SunDevil

I found a water hole in Oct that was being nailed by deer. My buddy and I went back in there in Dec and during that 6 week period the rancher had moved his cattle into that pasture. My buddy sat that tank four 4 hours and didn't see one deer. I hiked up onto a point and glassed. I saw several deer but they were all far away from where I was. They must have started watering somewhere else. We checked around the tank and there were no deer tracks. CB

Nice picks. Were those digiscoped, free handed through a binocular or spotting scope or with a high zoom camera? Thanks for sharing. CB

I know of 2 different ranches that have been hunted so far. The first one had 9 tags. They took 7 deer off from that ranch. The smallest was 90" and the largest was 124". Some of the deer were taken back in Dec and some were taken just a couple of weeks ago. The other ranch had 4 tags last week. They were 100% with the smallest being a busted off 89" buck and the largest going 116" The guy I talked to said the mid sized bucks (90" class) were all busted up but the bigger boys hadn't really started fighting yet. We will have to see what Cola Blanca posts on their website. I think they typically are running the most ranches and hunters down there. I will call my cousin at Christense arms to see how that group did. I think they are hunting with Cola Blanca again along with the Swarovski guy. CB

from the above info, I would say 243 with a 75 grain bullet for now and then move up to 100 grain bullet later on.

another thing to consider is a good recoil pad. most of the factory rifles do not have quality recoil pads. you should be able to have a good one put on at any gun store for about $30. my buddy put one on his 300 weatherby mag and he was amazed at the results. CB

Great buck! Really nice mass. You need to get that thing mounted and hang it in Joe's Crab Shack CB

Thanks for all the congrats! Amanda has posted some more pics of the buck and the write up I did of my hunt. I also sent her a DVD of the video I took of the buck the day before the hunt. Not sure if she is going to be able to use it or not. I think she is going to MX tomorrow and may not get around to editing it until she gets back. Thanks again!!! CB

I wanted to get this out there for everyone to see. I will do more of a write up on it later. In summary, I found this buck on Friday and got him on video tape (will send a DVD to Amanda). I found him again on Saturday and was able to take him at 12:45 from 275 yards with one shot. He was only 595 yards away when I glassed him but the stock took over an hour because I had to go down to the bottom of the canyon and up the other side. Very rough gross score is around 114" with a net around 107". NM is a great place to go and spend time in the outdoors. More to come later. Just not enough time right now. CB

Now that is FUNNY!!!

Nice bucks!!! Nice crew, nice eye guards, nice G2s and most importantly, NICE CRAB CLAW!!! CB

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I know I will. I will be spending it with my wife of 9 years, my 6 month old daughter and my 113" buck from New Mexico. Here is the best picture of them all. Enjoy and God Bless. CB

Scott, that is crazy man. Talk about "poor man sheep huntin". Didn't you get enough of that kind of hunting over in NM? Better have those goats on stand by and ready to go. Nice buck!!! Good luck. CB

It is hard to tell if he is a 2X3 or what. If he is a 2X3 I would say around 85. But......if he is a 3X3 I think you are looking at over 90. Not much more but still a darn good buck. Look at him. He is a mature deer. He has got a big body. Big ole thick neck. Black hair on his brisket. Shoot first - ask questions later. Let the carbon fly but do it the hard way - with a long bow. CB

Someone tell Rambo that Josh has his knife. CB

It doesn't look real to me. Look at the line going across it's forehead. The hair is totally different colors and it isn't even blended in. CB

I'd say she did well. I wish my first buck would have been half that big. That is a really nice buck. CB

That is a REALLY NICE buck. Let the carbon fly. I think you should do it the "hard way" and use a long bow to give him a chance. CB

Personally, after using a 50 mm scope and then a 40 mm scope I would never go back to 40 mm. I have a 50 mm Leupold on my Ruger M77 7 Mag and do not have to use higher mounts but when I got a bull barrel gun I could not use the 50 mm scope. I got a 40 mm scope and did not really like it. I found a Nikon 44 mm scope this summer, picked it up and used it this fall. I like it almost as much as the 50 mm and a lot more than the 40 mm. Paralax adjustments are also nice to have. Both my Weaver 40 mm and my Nikon 44 mm scope have it. Can't help you much with the recitle or ballistic questions. Good luck. CB

My brother in law was visting from Virginia and my dad took him for a drive in 30B. I stayed home and watched the Duel in the Desert. Yea DEVILS!!! Anyway they get home that evening and my dad tells me he saw the biggest Coues buck ever while they were out driving. Here I thought there wasn't any deer left in 30B. CB

I heard of a 115" buck a guy from NV harvested in 32. He had some guys from Benson helping him. CB

JLH, that is a great buck. Could you imagine being a junior hunter and getting that buck? Might as well pack it in after that because the chances of topping it are pretty slim. As for 120", I personally do not think that buck is 120". I would say probably 115" Lets break down what that buck would need to get to 120". Lets say a 14" inside spread, thats 106". Divided by 2 is 53". 18" main beams brings us down to 35". 14" of total mass is a good number for a good, mature, heavy buck which puts us down to 21". I do not see 21" of eye guard, G2 and G3. 5"/5"/6" is 16" which is 110" total. 6"/6"/7" is 19" which would be 116". Please do not get me wrong, that is an awesome buck. In general, I would say we overestimate the live deer we see. Lets face it, 18" of main beam is a tough number to hit. 8" G2s and G3s are hard numbers to hit. 14" of total mass is a hard number to hit. The day before my hunt in NM a couple of weeks ago, my buddy and I watched the buck I took the following day for over 2 hours. We swore he was 120". I even got him on video and we watched the footage that night. I was very fortunate in being able to harvest that deer and his gross score is probably right at 113". We had made the mistake of estimating his G2s at 8". They were only 5". There was the 6" we were off. If someone had told me he was 113" I probably would have told them they were wrong. If I had known he was 113" instead of 120" I still would have gone after him and taken him if given the chance. Do I feel any different about my buck because he is 113" instead of 120" - NO. That is a great, great buck you have there. It is kind of sad we get hung up on the numbers. I know I am just as guilty as most people. The fact is the minimums in B&C are tough numbers to crack. I also have an 80" anteleope. He is a great buck but 2" shy of the magical number of 82" - oh well - it doesn't make him less of a trophy to me. I hope you are successful in finding that buck and your junior hunter is successful in harvesting him. To find such a great buck before the season, find him again during the season and then harvest him would truly be an incredible accomplishment. GOOD LUCK - GO GET EM TIGER!!! Make sure you let us know how it turns out. CB

Those are some nice pics Doug. Hope you are going back for some more of it this weekend. Good luck and shoot straight. CB

Alright, I think we need to get some definitions out here for terms used to describe bucks based on their size. I think 6 sizes would be good. Lets use: 1) < 80" 2) 80" - 89" 3) 90" - 99" 4) 100" - 109" 5) 110" - 119" 6) 120" + My definitions would be as follows: 1) Little 2) Nice 3) Good 4) Whopper 5) Toad 6) Monster What does everyone else think? CB

That is a good one Redbeard. Made me laugh out loud. I would totally agree that it is based on experience. 5 years ago, any 3 point would have gone down. Then I had a Dec tag and passed on so many 90"+ bucks before taking a 93" buck on the 10th day. Now I pretty much hold out for what I estimate to be 100 inches until the very end. That Dec tag totally changed my mind set. I am a strong believer that you can't shoot big bucks if you keep shooting little ones. I just talked to a friend of mine who passed on a buck he estimated to be right at 100" Friday morning because he was holding out for something bigger. Of course he has taken 5 bucks over 100" so little ones don't mean much to him. Most of the guys I scout, hunt and talk to about Coues deer would call any buck under 90" a little buck. Personally, on an Oct or Nov hunt, any 3X3 over 80" is a pretty darn good deer. Now I probably wouldn't shoot an 80" deer opening morning but if I took him on the last day in Oct or Nov I would still say he is a pretty darn good deer. I did that 3 years ago, passed on an 80" deer opening day and ended up shooting that same deer 5 days later. He doesn't have much mass and only 13" main beams but he is still a pretty darn good looking buck. I still would have to say anything less than 80" is a little buck. Lets get some more opinions. Maybe we can get Amanda to put some official nickname definitions on the web site. CB

That looks like one of those native French coues deer. Crazy things can't keep their tongues in their mouths. CB