Coach

I can really appreciate the dilemma you are faced with. I did a solo bivy hunt this year in an area that I was very concerned about being able to safely hunt and come home to my family - based on drug runners and all of the associated risks. It turned out OK, but being out there totally alone was not exactly the relaxing break from routine I might have liked. Maybe the best solution is to use this forum to "recruit" a couple of helpers. A small bivy camp made up of two or three people is a lot less vulnerable than an individual going solo. There are still no guarantees, but it definate ups the ante for anyone who might mess with you if the target is larger and less predictable. It's simple schooling or herding mentality - numbers mean strength where an isolated individual makes an easy target. On the other hand, I really believe that the smugglers are hoping to avoid ANY confrontation that might complicate their jobs. They *surely* have been taught that any armed confrontation will only fuel the efforts against them. They have to know that any incident that results in hunters or hikers getting killed down there will force more and more enforcement efforts against them - and let's be honest - that's bad for business. Let's keep hunting these areas, but be smart and informed. And I for one will volunteer to go along with anyone looking for some back-up - taking into account work and family commitments, of course . If we all band together we can help eachother to not become targets.

Dang - sorry to hear that. I sure hope it turns up.

Dang - 23 seems to be especially bad for this crap. I sure hope someone finds this "fellow hunter" and gives him a lesson in ethics he won't soon forget. Very sorry to hear about yet another loss to the camera theives.

That's a great write up! Thanks for sharing it with us...I can only imagine what was going through your head when you saw that droppped pack.

Tail Chaser, you won't BELIEVE how fast that little guy will grow up. It won't be long at all before he'll be waiting for you to catch up! Great job getting him involved and exited early. If I had a quarter to bet, it would be on you two becoming life-long pardners. Keep it up and keep showing us pix of him on your future hunts.

It would be easy to play "Monday Morning Quarterback" and tell you what went wrong. In all honesty, I doubt that anyone reading this post has not been in a similar situation. You manned up, called G&F, got it all out in the open. That tells me exactly where your ethics are and I commend you for it. Your son probably learned more from this hunt than many adults on here have had to experience, and you did the best you could - after the fact - to stay above board and do the right thing. Good job. You set a good example. Of course, if you could do it again, you probably wouldn't have suggested the second shot, but we are all in a continuous learning cycle. You did the right thing by bringing G&F in and staying honest - that says a lot about your character.

Very cool! Wow, to see a lion like that in persuit of a coues, and take a great buck on the same hunt - what a great hunt!

There are good muslims in our military - guys and gals who believe in America and are willing to put their lives on the line for all of us. That said, this *particular* muslim had a history of making some pretty telling "Jihadist" statements in support of suicide bombers, etc. I'm not for all-out profiling or excluding anyone who truly wants to defend our nation. In this case though, there were enough red flags that he should have been recognized as a threat. Just my $.02

Very nice buck! Congrats, and way to stick with it. It's funny how those bigger bucks sit tight - darn smart, but you guys did it right. Good job!

dang I wan that Golden Boy. Nice guns - make sure to hold on to at least ONE!

Good point Scott. Last year's burnout had a lot to do with missing old hunting buddies and learning to go solo, but where one door closes, another opens. I was able to meet you and Cory because of this forum. January is not too far away - I know of a few honey holes in you guys' neck of the woods. It would be fun to go down there and chase a mixed bag of muleys and hard-rutting coues! I've been there in January before and it can be really fun. Something to think about anyway.

I'm putting together a Howa .270 WSM for my boys. It was a partial trade to Gino for my .300 Wby mag because I was looking for a good youth gun. Cool thing is, I found a wood stock for the howa on ebay for $12, which I intend to cut down and put a nice recoil pad on. If it still has too much kick, for $200 I can have it ported. I have high hopes for this gun, and Casey, I'll be pinging you for some handload info. Great thing about the .270 WSM is you can buy plenty of ammo off the shelf. Or, if you are particular like I am, you can load just about anything from screaming fast coyote loads to middle weight deer loads to some pretty impressive elk loads. Don't know much about the 7MM WSM, but the next gun I buy will be one of the 7mms - prolly 7mm STW in something simple like a Ruger Model 1. At this point, my .300 WSM will do anything I can think of, and if I want to carry a hair splitter, I can go to my Savage 25-06 heavy barrell, that will easily outshoot me any day, but we always need an excuse to get a new toy! If it's down to .270 WSM and 7MM WSM, I'd pick the. .270. If you're still open and want to tinker a bit, look at the 7MM STW - the ballistics are phenomenal.

Hey Bry, I'd love to go, just have to see what I have for time-off and balance the whole "work situation". I would like nothing more than to see Jay put a nice muley on the ground. He'll get it done for sure, but I would love to be there when it happens.

As usual, the responses here have been spot on, IMO. If I had to choose one, it would be the 7mm based on nothing more than retained energy at longer distances and wind-bucking ability. That said, I know of some guys who have killed plenty of huge coues with a .243 simply because they can shoot that rifle very accurately, and you can't kill what you can't hit. With regards to bullets, I've seen coues shot quartering with .270 Nosler partitions and .308 Winchester ballistic silver tips that made tiny entrance AND exit wounds and almost no blood trail to speak of. The deer in both situations were recovered but they didn't travel far. For coues, especially in the larger calibers, I would not necessarily recommend the bonded or solid copper type bullets. The only reason I say that is, coues are very thin-skinned and light in both muscle and bone. Why my .300 didn't open up like an exploding can of chili, given the ballistic silver tips, I can't say. I've heard of guys having them explode on the outside of elk - they are not known for holding together well on heavy game. That's why when I shoot at coues, I'm shooting the silver tips. The bullets designed for elk and bear seem to blow right through without opening up much if you don't hit bone. Just my experience. You just have to figure out which gun you feel the most confident with, then make the shot count.

I'll believe it when I see it. However, Canada is starting to dismantle its draconian gun laws one step at a time - at least they are getting rid of the registry of long-guns. We'll see. The good news is, most liberals I know are actually supporters of the 2nd Ammendment. Most not by choice, but if they want the first to be interpreted in the broadest sense possible, it's hard to read the 2nd through the narrowest possible interpretation.

Awesome story, Scott! Thanks for sharing it. Man you're buddy is kinda puney? Did he stick that buck in his back pocket to carry it out?

One more vote for you! C'mon guys, let's show our support for Marcy. The CWT family could have a big impact on the vote.

That is a darn good looking buck, in my opinion.

Yeah but spotlighting doesn't count - just kidding - I couldn't resist.

What a great looking buck! Awesome way to get started right there! Thanks for sharing the story and pictures.

Ok, so it's not AZ. I'll post it on NM too Wow, what a Fall season it's been! I was fortunate enough to take nice coues and mule deer bucks with my bow in AZ and NM (Navajo rez) this year and had one more tag to fill, a NM Muzzle-loader coues hunt. With the help of a good friend, I bivy-packed into some remote wilderness country with hopes of finding a good coues buck to fill out the season. Camping was pretty sparse - no shade, a full moon and plenty of critters to keep me guessing all night. On opening day, I saw plenty of deer, but no mature bucks. It was hard hunting because the deer were moving mostly at night and bedding early. There was a lot of ground to cover, and every time I found deer, only small forkies were hanging around the does. The second day of the hunt, I made a huge circle, hiking several miles, mostly by moonlight, to get a little deeper into the areas I thought the bigger bucks would be hanging out. Out of water and almost back to camp, I started walking the inside cuts of a large drainage hoping to push a buck out of his bed. About 9:00, two deer bolted in the thick cover beneath me. I only had about a second to decide whether to take the shot, and I could see that it was a pretty good buck. In hind sight, I may have been a little hasty but I really wanted to take a buck with my muzzle loader, and so far hadn't seen anything big, so I put the scope on the running buck's shoulder and fired. The shot hit well, and he dropped in his tracks. Here's a pic from the field that morning... He's a nice, older buck - 3x4, with decent mass, but short points. Overall, I am very happy with the whole hunt. With a little more persistence I might have found a bigger buck, but after seeing over 50 deer without any being larger than a fork-horn, I was happy to finally get my first muzzle-loader buck and finish out a great hunting season and get back home to my family. A huge thanks to Greg, who showed me the ropes in this area and made it all possible. - Jason

dang, and with a bow no less. That took some serious work by the guides and hunter to pull it all together. Congrats on a world-class coues. Great job to all of you

Hey Scott, actually, no. I never saw a UDA or smuggler. My prime worry in that part of the world was just that. Apparently I wasn't on the menu. You have never heard silence until you'have heard that kind of silence. I never knew how badly my ears ring until I stood out next to my bivy camp looking at the moon in true, absolute silence. It was weird for sure. Great times though. I'd do it again, but I'd be in better shape with better equipment for sure. A buddy on that kind of hunt can make or break - no two ways about it.

What an awesome post! Way to get those youth hunters out there doing it up! Great job!!

Thanks Cory. Honestly I had visions of driving back home and giving you a call to check out a big buck in the bed of the 'yota. He's OK, but next year will put a bigger boy on ground for sure. How are those shed-finding boys of yours doing?