hunter4life

I finished a good hunt with my dad last weekend. We glassed up a bear with her 3 cubs and got to watch them for a few minutes as they climbed up the opposite side of the canyon. That was a lot of fun. Then we were making a water run to what we thought was a pretty large reliable water source. Mostly mud and some green water, but it tasted okay. We found 6 of these little turtles in the small remaining puddle of water. I think they are Sonoran mud turtles from what I looked up on the internet. That evening we glassed up two good bucks at 1300 yards. A long stalk down a canyon over a saddle and up the back side of the ridge they were on ended up in success. This plan would put us right on the bucks at close range. I was leading and I saw one of the bucks stand up out of his bed at 30 yards. I threw up the gun and shot, but could not see much due to the cloud of smoke that enveloped us. After my shot the second buck jumped out of his bed at about 15 yards and was over the edge in 2 bounds. My dad ran to the edge of the canyon, found the buck and it made the fatal mistake of stopping at 200 yards to look back. I then searched for my buck, which had only made it about 15 feet before piling up in the grass. They were both kind of strange in that neither deer had eyeguards. I have never seen a mature coues without eyeguards before this. Mine taped out at 88" and my dad's was 92".

Congratulations!

Congratulations, those are some nice toms!

Really nice aoudad, especially with a bow!

It sounds like they are "spirit towers" where you are knocking them down, but on quite a few trails I have been on those rock cairns are the only markers for the trail. Often see them above tree line in the Pecos Wilderness in Northern NM and many other places on rarely traveled trails they are the only way to stay on course.

Congratulations,that is a nice lion!

Congratulations, those are some massive bucks!

Well firstcoueswas80, I guess it all depends on your definition of "tons of lions." Based on research in NM there is estimated to be 3-4/100 square kilometers of excellent habitat, and 1.2-1.7/100 square kilometers of good habitat. There has been a lot of pretty interesting research on lions done in the past few years across the Western US with GPS collars and it does not always show what people thought was true. An ongoing study in NM on Ted Turners' Ladder Ranch on the East side of the Gila found that lions there were killing one large prey species every 11-12 days, not every week as is often seen quoted by uninformed people. Just do a web search on lion studies and you will find lots of interesting reading. Luckily I had the time off work and was able to go along with my dad and brother when they killed the lion shown above. It was an awesome hunt and it ended with a huge Tom by any standard, but especially for coming from Southern NM. This lion stopped by what was likely a previous kill from a few weeks before. It was a spike elk that was smelling a bit ripe and you can see how the rib cage has a whole chewed through it so he could get at the organs. Last weekend I hiked 15 miles in a 10 day old snow in what is considered excellent lion habitat for NM and only cut one several day old lion track. Sometimes I wish there were tons of lions because then they would be easier to find when you wanted to.

Congratulations!

Congratulations! My dad shot one down in 34 a few years ago, it looks like you were up in the NE corner of the state.

It would be a very sad day to have all the lions gone. I personally think they are just as desirable as deer to have around and to be able to hunt. I used to think like many of the other "deer hunters" that the only good lion was a dead lion, but after hunting them for several years I have come to value lions much more than I used to. I have also realized that there are fewer lions than most deer hunters think there are. One thing you will find is that the lions are where the deer are at and those areas tend to be the same areas year after year. The lions are not out there decimating the deer herds and driving them away. I will admit that in some certain instances, such as with small isolated populations of bighorn sheep, they can be a big cause of mortality. I don't think this effect transfers to species like deer and elk that are much more widespread. I also believe that the presence of lions and other predators make coues deer very wary and difficult to hunt which is what many people enjoy in their search for the "grey ghosts." As far as I am concerned hunting would not be much fun if it wasn't challenging and lions help to make it that way.

congratulations, nice buck!

Congratulations! That looks like an amazing adventure.

Both of them had a pretty good layer of fat on their back-ends and looked to be in great condition considering how dry it has been. We have only eaten a few pieces off of this deer because I still have quite a bit of oryx, and a CO muley to eat up before this coues.

Thanks for all the comments. It sure was a fun hunt. The deer steaks and sausage that I made, have made for some good meals.

Awesome! That is a great buck.

I have been using the Alaska guide creations bino chest pack, and I have really liked it. I keep a few quick loads for the muzzleloader in the pockets and they stay handy this way if needed. The only thing is I would recommend putting some parachute cord attached to the binoculars around your neck as well, because if you don't snap the top closed and lean over real far they will come sliding out and without the cord they would fall to the ground. You can buy them here at the CW.com store.

You have got to love Colorado for mule deer hunting. NM does not even come close. Good luck to your friend.

Congratulations, it looks like you guys had a great time. That is the kind of hunting that I usually do, it is fun but a lot of hard work. I like to see the external frame packs in action. They are the only way to comfortably backpack hunt and carry heavy loads. They are FAR superior to an internal frame pack for anything over 50 pounds. If you need/want any advice on gear to lighten the load, just ask me. I had my pack weight down at 45 pounds this year including the spotting scope, tripod and large internal frame daypack for comfortably carrying the aforementioned items.

Congratulations, that is a great billy! However, I am more jealous of your upcoming ibex hunt. That is one that I really want to do.

An interesting article I just looked up on the internet. It has the formulas you asked for in it. It would say to multiply the field dressed weight by 1.28 to get the live weight. http://www.butcher-packer.com/index.php?main_page=document_general_info&cPath=36&products_id=331

Congratulations, that is a really nice buck! I figured you all would get into some deer where you were going.

I missed this post earlier. I use a .45 cal and so does my dad. We have used them on coues, mule deer, elk, javelina and mountain lion. No problems with knockdown power as long as you stay within reasonable muzzleloader ranges (200 yards or less). The only problem that was already mentioned is that most stores do not carry a good selection of bullets for them. I end up mail ordering supplies.

Congratulations! I want to use a traditional style muzzleloader for a coues hunt one of these years. I have always used an inline muzzleloader because they are reliable and there are pretty much no worries about misfires, hangfires, or the powder getting wet.

Congratulations, it sounds like a fun hunt!