redline410
New member
Its been kind of a strange year and I was very much looking forward to the annual coues hunt with my dad and uncle. Because of the way the year went we weren't able to get much scouting in and this was a new unit for us to hunt the general seasons and we were a little unsure as to what to expect.
The night before the opener we took a little drive around to determine just how many people we would be sharing the field with and it was disappointing to say the least. Not surprising but certainly disappointing. Our two main areas more like KOA's than hunting camps so our only recourse was to leave earlier and go further in.
Opening morning put us in a great spot with quite a few bucks just begging to get taken out of the gene pool but nothing great and we left them to grow a bit more antler. My uncle is probably regretting that decision now but as with any hunt, you go in with lofty expectations sometimes.
Day 2 we moved to a different part of the canyon which had much less deer but after glassing up two lions patrolling the grounds we realized why. It was a cool of a sight as I have ever seen unfortunately, those coues have a pretty good eye for stray cats and made themselves scarce for the rest of the day. Had the lions not been a thousand out we would have went to hunting putty tats but alas, it would have been a lost cause and they will have to wait until after the holidays
Day 3 didn't start out as a big hiking day, after two days of dragging the old man and my uncle up and down the best AZ coues country has to offer, they weren't in a big hurry to grind it out again but I jedi mind tricked them into a "quick" hike. After we topped out on the first leg, a buck decided we were too close and got his get on. He wasn't the biggest buck but it gave us the incentive to sit and glass for a bit. After determining there were no more in the immediate area, I conned my uncle into making one more push to see if the buck we bumped was still around since it would have been his best to date. After topping out on the second knob I no more than got my tripod out when I hear my pops snapping his fingers and telling me to come look through his binoculars. And this is what I saw
The buck was laying in such a way that the only shot he had was either head or rump, neither of which was an option so we sat and waited, and waited and waited some more. All in we waited for an hour and 15 minutes for the buck to get the munchies and decided to stand up. A few seconds later it was over (well the fun part was over anyway) and we made our way to the old mans trophy. I was in a hurry to get to him since this was the first 4x4 coues I have ever seen and we were not disappointed.
Dads and his buck
Different View
And of course, the crew
2012 is the first year in a long while I sported a rifle tag and didn't let a bullet loose but damn we had a good time. Wouldn't trade these hunts for anything.... Thanks for looking boys.
Dave
The night before the opener we took a little drive around to determine just how many people we would be sharing the field with and it was disappointing to say the least. Not surprising but certainly disappointing. Our two main areas more like KOA's than hunting camps so our only recourse was to leave earlier and go further in.
Opening morning put us in a great spot with quite a few bucks just begging to get taken out of the gene pool but nothing great and we left them to grow a bit more antler. My uncle is probably regretting that decision now but as with any hunt, you go in with lofty expectations sometimes.
Day 2 we moved to a different part of the canyon which had much less deer but after glassing up two lions patrolling the grounds we realized why. It was a cool of a sight as I have ever seen unfortunately, those coues have a pretty good eye for stray cats and made themselves scarce for the rest of the day. Had the lions not been a thousand out we would have went to hunting putty tats but alas, it would have been a lost cause and they will have to wait until after the holidays
Day 3 didn't start out as a big hiking day, after two days of dragging the old man and my uncle up and down the best AZ coues country has to offer, they weren't in a big hurry to grind it out again but I jedi mind tricked them into a "quick" hike. After we topped out on the first leg, a buck decided we were too close and got his get on. He wasn't the biggest buck but it gave us the incentive to sit and glass for a bit. After determining there were no more in the immediate area, I conned my uncle into making one more push to see if the buck we bumped was still around since it would have been his best to date. After topping out on the second knob I no more than got my tripod out when I hear my pops snapping his fingers and telling me to come look through his binoculars. And this is what I saw
The buck was laying in such a way that the only shot he had was either head or rump, neither of which was an option so we sat and waited, and waited and waited some more. All in we waited for an hour and 15 minutes for the buck to get the munchies and decided to stand up. A few seconds later it was over (well the fun part was over anyway) and we made our way to the old mans trophy. I was in a hurry to get to him since this was the first 4x4 coues I have ever seen and we were not disappointed.
Dads and his buck
Different View
And of course, the crew
2012 is the first year in a long while I sported a rifle tag and didn't let a bullet loose but damn we had a good time. Wouldn't trade these hunts for anything.... Thanks for looking boys.
Dave
