GRONG

What a freakin awesome shed!!! To bad it wasn't picked up 10 years ago, man that thing looks old. Looks to be around 60". YIKES!! Josh

Terry, If you do watch that tank and you haven't sat water for Coues before I'm telling you now it's an all day deal. Coues water during any and all times of the day. My first buck I killed with a bow was at noon and the second was at 10:30. In my experience I've seen them start coming around 8:30 and the latest in the mid afternoon. The highest activity always seemed to be from 9:30-2. Bring a book and something soft to sit on. If you have sat water before then you know all this already. Josh

Hey Bret I sure appreciate that. Just got the mount back from the buck with the droptines I killed there last year in 21 and it's awesome! Had the drops fixed of course. Glad you liked the bear vids, I never know anyone ever watches the clips I have on there. Did you happen to watch the vid where I lobbed 10 shots at that split beamed buck in 33? I thought it was comical so I added it on there. I hope to get a bunch more added on there this year. Pears are looking decent around here! Predator, Shoot me an email and I'll see what I can do. antlerboy@commspeed.net Josh Epperson

This is the first year in probably 10 years that I haven't drawn a whitetail tag. Looks like I'll be going to NM for Coues. I'll be doing a lot of archery Coues hunting in Sept and Dec too. Good luck to those of you that did get drawn. Josh

Believe me, just cause you're not finding any antlers doesn't mean they're not there. They are tough to find. I personally never look in the bottom of drainages specifically for sheds. I tend to walk the south facing slopes or if you've got some stands of oak on north and east facing slopes I walk those very and I do mean VERY SLOW. If there's some water holes in the area you might want to try placing a trail camera near one. The bucks are there somewhere. Josh Epperson

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