huntscout

It has been a tough year for tags. I apply in most western states for as many species I can apply for and I usually draw a couple of tags somewhere, but I didn’t draw a single tag this year. That’s why I love Arizona! There are always additional hunting opportunities. With OTC archery tags and of course a variety of small game and waterfowl, I knew that I would be hunting something this Fall. When the leftover permit list came out, I jumped on the opportunity for picking up a leftover tag. I had spoken to a good friend of mine, Todd Smith, who is an incredible guy and a great hunter. He has harvested some nice Coues over the last few years. He had mentioned to me that he hunted unit 29 last year on the October hunt and had a great experience. He had also picked up the tag as a “leftover” permit. He told me about some canyons that he and his buddies had hunted and they all came home with meat for the freezer. So, a couple of friends and I secured some tags and started planning for a quick weekend hunt in the Chiricahuas. I decided to try and use my muzzleloader to hunt this year. I have harvested a few bucks with my rifle, but I wanted to get a Coues with a muzzleloader (and eventually one with a bow). My buddies would be using rifles so I thought it would be a good mix and a lot of fun. We headed out of town on Thursday night before the opener. It was quite a long drive and we made it to the head of the canyon at about midnight. We broke out the tent and jumped into our sacks for a few hours sleep. I had already picked out some ridges that we wanted to hunt and we had some GPS coordinates picked out to navigate our way in the dark. We woke up about an hour before light, strapped on our packs and headed up the ridgelines. As it got lighter, we started to see the kind of country we were in and it looked great…. Except for the pumpkin patch of hunters we saw crawling around the canyon below us and the 6 other camps that were staggered around ours at the head of the canyon. But, it was a public land hunt and it was a leftover tag, so I was just grateful to be out hunting. We spent the entire day moving up and down the ridgelines from glassing point to glassing point. We saw quite a few deer and some smaller bucks in the morning. As we were heading back down towards camp in the late evening, I glassed up a nice buck across the canyon from us. He was a bit out of range for my smokepole so one of my buddy’s took a couple of shots across the canyon at the buck and it looked like he had missed both shots. We detoured over to where the buck stood to make sure there was no blood and confirmed the clean misses. Right at dark we swung into the canyon below and checked out a water tank I had seen on the map. Of course, there were some hunters sitting on the tank and had been there all day so I felt bad that we had even thought about checking it out – I should of known better with all of the hunters and camps that were in that canyon. We bumped into the same guys later at their camp and apologized again for wandering in to their “stakeout”. They were nice guys and it sounded like they were there for the entire hunt. They mentioned seeing a ton of hunters that day and we weren’t the first to wander into the tank. Hopefully, things quieted down for them mid week and they were able to connect on something. After a strategy session that night, we decided to move further up into the canyon and go farther into the mountains. The challenge was that it was a lot thicker further up and glassing opportunities would be limited. We knew though, that a lot of other hunters would stay away from that terrain because of the steepness and thickness of the country. Morning light found us glassing where we could from high atop a small ridge in the back end of the canyon. We picked out a few small bucks, but nothing we wanted to shoot at. As mid day rolled around, we thought about checking out a spring in the back end of the canyon so we hiked in to it. We found a small tank with some fresh sign and decided to sit on it during the heat of the day. My buddy Chris is a mountain goat and he is not much for just sitting around. So, in usual fashion, he found the highest peak and steepest mountain around and headed up. As I was sitting on the water tank, I kept an eye on his progress as he ascended the slope. He said that he found some neat spots on top including a small spring that looked awesome. He also found a great skull on his little trip. Late afternoon, he decided to come back down the mountain towards the tank we were sitting on. I watched his decent through my glass and when he was about ½ way down the mountain, he kicked up a bunch of deer. As I watched the deer scatter across the mountainside, I saw a great buck and some smaller bucks head into a small bowl on the north side of the ridge. The deer calmed down and it looked like they were going to stay in that pocket for the rest of the day. We threw our packs on and headed up to a ridge top across from the pocket the deer were in. We were about 300 yards across the canyon from the deer so we set up to wait them out. We spent the rest of the day watching a leg here and an antler tine there as the deer spent a lazy afternoon in the thick oaks. There were a few openings that we were hoping the deer would step into and I ranged all of them. I was using the Knight Long Range Hunter (.50 Cal) with a Nikon Omega scope. Now, I know that is hardly considered a “traditional” type muzzleloader, but what I can say is that it is a ton of fun to shoot. I have practiced a bunch out to 300 yards and have taken antelope and deer at some of those longer ranges so I felt very comfortable taking a shot if it presented itself. Right at dark, I had my opportunity. A small 2 point fed out into an opening that I had ranged at 300 yards. I was considering taking a shot, but I was hoping to shoot at least a 3 point. A couple of minutes later, I had my chance. A small 3 point moved into the same opening and I took my shot. When the smoke had cleared, my hunting buddies said the deer had dropped like a rock. The problem was that there was a huge canyon in between us and the deer and it was almost dark. Because of the “ankle turning” nature of the terrain and how long it would take us to get to the deer, I decided to come back at first light and recover my deer. It was a good thing I did. We had a hard time finding the exact spot where the deer had fell the next morning because the terrain was almost straight up and down and it was super thick. I felt like I had made the right decision and we recovered the entire animal (the meat was in perfect condition). After some high fives and pictures, we packed the deer up and headed out. What an incredible hunt! Great friends, great weather, incredible country, and steaks in the freezer. Not bad for a leftover tag. Now, I need to start focusing on my biggest challenge… an archery Coues. Come on January!!!!!!

Way to go man! You rock!!!!! That completes your Triple Crown for Coues doesn't it? You are going to have to give me some tips on getting one with a bow so I can get mine.... Congrats again!!!!

"Did your friends ever tag out?" Nope... we only had the weekend to hunt. But, I am going to give them some steaks and snack sticks as soon as I have them made up.....

Sounds good... I will pass it on...

Way to go Scott!!!!! You deserve it man!

The archery hunters are slaughtering them this year... Hopefully, there will be some bucks left for ya....

Congrats!!! I would imagine that he has already headed out, but the contact info for the other guy that has the tag is: Karl Neuffer 1410 Winrock Blvd. #32202 Houston, TX 77057 713-824-6476 email: karlneuffer@yahoo.com

Wow! Great story.

very nice!!!

Wow Scott! Is that picture from your front deck on the new house? It just screams Coues!!!!!

bump

I have an original Jim White Tripler I would like to sell. It is used but in great condition. The lenses are in perfect condition. The newer JW Triplers do have upgraded features, but at half the price for the older version it is still a good deal. $125.00 and I will ship it priority mail. If you are interested or have questions, email me at byorksmith@huntscout.com. Thanks...

Awesome! That is what it is all about!!! Way to go Nick!

Way to go cuz!!!!!

My buddy just got his mount back from the taxidermist. It sure turned out good. The top buck is a NT buck from NM from many years ago and the bottom one is a great big typical that he shot in Mexico last year. What a great mount... Thought you might like to see it....

Chris Williams from Trapper's Den Taxidermy in Lakeside, AZ....

Here is a nice one that just hit the ground.... It weighs 17lbs and scores 185 by itself. Wish I had a tag this year.....

Here is a shot from the front.... It's a little blurry though... The mass on this thing is incredible....

I GOT SKUNKED AGAIN!!!! Come on New Mexico!!!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATS! What a buck.

This just came out in our local White Mountain Independent.... http://www.wmicentral.com/site/news.cfm?ne...05965&rfi=6 The sting started in fall of 2006 as covert officers from the Game and Fish Department's Special Operations Unit worked with a special agent from U.S. Fish and Wildlife in Operation Bear Bones. In that operation, the agencies discovered some of the hunters had allegedly killed stray horses to use them as bait to lure bears and hunt them. Others were found to have taken other forms of livestock and wildlife through unlawful means, such as without a permit or during a closed season. Eight suspects have been convicted after being apprehended as a part of Operation Bear Bones. They are: * Corban Davis - Tried in Snowflake Justice Court for taking a bear by unlawful method. Prosecution was deferred and Davis paid a $400 fine to the Wildlife Theft Prevention Fund. * Jefer Farr - Tried in Snowflake Justice Court for chasing a bear by an unlawful method (using dogs during a spring hunt). He was fined $750. An additional charge of chasing a bear during a closed season was dismissed as per a plea agreement. * Grover Ledbetter - Tried in Round Valley Justice Court and pled guilty to possessing unlawfully taken wildlife (bear) and shooting bear without a valid tag. Four other charges dismissed as per a plea agreement. He was fined $258, had his hunting/fishing/trapping guide license revoked for five years and given a $1,500 civil assessment. * Bryan Ledbetter - Tried in Round Valley Justice Court and pled guilty to possessing unlawfully taken wildlife (bear). He was fined $25. Another charge was dismissed. * Bradley Sears - Tried in Pinetop Justice Court and pled guilty to shooting a bear without a valid permit/tag. He was fined $400 and commission action is pending. * Ryan Watson - Tried in Round Valley Justice Court and pled guilty to taking wildlife by an unlawful method (using a firearm during archery season) and possessing unlawfully taken wildlife (bear). He was fined a total of $1,726 and had his hunting/trapping/fishing guide license revoked for five years and given a $1,500 civil assessment. Five other charges against Watson were dropped as per a plea agreement. * Chad Williams - Tried in Snowflake Justice Court and pled guilty to three charges, including chasing a bear without a valid permit. Fined a total of $1,048. Also tried in Round Valley Justice Court and found guilty of two charges including guiding without a valid license. He was fined $466 and was also assessed a $3,000 restitution to Arizona Game and Fish. * Phillip Williams - Tried in Pinetop Justice Court and pled guilty to failure to check out bear within 48 hours of harvest. He was fined $100. Seven other suspects have only been charged as part of Operation Bear Bones and investigations are still ongoing. They are: * Jaime Adams - Charged with taking elk during a closed season and without a valid permit. * Kaci Burton - Charged with using the permit/tag of another person and possessing unlawfully taken wildlife (deer). * William Burton - Charged with taking deer without a valid permit, possessing a deer that was unlawfully taken and using the permit/tag of another person. * Richard Evans III - Faces 12 charges in Navajo County Superior Court, including three counts of unlawful killing of livestock (horses), three counts of taking wildlife (elk and bear) without a valid permit and one count of tampering with a witness. He also faces 13 charges in five justice courts. * Darrell Neff - Charged with pursuing wildlife (bear) without a valid permit, pursuing wildlife (bear) by unlawful method and three counts of unlawful killing of livestock (horses). * Gordon Nikolaus Jr. - Charged with knowingly obstructing a criminal investigation. * Joshua Smart - Charged with chasing wildlife (bear) during a closed season, without a permit and during a period where license was under revocation.

WOW!!! Congrats on a magnificent buck! What a great story with a great ending....

REJECTED!!!!!!!!!!!!! Once again.... I am Unsuccessful. I hope this isn't the overall consensus for my apps this year.

Congrats on a nice buck!

Holy Eyeguards Batman!