high rise hunter

Good listen w/Jay Scott and Dwayne on the story of this amazing buck.

Congrats bud! Every time I see that picture or re-live that stalk my heart gets racing. Gosh that was awesome!!

Deer will certainly run up and down the gullies using them almost as a road system. You'll have to do further scouting to really pinpoint the best ambush areas. Sounds like you're getting close though!

Congratulations to your son and you as well! It's a fantastic experience. My little brother won a few years back. Both he and my old man had nothing but rave reviews about the experience from start to finish. Enjoy!

It's only October but most of my hunts (excluding an early November midwest whitetail trip) have wrapped for the autumn season. And good gracious does that make me excited to get back to AZ in January! I usually hunt solo (and often prefer to) but this year I'm going with a couple of buddies which will be a welcoming change of pace. Moving further north this go-around we'll be hunting Unit 22 for coues and hopefully pulling some javelina tags to boot. (FYI draw deadline is NOW). I live significantly closer to AZ now so I'm contemplating a December trip since I still have my tag in pocket from last January. Planning to bomb around the western desert for a few days looking for a muley to fill the freezer. Anyways, just excited and looking forward to some fun success stories on the forum. '

Haha! Stuck up in the tree! Thanks for sharing. Almost need to shoot expecting them to jump the string.

Mid January is when I'll be hunting as well. Last year I was there a week earlier and felt that the rutting action got better later in the hunt. Speedy, last season didn't you let an arrow loose from the recurve on a coues buck, if I recall correctly?

It's a DARN good feeling to put that physical tag in pocket! As a NR I'm relying on drawing that Turkey Supertag. 😉 Loading up this year!

One can only dream... Congrats on drawing an awesome tag!

Congrats! Thanks for the fun write-up!

Wowza! What beaut! Congrats!

I packed something like 6 miles back into 33 and found a good water source so I was all set. I was finding lots of deer but as I made unsuccessful stalk after unsuccessful stalk, busting deer after deer I noticed I needed to traverse to new country in search of my next opportunity. Had I been sitting water (during the August season) not stirring up the deer as much it may have been a solid strategy to pack in like I did. For this upcoming January, I will certainly be staying more mobile assumably hitting 3 or 4 areas on a congruent 3 to 4 day rotation.

I certainly did. I had a great hunt where I backpacked somewhat "deep" into 33. Didn't a punch a tag but found plenty of deer. Ended up getting ROCKED by a wicked and unexpected storm. I packed out, regrouped, had a some good hunts off Redington Rd and up in Unit 23. My one legit opportunity where a buck bedded 25 yards from me I, of course blew. Long story short I didn't have my bow with me at that moment so I watched and snapped photos as a consolation prize. Probably my biggest take away was backpack hunting coues certainly doesn't seem as efficient as it may be for other species. I found that staying increasingly mobile (i.e. truck camping) and hiking in the dark 0.5-2 miles up some nasty feature will get you away from 99.9% of the hunting pressure and allow you to switch locations every day therefore finding more deer, more opportunities.

Jeez, Paul, 5 for 9 on coues hunts with 2 Pope & Young deer. That's a heck of a batting average and a beautiful buck as well. I should take a page from your book and learn! The spot n' stalk is SO difficult. Like oz31p said, "those deer are always moving". I've had really good luck with grunting (not so much rattling) on midwest whitetails (as long as I can see them and know they can hear me) but hadn't tried it on coues. Certainly going to give that a shot this year.

When backpack hunting I always camp very near my glassing spots and have never had any issues of spooking game (at least that I'm aware of). Many times I've sat down to glass and within minutes I've seen game within 200, 100 even 50 yards of me and often on the same hillsides. Just be sure not to camp on a peak or top of a ridge line, try to find a spot where you're not so exposed and visible and of course try and keep noise to a minimum.

I have no experience in the Galiuro but if you're in Tucson I would be tempted to stick closer to home. Unit 33 has tons of space to get into and you likely won't run into any other hunters. Also plenty of coues to chase in there as well. Wish I knew more! Best of luck!

Basically brand new spotting scope. Purchased end of July for my early August NV antelope hunt. Scope never left the truck. Straight viewing. $525 TYD (lower 48), PayPal or equivalent preferred.

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Nothing here as well. I think that means I'll be coming to AZ in late August to try and fill that deer tag that went unfilled in January.

Boy the anticipation is brutal!

20 yards, you can't ask for much closer. I feel like the question then becomes, do you aim below the deer in anticipation of the buck jumping the string? That would be tough to do knowing if that deer just stands there the shot is a low, clean miss.

Very cool video, Speedy! You know that deer is CLOSE when it looks close on a GoPro cam! It definitely fuels the fire to get back down there next season for a shot at redemption.

I just finished my first coues hunt in AZ so I'm far from a pro but would love to throw in my two cents. I mainly hunted unit 33 but also spent a couple of days further north in unit 23. The biggest difference I noticed from where I hunted between the two was the cover. 33 was much more open country where as 23 was thick with manzanita often 8 feet tall. I backpacked 5-6 miles into 23's Sierra Ancha wilderness. I found lots of deer there around 5000 to 5800 feet in elevation. Deer would be out in the open for easy glassing in the morning until 10:30ish then much tougher to find the rest of the day. I'm telling you now, you will be hooked. It's an incredibly fun hunt and I seriously can't wait to get back next season.

Wow! Talk about a close call! Excited to see the footage. Sounds like you're doing the right things especially seeing you're getting to 20 yards. Patience kills. It's only a matter of time. Go get 'em!