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11 years of scouting/hunting as often as I could has finally paid off! This past August I was able arrow my biggest Coues Buck EVER. Last year was a very disappointing archery year for me as I missed several bucks during the Jan. season, I even missed a Javelina. With my failures weighing heavy on my mind, defeating my moral I decided to pick up the rifle and chase Coues deer with it to finish the year. Despite not having used a rifle to deer hunt in over 32 years I was excited to be in the hills of Southern Arizona on the quest to fill my tag. I was able to fill my 2019 rifle tag with a respectable representation of the grey ghost. January 2020 I found myself in a new position at work that demanded more of my time than I thought it would when I pushed myself to obtain it and my bow skills suffered. Covid 19 swooped in and added a harsh reality check for America and more importantly to me and my family when my wife was tested three times to confirm she was positive for it. My entire household was under quarantine for most of March. Unable to hit the field to scout as much as I usually do I was able to find one spot that heldover promise from last year. I set up my cameras there and a few other spots that looked promising. Two weeks before the hunt I ran into other hunters building a blind on the very tank I was watching, after talking to them I learned their intentions. I knew that if I wanted to hunt this spot opening day I would need to beat them there. Opening day excitement turned into nervous jitters as I drove south wondering who would be first to the tank. The extremely hot weather seemed to push more hunters to sit water and I was no exception. My heart sank as I rounded the last turn to the tank and I could see taillights at the gate, dang. I was less than 2 minutes late getting there. Plan B was, I would spot n stalk in the hills not far from the tank. As I sat in my truck thinking where I should start, I started to reevaluate my decision. I thought of how I would feel if that was me down there "waiting" for a buck to come in and they was chasing the deer all around keeping them from settling down and going to get a drink. Plan C, drive to a completely different area and hunt there for the day. I found two trucks in that area when I pulled up 45 minutes after daylight, now I am on plan D and it's not even 7am. I finished the opener without seeing a single buck. Day two my little voice whispered in my ear, "don't go hunting, something bad will happen!" This voice was so strong that for the first time EVER I listened and stayed home. April 2018 my wife had that voice and begged me not to attend a fundraising shoot in Phoenix, I went anyway and was rewarded with a broken right knee that laid me up for 7 months. Sunday I was up a 2:30am, not wanting to be beat to the tank again I arrived around 4am. I set up my blind, made sure everything was perfect and waited. I had deer come in at first light and just about every 45 minutes until 10:30. the action picked back up around 12:30 and stayed steady until I missed a giant around 2pm. I had good bucks in front of as the last light faded without loosing another arrow. Monday was a repeat of Sunday without my having taken a shot, lots of bucks but none that I wanted to shoot with one more day to hunt. By Tuesday the deer had started to slow down on the arrival times but stayed longer. On the drive in I noticed the water line was broken and gushing hundreds of gallons per minute. After daylight I went back to the break to see if there was anything I could do. I tried to contact the only rancher in the area I knew but my phone would not complete a phone call, I could text and post online, just no calls. I found several hose clamps on the old poly tubing, some bishop's tape in my truck. With a water bottle I cut both ends off I added the tape to the inside and clamped it over the PVC pipe, fixed for now! Who needs McGiver anyway!! Several times the ranchers bulls would come in bellowing and carrying on pushing the deer off. After fixing the water pipe I was feeling pretty good and satisfied with the hunt if I didn't get a buck. Around 2:30 the better bucks started hanging around outside the fence. There was one buck I had settled to take if he gave me a shot. 15 minutes later he crossed the fence and nervously approached and backed off from the tank several times before settling down to take a drink. As I started to draw back a much bigger buck walked into view, back to waiting! The new buck wasted no time crossing the fence to take his turn getting a drink. I drew back and settled my 40 and 50 pins on his chest just behind the shoulder, took a breath and let it fly. He ran about 50 yards out of sight and crashed, the Swhacker 125 strikes again. As I waited the bulls started bellowing, kicking up dirt and gathered in one spot just out of sight. Fearing the bulls would destroy any sign from my buck I decided to at least check the area inside the corral. What I found could only be described as a blood HIGHWAY in the soft dirt. I found part of my arrow covered in blood. It was at that point I could see the bulls gathering in the direction my buck ran, they were really getting worked up. I decided to continue the track job and followed it right to the group of bulls. Through their legs I could see my buck. It seemed like they were doing a WAR DANCE for their fallen comrade.

Didn't get drawn in Arizona this year, so resorted to plan B which was a landowner tag in New Mexico. They tried to elude me with the weather moving in, but was fortunate enough to connect before the bad stuff moved in. Thankful for the harvest, and a VERY full freezer!

why do you care so much what hes asking for it? If you don’t have the money piss off. Deal with your alimony payments

My favorite band of all time. Some of you Gen X’ers may agree.... It’s a crime that they are not in the rock ‘n’ roll Hall of Fame

Bet this was a bit nerve wracking for this guy, and I know how he must have felt. I'll explain later. I couldn't get the video to embed, but a click will work. https://www.facebook.com/jordan.serven.7/videos/494119881545134

Phil,I can't believe that these guys will spend 15 thousand on a Ranger,and not 2500. on this. This is much warmer,less dusty,and gets around great.If I didn't have 6 vehicles,I would buy it,but my wife would kill me.

Coatis are neat. I always wanted to get one mounted, but the only times I ever saw them, I was hunting deer and didn't want to screw it up it by shooting a coati. One time in 36B, my son and I came upon a troop of about 50-75 of them in one little arroyo.

Man i waist a lot of people juice. Langage alert!

Just like how they feel and shoot. How many does one man need?

This old guy had a pretty good one.

Took this buck at just under 40 yards with a Glock 23. He never took another step.

No, this isn't about Kamala Harris. I was looking for something else online and came across this thing. It's an Indian civet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Indian_civet

Lol. He’s in the morning and does a small spot in the afternoon. I love having him up here

By sport quad do you mean tear up roads at 50mph and act like an A-hole? Or do you want something that’ll scoot fast on highways til you get to your hunting area? OR!!! Just want a quad for the dunes??

I agree...you know your effective range and you know the load/bullet combo is effective. Coues in the other handgun thread killed with a .40 which isn’t much bigger than 9mm especially with your current load.

Do it, I'm sure close range.

I've actually had TWO incidents with moose somewhat like this one. About 30 years ago, I was on a deer/elk pack-in hunt back in the Grey Mts. in Wy. There were about five other hunters in camp and one of them had drawn a moose permit. So one day, I had ridden my horse out alone to hunt in a place the outfitter had told me about. I tied up my horse and headed up a small ridge. There was a game trail right on top, so I decided to sit on a stump a bit because it afforded a good view of the valley below. I was there about 15 min. when I heard a shot that came from the heavily wooded area below me. Five minutes later, I had a bull moose barreling down the trail toward my stump., and I could see blood pumping out of his side. I had my .264 across my lap but quickly raised it just in case. The moose kept coming. When it was about 10-12 yards from me, I shot it in brisket. He dropped immediately. As I was wiping my butt, the guy with the moose permit and his guide appeared to claim his prize. The other incident also happened many, many moons ago when I was personally hunting moose in northern BC. My Slavey indian guide and I had left the main camp and set up a spike camp on a lake about 10 miles away. We spent six days searching for moose & caribou wthout much success. Then one day, we were riding across a ridge in a light rain, and I had to take a leak. After I was done, I decided to glass across my saddle down into a big valley below us. Within a minute, I saw something white move in a big stand of alders. When it moved again, I could tell it was a moose antler. I told Jimmy, and he asked me if I could shoot it from there, which was about a 1/2 mile. I just laughed, then told him we're heading down there. So I took off my rainsuit, hitched up my socks and we were on our way. What I didn't realize was the alders were much taller and thicker than they looked from above. We began to push our way thru them, and all of a sudden, the moose busted out, running along a hill about 125 yds broadside to us. I told Jimmy to bend over. While he covered his ears, I rested on his back and got off three shots. I heard and saw them hit. After each of the first two, Jimmy confirmed them with, "You got 'em," and I said, "stay down" so I could shoot a third time. Problem was the moose didn't seem to know I had hit him. He took off racing over the top, where we lost sight of him. It took us at least 1/2 hr. to get thru the alders and over the hill. There we could see my moose about 50 yards away. He was lying amid a lot of blown down jackpine-type trees with brush on either side and had his head fairly upright. While Jimmy, who didn't even have a gun, stood off to the side, I moved around in front until I was about 10 yards away. I planned to shoot just under his chin, but when I raised the rifle, it was still on 9X; all I could see was hair. I lowered it to adjust the scope. When I did the moose stood and started toward me. Uphill from me, he seemed huge -- like I was looking up at his head ten feet above me. I turned to run, but tripped on one of the deadfalls. Both me and the rifle went flying. As I covered my head with my arms, I yelled to Jimmy to tell my wife I love her. Then I heard the crash. The moose had died and fallen about 10 feet behind me. When we field dressed and skinned him, we found all three of my bullets against the farside hide in an area about the size of a pie plate They had pretty much wiped out the lungs but had missed the heart. And I survived! 🤣

coati with mange?

Not a bad idea at all, i try to give some bow in my arm to compensate. But buck / elk fever is a real thing and after like 20 years of archery hunting im still a victim of it. What can i say, the adrenaline still gets the best of me. I dont know how some guys keep their composure at that moment. Its one of the reasons i switched to the IQ bowsight. It adds one more thing to my mental checklist to try and force myself to slow down and think my shot through. When you got a buck looking you in the eye its reeaall easy to forget and make a stupid mistake.

And H1000!!

Agree with everything above. I had wondered what might have changed up there since the announcement that some trails are open. If you don’t want to worry with finding other areas to hunt, Point Guard makes sense. I’m sure you’ll likely draw it again next year with same points.

No, after you draw you can start again. If you were a big shot guide in AZ you could just jump the fence.

Point guard isnt once in a lifetime. You get your points back once then next tag you have to use. After you use your next tag, you can use point guard again.

I remember years ago I was in Colorado bow hunting. Not 1 vehicle came by our camp in 2 3 days. Until showe're day. No tarp, nothing. The old solar shower . Standing on a milk create. A mini van rolls up. The kids are probably scared for life.