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It was a hot one this year! At one time our trucks recorded 98 degrees on Saturday. We only glassed up 24 bucks this season, way less than our usual 50 bucks. After the first 4 days of struggling and passing up bucks, my wife decided to turn her hunt into a meat hunt. At first light she saw this buck 1300 yards away and we watched him while waiting for the heat to kick in. Once it got warm enough, he bedded and we were off. We snuck in to 309 yards and had to wait a couple of hours for him to stand up. As soon as the buck got up, she was all ready and dropped him. I got a feeling this next Nov hunt is gonna be a real good one with the cooler temperatures and a lot more bucks in the field.

Seems like this site is more Craigslist than Coues hunting, so here is a coues deer. Glassed up a bigger buck on the next to last day. Made a move and glassed him as soon as he stepped in to the thick stuff and the wait was on. An hour and fifteen minutes later this guy stepped out, 435 yards. Slight adjustment to the turret, one shot and he was down. Shot the buck at 930, got back to the side by side at 315. Craig's Custom Rifles 28 Nosler, 180 Berger Hybrid, shot from the seated position with the Harris bipod.

Well my youngest boy shot his first Coues deer in 2017, 250 yd shot in unit 33. He was pretty stocked because it was the biggest out of my other two children at that age…so there was some trash talking going on. Since then he’s been drawn for deer and cow elk but unfortunately has never filled his tag, he was getting pretty down on his luck. Well he got drawn for the early general hunt in 33 unit again and was looking forward to filling his tag. Being that Redington is so close to home we were going to do day trips because of the extreme heat this weekend, regardless we were both ready. We got up at 3:30AM on Friday and got to our parking spot at 5:15 and made it to our glassing spot right at 6:00. I told him to glass this hillside where I saw 3 bucks about a month earlier coming down into a draw. I told him I’m focusing on this other area where I’ve seen an absolute bruiser. Well at 6:30AM I see 2 does, I turn to my left and proceed to tell him but as you would know it, he was asleep…go figure. I then turn to the hill he was looking at and instantly see antlers, I said…I’ve got a buck get up. This was at 6:40AM. He shoots straight up and asks how far, he was bedded at 343yds. I have him get behind the 15’s so he can see what landmarks to focus on when he’s behind the rifle. We both back up about 5 yds on more level ground so he can lay prone. He gets the deer in the scope, I dial it to 350 yds and tell him just breathe easy and squeeze the trigger. As I’m looking through my binos all I hear is heaving breathing, I told him to relax the deer isn’t going anywhere. All of sudden he cracks off the first round and I wasn’t ready, I go back to the binos and see nothing, he says he missed but the deer moved to right about 20’. I’m frantically looking to see where it’s at and I hear another crack, I asked where is it, and then a third shot rang out….he then yelled I got it. At that time I do see the deer tumble. It wasn’t dead so he let one more fly and put it down, right at 6:50AM. As I’m patting him on his back he says “ dad my eye really hurts”, I have him look up at me and he has a really nice egg of a welt just above his eye on his forehead. No signs of blood, so I start to giggle and remind him of what I told him not to do with his eye. For the next 1/2 hour all I hear is, dad this hurts and of course I told him remember what I told you. We cross the canyon and locate his buck, I don’t know who was more excited him or me, but I could definitely tell he’s in hog heaven because he just stood there admiring the antlers. We gutted it and started the haul out, we got back to the truck at 9:45AM completely exhausted due to the heat. Pics of him and his 1st deer-2017 Pics of him and his 2nd deer-2024

Was lucky enough to have drawn a tag this year with a couple good friends. We knew this deer was in the area. Opening morning a friend got on him, but couldn’t seal the deal and tagged out on another nice buck. That afternoon, @buglethemin and I headed where we thought we could glass him up. Sure enough, some does busted and while trying to find what spooked the does we picked him up at 1100 yards. It was after 5pm and losing daylight so we decided to try and make a play. We were able to loop around and get to 410 yards. 140gr accubond out of 280ai did the trick. Great healthy deer, nice big body. Just over 15” inside spread. Couldn’t be happier. IMG_0213.mov

These were our best 3 bucks this year for 5 hunters, had a lot of fun, a lot of rutting action, a lot of deer, and a lot of tortillas:

Wife and I had a few fun days in the heat filling some deer tags to start the season off. Wife killed her buck at 469 yards one shot and dropped him in his tracks. Shot my buck at 250 yards. Nice to have some coues meat in the freezer. We have our 10 year old daughter’s first deer tag to look forward to in 3 weeks which is the one we are truly excited about to get her her first buck

His little 20ga did a number on these things. I was impressed.

How are these not sold. Someone buy these!!! I already have swaros otherwise I would!!!

We don’t need a viable population of jaguars or grizzly bears or velociraptors. Common sense used to span from California to the Carolinas also and that seems to be going extinct.

Wasn’t my best day of shooting, shot 11 but was able to bag 8 and lost 3 in the tall grass. The birds were talkative till about 10:30 and the coveys were good sized. Then while driving down a wash I noticed a nope rope, needless to say he met his maker. Don’t need him in any of the bushes I’m looking for downed birds in.

Took a few years to figure out this unit. Not a good unit. Scouted a big buck this summer. Saw him 2 days before season but not again for 3 days during season. Crafty old sucker. Bears like flies. Not for the faint of heart unit. It sucks. Big buck scouted. Caught this buck stretching at 130 PM, 20 minutes after my nap, Day 2 of 5 of hunt but day 5 for me as NM has 5 day seasons and I got there early. Thought he was my big guy and he was in a good spot for an open sighted muzzleloader with very few deer in this unit. Gotta go get there in case I said. Got setup at 75 yards after a sporty stalk. Great setup with some rocks in front, perfect. I still couldn't tell exactly what he was as he was tight in the trees with 83 degree highs. But I was hoping he was my guy as this area was smack in the middle of the big guys home range. Opportunities are not many in NM for sure.... Sat on him for 4 hours at 75 yards and still couldn't ID what exactly he was other than a good buck. Finally, he got up to feed a bit and I realized he wasn't the big guy but dang with a big wind storm coming in and at 75 yards I assessed him fast and said he's pretty good. He wouldnt turn so I shot him hard, hard quarter to. Shot him at 75 with a 275 grain Barnes. Heart shot him but I didn't know with the BH 209 smoke . He went a full 100 yards and it was a bloodbath. No idea how he went that far. He's got ear and brisket wrinkles and his teeth match that. He's at least 6 I think if not older. Maybe older. He's likely as good as he's gonna get, likely. I'm happy with him even though the big boy is a class above. Inspired by Kev...

Bought my 1.7 from Levi, buy with confidence.

Just got back from a deer hunt, spent 3 hours unpacking with more to do tomorrow . Had a great time for a short trip. Would , and hope to do it all again next year.

I'm in Tucson, let me double check as far as stains/zippers but should be good to go. I used it until I switched to a 4000.

S.S.S.

Another case in point, I have been hiking the grand canyon most years for a while and have been down and out or across 8 trips now and many long backpack trips in between hunting or not. I let it get in my head that i was getting older and fatter and took a year off from the gym and I was in no shape to be going this year. I managed to make myself go and had an amazing trip with my two kids and (ex wife). I didnt want my kids to go without me so I started hiking with plate carrier almost every day after work even if it was short. Did every single mile solo and then got to spend the day with my kids in an amazing place and wouldnt you know it I was pretty good on the hike. The feeling getting through a rim to rim and sitting down for dinner watching my kids go back over the day was priceless. On the last 2 miles heading out the north rim I ran into a guy named Cody, he was solo and came down from the north about 3 miles to take photographs at sunset, he was a pretty heavy guy and said he was 60 and living with his 80 year old dad. I was in rough shape at that point slogging along and he sat with me and bulled for a bit teaching me how to hike when your old and tired, I said goodby and never stopped thinking about that guy the rest of the night. I hope thats me at some point. He had tons of excuses but refused to sit around. I figure it was dark for his last few hours out of there, cool dude. Wore his belt line 3 inches above his belly button, most of those guys have seen and done some stuff. Always remember you will, 99 percent of the time be glad you went, shooting, hiking, camping, stopped to see a freind, whatever.

Biological DEI??!! the 3 S’s!!

Looks like they got the AZ schools backwards on who finishes last in the Big 12

Welp, I let the old man in this past week. After 2 days, my brother bailed on me so I was hunting solo which I have done plenty in the past. Friday thru Monday were hot with very little deer movement. The wind and a bit of rain came in on Monday evening and Tuesday morn I climbed to a knoll and saw deer across the canyon playing tag or something. After I settled in, I glassed up 3X3 and a spike feeding not far from the playing deer. Ranged the 3X3 at 225 yds... And my right knee said nope. Crossing that canyon alone with a deer, rifle and pack was something I was not willing to do, so I watched them for an hour until they went over the saddle. For the rest of the hunt I ignored the knoll and tried to find something closer to camp.

Thank you everyone. We are both very pleased with the bucks and the outcome of the hunt as we know the plan doesn’t always come together like it did this time.

Depending how long the shot is, further away this important imo. I use 2 legged trigger stick with a beanie or something rolled up in the crafle and tied into place with the wrist strap keeping the beanie in place. It gives it gives you something to push down into to get a good cheek weld on the rear stock. We've killed many times this way, almost as good as being prone. Rock solid if you do it right.

What do all figure it will score? Not that score is important but this kid really deserved this buck.

Wife was using a 6.5PRC I used my .50cal inline muzzleloader

This is indeed one of the most interesting threads in a long while. We're all fighting the indefensible assault of time but stay in the fight! Now that you're retired, maybe think that your job is to train your body. As you said, you still have "the heart and desire to get out there in the woods and hunt, camp or fish" and now that you have more time maybe think about your job is to "train for the adventure." Movement is medicine. I have a friend who says "Motion is lotion. Rest is rust." He's right. I find it helps to think of the hunt when the inertia tries to drag me down and keep me on the couch. Thanks for a thought provoking post.

+5 inches for carrying him out in a stick !!