GRONG

I noticed something new in the reg's. If you harvest a deer with your bow you must report it to the AZG&F within 10 days. About time they did something like this. Before there was nothing to stop anyone from taking 2 deer/year unless someone narked on them. Finally the G&F did something right. Josh

I tell you guys what. The huge fire in 22 is gonna be awesome in a couple years. If you're man enough to get into the area west of north peak and south of the east verde you'd be in for a good hunt. That is some tough country to get into and a place I've always wanted to go but never have yet........mainly cause I'm not man enough. Josh

Holy crap Amanda that is an awesome buck!!!!!! 12" beams? They sure look bigger than that, must be real thin horned cause that rack looks freakin gorgeous! Makes me want to get out in the 100+ heat and look around. How come you didn't find that on the state side? Just you wait, all that tromping around on the rez and one of these days you're gonna find a REAL monster and have to leave it. That's gonna hurt bad.......... Josh

SOB!!!!!!!! Good lord that is awesome! I can't even imagine the fight that thing gave......SHEESH! Josh

Lark you're too funny. I was totally messing with Mike saying those coordinates were from 36C. I have no clue where your cords are. You know, you kind of get used to the fumes after a day or two but you can never get used to the visuals. Josh

25-06, Back in '93 I was shed hunting in unit 8 and found a dead lion. I smelled it that's how I found it. It was all dried up with a horrific mummified look on it's face. I'm pretty sure another lion killed it. I've got pics of it somewhere. Then in 36C back in '95 I was archery deer hunting with some friends and they spotted some crows flying and checked it out. Dead lion, hadn't been dead more than a couple days. Hard to say what killed that one. I've got pics of it somewhere too. Dan King from Tucson found where two lions got in a fight. Both mortally wounded one another on a big rock pile I think. One died on top and he found the other one at the base of a decent cliff where they impact finished it off. I think they kill each other quite often. I know my dad has found a few over the years while hunting for them. Josh

I've hunted up there a fair amount for elk and in my high school years for a blind carp deer to shoot at but have never seen a Coues deer. I know where I'd go look if I ever wanted to put the time in but I just haven't. I know a guy that had a 100+ buck come into a tank he was sitting back in the late 80's up on top of Mingus. I take that back I did see a doe in Copper Cyn on the side of the freeway a couple years back and a dead one this winter along the freeway in the same canyon. I hate seeing dead Coues deer that get hit by cars. Last year one got whacked in between Camp Verde and the casino. Sounds like you've got a great spot to keep your eyes on. Josh

Hey good to have you on the forum Jeff. Well I hope to make the shoot although I'll probably be pumping poo instead. I'll try though. Josh

I've been shooting my bow a fair amount lately and I can't help but squirm in anticipation for the upcoming fall. All the stuff I've learned over this past winter's hunting season has got me chomping at the bit to set up my stands over a couple killer scrapes! I'll be in the woods all of later Dec and January trying my best to stick my first hard antlered Coues buck with a bow. .......sometimes it feels good just to talk about it you know. Josh

Too late Mike, was out there all day today and found 9 sheds. 3 were new and I found the match to that killer 3 point only mine is a 4. Same kind of height on the tines just another 4" G4. I saw footprints so they must have been Lyle's. I spent all day out there, saw 3 snakes, went through a gallon and a half of water and 3 Snickers. I'll post pictures soon as I get them back. Just kidding! Man do I wish! I was up around the White Mtn's lakes pumping poo out of the porta jons wishing I was looking for that bad boy. Way to go Lyle, that is one freakin awesome antler. I know a certain antler buyer that would gladly give you a $5 bill for that beauty. Josh Epperson PS: Those GPS coordinates are for somewhere on the Tohono Oodam rez.

I shoot an Oneida Aero Force and love it. No sights just a rubber flipper rest and fingers. 2 Coues bucks with it so far. I'm really gonna try to make that Sunrise shoot, I haven't been there since '98 I think. I work every wknd around Show Low and the Wht Mtn Rez so I'll be in the area but just not sure if I'll be able to make the shoot. That's a real tough wknd to try and get off of work. Jeff, have I met you before, are you Dave Anderson's (fire fighter from Phx) relative? Josh PS I didn't find any Coues antlers on Thursday but I saw several deer and found 2 fresh elk antlers. Giddy-up.

Nextolast, I'll be there. Not sure if I'll be there buying antlers again though. The market sucks right now. I usually don't like to shoot that shoot cause there is so many people there. I'm an instinctive archer and it only takes me about 20 seconds at each target so I usually get behind 4 guys that use every gadget that you can possibly have and that take 10 minutes to shoot one target. I don't have anything against those guys it's just not my style. I can do all 4 courses in a day if guys let me through. Man I sound bitchy, sorry, I'm really not. I broke my string the other night so I haven't been out shooting for the past few. Just got a new one and can't wait to get out tomorrow night. I don't know about you guys but shooting the 3D shoots in the summer is the best practice I've ever had. Shooting at my square Eternity Target just doesn't seem to do it for me. I'm gonna hit the mtn tomorrow and see if I can find some fresh Coues sheds. One will do actually, I'm not that greedy. Josh PS: Nextolast, what's your name? It wasn't in your profile.

For the record, I wouldn't mind at all seeing a freak like this one being the current world record if legit. But I really am not going to buy it till I see the DNA results. I've just seen too many Coues deer antlers over the years to buy this one as a Coues. Now the biggest Coues antler that absolutly blew my mind was Jim Reynold's 82+" NT antler. I got to measure this thing and I was blown away. I had seen the pic that Amanda posted of it and had my doubts but soon as Jim handed it to me I knew it was a Coues deer antler. The beading on the bases, the shape of the pedicle all match what I've learned Coues antlers to be. I'm EXTREMELY attentive when it comes to how a Coues deer antler is shaped. They are different in many ways, but also quite similar, from TX or eastern NM whiteail, enough that I can spot a non-Coues shed with much ease. I'd like to personally see this monsterous rack, that would really help my decision, along with the DNA test of course. Now if this is proven to be a Coues buck then I'll suck it up. It would be freakin awesome to see that AZ has the record and not Mexico. Not that I have anything against Mexico, infact I'm quite certain that Mexico will beat both the Typ and Non-typ categories one of these days, it's just a matter of time. It's just nice to see it here in our state. One thing that also strikes me funny is the fact that I've been buying antlers down at San Carlos for a while now and all the guys know that I love Coues deer and I've never heard of it being mentioned. Not saying that the rack could have laid in the back of a shed for a long time and the person saw an antler buyer in town that day and decided to get rid of "some old set of horns". I just wish I could have been the lucky SOB buying antlers that day in town. Lark, that elk from 27 you mentioned, I have never heard of this thing. When was it found and how the crap can I get a look at this pig? The point length you mention is only stuff I've dreamed of. Sounds like one heck of a "What if?" bull. I'm running out of $.02. Josh Epperson

I'm not really going to make my decision quite yet but I will have to see the results of a DNA test before I'll believe it. This rack as well as the 186"er beat the current record by almost 30". That's like any of the other antlered animals being beaten by a TON!! If you put a Coues rack in perspective, the giant gap in scores is like a 425" NT muley showing up or a 600" bull elk. It doesn't happen that way. Records get beaten by mere inches, sometimes 1/8ths. If this buck looked like a Coues I'd be more apt to buy it. I've personally seen a lot of 130-150" bucks(mounted or racks mind you) and none of them ever showed any kind of height that either of these bucks have. The height alone and the forked G-2's make me very suspicious. Just my $.02. Josh Epperson

Two weeks ago I found my first brown Coues shed. It's a decent 2pter, later I found a nice 3pt that had laid there for a couple years. One of these days I'll try to figure out how to post pics. Josh

JEFF!!!!!!

Good lord!!! You need anybody to help find that opposite side? I'm a heck of an antler magnet......so I tell myself anyway. Need a spotter or videographer to help you when you hunt that brute next season? I'm game bro......... Josh

I gave up real quick. Sent it to Amanda. We'll just wait for her now I guess. Sorry, Josh

Alright that's it!! Enough already, post the sucker! I'm dying over here bro. Josh

Picture doesn't show up for me. I'll try again later I guess. Congrats Andy, Chris told me about it a while back but never sent a picture. Can't wait to see it! Josh

You're killing me!!!!!! That is unreal, I'm so jealous and so happy for you guys at the same time. How 'bout some pics of those other bucks you guys have killed. Congratulations, Josh Epperson

Bob, your name is very familiar for some reason. Maybe someday I'll think of why. If you ever pull a tag up there I hope you get ahold of me. We saw some hogs this year during bear season and they were ruttin it up bigtime. I remember! Your name was on the back of a business card I got from a guy in Pine. His name slips me right now but he deals in antler like I do, or rather he makes stuff from antlers. Call me anytime you'd like. My email is antlerboy132@msn.com TSM, I like to stick to the thick stuff on the edge of rims of big canyons. I'm finding that a lot of bucks seem to hang out on tops of ridges or rims of canyons where they can't be glassed and hunted very effectively with traditional methods. I saw a rubline in 6A this past Dec that had to be close to 300 yards long with a monster scrape at the end of it under a big cedar tree all along the rim of a huge canyon. I've never been back to check it, I'm a loser. I've spent a fair amount of time in 21 and 22 this January cause their open for archery but I'd love to be spending some time in 6A. Oh well, maybe someday. I can only go so many places you know, I try not to spread myself too terribly thin. For the first roll of film I got back in early Jan I had the timer set at one pic every 30 seconds. I didn't see the same bigger bucks again but two smaller bucks 3 different times each. Not sure if the bigger ones wised up to the camera or what so when I reset the timer I set if for one every minute to see what happens. I didn't get many pictures during the week and a half but I've got 2 rolls to get developed manana so we'll see what's on there. Get that camera out there!!!! My camera spent most of the year in my truck cause I was too indecisive as to where to put it. What an idiot! After I got that first roll of film back I immediatly went and bought another one and now I've got two of them going. Josh

CB1, Ya I'm a lucky guy to be spending all this time out there. No I haven't seen any elk up there at all. I've seen some old sign but no sightings. I did find an old elk shed there on Saturday but all 6pts were chewed off. The week before I glassed up two elk sheds and when I got over to them they were chewed to pieces so I left them right in the open where someone else can see them. I've seen some good elk in that unit in the past but not where I've been hunting. BH, what does that stand for? Josh

Ernesto, the sheds I found were about a mile away and a lot smaller than the 2pt I saw. Definitly not the same deer. I did see this deer about 3 years ago when I had an elk tag there though. He was about 1/2 mile away going to water and was a big 2x3, I had him at about 30 yards but didn't shoot. It's got to be the same deer. I hope to have some pics of him soon! Josh

I had a pretty crazy day yesterday. I got set up in a little pocket that reeked of Coues. I mean it just looked like a place there aught to be some deer action. I placed my scent on some tree branches about 25 yards out and kicked back under a couple trees while I rattled, grunted and bleated over a period of around 45 minutes. I didn't really go prepared for the cold morning that it was so I got the shivers really bad and needed to get up. I walked past where I'd placed my scents and there about 30 yards away was a huge scrape that I hadn't seen. This thing was getting some serious use over the past month or so so I decided this would be the spot for my trial camera. As I was hugging the tree trying to get the thing up I looked up and saw a button buck coming right at me at 30 yards. I was totally stuck and didn't move. He crossed the scents and started looking around. His mom came in behind him and I think the little fella finally figured out that I was there and walked back up the hill. Well I got back to putting up the camera and I heard something up the hill to my right.....here came 3 more doe and there I was hugging that dang tree again. I waved my arm and they saw me and drifted up hill from me. I heard something again uphill and left of me and here came that button buck and doe again. This time I knelt down hiding behind the tree. As I watched them I heard a limb snap to my left. I watched through the trees and at about 40 yards I could see parts of a deer. I stared and stared untill finally he came out. He was a super huge 2pt buck probably around 85-90"!!! My bow was behind me about 15' and I made a dash for it when he topped over a little rise about 10 yards from where I had been sitting 15 minutes before! I bleated and then grunted for the next 15 minutes but he never came back. He had a real wide spread and really orange looking antlers, great mass, eyeguards and G2's. I'm sure this is the buck that is making that scrape so I hope to have some pics of him by next week. I'll let you guys and gals know if I do. I found another scrape about a mile away that is getting trashed also. As I walked to it, after spotting it, I walked right up on a nice 3pt shed. I looked to my right and there was the match about 5 yards away. I was pumped. The sheds are from last spring's drop and are a decent 2x3 set about 75" or so. They were about 15 yards from the scrape so I wonder if it's him. I placed a 2nd trail cam over this scrape too so we'll see. Talk at you guys later, Josh Epperson