CouesPursuit

Thanks for the nice buck comments. I honestly couldn't have been happier with my year and our bucks. I sure didn't mean to sound ungrateful. My brother was issued his tag on December 10th from someone's point guard and our families became part of the hunt. Incredible all around. I spent many great days in the field and I have the promise land it seems for my kids' youth hunts one day. I posted this in the Coues Biology thread for the discussion and supplied the pictures and videos for reference. I do appreciate the posts so far in that regard as well. I hear the thicker stuff comments but those were covered throughout the 10 mile area too!

Excellent bucks, Frank! You guys always do a great job finding and getting those coues on the ground!

You're the trophy hunter man, don't lie! I've seen several bucks that tower those pictured another 10 miles away from this area, but only a fraction of the number of total deer. Just thought it made some interesting discussion.

Throughout 10 miles of varying habitat, from January archery to late December rifle - there wasn't a day I could keep count of deer seen. I saw 50-100 coues/day and consistently saw dinky 3 points and forks pushing big doe groups. I passed on stalks and shooting opportunities every day looking for something bigger, only to shoot a great circumstance buck on December 29th, pulling a double with my brother. Best passed bucks - 20191220_080753_1.mp4 20191228_121052.mp4

Sorry for the long winded reply. I've been a first legal animal - type hunter in 99% of my hunting days (mostly coues) leading to the saving and purchasing of quality 15's. They made my old 10's unusable and I replaced those with the matching set. I've never liked looking in or needed a spotting scope, but after drawing a sheep tag this year, a great friend auto-forced me to borrow their Swaro 20-60x and it changed everything. From practicing shooting and calling shots long range, to identifying and digiscoping critters at distance, it is going to be hard to return it next week after having it. I feel 10's, 15's and a spotter will be too much so I definitely understand the guys that run 12's and a spotter. I did buy into a FZ80 superzoom camera and although it doesn't replace the spotting scope for identifying antler specifics, it is far better than digiscoping. I remember reading "you can't have too much glass" a time or two on this forum and I didn't believe it, but I do now. Pros and cons everywhere, but I was wrong to say a spotter wasn't for me, it has its place.

Excellent job on a great buck! Well done.

Can't go wrong IMO.

Same story here. Owning a couple other Savages that shoot, I bought the 110 lightweight storm model of this gun weighing in at 7lbs 0 oz scoped with the interchangeable stock LOP fittings for my kids to eventually use as they grow. Shot a 1.5" 3-shot group at 390 yards and it turned into my sheep rifle real quick. Ram dropped in his tracks with the 143 ELDx. Say what you want about the fad of the creedmor and flat-brimmed hats, there is a ton of load data out there (including reduced recoil loads for kids) and no shortage of component availability. If anyone is interested in my history with load development, let me know. Good luck with the sale OP.

Excellent, excellent post and congratulations on all accounts.

Great Ram! Congratulations to you!

Very cool all around, and nice bulls!

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Very good guesses! AZGFD checked in 170 7/8", 8 1/2 years old.

Really, thank you! Still coming to terms with the entire deal.. words to come, eventually. Here are some pics. For fun, score and age?

Well, I couldn't hold out for long. My best scouted ram is down. Not the biggest or oldest in the unit, but my lifetime desert bighorn was taken at 8:30AM on my 33rd birthday. Most of my hunting partners, as well as my dad and brother all had a heavy, contributing hand to make this one special. More to come, but for now..

I passed this guy at 270 yards this morning. It was very tough to pass after a dry fire and everything. He was very buggery before and after his 30 minute bedding session. Hope I don't need to relocate him later in the hunt because I won't get a better opportunity!

With this guy waiting in a smaller mountain range, unhunted by the other tag holder - Ram2.mp4

Good luck, dude! Sheep in my unit were clinging tight to water and shade all the way prior to that last storm 10 days ago. It is going to be interesting to see how the rams disperse but at a minimum, it may allow them to get down out of the steep crags and into some archery conducive areas. We shall see. Ram2.mp4

Field of view is real, I've been doing lots of switching between my 10s and 15s lately. Fine buck, congratulations! Sounds like a great time with father and son.

Congratulations, Nick! Fine looking pup and I wish him a long, happy hunting life in and out of your home!

Edit: Deleted original comment. I didn't see the purple outline in my first reply. There are water catchments all long that private land/BLM-State land interface that runs along the train tracks. The train is out of service.

Wow, congrats to you, your son, and family. Sounds like a great experience and stellar buck.

Good luck!

Sheep country has tore up my 40K, 5 year-old tires pretty quick the last couple months, especially after some chunks were taken out on the fronts exposing some belt. I'm looking for a couple 285/75/R16 to keep me safe through December before replacing all 4 new. Other than craigslist and offer up searches, any one have a good recommendation for used tire sources in the central/east valley? Thanks.