COOSEFAN

That Oryx is beautiful!! I don't know much about Auodad's but that one looks like a big one! Congrats and GREAT pics, you can tell Scottyboy had a hand in the picture taking! Awesome! JIM>

Thanks guys! We head back down this Thurs and can't wait! Word on the hill is the deer activity and rut is picking up more and more daily and this next week should be the best week of the year to hunt! We've got a handful of hunters going this time so I'm sure there's gonna be some whoppers hammered! Best of luck to all that are getting ready to head down! JIM>

Way to go Keven! Congrats!!! JIM>

So since I always try to go hunting on my birthday, I grabbed my bow and headed out yesterday. I ended up at spot that a good friend showed me and despite the bad winds I had 2 shooter bucks and 2 does located right away. There are 4 deer in this crappy digi-pic thru my 15's. The bigger buck is behind and right of the middle doe, you can just see his face basically. All I was after was any 4x4 so both these bucks would fit the bill and the stalk was on! All but the last 100 yards was easy. The strong winds covered any noise and it was steady so scent control was easy. Once I topped out on the last rise before the deer I could see the smaller buck and ranged him at 75 yards. With the winds like they were it wasn't a good shot and I didn't have enough shooting lanes to wait the bucks out at this spot so I needed to get closer. There was a solid cactus patch between the next bush and I and I would have to zig zag to get through it. The biggest problem was that the smaller buck would be in full view the whole time! I had to stay lower than the cactus patches and these unfortunately were small patches! Also, because of all the dead pads and needles everywhere I couldn't slide on my belly. I had to support my fat belly with 1 arm and my tippy toes most of the time while pushing the bow forward with the other arm! It had to have taken 30 minutes or more for me to cover these next 20 yards and I actually probably crawled 60 yards in the process because of the zig zagging! Once I got to the last bush, I peeked through the grass and could see the forehead of the bigger buck at 50 yards and the smaller buck was still bedded as well at around 60. I knew there were 2 does in between the big buck and I also but the wind was steady in my favor so everything was good. I spent the next 15-20 minutes laying there pulling cactus needles out of my belly and hands. I had run all possible scenarios thru my head and felt confident I was going to kill the bigger buck. Finally, I picked my head up to look and the bigger buck was up and quartered away with his head down. I ranged him at 56 yards then slid up onto my knees while drawing bow back. The does blew out fast but the buck stayed still looking at them. I immediately realized I couldn't hold my bow steady! A combination of the wind and my tired arms were making it very hard to hold my 60 yard pin where I wanted it! I finally had it fairly solid and let it go, only to watch it skim harmlessly past his shoulder! I didn't compensate for the wind! I'm sure it wasn't just that but probably a combination of everything I'm guessing. Now, the big buck takes off and already with another arrow loaded I draw back again as the smaller buck is still standing broadside at what I thought was the same distance I had ranged him earlier in his bed. This time I held for the wind but didn't realize he was now a little further and my arrow thankfully just missed his belly. Now, with the rodeo over, I sat back and laughed to myself. It was strange, instead of disappointment at the missed opportunities, I felt satisfied and victorious! I had beaten these deer, I had stalked up to and laid within killing distance of two nice bucks and watched them chew their cud! Sure I missed, I know what I did wrong and learned from it and luckily nobody got hurt in the process. But sitting there, tired and sore, and looking back on the stalk from start to finish with the heart pounding moments, I was reminded why I love bowhunting so much! I was also reminded that I'm getting old! Thanks if you read thru it all! JIM>

NICE!!!! Big G3's are what turns me on! I'm with ya on all measurements but the mass, like the others, I think 28" is a little high but that's a stud and definitely one i wouldn't take the time to score BEFORE shooting it, pound em'!!!

Jack, you defintitely earned that buck! Great story and congrats on a beauty of a buck! JIM>

GREAT job sticking with it and not being afraid to try new tactics! Huge congrats to you! JIM>

I've gotta admit......If these had been Coues bucks instead of Mulies, and I missed easy shots on em' like this, I wouldn't have been just sitting there laughing and reflecting.... I would've probably thrown my bow and beat my head on the ground until I couldn't feel the pain anymore! (Coues are THAT much better )

Ya know, I was reading about your pig hunt on here and wonderin' if it's the same Mario that I met! Great to see you on here Mario! I'm not sure I've met another individual who enjoys or has as much enthusiasm for the sport of bowhunting as you do Mario! With your determination and enthusiasm, along with the support of that "azsagebrush" guy , you are gonna be slayin some critters in the very near future! Glad to see ya on here, best of luck to ya! JIM>

When you get to be Jim's age, your skin gets like leather. Cactus is no problem. HA! I was talking with my wife about this, and bless her heart, she's telling me that "You're NOT old, you're just out of shape".....which is her nice way of saying, "You're a semi-old fat dude that can't even kill a lazy old carp deer"! LMAO! I love that lil woman

. Well I'm back for a couple days from a great trip to old Mexico! Myself along with a couple friends headed south for our first hunt a little over a week ago. Knowing the moon would make it tough along with being an early hunt our expectations weren't very high. Immediately on the first day we started glassing up bucks and the midday activity kept us busy and hopefull that a giant buck would present itself! It didn't take long before we finally had a great buck spotted and the stalk was on! Closing the distance quickly, my hunter and I made it to 513 yards from the feeding buck. I had the priviledge of trying out Swarovski's brand new 10x42 EL Range binoculars with the built-in range finder and those things are AMAZING! With these new binos on the tripod I was able to range the buck and watch the shot without taking my face away from the binos! My hunter made a great 1 shot kill and the buck was down immediately! We were both very excited to walk up and see this massive 117" beast up close! . Next up was our other hunter and after relocating to check out a different ranch we immediately had another great buck spotted! Again, the stalk was on and the distance was cut from 700 yards to 270 yards and with 2 well placed shots the 110" 4x4 was ours! . So now with 2 great bucks in camp and several tags left we kept hunting! On one evening we located a pretty 103" 4x4 at 685 yards and my friend decided with the challenge of the shot, this buck was worth a try. He's practiced at this distance and with full confidence he proceeded to make a great first shot and followed it up with a perfect second shot to anchor the buck at 685 yards! It's not a giant but it was a great experience and some incredible shooting! We also had a pic of this buck on trail cam... . So there's the result of our first trip! We had smooth crossings at the border and we all felt safe and comfortable while on our trip. I can't wait to run out the door and head back down! Thanks and stay tuned to see what we turn up next! JIM> View the full article

Thanks guys! TAM, I'll be back down on the 19th also and feel it'll be the best time to be there! I'm sure you'll kill a biggun and can't wait to see it! Kevin, I don't have any future plans for that ranch and the ranch owner isn't worried about the lions so all the kitties remained lead free. That was the 4th lion I saw there, 3 were running together the day before on the other side of the ranch! Casey, both bucks we killed on this ranch had huge bodies and big heads. I was disappointed in the pics because they don't do this buck or that 117" buck justice due to their bodies and heads being so big making the racks look smaller. This buck is an older deer, his skull had some serious damage when he was younger too with crushed bones around the upper teeth and broken jaw that had since repaired itself. I'm sure it's evidence he survived a lion attack at some point.

Alright, enough of ya have bugged me about getting a pic posted up, here ya go! Because of lack of time, you can check out more of a story and pics on my site: http://mullinsmexicohunts.blogspot.com We had a great first trip, killed 3 bucks with 2 hunters, 103", 110" and 117"! The border crossings were smooth and uneventful which is always nice! The best part was that we couldn't find a single tick on any of the deer!!! Last year all of our deer were covered in ticks and no matter how much you tried you could never get all the ticks off the capes! The nice fellers at the Nogales crossing said these were the first deer across this season so I'm not sure if we just shot clean deer or if the lack of ticks will be the norm this season. Rumor has it that there was a bad freeze last February in parts of Sonora and the lack of ticks is a result. Not sure if that's true or not, but I'll take it! After losing a few capes to em', I hate those little critters!!! There's definitely pre-rut going on, smaller bucks are hanging with the does and some breakage was evident on a few bucks already. The biggest bucks we saw were solo or sparring around with other bucks still, and probably the reason for the breakage we saw. Can't wait for the next trip, it's only gonna get better!!! My friends aren't into the photo thing so I had the priviledge of showing off this stud!

Hey Kevin, I'm thinking it's an average year for horn growth and possibly on the low side. I've only been on the desert ranches so not sure about up high, but where the rains fell in the Sonoran desert was hit and miss. I've seen some breakage and some sporadic rutting activity but nothing serious yet. The biggest bucks we've seen are starting to hang close to doe groups and occasionally check them out but I haven't seen any full on rut action yet with the bigger bucks. I think/hope 2 weeks from now it'll be "on like donkey kong"!

Your in luck Ernesto, I haven't dropped the hammer on a buck myself yet and my hunters aren't entering their bucks into any contests so you still have a great chance my friend! You are due to kill a giant and I sincerely hope you do! Best of luck! JIM>

I just got back home from another trip to Mexico this morning. Had a 3 hour wait at the border last night which was horrible but we made it home safe and that's always a good thing! I gotta say, a week ago the first couple days were nice, there was some rutting activity and lots of daytime deer movement, BUT, as the week wore on it steadily got worse. It was 92 degrees yesterday at 11:00 am on our ranch! The heat coupled with the moon getting brighter has killed the daytime rut and deer activity. I feel sorry for all those guys I saw heading down to hunt this week! We did kill another really good buck and it's one we have trailcam pics of. I'll post up some pics when I get a chance. Some good news for all you Mexico bound hunters, we've killed 4 bucks and have found a whopping total of 2 ticks!!! That may not mean much to some of you, but after losing a couple capes last year because of tick infested bucks, the lack of ticks is a huge thing and a big relief to me! The 2 ticks we found were on this last buck and were buried in the ear canal and not even on the hide itself. Hopefully you all have the same good fortune! Best of luck to you all, the middle of the month around the 20th will be the best time and the rut should be in full swing by then! JIM>

"Yes Virginia, Rudolph WAS a Coues deer"! I hope all of you here at CouesWhitetail.com have a wonderful and safe Christmas and New Years! JIM>

Thanks bud, I hardly have time for much these days so haven't done a JIB JAB yet. Might have to do one soon tho! Take care! JIM>

Thanks TJ, My wife Alicia along with Harley and Drake wish you, Peg and Lexie a Merry Christmas as well. I really wish I could've made it to your Christmas get together last week but we had a big family snow trip up north. I never seem to be able to make it to the get togethers, always something going on! One of these days it'll work out! Harley, while nosing around in the presents under the tree, found one that is for my wife's cat and when moved it squeaks! Harley is certain there is a baby in there for her and has guarded that present ever since! No cat or dog dares go near that present! LOL! Both Harley and Drake are excited for Christmas day! Such is the life in a house with only 4 legged kids!

HA! If I had heard it from someone else I wouldn't believe it either without pics! My experience with the crazy coues girls would've never been retold if it weren't for having my brother as a witness, I've had to call on him more than once to back that story up! I still don't think he realizes how much trouble we would've been in had those girls gotten up on the bluff with us. He laughs hard everytime it gets brought back up, I guess when I was screaming "SHOOT EM', SHOOT EM'"!!!, he says I was screaming like a girl and I don't doubt it!!! Those does were pissed and acted and sounded just like a pack of very angry dogs! JIM>

Here's another.... While scouting for Antelope with my bro n' law we found this young bull. He was miles from the nearest trees and it was scorching hot out! The fence you see in the pics is what was keeping him from making it to the shady treeline and nearest water source. His health appeared bad enough that he couldn't jump the fence and acutally couldn't stand when we first found him. I opened a gate not far from where he was laying and then went back to get em' up. Once I got em' up I tried to splash water on his face and mouth. He was gaining strength but instead of running from me he just stood and growled, sounding just like a dog! I finally got him to drink out of my hand and his comfort level with me grew. He actually started getting aggressive with the bottle of water so I just stuck it in his mouth! He amazingly held it with his lips and tipped his head up and drank from the bottle!!! Now that I taught him to drink from the bottle, we gave him all the bottles we had and then started filling bottles with the melted ice in the ice chest. Once he finally drank every last drop of water we had, I held up an empty bottle and showed it to him and said "All gone, No more buddy"...and he didn't like that!!! He started growling again and charged me! I put my hand between his spikes and with him pushing as hard as he could and me running backwards I somehow managed to clear the fence to safety! We packed up all the empty bottles while the bull just paced back and forth on his side of the fence growling at us! We got back in the truck and left the open gate for him and drove out of sight. We gave him about a half hour and came back to check on him and he was gone with only elk tracks visible thru the gate headed for the trees! That was an amazing experience and one I'll never forget. I've always wondered how long that bull survived, I do know that he at least made it to the comfort of the shady treeline with restored hope! JIM>

This great thread needs to be brought back up!!! I've got tons of crazy stories, don't know why other than because I spend a lot of time in the woods I guess. Probably the craziest thing that's happened to me was when I got attacked by several Coues does. My brother had a late season rifle deer tag and I had the archery tag. We were bored mid day so while sitting on a small rock bluff surrounded by cactus and shin daggers we used a fawn in distress call to see what we could call in. Immediately 3 does came haulin' butt towards us, blowin' and stomping the whole way. They eventually came up to my side of the bluff and began to climp up individually to get at me! There was just a small spot in the boulders that they could climb up and that put their heads within arms length of my face! I knew if they got up with us we were either going off into the cactus or getting our butts kicked bad. I was actually scared enough that I was yelling at my brother to shoot em'! The first doe was clawing at the bluff and blowing in my face just as I hit her square on the head with a rock! As she slid back down a second doe came up and was getting higher and closer to me so I just started swinging and hitting her with my fist. She then slid down and all three does started calming down a bit but were still bristled up, stomping and blowing violently while walking in a circle below me! I stood up and just started throwing more rocks at them. The whole time that this took place, while fearing for my life and limb, my brother was rolling on his back trying to breathe because he was laughing so hard. Those does were lucky the rifle wasn't within reach of me! I've since used that fawn in distress call while hunting to bring in deer and it's worked several times but never with the same intensity those Coues does had! Thankfully!

It's not my experince that pigs are that easy to booger out of an area, at least not long term. We've killed pigs out of the same holes year after year. My experience is pigs are very habitual and even after watching their buddies get whacked they can still be found in the same area year after year. I'm sure it's not always the same herds and the recruitment rate is typically high so there's always newbies and new herds as well. Based off my experience, pigs like to sleep in the same holes, travel the same routes, and crap in the same spot time after time, and they won't just have one hole or one toilet, they'll usually have several favorite spots they routinely use. I will say tho, in an area where the predator population is high and pigs are the easiest prey, you will notice some big changes in the herd movements or routines and it can be a better explaination for the lack of pigs year after year in a particular area. Just my observations tho, I'm not an expert, just love huntin em! JIM>

Once I whacked my first pig 20 years ago I've been a pig killin' fool ever since! I LOVE hunting them little critters and have since lost count on how many I've whacked, especially over the last handful of years hunting Mexico! One of my favorite things to do is to sneak in as close as possible to a herd and just watch em for a while, picking out which pig I want! It still gets my heart pumping each time and it never gets old hearing a big ol' pig blow out after watching your arrow smack em thru the ribs!!! As for cleanin them, just like whats been said already, it's the same as cleaning a stinky ruttin' bull. You gotta keep your hands and knife clean. The gland is on their back and attached to the hide just up from the tail. The trick is to get the hide off ASAP and without letting any hair touch the meat. Also, if you gut shoot em', you need to cut all the affected or dirty meat off the carcass ASAP, don't just wash it. I've seen guys take water and try washing off the nasty stuff, but what you are doing is just spreading that junk all over the good stuff! Also, cut the legs off at the knee/elbow that still have hide/hair/hooves attached. The problem here is that lower leg is what folks grab for a handle when moving the carcass around. Then they at some point will touch the meat and will again spread the nasty stuff on the good stuff! Lastly, I will skin the hide off the tendon/gambrel on the back leg PRIOR to tagging it. This way, when you skin ALL the hide off you aren't leaving that chunk of nasty hide under the tag. I've got a HAM tag for 19A and can't wait! I've killed em' with everything but a muzzleloader and think I might give that a try! JIM>

Thanks for the reply's all! Mexico is a magical place this time of year, especially when you have a tag in your pocket and all the country as far as you can see is yours, and ONLY yours to hunt! We have 6 ranches all back to back in one area and it's like basically having a whole unit to yourself, very overwhelming but very cool and definitely worth the price of admission! I can't wait to see what else we find and will keep ya posted! JIM>