 120"..........so I really don't know how big they were, but they were big regardless Thanks for the replys', JIM> Way to go Jimbo..... I think you did a great job considering the conditions on those new ranches. You guys worked your butts off. I wish I could have made it down there to help..... but there is always next year! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
