BOWUNTR
Member
The hunt story is real short. I sat in a blind for an hour on opening morning and shot this buck!
The long story is that I retired and moved to Arizona last year. I've been bowhunting Arizona for almost 30 years. Mostly southern and the Kaibab before it was a draw. In all those years I've only shot one Coues deer. I'd always say I was going to give it an effort and then I'd end up hunting the easy deer, mulies. Anyways, I didn't draw any tags this year so I decided this was my opportunity to learn how to hunt these little deer. Between the end of June and today I've spent hundreds of hours in the woods trying to figure them out. I had two expert Coues hunters tell me some of their secrets and helped me get after it.
I found a few spots that had several bucks coming to water. They weren't consistent on my cameras but I figured that if I put the time in, I'd get an opportunity. There was one buck that stood out and all the others were just Coues bucks. I had already said to myself that I would shoot the first P&Y candidate that I had an opportunity at. I have the rest of my life to shoot a giant.
Opening morning came... I was worried about other hunters in my spot and there was none. I also played dodge ball with the monsoons and my spot was relatively dry. I did something I knew I wasn't supposed to do... before I got into my blind I went and pulled the card from the camera. It had been a week and only one pic of a doe. I got settled in for a long boring sit. It was threatening to rain. Well, after my sixth or seventh game of solitaire I look up and he's at the water by himself. Holy smokes... I check him over and decide to shoot. He was out there a poke. I thought I hit him a little far back. Turns out he only went 50 yards.
This deer completes my second bowhunting deer slam... not that is what I was trying for but I thought it was pretty cool. Heading to Kodiak Island in two weeks for Sitka Blacktail deer and Caribou. Ed F
The long story is that I retired and moved to Arizona last year. I've been bowhunting Arizona for almost 30 years. Mostly southern and the Kaibab before it was a draw. In all those years I've only shot one Coues deer. I'd always say I was going to give it an effort and then I'd end up hunting the easy deer, mulies. Anyways, I didn't draw any tags this year so I decided this was my opportunity to learn how to hunt these little deer. Between the end of June and today I've spent hundreds of hours in the woods trying to figure them out. I had two expert Coues hunters tell me some of their secrets and helped me get after it.
I found a few spots that had several bucks coming to water. They weren't consistent on my cameras but I figured that if I put the time in, I'd get an opportunity. There was one buck that stood out and all the others were just Coues bucks. I had already said to myself that I would shoot the first P&Y candidate that I had an opportunity at. I have the rest of my life to shoot a giant.
Opening morning came... I was worried about other hunters in my spot and there was none. I also played dodge ball with the monsoons and my spot was relatively dry. I did something I knew I wasn't supposed to do... before I got into my blind I went and pulled the card from the camera. It had been a week and only one pic of a doe. I got settled in for a long boring sit. It was threatening to rain. Well, after my sixth or seventh game of solitaire I look up and he's at the water by himself. Holy smokes... I check him over and decide to shoot. He was out there a poke. I thought I hit him a little far back. Turns out he only went 50 yards.
This deer completes my second bowhunting deer slam... not that is what I was trying for but I thought it was pretty cool. Heading to Kodiak Island in two weeks for Sitka Blacktail deer and Caribou. Ed F
