big country

 

The 8 bucks were out there - we watched them for hours. As the guide and my buddy looked NW way, I went over the hill and looked SE way. In that canyon/draw I spotted 2 mountain lions going out and away from me, a couple of javelin's with piglets, 2 Coues does.

Back over the top to watch the muley buck group and really? Just no feasible way to stalk them. The only thing was ... they moved from private to public and crossed the fence at the same spot 2 days in a row. A pattern? maybe

We left there at 11pm (daylight at 5:40-6:00) and went south 2 hours to another area. We spotted a few Coues does and that was that. First day in the books but we saw animals and that was good

One of the mule deer bucks was a dandy 3x3 and a shooter 4x4 was with them too.

We got back late, almost missed the pizza place and ate with the other guides ... they had a solo client and a father/son team so we had 5 hunters in the group.

 

Awesome. Good luck.

 

and .... day #2 arrives

the plan this morning? go to the fence where the mule deer have been crossing and wait. Mike and I do that, walking to the location and setting up behind mesquite. We manage to not step on a rattlesnake along the way. the place they're crossing the top stand is broke - the reason they're crossing here? I dunno

sun rises behind the mtns and temps start to rise. Its been hot and today even hotter. we are wearing longsleeve shirts because of the sun. We wait and wait .... and after about 2 hours we see antlers, here they come. all morning downward wind currents ..... and then like taboo the wind shifts straight from my back to the bucks. They are 70 yards .... and they smell us.

there are desert muleys, NOT the dumb Rocky Mtn ones. we get back to guide and he says they're a mile out and still running

seriously

 

Sounds fun so far!

 

I've not been to desert SW in 25 years

This all takes place maybe 35 miles from old Mexico, SE Arizona

 

My dream hunt you’re doing.

 

PM me and I'll tell you how to do it


so ... day two, we're back to afternoon and we drive 2 hours to another spot he's seen bucks before. we drive in and he tells us that Johnny Ringo of Tombstone fame is buried in this Canyon. Yeah - that's something i have to see

Its more than the hunting for me. I want to see thing - flora and fauna, the vegetation and terrain and all the animals in it .... maybe I'm weird that way. Mike gets into a ground blind sat on a water hole/creek and I go to get into a water hole blind out in the foothills and we get there and a truck is parked. WTH ?

So in Arizona, you can put blinds up on public lands but they become public lands and anyone can hunt them. We drive up and sure enough, someone is in the blind. We get out and the guide and the hunter talk and we end up leaving. I can't believe the guy didn't volunteer to leave .... I mean he was sitting in someone elses blind. I'd have said " ok, its your blind, I'll leave"

Hunting another person's blind I get, but staying in it after they show up to hunt? driving in we see multiple Coues does and a couple of bucks. Little grey ghosts of the desert and withing an hour of getting in my tree stand I have a d

We divert and drive another 30 minutes to a tree stand at a mineral lick.

 

I’ve always liked that desert country. I’m going out for javelinas this winter.

 

Sounds like yall are off to a good start!

 

Some good pics. What are you taking them with?

 

Updates when I get home and computer recharged .....

 

we sat until 4pm then drove to a place and glassed, saw a few deer but nothing special

Day 3 we decided to glass the place we ended up after day 2 and the morning was pretty much a bust for Coues/mule Deer

the plan was to drop Mike off for a 9am-3pm set at his water hole and that worked - me go back to tree stand. When we got to the tree stand area, some people had decided to day camp within 75 yards of it. I mean ... what the luck right ?

So we went to the water hole where the guy had sat our blind and he wasn't there so I got in. I'm an arachnophobic and a big tarantula greeted me when I got in the tent. Fun fun. Then it started heating up - hotter and hotter and I came outta my shoes, socks, was splashing water on my face ..... it was HOT

2 hours into it, an ATV drove up with hunters ... uggghhh. I texted guide, he came and got me and Mike and afternoon scouted another area. We saw another cougar

Say 3 ends

 

Poor, poor soul. He was just too high strung.

 

Day 4 comes and we're going to a new area. We glass muley's and Coues but nothing special until mid-morning when we see a couple of bedded Coues up on the mtn. My buddy doesn't wanna go so I said F it I will. 2 hours later and I'm at their beds ... no idea where they went.

We go back to the stands and sit, again. This morning I see 3 Coues does, no bucks, Mike is blanked

 

Day 4 sucked, and we told guide no more Ringo area. Oh, Day 3 we spot a black bear, and a cinnamon/red sow with a cub. Pretty

Day 5 We go to the first day Muley area and spot a couple of little ones, the big ones are gone. We agree to leave that area. New country again we go to and not long after we get there guide spots 3 Coues bucks, 1 is a dandy.

Mike sets up at a waterhole near them, and guide and I go out to scout. We also go to a second water source and put up a make shift blind of cactus type plants. It'll work I think. We spot and look and see meh

Day 5 about broke me. I drove hours and miles and right now I'm 5 days into a 6 day hunt and I feel like I've not really hunted much. 1 stalk, 2 treestand sits, one water hold sit

this is NOT my kind of hunting.

Day 5 ends - its bleak, its not looking good, hunting is tough ... one crossbow guy shot a 70 yard shot and missed. Nobody else has come close

 

The common name "century plant" stems from its monocarpic nature of flowering only once at the end of its long life. After flowering, the plant dies but produces adventitious shoots from the base, allowing its growth to continue.[8] Although it is called the century plant, it typically lives only 10 to 30 years.[9] It has a spread around 1.8–3.0 m (6–10 ft) with gray-green leaves measuring 0.9–1.5 m (3–5 ft) in length, each with a prickly margin and a heavy spike at the tip that can pierce deeply. Towards the end of its life, the plant produces a tall, branched stalk adorned with yellow blossoms, which can reach a height of 8–9 m (25–30 ft)


I found this very cool

 

night of day 5 guide consults and we change plans

we're going to the makeshift blind, Mike is going with another guide to another blind ... we'll go in at daylight, set up a tent blind instead of the one I made, he and I will both set in it. We place it under a solar panel and burn these elk poop incense things and they think a buck might come to the water

my instincts says no, we'll be facing away from the mtn, I almost never hunt with anyone, it'll be hot ..... but I defer to guide and agree to plan


These have been 3:30 am wake ups, go hard all day, to sleep at 10-10:30pm and do it all over again next say with a sandwich to eat for lunch and whatever meals they have at night

I'm tired, I'm frustrated

 

 

We get out early but by the time the blind is set and all .... its daylight. Everything on the mtn side can see us, right ?

The wind is favorable, but our backs are to where the deer will probably come. We get settled in, he starts burning those punks ... its a little smoky.

Nothing until 9 am and a little doe comes in. She's spooky as all get out - I text Mike and tell him 50-50 chance you can't even draw on these little deer

At 10:40 am ... I look over the water tank and a buck is watching me ....

 

to put it in perspective ...

The minimum Pope and Young Club score for a typical Coues deer is 65 inches

An adult Coues deer buck is quite small for a deer, typically standing around 28-32 inches at the shoulder, with weights generally between 80-100 pounds



They are grey, they are little ............ and this doe ?

I bet she wasn't 60-70 pounds and a bundle of nerves. I played with the ones outta the tree stand ... scent? maybe you get by. Movement? maybe

noise? you can scrape your cotton sock and they jerk their heads up and look

 

1. I assume the size lesson you just gave is to prohibit the uniformed from calling your Coues a dink.

2. It should be taboo to
use taboo incorrectly…

 

THP went with no guides.....they was eat up in them....bucks and does everywhere....big coues deer too

 

You had me at "Coues Deer.."Outstanding, Let's book it Donnieo....
Thanks Stealthy 😊 🫂 🙏

 

so yeah, little deer - P&Y Typical is 65"

we get into blind, little doe comes in - super nervous

I have a book, I read a page, glance around, read a page ..... and at 10:40 am I look up and there is a buck on other side of the water tank looking at me. I don't think he see's me, and another steps out wayyyy bigger and then a 3rd

Maybe 70 yards from us - right where my cactus home made blind was. Had I sat there? they'd have no doubt spotted me and I'd have had zero chance

 

I get excited when I think something is going to happen. I also try very hard to NOT look at antlers.

They circle to my left, behind mesquite .... I see glimpses of bodies/legs ... I know the water tank is 31 yards. I come down a little in heart rate, check my bow etc

maybe 3-4 minutes ... and one steps in to drink and I see the bigger one coming in as well on the other side of tank. He starts to step out

 

he'd pause, move, pause move .... then commits and comes out broadside and I draw my bow

he doesn't seem to notice nor do the others

I release the arrow

 

the arrow hit - I looked at guide and said "did I just kill that buck ? "

he grinned and said "hell yeah you did !! "

We waited maybe 20 minutes ... .I was very nervous after the hit. We gathered our stuff and went over. Large splotches of blood, the arrow was maybe 40 yards away and broken off. That was ... confusing to me. Little deer, I've shot through big Kansas bucks with this setup.

So we decided to go to truck and relax a bit, look at video