firstcoueswas80

Awesome buck. I like him!

Jim, Glad you could make the drive down! I hope you caught your cold early enough... I feel like twice ran over dog poo right about now.

TTSX fired from .257 wby into a coues deer at 291 yards: TTSX from Red Hartebeest and Black Springbok. Fired from 300 wsm (168 graners)

The only Bipod I'll run. Its expensive, but I bet between my brother, dad, and I we've used it on probably 20+ critters, not including predators.

Alright, a little bit more of the story: Opening weekend, myself, and my buddy Sergio saw 72 deer in 2 days. Not a single inch of horn! Sunday, Phil (cramerhunts) came out and we went back into one of my honey holes... Where I killed my buck last year. Well, we finally saw some horn, but it wasnt much at all. We got rained out Monday so we came back for to town. I went out the next weekend, didnt see much. I did manage to slip a TTSX through a coyote at 537 (this comes into play later on). I BARELY hit him, shooting high.... Christmas day I went out and dropped the trailer off and came back into town. The 26th, I met Brian (azpackhorsewhoifyournotcarefulwillwalkyoutomexico) and Codywhi in Amado and off we went to one of Brians honeyholes... It wasnt long before we were seeing bucks, and finally bucks that were breaking the 80" threshold. Not 5 minutes after we got to the good glassing spot, Brian is whistling at me telling me to get over to him. This immedatiely gets my heart going as I know Brian knows how to find bigguns' and he knows what I am looking for. This GORGEOUS 3x3 steps out and I stare and him, and stare at him and stare at him. With a lot of discussion, we all agree he is 97-99" but we can not for sure squeeze 100" out of him, so I (after 2-3 hours of peer pressure) decide to let him pass. When he walks over the hill he looks better than ever and I think to myself I just let a 100"er go. I tell the guys I will shoot him if he shows up again. He does show up again, but at 683 which is too far. The doe he was with decides she doesnt like that hillside and retreats. We stay on that hillside until it is time to make the 2 mile hike out, all in all seeing 13 bucks. On the hike out, we make a few pit stops to glass. At the first one, I see 3 bucks run across an opening one being a no brainer, possibly reaching the 110" area. We take a day off from the area, go into another one and see some nice bucks, 5 between 85-95" which I let walk. The next day (Wednesday) Jim and I hike back into the area looking for the buck I passed on, or the one that I saw on the run. When we get to the main glassing spot, I glass a no brainer in about a minute. One quick glance through the spotting scope and it is affirmed, he is a shooter. The buck is standing at 533 yards (this is where the coyote comes into play). Thinking I was hitting a little high, I decided to twist the turret to the 500 yard marker instead of 525... Well, when I launch the first bullet, Jim calls my shot high. A couple clicks down on the turret, and he says that one went low and off walks the buck. After some discussion, he says he thinks the first one went low as well and just played a trick on him. IF I would have spun the turret to where I should have, that buck would probably be wearing my tag. Jim and I think this buck would have gone between 103-108" (and I think it was NOT the same buck from the day prior), A about an hour later, Jim makes an awesome spot on a really nice buck bedded down about 1100 yards away. After throwing the spotter on him, I decided we need a closer look. We make our way to 480 yards, but are on the side of a 30* canyon and I really have no way to get prone to shoot this buck from his bed. From this spot, we agree he is really tall, kind of narrow, but has matching kickers that look to be 2-3" long off of his G2's... He needs to die. When this buck stands up, we were still trying to engineer a shooting position. After he laid back down, we decided to give up a few yards of range, and get on top of the canyon and get prone. We were a ways back there, and it was getting late. We both agree on a time for the buck to stand up, and if he stood up in time, he would die. Well, he didnt! Bright and early, Jim and I were on our way back up the nearly vertical mountain. From our first glassing spot, we glassed up the same 85" buck we had been seeing, which I kept in mind, just in case.... When we got to our main spot it was dead. The same ridge that 2 days prior held 16 bucks didnt hold anything but one lone coyote walking through. We found 2 does and that was it. At 1130 we agreed we were probably wasting our time and were going to head out to a new area. We made our normal pit stops to glass. Right off the bat, I glassed up 2 seperate does... About 5 minutes later I had another deer... When he turned his head I knew it was a good buck, worth a look. When I threw the spotter on him, he looked really nice, like the buck I missed. I got excited and ranged him, 525 read the Leica. I got Jim on him, the ear plug in and was ready to rock and roll. When he stopped licking himself, I sent a TTSX his way and I saw him go belly up and roll down the canyon. Jim said he could see the bullet impact and knew the deer was not going anywhere. The bullet took out 2 ribs, both lungs, and a chunk of spine... The buck didnt feel a thing, or take another breath. Now came the interesting part... Finding the downed deer on a STEEP, THICK hillside. Surprisngly to both Jim and I, it only took about an hour to get around the canyon, down the canyon, and recover him. He rolled about 75-100 yards and didnt break a single tine! When we got to him, I had my first case of ground shrinkage. We were both expecting to walk up to a solid 105" class buck. We were shocked when we found he was smaller than we agreed he was. A gorgeous deer, and Im proud to put my tag on him. The real work then began getting him taken care of, cut in half, loaded in the packs and out we went. The first 200 yards out the bottom of the canyon was oh so fun! All in all it was a tough, but enjoyable hunt. Started out slow, but I ended up seeing and passing on roughly 40 bucks, some I shouldnt have passed and some I should have. I enjoyed every minute of the hunt and as stated earlier a special thanks to Jim, Brian, Cody, Phil, Sergio, and Sean.

Out of all the time Ive spent in the hills behind premium glass, Ive NEVER glasses a lion... Dont get me wrong, Ive seen 5 of them... All within 30 yards!

"energy wasted on a hillside..." Ive seen my fair share of animals die from TTSX's.... African game ( I killed 10, Scottyboy shot something like 5 or so), coues deer, elk, coyotes etc. The FARTHEST I have EVER seen an animal run was 50 yards, and that was a double lung hit Impala. My brothers coues deer, the 2 coues deer I have killed, his elk and all but 2 African animals died on the spot. The farthest I have ever had to track a coues deer was yesterday.. And thats because he rolled (DEAD) about 75 yards farther then Jim and I thought he had. The TTSX is an outstanding killer and hits and kills faster and harder than it should! It is a GREAT 600 and in bullet. I would go the 165/168 though, as thats what I shot from my 300 wsm

Set up for the shot: One single piece of Norma brass:

Mid 130's. Or, for Becker.... 130+

Not a thing..... But I spoiled my girls.

Very nice. Awesome buck

Im sorry but I dont see a single 103" buck on the wall.... I think they are all bigger than that!

Yeah.... Shoulda shot that SOB from where ya were!

Im going hunting tomorrow morning.... Wasnt a short fight, but I put my foot down and said look, its not every year I can go RIFLE hunting on Christmas day, so Im going! She threatened me, but in the end she wont go through with them.... Gotta get it in when I can! Oh, and I'll be out there from the 26th to the end of the year

My brother missed his deer last year on the first shot because I didnt account for the angle. This year, he was taking a couple of hurried shots, pretty steep uphill at a cow and missed twice. I ranged the cow at 375, clicked turrets for 375 and he shot over her back twice. I didnt even think about it and then it dawned on me afterwards. Not only that, but he got scope bit on both shots.... Once across the nose, and once across the forhead. He took the force full on as he put his eye about a half- 3/4s of an inche away from the scope. The scope hit him hard enough and cut him well enough that he went home and took a nap. He wasnt going to go that night, but decided to go. Ended up killing an elk from that same group, and I got engaged at the top of the same hill.

7

I never understand this attitude. What is wrong with someone going on a treasure hunt for something they find satisfying to their soul? I would hunt any size whitey, but would love one with a lot of bone. What is so wrong with that? We are all very similar in that we enjoy god’s country and have a passion for these beautiful deer. Some people would rather take the extra time to look for a diamond than a piece of limestone. If you are happy with limestone, then wonderful for you. Pretty sure “Trophy hunters” wouldn’t “pity” them. I personally hate it when the hunt is over (success or not). I find looking for bigger deer keeps me out in the field enjoying the hunt a little longer. It's been human nature since inception to "want more". I would rather pity those whom never get the chance or opportunity to hunt at all. Probably one of the most logical, well thought out and delivered posts on cwt. Well done.

I shot animals from 80 yards to 415 yards.

Sweet buck! Now, lets see him from the front!

Looks like a straight up routing... Kinda like U of A's bowl games... Where are the Devil fans?

MAn that deer is UGLY. I dont know if I'd want it in my house?!!! A few years ago, when I killed that 2x4, it had a canine teeth on the 4 side.

Like I posted in TJ's thread. My dad made our Christmas dinner a couple weeks ago. The way he cooked it was a new one, but it was absolutely perfect! 500* for 5 minutes per pound. Then, shut the oven off and let it stand in the oven for 2 hours. It was absolutely perfect and by far the best home made prime rib I've ever had!

Sold buck! Good job! Love his mass and the big g2's

dang you skinny people.

Ive always based this sorta thing (scopes included) on what happens if a shooter buck stands up at close distance? Just because youre prepared for a 800 yard shot, doesnt mean thats whats going to be presented. I like a bullet that will hold together up close, yet open and penetrate enough at long distance. My choice for that has been the Accubond, or TTSX.