mtuck

Great job on the double! That's a lot of field work in a short amount of time but the meat and stories are worth it. Congrats.

1980's vintage Remington 700 BDL in 7mm Rem Mag, Vortex Razor HD LH 3-15 x 42mm, Federal Premium 160gr Nosler Partition.

Congratulations on a great hunt lancetkenyon. Time with your kids is precious and this is a great story!

First time elk hunting and first time hunting 7W. Our scouting trip in July gave a few potential spots to camp and hunt but we did not see any elk at that time. When we arrived on Wednesday, 10/16, we were happy to see our primary camp location was still open and we quickly setup camp so we could get to scouting. We went out to our primary hunting area that looked promising in July but did not see anything moving and no real fresh sign. Thinking that maybe this area would be more suited to a morning hunt, we headed back to camp for the night. We were excited to hear a few bugles in the early night and went to bed feeling optimistic for the morning. Thursday morning scouting was very uneventful with no game seen at our primary spot. We decided our afternoon scout would be closer to where we thought the bugles from the night before were coming from. We didn't see any game that afternoon but decided that we would sit this area in the morning hoping to catch something in the field before they headed to bed down in the hills. We set up our blind with good views of a field and tree line. We had some downed trees in front of us and set up plenty of natural background to hide our silhouettes. No bugles were heard that night. Opening morning we head over to our blind and wait for the sunlight to start to peak over the hills. We were not super optimistic since we hadn't seen any elk and did not hear any activity the night before but to our surprise, at first light, we spotted 2 bulls and 6 cows in the far corner of the field. We watched them for a while but we could not get them any closer and they slowly made their way off into the hills, well out of our range. Feeling better that we at least saw some elk, we went back to glassing the area hoping for another chance. Within a few minutes, we spotted a bull and cow about a half mile away. My buddy let out a few cow calls and they immediately perked up and started looking our way. A few more calls and they both started heading towards us. We continued to call and they continued to advance. The bull was a beautiful 6x6, the cow was good sized and they continued to come towards us and our call. There was a barbed wire fence about 100 yards in front of us and the pair continued to advance. They quickly closed the distance to fence line with the cow in the lead. One last call and the cow jumped over the barbed wire. She was broadside and I squeezed the trigger of my 7mm Rem Mag. The cow gave a quick jump and started to bolt to my right, A quick cycle of the action and the second shot had her down for good. This was all by 0645 opening morning. I was extremely excited but almost sad that it happened so quickly. We got her field dressed, loaded in the truck and took off for Casey's Processing in Flagstaff where she weighed in at a nice 294lbs dressed and caped. We cut out a backstrap for dinner and headed back to camp happy with our success and looking forward to filling our other tag. That afternoon was uneventful but the next morning was very similar to opening day. We had a group of 4 cows that we were able to call in to approx. 150 yards and my buddy quickly filled his tag. 2 days, 2 cows, mission complete! I'm blessed to have such great hunting buddies, that helped me on this hunt and allowed me to take the first shot. Here's my girl.

We were all kinda surprised the cow call did so well. We didn't try it with the first group of bulls and cows. If we did, we might have both tagged out opening morning. Either way, it worked out great for us.

Excellent! Looking forward reading your story.

I'm sure we saw you driving around. The roads in that area were like freeways with all the traffic. How was your hunt?

We were up in the Spring Valley area.

I'll take it. PM inbound.

PM sent.

Well, now I've done it. I got drawn for mid-Oct cow elk tag. I'm looking to stock the freezer with some delicious meat. Now the problem is, I know almost nothing of the 7W GMU. I'm starting to dig through the maps but I was hoping that someone might be able to point me in the right direction. I'm not looking for people to give up their honey holes, but I would appreciate any help. Thanks

No worries wildwoody. I know you were just kidding. I was just trying to explain my situation. I remember to hit you up if I ever get hunt in 22.

2 beautiful deer! Great job for you and your son!

2 cow tags for the Oct. 18 hunt in 7W. First elk hunt for me, can't wait for the fall.

I've always planned on scouting but since I live in Tucson (5+ hours away from 7W) I was hoping to get some help with some general areas. Between working a full-time job (not counting mandatory overtime and on-call) plus 3 busy kids, my available time to scout is limited and I wanted to try and focus the 1 or 2 trips I may be able to take on areas that had some potential.

Thanks for the help everyone. I've got my first scouting trip planned with a quite few areas to check out. I'm very excited about this hunt and can't wait to get up there and start looking over the area. Good luck to all those with tags.

Thanks for the help lancetkenyon. Good luck on your hunt.

Thanks! Are you sure you want to give away your honey hole on a public forum?

Alrighty fellas. I got a hit on my credit card. Looks like I'm headed back to 34A for a Coues hunt (Oct 26 - Nov 1). I'd like to maybe get together with anyone interested and do some scouting. My schedule right now does not permit any overnight trips but I can do daytime trips. I work 4 days a week (10 hours shifts) so I always have at least 1 weekday off every week. Let me know if anybody wants to get together and either discuss or go out an scout. This will only be my second year hunting Coues, so I'm still learning a ton and looking for any advice/help anyone is willing to give. Thanks, ~mtuck

Hey broadhead, sorry to dig up an old post but I wanted to check and see if you ever found a scouting partner. I had a successful Coues rifle hunt in 34A last year and put in for it again. I'm a relative newbie when it comes to scouting and I'd love to get out with someone to learn more and see if I can have a better hunt this year. Let me know if you are still looking for someone in the area. I live on the southeast side of town and day trips to the area are easily done. Let me know. Thanks.

If you just want the quick story, skip down to Day 6. Let me start by thanking everyone on this forum for all the great posts and information that helped me prepare for this hunt. Also, I have to give huge thanks to my hunting buddies, Randy and Bob. They taught me a lot during this hunt. This was my first big game hunt and I don’t think I could have been any greener when it comes to this type of hunting, especially Coues. We put in for Unit 34A since it was closer to home and were planning on day hunting. While it was nice to sleep in my own bed each night, I think next time we will camp out. With that being said, on to the story. Day 1: Friday. We planned to hunt near a small pond in hopes that we would catch some bucks coming in for drink. We were out to our area that we had previously scouted by 5:30am. We picked our spots and split up with big hopes. I set up with a great panoramic view and plenty of area to glass. We sat all morning and we didn’t see anything at all. We met up for lunch and planned our afternoon. I picked a new spot a little closer to the water but again, nothing to be found by me. The other guys were able to spot some does but no bucks. Come nighttime, we pack out and plan our return in the morning. Day 2: Saturday. Pretty much a repeat of the Friday. Again, I spent the whole day glassing and searching and couldn’t even find a doe. I did spot a nice pack of javalinas in the morning, but that was about it. The other guys spotted some does, but again no bucks. This was a bit discouraging but I knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Day 3: Sunday. We planned to skip the morning hunt since we hadn’t seen any activity in the early am and the holiday weekend had a lot of people tooling around and making all kinds of noise. We decided to just head out for an late morning/afternoon hunt. We get out and setup by noon and spend the rest of the day glassing, glassing, glassing. Randy was finally able to spot a young spike and little 2x2 with his binoculars but never got chance to ever get his scope on them before they turned tail and ran. Again, I spend a day without seeing even a doe. Now it’s getting frustrating. Day 4: Monday. Bob’s sister-in-law suffers a heart attack the night before and he has to run to Prescott. Randy had appointments already planned and wasn’t able to go out. I sit at home stewing about not seeing anything in 2 ½ days and the fact that I was stuck at home and not hunting. I thought about going it alone but I decided to play it safe and stay home. I stayed busy by watching hunting shows and reading this forum. Day 5: Tuesday. Bob was still out of town so Randy and I head out for a late morning hunt. I setup with a good view of the ridge line and the pond and hope and pray I get a chance to see something, anything, it didn’t matter what I saw, I just needed to see some wildlife. I was starting to think I had some curse on me and I was never going to see a deer. Finally, I was able to spot a doe and her 2 fawns around 1:30pm. They were bedded down and I think the winds swirled around because they got up quick and headed out in a hurry with their tails up. Later in the afternoon, they came back for a quick drink but moved on and no bucks were to be found. Day 6: Wednesday. Family obligations made it so we could go out before sunrise so we head out around 8:00am. We get to our spot and plan twere we are going to set up. Randy splits off to the north in hopes that even if he spooked something it would head our way. Bob and I continue on towards our spots. Sure enough, Randy spooks some deer, it was just the doe and her 2 fawns but at least that was some early activity. Things were looking up. As Bob and I are about to split up, Bob spots 2 deer drinking at the pond, 150 yards out. We both quickly grab our binoculars and try to identify them. They are standing side by side and in the shadows, it was difficult to identify at best. Finally, the one in back lifts his head and sure enough, it’s a buck! The front one lifts his head and sure enough he’s a buck but smaller. Now, adrenaline is running at full speed and I’m having a hard time keeping my binos steady. Bob keeps an eye on them as I quietly lower some gear and get set for a shot. I setup my shooting sticks and chamber a Remington Core-Lokt 150gr round in my .308. I get my scope on them and line up a shot. Since they were standing side by side, I really wanted the front buck to get out of the way and give me a shot at the bigger guy. Just them, the smaller buck steps back a little and I have a clean shot at the bigger one. I squeeze off the round and the big guy just drops right where he stood. My excitement level went through the roof. Randy calls right away asking if that was my .308 he just heard. I was happy to confirm his suspicions and we all headed down to gather my prize. Since, he dropped right where he was standing, he was face down in the mud with his antlers buried. We got him out of the mud and cleaned up for a picture. He’s a nice 3x3 (not counting eye guards). Here he is with me and Randy. I'm on the left.

Great job on doing all these firsts! Love the last picture.

I got bit pretty hard by the virus on this hunt and I'm already planning next year's hunt. I had no idea how satisfying it was to complete a hunt like this.

Great story and great job for all three of you. Congratulations proud Papa!

First timer for Coues as well so I don't really have any insight to provide. I also have a tag for 34A and my hunt starts on Friday, 11/10. I'm also a RN so I understand the lack of free time to scout. Good luck with your hunt and hopefully we can both fill our tags. Good luck with nursing school too.