lionhunter

Well done, and congrats to all involved. Gino, as always a very interesting write-up. Whitey

Congrats Ian on a great buck, and thanks gino for the well written story! Whitey

A true Az. trophy!

I know it is a difficult question to answer without seeing the binos, and their conditon. However, I am curios as to what the resale value would be for a black pair of Doctor 15x60 would be?????? They are several years old, but in good condition. I have a feeling that I will probably keep them as a second pair, but I am wondering what they might sell for. Let me know what you think.... Whitey

I hunted north of Phx for 3 days. (Sat, Sun Mon) I found bucks rutting does every day. On Sunday PM I watched 5 bucks all together fighting over one hot doe. I would say it is on.

If you can only swing one, go with the 15s. That being said, you really need both. There will be many times when you glass a buck with the 15s and you just can't tell if it is big enough to go after. Again, If I had to pick one it would be the 15s, but you really need both. P.S. Like RR stated the Vortex Kaibabs are very good for the money. Whitey

I shoot the 130 accubond in mine and am very pleased with it. I would not shoot the 130 for elk, but I have bigger 30 cal.s for elk. At any rate, I love mine and would feel good about shooting anything in Arizona smaller than elk out to 800 yards. Whitey

I am going to keep this one short and sweet: I was out archery hunting this morning for mule deer and had a couple of 1st happen. I glassed up a buck, while putting a stock on him I walked up on a coyote. I shot him at 61 yards (1st coyote with a bow) I missed the buck, but who's counting. My hunting partner called on the radio and said he had another buck bedded with a doe. As we watched the two deer and planned a stock my partner calls on the radio and says he sees a big bobcat stalking the deer, then the deer jump up and chase this bobcat up a tree. Craziest darn thing ever!!!!!!!! I blow the stock on the big buck two more times after that, but a great day none the less. Whitey

Punkin head of a tom! How about a short story to go with the pics. That country looks familiar to me. Just south of Yuma??? Nice lion Whitey

Go shoot them all and see what feels good to you. I have had 7 bows in the last two years and I keep shooting the pse xforce 6 for spots, 3-d and hunting. I love it, but don't get to caught up with speed. buy the one that feels the best, and groups the best for you. Whitey

Congrats on a great buck!! Is is just me or have there been a ton or 4point and 5 point bucks killed this year?? Nice looking rig as well, (270 wsm is my favorite wt rifle, at least for this week) Congrats again. Whitey

Holy captain hook. That drop main beam is cool, he will look great on your wall. Congrats. The mass is what will push the score on that buck. I think your field score is pretty close, (105-106) let us know when you tape him, but like others have stated, it does not matter what he scores he is a way cool looking buck. Congrats again, Whitey

Congrats to Savannah, great buck! Maybe we could catch the lion, throw it in the lite-rail car with the POS that beat her up, and see how tough the guy is..... (Just an idea??) In all seriousness, way to stay with that buck. Whitey

I went down this weekend on my 4th Coues deer hunt of the year. We have been very forunate to have been blessed with a very good year. I had high hopes of assisting a very good friend's father in taking a good buck. DK, (his Dad) is 67 years young and wanted to better his personal best Wt. buck of 96 inches. Saturday started kind of slow. We glassed all moring with seeing only 3 bucks; not the 97+ he was looking for. The day was kept interesting by glassing a Coatimundi, many pigs, mule deer, and coutless Does. (I saw NO sign of any rut activity at all) I was disapointed to say the least. In fact we had seen many more bucks on the Oct, and Nov hunts. Saturday afternoon was much the same. I was intertained by a 40 min stalk I put on a mule deer buck with my bow.. I blew it, but that is a different story for a different time. back to the WT hunt. Sunday started out better.. As the sun rose we had many deer in different spots across the canyon. After 20-30 minutes we had a very wide buck located. We watched this buck chase 20 or so does all over the mountain across the canyon. He was 1000 yards out, and all his effort was to no avail. (I was getting tired just watching him run those does) After several failed attempts at romance he left the does and started to feed around slowly. We watched him for over and hour. We field judged him around 97 inches; an inch better than DK was hoping to better. He decided he wanted him. We got him into position on a rock outcropping as close as we could to the buck. (700 yards) After what seemed an eternity DK was ready to shoot. Just about the time he was going to break his shot....... the buck bedded down behind a tree. Emotional roller coster. We took turns watching the tree for around an hour when RK said, "he's up". DK asked for the yardage one more time.. 702 yards. "Bang", missed over his back. The buck ran down hill towards us 60 yards or so. Dk did a great job getting back on the buck, (I guess a life time of hunting pays off) and asked for yardage one more time. "643" I tell him, "use your 650 dot. "Bam" and then "Thump" Big buck down. Dk just harvested his life time personal best Coues buck. The buck gross scored 98 inches. He has a 16 inch inside spread, and 16 inch main beans. Dk was very excited to say the least.. Side note: It was a great couple of days helping out a family that has helped me out for the last 20 years! (Wow, that sounded deep) The rifle, for those of you that are Rifle guys, is a Weatherby 30-378 topped with a Leupold 6.5-20 with custom dots out to 800 yards. The end to a great year!! Now it is time to start hunting with a bow (4 more days), and start the "next great year" Whitey

Congrats on two bucks with character! The split main beam and mass on the second one, and the eyyyyyyeyyyyeyyguards on the first one, + the extra junk. Two great bucks. Congrats. Whitey

Stud buck, Score??? Here is what I think...... 105-110 is not doing him justice pm me and let me know how far I am off Main beam= 17 G1= 4 g2=8 g3=5 Mass/ side is close to 14-15 inside spread 13ish I will say he gross scores 113-114 Whitey Great buck and excellent write up.......

I couldn't agree more!!!!! Merry Christmas.

"Buck of a life-time"? Probably. "Memory of a life-time"? Deffinately.... I have heard those words before.. "I can't take another step".. both in sports, and in hunting.. The human body is an amazing mechine. It can be pushed so much further than you think it can. I am certain that the amount of energy you exerted into this hunt will do nothing but add to the memery, and appriciation of the mount on your wall for the rest of your life! I don't know you, but you have earned my respect. Congrats on a buck earned the hard way. Whitey

WOT, the best load I came up with is as follows: 64 gr. of IMR 4350 behind 130gr. NAB, I used the Win mag primer and Win brass. I am consistantly getting 3340 fps and the groups at 1,2,3,4, and 5 are better than I can usually shoot. To say that I am impressed with this cal. is an understatement. I bought the rifle as a back up, and it is the one I took on my deer hunt this year. Good luck. Whitey

"Catman!" I have never heard of one guy killin so many bobcats in AZ. Are you sure that it is not the same cat in a different picture every other day? (Just kidding) Congrats Josh, you rock. It must be the hair-cut..... Whitey

.270 wsm with 130 Gr. bullet, hits harder, bucks the wind better and is a flat shooter to boot (if that even matters anymore with all the target turrets, and graduated cross hair set ups) That being said the .257 weatherby mag is a great Coues rig. Whitey

"Full circle" must feel kind of good!! Whites

Someone please buy this thing so I don't have to!!! Gabe, that is a sweet rifle, and your assessment of "The Perfect Coues Deer Rig" is spot on. The .270 WSM is as close to perfect for mid size game at long range as there is. My trade offer still stands if you change your mind.. Whitey

Mike Vacaro of "A Head of the Game" taxidery was badly burned in a freak accident while boiling out an elk head. Please add him to your prayer list. Thanks, Whitey

This hunted started, as most do, with a phone call from my good friend and long time hunting partner Richie. He informed me that we had drawn late Nov. tags in a good unit that we have hunted many times before. He also informed me that he would be signing his tag over to his 15 year old son Cody. Cody harvested a cow elk last year, but had never hunted deer do to his football season overlapping hunting season. He was very excited to give coues deer hunting a try. Richie and I discussed our strategy for the hunt, and came up with the following plan: I was fortunate enough to have harvested a 105 last year in the same unit, so Cody was welcome to shoot any deer we glassed under 110 inches. (I truely thought he would kill the first 85 that we found). On to opening day.... Opening morning found us hiking into my favorite glassing spot in the dark. I was proud of Cody in that he never complained a bit about walking in the dark further than most adults are willing to hike in the day light! We arrived at our glassing spot with about 40 minutes until sunup. (OK, I might have been a bit over zealous for the hunt to start. We had taken 5 coues deer in this unt during the October hunt in 3 days of hunting, and could hardly wait to get started) With 40 minutes to kill, no pun intended, we took a "dirt nap". 10 minutes into glassing light we had 4 different bucks located. I was looking at a mid 80s buck at 608 yards, my buddy Dean had another 3 point at around 800yards, and Richie was looking at a buck 250 yards under us. As Richie and I were talking it over as to which buck was the highest percentage to get Cody on, out steps a forth buck! One look through the 15s was all it took. A 5x3 with 3 inch eye guards! Game on! Richie quickly and quietly asked if Cody could shoot my .270 wsm; he was not completely confident in the rifle he brought for Cody. I said sure and found a flat spot on the rock to prone out. Nope, too many occotillos (sp) in the way. I moved over and few feet to the right, perfectly clear shot, but no buck! He had moved into some thick stuff. "Game on hold" We glassed for a few more minutes that seemed like hours, and big boy stepped back out to feed. I had Cody get behind the rifle, but he could not find the deer. After several attempts to find him, I suggested nicely that he move... (OK, not so nicely I was ampt up) I found the deer in the scope, and built my jacket up behind the but of the gun and asked him to crawl up behind the rifle without touching it. OK, I have it. I wispered in his ear that the top crosshair was 200 yards and the next one was on at 300 so just bracket the deer between the two, and let it eat. OK, can I shoot? Yep, wack! Big buck down...... Cody was in shock, but his dad was shaking like a leaf. The buck scored 100 and 2/8. He is a 5x3 with 3 inch eye guards. What a first buck. Keep in mind that this was Cody's first wt hunt and in about 20 minutes he was done with a great buck. He has know idea how fortunate he really was.