Coach

Nice job on some great looking bucks. Congrats to all the hunters involvled. Nicely done!

Could be scent, but in my experience, deer (elk, bears, etc.) seem to sense pressure. Maybe it's more activity, more human sounds and smells right before the hunt. I've seen trail cams loaded with action in the weeks leading up to the hunt turn cold. Animals that were active during the day go completely nocturnal. Just part of hunting these guys. They aren't dumb, in fact they are so in-tune with their surroundings, they just "sense" the danger and change their habits.

Wow - awesome buck. You've gotta be on cloud nine right about now. Gotta love this time of year seeing all the hard-working hunters scroring big on some awesome coues bucks. Great job! And thanks for taking such nice pictures after the kill. I love those field photos that show such respect for the deer.

Great buck! Congratulations!

+1 for dirty barrell.

Nice!!! I love those vintage photos. Shot some whoppers with open sights!

The sport is changing. We are way more competetive, way more sophisticated, all that. I don't know you, or what motivates you...If I were to push hunting out of my life, something would be missing. I get the feeling that you would feel the same. Yes, we have to deal with all kinds of nonsense from anti-hunters, to slob hunters, to trail-camera theives to fights over water holes to regulations that seem outright stupid. I think you are letting the darker side of things cloud your judgement. Instead, try to think about how you got started hunting in the first place. You've probably spent some early mornings waking up to the sights, smells and sounds of the desert opening up to you. You might have even pondered the old guys on mules who used to live out ther 365 days a year with nothing more than a mule, a rifle, and if they were lucky, some matches. You probably admired those old coots, as you explored deeper into the desert, hunting, exploring, and looking at yourself, why you were out there, instead of sitting on the freeway on your way to somewhere you didn't want to be. Hunting is not a hobby. It's a conscious effort to get away from the world that sometimes makes no sense. I can't speak for you, but I spent years living in the valley, and I felt trapped. I felt like I was torn between providing for my family and actually living. I felt like my life had no meaning. Breaking away from that grind opened my eyes, just enough to see something simple and true. When I take to the woods, I am free. The friends, the campfire, the sounds of laughter, the smells of fresh rain on aspens or a camp fire... It's a special place, and I'd probably not be there nearly as much as if I weren't hunting. How much would I miss of the world happening around me if my hunting didn't force me to shut off the BS for once, and just live for a few days, as a human and a hunter? I think a lot of people lead boring, dull lives. They are devoid of passion, ignorant of the simple pleasures of life, lonely, scared and wandering. I've been there, and sometimes go back to visit - that's part of growing older and dealing with our own demons. To me, hunting brings the world closer. It makes colors brighter, sounds more distinct, my purpose more defined, my role here on this planet, as short as it is, more understandable. I hope you won't lose faith. Hunting is a "source". It's a place where you can lose yourself and find yourself. If hunting has gotten stale because you don't have someone to share it with, PM me. I think one of the main causes of hunters losing interest, is losing the connection with the people who used to make it fun. I know what it feels like to go hunting solo, again and again, and lose the passion. Just something to think about, I have a good friend who was extremely passionate about hunting, and ended up having his business ventures become really profitable. Here's a guy who now has the time and resources to hunt pretty much where and when he wanted to, along with being a skilled hunter. Eventually, he got really lonely on those hunts because his good friends had work and family obligations. The fun had somehow dissappeared. Hunting became work, or a prize to be won, or a hole on the wall left to be filled. While we envied him, he envied us because we had a life full of wives, children, stresses, all that noise that we sometimes take for granted. I don't know exactly where you are coming from, but I would venture to guess that if you are truly considering walking away from hunting, it has more to do with the people who first brought hunting close to you, somehow separating their lives from yours. If that is the case, there is a whole world of new faces, new places, and new adventures out there. If hunting is truly part of your soul, you will never totally walk away from it. I admire your courage to come out here on a public forum and vet your concerns and frustrations. Don't lose faith. Reach out and meet new friends who share your passion. Godspeed to you.

Great looking buck! Awesome job on the stalk - congrats!

Sorry to hear that - sucks when local guys are ripping eachother off. I hope you find out who took them. Good news is, not many secrets stay secrets on this mountain -

I don't bugle much when chasing elk, but the Elk Inc. Power bugle is pretty easy to use. Good for getting them talking. IMO, bugling to call them in has become pretty ineffective over the past 10 years or so. From what I've seen, bulls in AZ are getting pretty call-shy. They'll respond, just to know where you are. I'll bugle to get responses, kind of like shock-calling turkey, but once they are going, I think it's better to let them do the talking. Cow calls, especially diaphrams or reed calls, are way more effective, once you have a bull located. I'd avoid the "easy" calls like the hoochie mama, because the older bulls have heard those so often, they know how to distinguish them from the real thing. Sometimes, using a mouth call might not sound "just right" but it's enough to get their curiousity up. I've heard recently of guys using diaphrams or reed-based calls as if they were calling coyotes - just wailing on the mouth calls - having better success than the more "typical" sounds produced by the easy calls. Just a side note - my dad worked for B.I.A. on the White Mountain Apache rez for a long time. Many of the top guides on the rez were day-workers on heavy machinery in the off-season, so he got to know them pretty well. Some of the best and most successful guides on those high-dollar hunts preferred some of the most "jimmy rigged" calls you could imagine. They used copper pipes smunched down at the end or in some cases, kids' whistles like you might falling out of a pinata. I guess where I'm going with this is, you need to make your calls sound unique, more than "authentic". What we humans percieve as the "perfect" elk sounds are not always what the bulls will respond to. Good luck on your hunt! I hope you get a stud bull!

LOL - Priceless!!! Don't forget the cookies and milk.

Wow, first-off congrats one one heck of an archery speed goat. Secondly - well, just looking at the pix, I might have met you this morning way back in some bad-a$$ NM goat country. Did your buddy just arrow a buck with a recurve about the time we crossed paths? Anyway, my buddy has an archery antelope tag in Western NM, and I spent the last weekend with him. I know a lot of hunters consider archery coues to be the pinnacle of bow-hunting, but I'd have to say trying to spot and stalk antelope in the plains has to be amoung the most challenging bow hunts in North America. To take one of these guys takes out in the flat with a bow takes serious mettle. some luck and a sh!t load of tenacity. My hat is off to anyone who can make that happen. Congratulations on an truly amzing hunt.

Looks like a broadhead from the pix.

Heeee-eeeey MACARENA!!!

Holy moly! Great bull, and great job putting the hunter in a position to take such a great bull!!! Thanks for sharing the whole story with us!

I have have a Savage 110FP in 25-06 that is a very accurate gun, but heavy (would be a perfect antelope gun, if I could ever draw a tag). Also have a 14 American Classic in .300 WSM that is my "Go-To" rifle. I'm very happy with both. I've never owned a Remington rifle, but I really like the 700 CDL. I'd love to have one of those in .257 Wby Mag.

What is the max draw length? Would it require different cams/modules to go up to 29"?

Lots of great advice already posted here. One thing I'll add is, there are certain animals that just have that "wow" factor. Elk, coues, muley, antelope...Some guys are really good at judging score from a distance with good optics. What I've found is, if you find a good deer, elk, whatever, you get a really quick "gut" reaction. Some guys will find ways to start making it bigger in their mind, then experience "ground-shrinkage" when they walk up on it. Personally, I think that some animals just immediately jump out at you as a shooter, or not. If the minute you see it, your blood gets pumping and you really feel like you have found "the one", you know you have to take the shot. If you are uncertain, usually, there is something about it that isn't quite what you had set as your goal. Of course, distance is a major factor. Coues especially can look marginal at very long ranges, even if they are really nice. If you do glass a coues buck from a long way off, and can see quite a bit of horn, he's probably bigger than he appears. I made that mistake several years back. I found a buck about a mile or so from my glassing spot, and he didn't look all that big but the details were sketchy even through spotting scopes etc. I moved to a different area, and a buddy later hunted that spot and found the same deer - turns out he was estimated at around 115" as a 3x3 when viewed from 1/4 the range I had been watching him. My buddy missed, unfortunately, but I seriously kicked myself more than once for not getting a closer look myself.

Got 'em yesterday - looking forward to trying them out! I'll let you know what I find.

BTW, Brian, that buck of your brother's is awesome!

Last Fall, I took my first ever coues with a bow - also my first ever deer with a bow. I knew he wasn't a "congo" buck, but I passed on a dozen or so forkies and spikes to make sure my first would be a good, mature coues. Being my first deer with a bow, and not a bad one at that, I decided to have it mounted - something I typically hold off on unless it is something special. I'll hold off the field photos, for now. I just got the mount back and I have mixed emotions about it. Here are some solo shots of the finished mount... Next Post...

Thanks everyone for your input, and the congrats. For the most part it sounds like everyone would expect a fall deer to look quite a bit smaller and that he isn't abnormally small. I would have liked a little more girth in the neck, but it it is, overall a very pretty mount.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Don't start likin' those pain pills too much -

Nice bear! Congrats. Got a story???

Thank you, Buckhunter. From my perspective, the buck just looks really - well, small, when compared to the other mounts - especially in the neck. It's hard to capture with a camera, and I have the upmost respect for the artist who worked on this deer. It just doesn't really seem like the deer I brought in. On the other hand, it truly is "prettier" than the other two. Thanks to all who have commented.