DNS

I did post it last year, but here is the link if you didn't see it. http://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/topic/45585-unit-27-december-rifle-mule-deer-buck/

I went with a slight left turn, ears relaxed, mouth closed look. Mark gives a standard mount option and a custom mount option. With the custom mount you get more detail and that is what I went with.

It is the same buck. Thanks!!

Great job! 1st buck with a bow is a memory you will have forever.

Nice buck. Congrats!

Here is an interesting tall buck that I got in 2012. The hunt went something like this. Day 1- started off in one of my favorite areas in this unit and found a bunch of does, but no bucks Day 2- Went to another area that I like and got right on a small 2 point at first light and decided to pass. Saw 3 nice wt bucks, but no other mule deer bucks Morning Day 3- Went to another area that I hunt, dad kills a 3 point in one direction and I see more does but no bucks in the opposite direction Evening Day 3- I decide to hunt a different area that I had scouted prior and saw some deer in it, but it is rough to get into and tough to move around once you get there because it has some big deep canyons. I'm hunting the second rifle hunt of a difficult desert unit so I figure that the bigger bucks are in some of the tougher areas to get to. I get in there with about 2.5 hours left of light and go to a waterhole that I found while scouting. I get up on a ridge just south of the waterhole and this ridge basically makes a big cross and then drops off steep on all sides. I take the south part of the cross and get to the point of the ridge just before it drops off steep. I set there and glass for approximately 30 minutes, but don't see anything so I start to walk back and take the East part off the cross. I get about 1/2 way back to where the ridge splits and I can hear something running from back where I just was. I quickly get back over there and get set up. I look through my scope and find the deer and it is a nice buck. He was bedded in an area that I couldn't see in straight below me about 100 yards. He is running straight away from me, but I know he is going to turn left or right when he tops out because there is no where to go in the direction he is running. The buck turns left and I have a couple hundred yards or so before he gets out of site so I wait and see if he will stop and give me a good shot. I wait and he finally slows way down, but doesn't stop. I'm comfortable with the shot and the range so I shoot and immediately know I shoot just over his back from where I see the dust cloud of the bullet. The buck takes off again and gets into an area that there is no way I will be able to find him before dark. I walk over to where the buck was when I shot to verify a clean miss and follow his tracks for 1/2 a mile, but there was no blood so it was definitely a clean miss. At this point I am pretty pissed at myself for missing. The shot was no gimme, but I should have made it. Anyone that hunts some of the tough desert units knows that good bucks are usually far and few between. It ended up being good because my son killed this same buck that I missed in 2013 and made a far better shot than I did. Here is the thread on that buck http://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/topic/44768-desert-buck/ There's about 45min-1 hour left of light and I know that I can't get to any other area before dark so I decide to move over 2 ridges to the north of the waterhole. I'm walking down the ridge and find a spot that I can glass to the north, but didn't find anything so i went over the ridge to the south and started heading back towards where I had parked my quad. I top out on the ridge and look just across this little cut and see a buck bedded down on a big rock only 50 yards away. When I first saw him it looked like his horns were 3 ft tall. He saw me the same time I saw him and he wasted no time getting up and heading out. He needed 4 jumps and a turn to the right to get to where I would never see him again, but I was ready to go quickly and shot him on the 3rd bound. He dropped in mid jump and just pile up. He isn't a giant buck, but he is cool. His main beams go straight up over 12 inches before the G2 split. He has no eyeguards or any bumps where he might have grown eyeguards.

The 27 hunt was awesome. Here is the story and buck I posted from that hunt. http://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/topic/45585-unit-27-december-rifle-mule-deer-buck/

Nice bull. Don't worry about not seeing the shed. I just about stepped on one a couple years ago that my son picked up behind me while we were turkey hunting. I'm sure you had other things on your mind like killing that bull.

It looks like a small 4 or 3 to me

Was that an elk shed you walked by from 1:17-1:22? It's hard tell for sure, but it looks like one.

Unit 28 November for me and 27 youth for my son. Neither of my daughters drew anything.

They look great

My kids both use the 7mm-08 and have both killed deer and elk with it using 140gr bullets. It has very light recoil and enough knock down power to get the job done.

I didn't find the rest to be so much of a problem, but as others have stated finding animals in the scope was an issue. My son has had a scoped pellet gun for years and when he went big game hunting for the first time he had no issues finding animals in the scope. When my youngest daughter was 10 she drew a youth deer and youth elk hunt at the same time in bordering units. Opening morning we had 2 bucks inside of 100 yards out in the open and she couldn't find them in the scope and they finally fed out of site. That afternoon she had a whole herd of elk within 150 yards and couldn't find them in the scope either. This was my fault. I didn't spend enough time practicing with her finding animals in a scope. The next day we just sat at a waterhole all day and anytime I saw a squirrel, butterfly, humming bird, or any other animal I could see I would have her find it with the scope and hold steady on it. After awhile she got where she could pick up anything in the scope within a second or two. The next morning she made a perfect heart shot on a cow elk that she picked up in the scope immediately and the day after she found a buck in thick trees and put him down with a heart shot. I would just say to spend as much time practicing with whatever rest you choose so they are comfortable with it and spend some time finding animals with the scope they will use. It's easy to find targets at a gun range, but picking up animals that blend in is much tougher. Good luck on your hunts.

That is a cool pic. Thanks for sharing.

Deer for me and a youth deer hunt for my son

I took my son and his friend up north this weekend on a youth turkey hunt. We saw one Jake on opening morning and a few hens. My son passed on the Jake and since we didn’t see much the rest of the day he was catching a bunch of crap from me and his friend for not taking it. About an hour before dark we heard a Tom gobble so we tried to move closer to get a shot. The Tom already had a bunch of hens so it wouldn’t come to us and it was too open for us to get close to it. My son and I split up from his friend and his dad. We started heading down the mountain and heard another Tom across the canyon so we started moving that way. This Tom would answer us each time we called, but wouldn’t move towards us. We decided to move towards it and see if we could get a shot. We slowly made our way up the mountain and got to within 60 yards of it, but it shut up and we couldn’t see it. Our friends started calling in the bottom of the canyon and another Tom answered them and then our Tom gobbled one more time so we knew where it was. We moved a little closer and it came out from behind a tree and saw us about the time we saw it. My son was ready to shoot and took his Tom at about 40 yards. After it got dark we heard about 10 Toms gobbling in different places in this canyon so we decided to get there early the next morning. The next morning as soon as we got out of the truck there were Tom’s gobbling everywhere in the dark. We picked the 2 most vocal Toms that were close together and slowly headed that way. We got to about 100 yards away from where we thought they were and they shut up. We were moving across this old unused road and I noticed three Toms strutting just in front of us about 60 yards away. We moved in closer. One of the Toms started to get nervous and poked his head up where we could see and my son’s friend took a shot, but missed and the birds were gone. He seemed a little down on himself after getting close to this bird and not getting it. This was his first turkey hunt so he didn't know what to expect. I told him we would find some more and then about 10am we got on 2 more Toms. This time he was able to connect and got his first Tom at about 30 yards.

Got mine and my son's in. Hopefully better results than the elk draw.

Awesome fish. Congrats

Went out to Canyon Lake with my buddy last night and caught this 9 lb 11 oz largemouth. We ended up boating 7 in four hours and lost a few more. took a little bit, but she swam off for the next lucky guy

That's funny, but very mean:) I typically keep a few for dinner, but not one that big.

Congrats! That triple bearded Tom is awesome!

Looks great. He will always remember this hunt

Very nice on 18 rifle mule deer, also very lucky to draw so many tags even in the easy units, not so easy to do these days, Thanks. We've spent the last 20 years or so really learning a tough unit that has close to 100% draw odds.

Last week they were gobbling like crazy at night, but would shut up around 7am. They did pick back up later in the afternoon until dark.