coueselk

138 1/8"

Thanks Dale and Heather for another wonderful piece added to our man-cave. This one is awesome. The red duiker's came out amazing. Especially the big old ram with the blind right eye. I would like to say thank you for delivering it all the way down to us in Tucson. I know it is a long trip from Young. Would also like to give a special thanks to Cole from CMC Skullworks for spending his Saturday afternoon helping getting it hung up on the wall. This is a one-of-a-kind addition to our African section of our little museum.

Here is a collection of bucks I was able to photograph through my spotting scope in January.

Excellent work again. Looks really nice. Can't wait to see the next series of animals.

Every time I make it back home, I take my son out and we get a couple. YTD talley is 9 in 36B and 1 in 36A. My next rotation home coming up is for a month off. So I'll put a hurting on them then.

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Yep, still in Congo. I'm home for a couple of weeks R&R right now. But not enjoying catching up on honey-do's in this heat. At least the pool is nice to jump in after getting all sweaty.

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Here are some recent additions to our man-cave. Wild Heritage Taxidermy did some awesome work again. Can't wait to see the next batch.

Since family and I are in New York City for a small vacation. Decided to visit Cameraland NY store today. Was helped by friendly sales person Scotty. Got a new rifle scope for myself and camera for the wife. All staff was friendly and had some great deals. Only problem is that it is freakin cold here and lots of crazy St. Patrick day youngsters.

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Nice!!!!! Makes me even more excited to get home and see our bear, elk and reed buck. 10 days and counting.

My boy got his first big game with a bow two days ago. Was windy as heck. We had all the pigs bed below a rock bluff we were glassing from. He made a good straight down 10 yard shot on the herd boar. He ran about 10 yards and stopped. Wasn't quite ready to give up, he was just weaving back and forth. We waited a few minutes, but me being impatient, told the boy to put another arrow in him. That didn't quite go as planned. Boy hit an ocotillo which deflected his arrow striking the pig just behind the right eye and poking out in front of the left eye. Pig ran another 5 yards and piled up. Not from the 2nd shot though. Going to make an interesting European mount. Didn't take photo of the arrow sticking out, as really not appropriate. But you can just make out the fletching over the boars nose in this photo.

Here are a few photos from my fishing trip in Zambia last week. Was a good break from work. I only landed a couple of Tigers, but had fun fighting whole lot of others that got away. Arms were really sore. Using 50lb braided line with 80lb steel wire leaders. Had two fish strip all the line off the reels and another three that broke the steel wire. The fight was great though. Our airport and greeting party. Local taxi and cargo ship Some local fishermen bringing in their nets A fish eagle diving in to get a fish and off it goes with it's catch. Sunset over the great Zambezi river Our fishing gear. Notice what we use for bobbers. My 12 1/2 lb Tigerfish Here is my other 12lb Tiger. Was really hurting after this one. He stripped out about 150 meters of line. Last day sunset, marking the spot of home 14,000 miles away

Thanks to all for the comments. It is a great experience. I'm trying to get a trip setup for the Goliath tiger fish on the Congo river before I leave Africa. This fish can get up to 6+ times bigger than these we caught on the Zambezi.

Here is our ever expanding trophy room.

+1 for Wild Heritage Taxidermy. I have 25 mounts in my house from various taxidermists, of which 2 are from Wild Heritage. Dale's work is very the best of the lot. He has done a javi and my boys first Coues. He now has 5 African animals, my boys bear and an elk of mine. I would highly recommend him and my house is in Vail.

Believe I win if for the furthest away from the Coues country so far.

Well, was finally able to find my boy a bear last weekend. After a failing to get him on a bear last 2 years, we made it happen this year. Many thanks to Chase on a magnificant 398 yard shot and my father-in-law Curly with helping me get the bear out. Chase getting ready for his shot. Bear just before the shot Chase and his 1st Black Bear.

Great job Dale. The fox is amazing. Glad to see Chase's javi did well also. Everyone I showed pictures too has loved it. Can't wait to see it in person myself. African game should be shipping out of South Africa sometime in August. So you should be seeing it shortly thereafter to do somemore amazing work.

All, here is a little on my past hunt in South Africa a couple of weeks ago. The hunt was a very relaxed one for me. We really took our time and enjoyed every minute. My primary critters was the nyala and little red duiker. Which we saw lots of over the 8 days. I even tried a little bow-hunting. But with my lack of practice and shooting instinctive, well let’s just say, there was a half a dozen arrows that flew over the backs of impala, warthog and common duiker. Needless to say it was fun trying. Did manage to also pick-up about 100 tick bites. Boy were they thick in the tall grass. Wasn’t prepared for that and I’m still paying for it. They itch like nothing I have ever had. I’m really pleased with my nyala. Got him on the last day. We saw a couple bigger through the week, but when holding out for the biggest one. Sometimes you end up with a smaller one. He was 27”, which I’m very happy with. I took two red duikers. The first one I got at a water hole on the 6th day of the hunt. He was about 1 7/8” on the horns. But the second one I couldn’t resist. The next day walking near a water hole, he just came out of nowhere. I could immediately see he was much bigger than the first and blind in the right eye. So I got him as well. His horns was 2 ½ “. Was a very old male. I was really pleased with him. My reedbuck was 14”. Spotted him at about 1000 yards away on a grassy slope. Which was fun, except that was my first run-in with the ticks. And finally, after 5 African hunts of passing them up, a kudu bull. We heard of this big bull running around, but after two days of glassing and searching, just about gave up on him. Needless to say thanks to the help of a rhino guard supervisor, we found him. I knew it was the one I wanted when seeing him. Was the biggest bodied bull that my guide and all the other guys had ever seen. He measured 54” with really heavy mass. I was tickled to death on this one.

Thanks for all the replies. For all you that might be headed down to KwaZulu-Natal for hunting this year. Take some serious repellant with you for the ticks. Both for skin and clothing. I wore long pants with gaiters over them and my boots. Still got the little buggers in my socks and pants. Last day of my hunt was 12 days ago and I'm still nursing those tick bites. I don't think I'll get the tick bite fever, as my malaria medication is what you normally take for it. But they still are sores all over my legs and feet and itch badly. Wasn't quite prepared for them.

tsxpeck, I used the outfitters rifle. I use the same outfitter for years now, so the rifle I use is almost like my own. (I'm the only one that has used it for the past 5 years.) The couple of trips to Namibia from South Africa and back a few years ago for him was easy. We picked up the rifle near the luggage area from one of the airport personnel. When then walked straight to the office where they check the rifle. Took maybe and extra 20-30 minutes and we were done.

Thanks Dale and Heather for posting the pictures. They really do look great. Can't wait to see them on the wall. Get ready for some African game headed your way. Only a week to go and I'm off hunting. Hope to send you some nice trophies to do.