aspenband Report post Posted November 3, 2020 After many years of Hunting AZ Coues Deer I finally killed a good one! The story is short and sweet. Opening day in my usual places were not producing any bucks, plenty of does but no antlers at all. I moved down to the river bottom in some very thick cover where I had seen a few small bucks before opening day. As we all know it was unusually hot so I figured this to be a good strategy. At about 4 pm on opening day this buck walked out at 60 yards! My Marlin 336Y in 30-30 did the job and my hunt was over. 25 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stanley Report post Posted November 3, 2020 Nice!!! I'm as impressed by seeing actual water, as I am the buck in the pic!! 😂 Thanks for sharing with the site! 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bigorange Report post Posted November 3, 2020 Awesome buck...congrats! Loving the 30-30 action too! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildwoody Report post Posted November 3, 2020 Great deer, nice gun choice.. Congratulations Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Roosevelt Mark Report post Posted November 3, 2020 Way to go. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Arizona Griz Report post Posted November 3, 2020 Very nice buck and with the lever action too. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
singleshot Report post Posted November 4, 2020 Nice buck and sweet rifle choice. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chef Report post Posted November 4, 2020 Nice buck and pretty rifle. My first Coues and elk were both taken with a lever action 444 Marlin. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
218buck Report post Posted November 4, 2020 Congrats Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CatfishKev Report post Posted November 4, 2020 Heck of a buck man. And at 60 yards! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZbowhntr Report post Posted November 4, 2020 That is awesome. Nice change from the typical long range rifles. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aspenband Report post Posted November 4, 2020 While I think it was great to kill at short range with the 30-30 (which is why I posted the story and pic) it wasn't my first choice of gun or hunting area. Guess I should have told the longer story. I love my 30-30 and I love coues deer hunting. However, I am well prepared for long range shots. My usual spots in the hunting area are high on ridgetops glassing oak choked canyons below us with my tripod mounted zeiss 15x56 Bino's and my Semi-Custom Remington 700 25-06 with zeiss V4 6-24x50 scope by my side. As stated we were not seeing any bucks in the 3 days prior to the season or on opening morning as we usually do. After spotting a few small bucks lower in the river bottoms I hiked into some thick lowland toting the 30-30 (always in my truck when out camping) for a fast shot at a running deer should I jump one. After finding an opening with about 150 yard shotting lanes I sat and watched the water. After only 15 minutes of sitting there I had this buck, with 4 others, step out at 60 yards. I thought it was great as we are all used to long range shots with lots of glassing and some stalking before making a shot. I felt strangely like I was back in New York with my 30-30 in the woods instead of feeling like I was hunting in Arizona. As a side note, I took my 16 year old son into the same area Saturday morning and set him up with a slightly different vantage point than I had been in the day before. At 7am a small 3x2 buck stepped into the shooting lane at 114 yards. He took him cleanly with one shot from his Reminton 700 243. The buck fell dead about 200 yards from where mine was shot. This was his 3rd deer in 4 years of hunting. The first was a 4x4 Mule deer in the same unit, the second a spike whitetail also from the same unit, and this one. Knowing the area was working I took my wife into the same area Saturday evening and set her up near where I was sitting the day before. She is a new hunter, also only 4 years, who has killed one fork horned whitetail at 237 yards and a spike bull elk at 112 yards. Unfortunently, she had her first case of buck fever when a buck, a little smaler than mine, stepped out after an hour of sitting there. The buck was 30 yards from where I had shot mine and again only about 60 yards from her but she managed to make a clean miss with her Remington 700 in 257 Roberts. The next morning we headed into the same area. At about 1130 am another buck, a little bigger than my sons, stepped out at 42 yards! Again, she managed to make a clean miss! Guess I got her too used to shooting longer ranges because she couldn't seem to hit anything in close. Or just buck fever again. We laughed and had a good time while I told her stories of me having buck fever a few times over the years. Regardless, she was discouraged so I took the 30-30 back out and told her to use it in that area from now on. Monday was a waisted day for us as I spent the majority of the day in town working. Tuesday mroning at 615 am, again in the same place, she spotted a spike buck at 72 yards. She decided to take him and made one clean shot kill with the same Marlin 336y 30-30 I shot mine with. We are not trophy hunters and filled our freezer with all 3 tags filled so life was good and we headed home on Wednesday. The bonus was the large rack on my deer, but only a bonus to us. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZHunter1 Report post Posted November 4, 2020 Very cool Story! Congratulations Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CatfishKev Report post Posted November 4, 2020 Sounds like a win!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mc68 Report post Posted November 5, 2020 I haven’t seen someone shoot a nice buck with a 30-30 in a LONG time. I think it’s awesome! Congrats! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
