COOSEFAN

I've hunted several units in NM for elk and by far my favorite is 16A. Lots of waterholes, lots of hard-to-get-to spots as well. Great unit for a backcountry hunting experience! Lots of elk, at least by NM standards, and beautiful country. If you draw a tag there, or just want more info, email me. JIM

oooh!!!!! I love that droptine Awesome bucks! Would love to hear more about the hunt? JIM

Well in that case, congrats to the hunter and to the guy that told the hunter where to go! You obviously knew yer stuff! JIM

You've definitely done your homework and deserve a big buck! I hope you get em', Good luck! JIM

That looks like a unit 10 buck to me, but it doesn't matter, Great buck! What a hog and to stick em' with an arrow, WOW! Congrats! JIM

Very nice! Congrats to hunter and guide! JIM

I only use the "carp" term when I'm tryin to piss off my brother-in-law. He's the one who has hunted coues deer for only 4 hours of his life..........and killed a 114" buck! He did his homework and was given some great info, but it still is hard to swallow when I've been tryin to do that since I was 10 yrs old! He thinks coues are easy and doesn't care to hunt them anymore! Just wants to hunt Mulies now. I'm not bashing him, he knows what he got and how he got it and appreciates it, but he didn't get the full "coues deer" experience! So his idea of Coues deer is not accurate. I feel to get a full taste of coues hunting, you need some bad hunts as well as some good hunts under your belt before making an accurate observation about the deer. I love Mulies as well but I love Coues deer more because I feel they present more of a challenge for me. I have killed a bunch of mulies, quite a few with a bow, and have put equal time into coues deer and have only killed 3 with rifle and 0 with a bow. I actually put more time into archery hunting coues deer every year than anything else and I still haven't gotten one yet. For that I give coues deer more respect than mulies but its my own personal reasons. I do think mulies aren't as pretty or graceful as a coues deer and I honestly think mulies are easier to hunt than coues, on average! But, if you're after a book deer, it would be harder to kill a book mule deer than killing a book coues! (my $.02) Couesfan all the way! JIM

I just got back from guiding state side hunts, couldn't imagine how fun it would be to guide down there! Best of luck and can't wait to see pic's! JIM

hey boys, those bucks are far better than "decent" in my book! I dream of eyegaurds like that first one and love the frame on the second! Great bucks! JIM

The "vulcan mind scan", I'll never forget that one DEERSLAM!! I can't stop laughing! Hey Bret, You did a wonderful job and should be extremely proud of that deer and even the picture as well, They're both great!!!! Great job and thanks for the story. JIM

Can't exactly say that's a "pretty " cat, but it's a cat nonetheless! You guys obviously have some great dogs, keep up the good work! Congrats to you guys! JIM

Unit 35B is a tough unit to trophy hunt, especially when there is no rutting activity and it's extremely hot! We hunted the same area we killed Craig's 108" and found another buck, not as heavy but as long, wider, and had a 6" extra coming off the back of his left G2! We set up to shoot just as the buck went behind some trees, and sat on him from 8:00am till dark, with nothing coming out! We hiked in way before light and sat and glassed for him for the next two days and only found a couple small bucks and three does. The country is extremely thick and rough and Steve was getting tired so we went to an easier area and glassed up this buck Thurs. pm. Steve stalked in and decided it was the buck for him, the shot was 230 yrds and couldn't have been a cleaner kill. Steve is 66 yrs. old and worked his butt off with me and stuck it out till the end, glassing for days looking for one buck and seeing very few deer for the amount of glassing we were doing. This definitely isn't the deer we were after, or had the score we were trying to beat, but this deer couldn't have went to a more deserving guy! Steve was extremely proud of this deer and worked very hard for it! Congrats, Steve, on a beautiful coues! JIM

Thanks for the reply's, We were averaging only about 5 deer a day! But, of those five, were usually seein' two or three bucks a day. Most were in the 70" class but in two small canyons we found three bucks with the smallest one being 108" that Craig killed. We almost got the third one on Tues. am but the buck did that disappearing act for us. The small canyons are extremely thick with tall grass in the few openings that swallow up bedded coues! I have never seen three huge bucks living in such a small area together like I did in this spot. I know the remaining two bucks are still there, we never spooked them, and there were no other poeple in that area, it's just so dang thick, hot and no visible rut yet! Hopefully next year I might have my own tag and some ruttin' weather to go with it!. Thanks again, JIM

Congratulations on a great buck!!! You definitely worked for it and deserved it, and thanks for taking us along as well! JIM

That's a TOAD! Congrats to you guys! It's awesome to just be with someone that takes a great buck such as that, you'll never forget it! JIM

A goal of getting something with eyegaurds! Looks like you accomplished that, those are great eyegaurds and a great buck! Congrats! JIM

Everyone is saying the buck looks bigger than 108" and it is. I score conservatively and it is actually closer to 109" but no bigger than that. The mass makes him look bigger and you don't get enough credit for mass. Thanks for the reply's JIM

This is cool, it allows us to know a little more about each other, other than just our common "Coues" obsession. I help run the family's guide service, "Mullins Outfitters", and that helps curb my appetite for hunting( somewhat ). I work for an autoglass company during the summer months and I'm always willing to fix windshields for free or replace them at my cost for my friends. I would do that for CW.com folks as well but it has to be when I'm back at work in the summer. As for the rest of the year, I'm always willing to help anyone with info about hunting or hunting areas. I take great pleasure in helping others succeed and would do anything I can to help! Jimmy Mullins

Wow! Awesome buck and story, VERY suspenseful! Big congrats to you both on an incredible hunt with great bucks! JIM

Great job, and one exciting hunt! Now where is the dead deer!

This is nuts! I can't find anything else to look at in the meantime!

Hey, this is hard on a guys heart to read this " to be continued" stuff! Great buck! Gorgeous symmetry as well! Can't wait for the rest! Thanks JIM

This must be Harvey! If it is, thank you for the kind words! I had my hands on your bull yesterday at Bret's. It's already mounted, just needs finishing touches. Looks AWESOME!! What a monster!!! I got both Matt's and Craigs kills on video last weekend, and just finished the editing. You can really feel the emotion when Matt kills his buck! I'll make sure Bret has copies for you and Justin when you pick up your bulls! Thanks again! JIM

My brother, Matt, has always been a elk fanatic and has a gift for helping people fill their elk tags every year. He uses all of his vacation time up during the elk hunts and rarely gets to hunt for himself. He finally drew a great coues tag and had big plans for the hunt but last minute complications at home left him with only the first three days to hunt. He made the most of it and hunted hard the first couple of days only finding does and spikes. I was in 35B and my friend killed a huge buck on Saturday, so we headed over to 36B to help Matt on his last day. We went to a place we archery hunt every January and immediately had deer everywhere. Five minutes out of the truck, we had a nice 2x3 with several does spotted. Matt looked him over and said thats the buck he wants. Matt and I stalked down and up a steep canyon to a vantage point and had to catch our breath before crawling over. Matt was overwhelmed with excitement and couldn't catch his breath! I didn't help the matter by telling him he's going to be shooting at the buck in about 1 minute! I could see the does at about 200 yrds as we crawled into position. The does started to get nervous and the tension was mounting becuase I hadn't relocated the buck yet, but knew he was there. I finally found him but he was directly behind a tree for Matt's angle. He repositioned, got comfortable and found the buck in his scope. I had the video camera rolling as the first shot hit the buck in the leg just grazing his brisket. He dissappeared into the ravine and deer started running everywhere. I scanned every deer leaving the canyon, thinking the deer was lying in the bottom, when all of a sudden he was there with them. His leg was damaged and still moving well but I didn't tell Matt he was wounded yet because he was already shaking with adrenaline so bad, I didn't want to add to it. I told him he had to make this shot count as the buck stood facing us at 200 yrds. He shot and center punched the buck, putting him down fast. Matt was so excited he didn't realize he hit the deer and jacked another round in and was trying to find the deer in his scope. As soon as I told him the deer was down, the emotions started taking hold. He's wanted to experience glassing, stalking and shooting a coues buck for a long time and thought it wasn't going to happen after his first two days out there but it did on his last day and was a dream come true for him. I don't know how to explain what it was like at that moment last Sunday morning on that ridge top, but I do know that's what hunting coues deer is all about! To see someone get so excited that their eyes well up with tears over shooting an average buck makes you realize that there is definitely more to it than the size of the deer! It was a moment we'll never forget and a great first buck! JIM

Thanks again for the reply's! The area surrounding the mountain ranges we hunted looks like a jungle, that is flat and extends for miles. I swear you might find monkeys swingin' around in there! I feel that the few bucks that are there get to a ripe old age living most of their lives in that mess. The oncoming rut is, I feel, the main reason we found a couple bucks outside the jungle. I only hope the rut starts to pick up, but it's not looking good with record heat down there! We never saw a buck with a doe, found a few rubs and scrapes, but still only found a few deer. The bigger bucks did have swollen necks though. Thanks, JIM