PatrickJr Report post Posted February 21, 2021 2020 Coues deer 2020 was a very long year with the bow. In January I had multiple decent bucks get away and really set my focus on early archery to kill one. For whatever reason, I had decided to only apply for late December tags (which was pointless) so I knew I needed to get it done with the bow. Early archery in august came and I missed a big buck on the first day, then two weeks later I ended up missing the same buck again. Spent some time looking for him in December but he didn't want to play. A buddy of mine, Reyes, did have a Late Dec tag in the unit so I went to glass with him. We didnt get out until it was close to Xmas. On this day, we never saw anything he was willing to shoot (although i tried my best to convince him...yeah im that friend). As it was getting later in the afternoon, I found a small buck across the canyon from us, around 400 yards away. Reyes passed yet again so the door was open. At one point, the buck had worked himself to a good spot and I told Reyes "If he beds there, I'm gonna have to go after him" and of course the buck beds haha. I pack up my stuff and drop into the canyon, where I left my pack and start working uphill to the buck. At one point I look up and the buck is just standing 5 yards from where he was bedded, I was about 200 yards away at this point. Not sure if he was just sunning himself in the last bit of light or what but he turns around and beds right back where he was before. I keep sneaking in until I'm 60 yards from where the buck is bedded, although I can't see him. I knelt there for a minute then decided to get closer. This is when all coues stalks normally go south but for whatever reason, I couldn't do anything wrong this time. The next spot I settle is around 20 yards from where I think the buck is bedded. I range his areas to walk out and everything is sub 30. I have a pretty big boulder in front of me and all of a sudden, antlers appear above the top of the rock! I draw back, the buck walks out and hes walking straight away, then he takes a big step to his right to go broadside, before he stopped the arrow was on the way. Arrow went through both lungs and stuck in his offside shoulder so he dropped right where he was. I guess I needed a shot at 26 yards to get it done! It was cool that Reyes got to watch everything go down and watch me kill a coues at such close distance. He's a great friend so he didn't mind me hijacking his hunt for a little bit haha. I did get to return the favor for him a week later and he filled his tag on a nice 3x3. ^^^^^^^^^^Reyes' buck^^^^^^^^^ 2021 Javelina Fast forward to Jan 4. I go back to look for the buck I keep missing. Find him before the sun is up and he disappears over the ridge so I pursue (like a dipstick). End up blowing him out as I cross the saddle, he was feeding or bedded just 30 yards over the top. I was not very happy with myself at this point so I decided to hike over to where i knew some pigs hung out. I get to the area, I'm sitting there and I hear a sqwuak below me, then I hear it again. I throw up my binos and a young javelina walks out under a mesquite, 100 yards below me. Glassing around I see an adult get up, round up the little one and disappear. I drop down, sneak around and start crawling into where they were. I'm crawling through and cannot find a pig, tracks were all over so I knew there were more than the two i saw. I literally crawl through where i had just seen them and nothing. I stand up and stand walking around, finally I find one feeding on a prickly pear. All I could see was its butt sticking out, he was chomping away so sneaking in was pretty easy. I was at 12 yards and waiting for almost 10 minutes before i could get an arrow in (YES thats how deep he was in prickly pear haha). Felt good to salvage the day and have meat for tamales 13 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Viper Report post Posted February 24, 2021 Good story/write up....enjoyable reading. Congrats to both of you! Nice bucks! Curious what broadhead you used on the deer? It produced a nice exit hole. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rossislider Report post Posted February 24, 2021 Awesome job! Congrats bud. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PatrickJr Report post Posted February 28, 2021 On 2/24/2021 at 7:37 AM, Viper said: Good story/write up....enjoyable reading. Congrats to both of you! Nice bucks! Curious what broadhead you used on the deer? It produced a nice exit hole. Thank you! And that would be the entry hole, the broadhead was a 2" Rage Hypodermic. It did not get through the offside shoulder to make an exit, luckily he didn't go anywhere 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Elmacho Report post Posted March 9, 2021 Great pics, great write-up! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites