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Ryan's first Coues Buck
by Ryan Feringa (aka azryan)
(originally posted in the forum)
Day 1:
I had a bunch of people up helping opening morning...Christian came up Wed night
to help me out through the weekend...My buddy Brandon also came up and then my
dad and two of his buddies also were up there to enjoy the outdoors. We get up
before sunrise get out to our glassing point in the dark and we waited for that
great moment waiting for it to get light enough to glass. Christian and Brandon
went to one spot while my dad and I headed to another spot to glass. No later
then thirty minutes in, Christian drove over and said they had a buck located. S
o we headed over there to take a look. The buck was a decent forky that would
score around 50". I decided to pass him up, but it was hard to do so, especially
with Christian and Brandon urging me to shoot it, but I did not give into the
peer pressure very easily, later on this decision paid off. We ended up glassing
a bunch of does, which was basically the story of this whole trip. Lots of deer
but the wrong gender. After we decided to stop glassing at the one spot, we
decided to go for a hike to get into some good glassing territory, that turned
up nothing. The rest of the day was spent hiking our butts off in some very
nasty stuff, and glassing.
Day 2:
We kept glassing from the same spot hoping to turn up more bucks, but it never
worked out like we wanted to. We were already tired from all the hiking we did
the day before and we decided to call it an early morning. Christian got some
really bad allergies and was miserbale so he headed out Sat afternoon and
Brandon had left Friday night. My dad had to take his buddies back into town. So
it was just my dad and I the rest of the weekend. That afternoon I went down
into some lower elevations to glass a hillside where I had seen some bucks
scouting. I caught some movement behind a tree not far up the hill, and saw it
was three coues feeding around at 2pm. I narrowed it down to two of them being
does and one spike. I was debating whether or not to shoot that spike. I decided
to pass him up as well. The rest of the evening I only turned up four muley
does. As it got dark I started to become a little discouraged after two days of
hunting. Not finding any bucks and just does.
Day 3:
We were back in the same area where we had seen that forky. I was hoping to find
him and try and shoot him, but we could not find him. We only found more does.
After glassing some more areas and turning up more deer of the wrong gender I
decided to go home that afternoon and recharge my body. Four days out there was
enough for me. So I left discouraged about how opening weekend went.
Day 4:
Brandon and I headed out into a different part of the unit to some areas that
predominatley held mule deer, but there were always a few whitetail hanging
around. That morning we glassed and glassed only turning up 5 mulies. I knew we
were taking a chance hunting these lower areas due to all the mulies in it, but
its always worth trying. That afternoon we hit a different area and hiked to the
highest peak we could find to glass. When we got up to the top we setup our
glassing perch and started picking apart the hills. After a little bit of that
we both passed out and took a little snoozer. I love glassing and taking naps in
the process. It is refreshing. After our eyes were refreshed we found a herd of
piggies right below us. Brandon then says he has a buck bedded right below us,
So my heart starts racing, but he di not mention whether it was a coues or
muley,ended up being a little forky muley. Then we finally found some whitetail
way up on a far mountain side. We put the spotting scope up and it turned out to
be three does. Just our luck!. After all the glassing we have done the whole
hunt we only turned up two bucks. the rest of the evening we glassed up two more
whitetail, a doe and fawn. At the end of the day I started to regret not
shooting that forky. But I was still determined on finding a good buck. I knew
all this work would benefit us in the end.
Day 5:
I slept in and got a really late start. My buddy Cody or aka Napolian had the
next couple days off so he came up to help me out. We headed into am area that
had been burned years ago that held some whitetail. We got out there just as the
light was fading and had about twenty minutes to glass, we only turned up one
doe.That night we made a call to Brandon and he was going to come up in the
morning.
Day 6:
We waited for Brandon to show up then we packed our gear and headed out to look
behind more glass. after awhile of nothing, Brandon says he has a deer, the
problem was it was at least a mile and a half up hill in the next mountain
range. We confirmed it was a buck, and we headed out after him. We knew it was
going to be a very very low chance of finding him again. Well after an hour and
a half of hiking some rough country we made it up to a hill that was across from
where we saw the buck. We set everything up and started to pick the hillside
apart. we had a really good idea of where he bedded but it was to thick to even
see in. Then all of a sudden Cody yells "Buck, Buck, Buck" the two deer were 200
yards below us. But Cody jumped to conclusions and they ended up being does. He
states that he does not like these little deer, but deep down inside he has a
passion for them
He only wants to shoot mulies. So after he got all our blood going we were
dissapointed again. Brandon had class that afternoon and had to leave. So Cody
and I went to another spot that turned out to be money. We get up to our
glassing point and start looking, after a little nap here and there I spotted
two deer, but confirmed them as more does. It was frustrating seeing all these
does. About twenty minutes later it was about 4:45, Cody yells "Big Buck", sure
enough he glassed up a really good buck with the El's, we were thinking in the
80-90" range feeding at the top of a little mesa. This deer was a long long ways
up at the top. He was pretty much in sheep country. He was located at the top of
some sheer cliffs. There was only one way up to him. I decided quickly which
route I was going to take to close the distance. My plan was to end up right on
top of him.
This image does not do justice of how steep this country was. Below the deer was
a sheer drop off at least 200 ft. The image does not show it well at all
I knew I had to go quick because I had a little less then an hour of shooting
light. So I went up these steep steep hills as fast as I could. I have never
been on hills that steep for that distance. I knew I was crazy going up this
stuff, and at one point I almost gave up, I did not physically think my body
could do it. It seemed impossible to make it up in time. But I kept going
because my adrenaline was going. I ended up to the top in about 30 mins, which I
was amazed at. I finally got to the top and started looking for him below me, I
had about 15 mins of shooting light left, and I started to worry that he was
gone some I look back to where I left Cody and the 15's, I look back at him
through the El's and could hardly see him but I saw his arm pointing right. So I
slowly worked my way to the right, but nothing. I then looked at him again and
saw his arms come out. I interpreted it as he is gone...start heading down, but
he really meant "what the hell are you doing"....I turned around no more then
fifty yards up from me was the buck. I turned the safety off and let the led
fly. I missed him the first shot, then he started running, my second to last
shot hit him, then I let another one go and it dropped him. I was shaking alot,
I was so excited yelling at the top of my lungs. I could hear Cody yelling " You
got Him"...it was a great experience. When I first put my hands on him I was so
relieved and the feeling that it was over was awesome. This buck was my first,
and My friends and I worked our butts off for him. We did not get back to the
truck till 5 hours later packing that little guy out of the hills.
Sorry I do not have any field pics, because I did not have my camera with me.
Christian came up with a gross score of 84 3/8"...not bad for my first
I would like to thank everyone that helped on this hunt, especially Brandon,
Cody, and Christian. They helped me out so much, they busted their butts for me
when they did not have to. I shot Cody's .300 short mag, the same gun he dropped
his Kiabab buck with.
He only wants to shoot mulies. So after he got all our blood going we were
dissapointed again. Brandon had class that afternoon and had to leave. So Cody
and I went to another spot that turned out to be money. We get up to our
glassing point and start looking, after a little nap here and there I spotted
two deer, but confirmed them as more does. It was frustrating seeing all these
does. About twenty minutes later it was about 4:45, Cody yells "Big Buck", sure
enough he glassed up a really good buck with the El's, we were thinking in the
80-90" range feeding at the top of a little mesa. This deer was a long long ways
up at the top. He was pretty much in sheep country. He was located at the top of
some sheer cliffs. There was only one way up to him. I decided quickly which
route I was going to take to close the distance. My plan was to end up right on
top of him.
