Buddro

Your best bet is to go shoot a swamp buck in LA and tell people it's a coues. Since you aren't gunna do that just get as much time in as you can. Coues tend to be extremely pockety so if you aren't seeing bucks where you are looking try to find another pocket that may have better numbers. like a few people have said, keep your head up, with the rut coming the bucks are gunna get a little more stupid. If you are prepared to work for it get as far off road as you can. I have hunted some real easy deer in areas where I had to spend a half day hiking before I set camp. If you want to get real quiet look into a pair of vibram toe shoes. They are as quiet as it gets and you can balance great in them when you have to get really sneaky. If you are going to move around for them pick a likely spot and creep through so slowly you may as well be still hunting I have gotten in range of several deer moving at a several hours per mile pace. I cant emphasize enough though, as long as you are out there as often as you can be things will line up eventually.

I would offer to join you if I had time. Since I dont I'll just leave you with encouragement. Real hunters do it solo! Coues are tiney, super easy to get out!

Glad to hear you got things settled. I am sorry to say it but props to Swarovski for not only not servicing what could have been a stolen product but being willing to service it once they confirmed it was not stolen. I am glad to know this is an issue too. I dont plan to purchase any used glass but I did once buy a pair of leica binoculars on a whim because the price was too good to pass up. They had no issue servicing them for a fee but it could have been a real nightmare if they had done the same.

It's been a lot of years trying in NM and a couple in AZ and I finally managed an archery coues. my first velvet buck as well. I went In for a few days opening weekend and saw a lot of bucks, even had a few spikes and does in range but nothing I could justify shooting. When I got a few days off my girlfriend encouraged me to go back in. I saw a lot of deer but still got my but kicked for about 3 days in the back country. The last day I decided to take it easy, slept in, dried my gear out by the fire for a few hours, struck camp and started hiking out around 9 or 10. I wanted to stop and do a little glassing on the way out but before I could even get to my ridge I spotted a nice buck across the canyon from me. I tried to slide off of a steep hill to cut him off in the bottom but before I made it far a train of about 8 horse riders came down the trail between him and I. Naturally he ghosted, a few does ran out the far side and I gave up. I decided to drop down under cover of their commotion, hit the bottom and slowly worked my way up canyon expecting nothing but still moving slow and quiet just in case. Sure enough despite the riders he had kept right along his line and I spotted him in the bottom. I was able to connect a shot at 33 and had him out in a few hours. beat the heck out of packing an elk out! looks like it wont let me upload a file. I'll try to get a pic in a follow up

Semi autos get picky, if you are going to carry for bear defense you need to carry hard cast lead. If you are going to carry a pistol with hard cast shoot plenty of loads through it before you go to be sure it cycles it reliably. As far as 15 rounds go, if the first 2 dont stop him use number three on yourself you wont get many more shots than that anyways.

I prefer to backpack into my hunting spots and being able to get at least a mile or so from roads. The problem is, I'm not so familiar with Arizona. Rather than exhausting my self cross referencing wildernesses with units and checking if they are open I figured I would come right out and ask. Are there any good wilderness areas to look into for otc archery, back country mule or coues deer hunting?

Thanks for the input! I do a good amount of wilderness hunting, I just dont know which wildernesses here in AZ are decent size and have otc tags available. or what units they are in for that matter, aside from in 27. I will check out the listed areas. Thanks again!

I was looking at a cheap model seven the other day and it got me to thinking, if I was going to build a light packable coyote gun that wont destroy pelts what would it be? I seldom call in areas where I can see very far, we will call 250 a max regular range. I do prefer to shoot non toxics, I've had good experiences with barnes TSX's (I will soon be trying drt I a .270) but the availability of non toxics isnt a must. Lastly I lean toward odd ball cartridges, I have a .223 if I ever get in too much of a bind to hand load I can always fall back on that. I have looked into some of the .17s I think they could be a good way to go. everyone I know with .204s destroys pelts, but it may be an option loaded down with a shorter barrel? what other interesting .20s are out there? any suggestions?

I've looked around and cant find much on the topic. what do high mountain coues tend to do when the snow starts to hit? do they retreat to low country or hold out? and if they do how much snow does it take to move them, are they gunna hit the low stuff as soon as it gets cold or stay high all year long If it never gets deep?

Again with the gutless method. If it's not 90 degrees out take the time to bone him out. I hauled my whole boned out coues deer in a single medium kuiu game bag this year. (I think its medium, could be small. def not large) When I shot mine this year it was pushing 90 so I set the meat as well as the Cape and noggin In a creek below me on top of a tarp. being submerged kept the flies off and cooled the meat before the 4ish hour pack out. I wouldn't reccomend doing it If it's under 75 degrees out. My elk last year took 3 days to pack out I kept it inside of a tent when it was raining and hanging in the shade when it was not. the temps were high 60s maybe even in the 70s and I lost no meat. the thick cotton game bags work great but they absorb a ton of blood, weigh a ton to start out with and take up too much space. Look into what the kuiu game bags are made of and spend the money on some made of the same material. stay away from stretchy cheese cloth like bags! they are worthless.

I was told by a gentleman who works at a leica repair facility that he personally ( NOT OFFICIAL LEICA PHILOSOPHY) would prefer to dip them in a creek than to hit them with a cloth. even if alcohol does damage the coating, it cant be nearly as bad as the damage that dust will do being ground across the lense. That being said when I called the leica facility the gentleman was extremely chatty and incredibly ready to share his experience. I am sure if you pic your glass brand of preference and make a few phone calls you will find someone with 100 times the experience of any of us to give you an educated answer. Keep calling and you may even get a technician who actually knows what the coatings are made of.

I use a shotgun frequently as well but it's not practical to haul 2 guns on extended hunting trips. .223 does a fine job, like I said I currently use barnes tsx in a .223 ar, they dont tend to blow big holes and they drop anything. great thing about that set up is that it's kind enough for the occasional bob cat and fox that I call in but still has plenty of power to take a quartering shot at a lion should I accidentally call one in. The thing is if I go ahead and build another rifle the point will be to have something fun and different. also to build rifle that's a lot lighter than the heavy ar that i lug around currently

.222 rem is just too close to .223 rem to justify the difference. frankly all of the other .224 cartridges are too close to justify not going with a .223. THAT I CAN THINK OF, IF I AM WRONG SAY STUFF. ctrac what kind of load are you shooting out of your .204? And what kind of barrel? I think it may be a good choice with a slower round, maybe.

I dont have the pics anymore but I smacked my cow elk with a smith and Wesson model 29 in 44mag. Neck shot piled her up, knowing more about ballistics I'll stick with hard cast lead and a rear lung shot.

I just wanted to ask if anyone knows much about the typical snow conditions in the Blues. I would like to do some multi day snow shoeing this winter. Being far from roads makes me happy so I am particularly into the mid elevations of the blues between the blue river and the peaks. I am sure that on a decent year the tops must get enough snow but does anyone know if the snow often gets deep enough to justify snow shoes/skis down into the pinion/juniper habitat? maybe even to the river?

Thanks thats actually the areas I am most curious about, Ive found a lot of coues up high and want to chase them in December. I hope to be able to get in on cross country skis or snow shoes if they retreat to the low country it will kill half the fun.