bigbuckfever

Wow, what an epic thread. Thanks for sharing your hunt with all the updates and specially all the photos. You really put me in the field with you. I was only able to hunt 6 days of this archery season and I only got to see one buck, a real nice 4x4 muley. Pretty pathetic, right. I got a shot (looking into the sun) hit him in the scapula and the arrow broke in half and the tip deflected straight up and out leaving me with a 5 hour tracking job until I had to realize he wasn't stopping to bed because it wasn't a good shot on my part. I even waited 2 hours to start after him. That's been hard to live with, but I learned a lot on that trip and still had a blast. Not all frogs turn to princes when kissed. (It's a metaphor guys, I'm not going around kissing frogs!) Baring your sole to this crowd can be brave and I enjoyed all the updates. Can't wait to hear about your elk hunt!!

Drumroll please....

Doesn't look like all the meat from a big muley, did something get to it?? Just one of many questions you'll get until you can post "the rest of the story".

I sure wouldn't pass on that one hoping to see a bigger one. Congrats!

Awesome! Thanks for sharing all the details and Congrats to Hunter (and Dad).

That's a beauty, I'd still be smiling too.

I sure am glad to hear that those two boys have a father that cares that much about them. Looking forward to hearing Hunter's story and seeing some pics. Congrats on quality time!

Not easy to go solo sometimes but you did it without any help. That can be validating. Congrats!

Wow, what a buck. Must have felt awesome to put your tag on that one. Congrats

Awesome! Quality time with your son AND a Coues buck. Priceless.

Wow, that is a really nice velvet Coues. Congrats

Congrats on a beauty! I love those Coues in velvet

Thanks for sharing. Hope you get er done and enjoy the whole experience.

My brother ties a piece of flagging to a branch from his shooting location. He then gets in front of or behind by about five or ten feet and ties another flag so they line up and point directly at the animals location. That way when you get across the canyon (which looks entirely different from that side) you look back at the flags and keep moving till you line up the two and viola.

I was rifle elk hunting one year and was not seeing anything so I decided to go straight up the biggest steepest hillside in the area to try to bust something out. My buddy, Eric, went up one section and I went up another. I was about 3/4 of the way up it when I heard someone out in the flats yell that there was an elk just below me. I didn't know if he was talking to me or not but I decided I had nothing to lose and I started back down, looking for the bull. Every time I stopped he would yell to keep going, the bull is below me. I was half running/stumbling down the hill when I saw the bull. About that time I slipped and landed on my butt and back. I had my full pack on so when I skidded to a stop I was laying on the downhill slope resting on my pack which put me in perfect position for a shot at the bull. He stopped running just behind a scrub oak bush with only his head and part of his front leg clearly visable. I put the scope on him and didn't have a perfectly clean shot at the heart/lungs . I told myself to wait till he took another step forward and I would have him. I didn't want to shoot till I had a definite clean shot. He was about 60 yards away and he just stood there panting. I told myself to wait as an elk doesn't walk backward so he had to keep going forward. Yeah, that's what I told myself, lol. He knew something wasn't right and he did back up, turn behind the shrubs, and took off straight down the hill. I never saw him again. I was so flustered, all I could do was lay there asking myself "what just happened, why didn't he go forward?" The guy below was yelling for me to shoot him. He wasn't helping my situation. When I got back to the truck and talked to Eric he said he heard the guy yelling and thought he was yelling at him so he was coming down for the elk too. I told him my version of what happened and he somewhat excitedly said/screamed "Why didn't you just shoot through the bush?" I have questioned myself for years over that one. The bush was in front of him but I probably could have blasted through it but I chose not to. A 30.06 at 60 yards probably would have killed him even going thru more that one branch. It's not like it was a pine tree. Oh well.