sneakem33

Man... its super slow in this place anymore, thought I would share a couple pic's from my recent endeavors. Hunted the late rifle and then stayed for the OTC archery. Killed a decent buck with the gun, rut was slow but we saw some great deer, watched a giant get killed, couple good one's gave us the slip. Archery hunt, the deer never really got going until the day before I left, saw a couple amazing bucks, just couldn't get it done. Had a great time with some buddies, also enjoyed a few days solo.

Realistically the real smugglers only run a few routes, and most of that country is gnarly and tough to access by vehicle. They can't risk getting caught, otherwise the cartels will get rid of them and everyone they know.... Most of the people you see are illegals, they cross anywhere and are likely to avoid you anyways and start running, maybe steal your crap from camp.

I never enter anything in the books, but I did rough tape him at about 86".

The secret to getting so close is failing miserably a bunch of times...lol Realistically I drew a decent tag, spent a ton of time looking over a number of goats. Found a couple of really good bucks and decided that I would make a play on them with the longbow, knowing I could switch to a rifle in a few weeks and shoot a grande, so there was no pressure to fill the tag. Failed on a few stalks and while doing so, turned this buck up, which would have been a no brainer even with a gun in a few weeks. Had I known this buck existed I would have brought the compound or held off completely until the rifle opener. Really it just worked out that was the only thing I could hunt him with at the moment in time... I botched a bunch of stalks on him during the day and eventually I caught him dogging a doe that I know was headed to water. I caught them traveling in a wash and ambushed him in a brushy spot about 35 yards out, which is about as far as I feel comfortable shooting. Shot was a little forward, but managed to get enough penetration to get the job done... There's a long winded play by play on another site, but that's the short of it. Ironically enough the largest I've ever taken with any weapon... I knew he was big but stunned when I walked up on him...

But a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then...

I would say that he was a fairly young deer (3.5) with great potential to be a giant. Ironically that ear facing the camera is almost 2" larger than the other and his horns are a little willowy. Being my first coues, I didn't wait for him to grow up any more, he was plenty big enough.

Tag 38 in one of 2 units... The anticipation is killing me.

I think it's just fine as it is... even with crappy NR odds I seem to be able to draw a couple tags here and there. I think that comes with a realistic outlook on what's possible to draw. Obviously a crap ton of people chase a couple glory units with very few tags and minuscule drawing odds are going to be disappointed that they don't draw every time they have a pile of points.

Late coues for me... I get to go rifle shopping..

Thanks for sharing, love these posts. Great season for you all.

Sweet buck, Congrats!

Super cool buck, like that type of frame on a coues... Thanks for sharing the video.

Awesome!! Congrats on the great buck! Even sweeter with the recurve! A buddy of mine told me once.... " The hardest part of hunting about bowhunting coues is aiming where you think they'll be standing when your arrow gets there. You never know if they're going to duck, jump, run or stand still. They're like little ninjas."

He also broke his G2 off flush with the beam on the side with the double eyeguard, neat buck regardless. I did happen to have the longbow handy glassing, attempting to thump some doves, rabbits. He came to me dogging a doe, I had to stop him which put him on full alert at maybe 25 yards. I slightly plucked the string on release and pulled a couple inches back, but fortunately he also jumped the string and wheeled into what ended up being a decently placed quartering away shot... I watched him go a couple hundred yards into a little ravine which he never exited. They're just such jumpy little deer, combined with my limited scouting/hunting time down there and max effective range of maybe 35, I really hadn't given the longbow much realistic thought. Maybe if I were a resident I would put a realistic effort into it. I'm also not a big fan of sitting water, treestands or a blind either, I go stir crazy sitting...