COOSEFAN

Thanks Casey for not posting your "stub" here!

Hey Matt, for the price I believe Leupolds are the best scope you can get. I have 2 of the Long Range Tactical 6.5-20x50 VX3's with the fine duplex reticle and love them. I'd have Mark4's but those were out of my price range. That Mark4 is a great scope and I think you can have the Leupold Custom Shop put whatever reticle you want in there. I love the Fine Duplex reticle because at long range when zoomed in the crosshairs won't cover up the target like a thick crosshair will. +1 for Brunos Shooting Supply, I've got 2 scopes from them now and saved a bunch of money.

Nah...folks are just picking up hard whites. If I were you all I'd wait for another month or two before hittin' the hills.

Very nice job all the way around! Great bucks and great video work! JIM>

Hey all, I've been trying to get all my pics and video together from this past season but the time to do so has been scarce! I did finally slap a short video together of my dad's hunt and will post it here. We had a great season in 2012 and so far 2013 has been a success as well! We had several safe and successful hunts in Mexico and killed some great bucks. I'll get more pics and video up as soon as I can! My favorite hunt took place in mid January and was a hunt consisting of my dad and two close friends of ours, Manny B. and Gary. It was a blast as always with this group and I'm already excited for our next trip in 2014! Everyone tagged out on older age class bucks, we ate like kings, and enjoyed hassle free trips down and back across the border! It was a great hunt! As you can see Pops hammered a great buck! We found this buck on the first evening of the hunt. He was close to 1000 yards and at the top of the biggest mountain around. All I could tell was he had a big frame and had a G4 on one side. Pops and I made a valiant effort climbing up that mountain and ultimately got 200 yards across from where the buck was but couldn't relocate him. We could hear some rut activity below us but with light fading we decided to back out. It took another day and a half before we saw this buck again and Pops put the smack down on em'! I initially thought the buck had a broken G2 but later realized it was just short and the G4 was actually broke. Even without eyegaurds this buck still scores over 108" and had the G4 not been broke he would've been around 111". As always it was a great experience shared with my dad and one I won't forget! Congrats Pops! JIM> Here's a link to the video:

Thanks for the reply's all! This buck definitely illustrates the fact that to hit the big numbers on a score sheet every tine counts! I was shocked to see he didn't have G1's but his beams were longer than I initially guessed so he still hit the number we thought he was, but dang, if only he had eye guards! I'm working on another short video that you all will love, it's "one of a kind" to say the least! Stay tuned.

Hey Nick, you and I were thinking of 2 different bulls. That's not the bull I thought you had sheds from but I see the strong resemblance. I thought the sheds you had in the picture were older than 2010, so it's definitely not the bull I was thinking it was. They very well could be the same bull! That wasn't a bull I had been following or had named so I don't know for sure if I have his pics, but I would assume I do and saved his pics on my laptop. I'll go back thru my "Big No Names" folder from 2010 and see if I can find him. JIM>

I'm pretty sure I've got some history with that bull Nick! I'll have to pull up some old pics but I think I have pics of that bull over the years wearing those antlers. What year do you think he was wearing that 7pt side? Awesome finds Nick and thanks for posting! JIM>

Gorgeous buck!!!! Thanks for posting! You need to pattern and kill that buck! If you've ever seen him out of the rut focus on that area. If you've only seen him during the rut, look for nearby areas where a mature buck would spend the rest of the year feeling safe and focus there for scouting. I know you know what your doing but that buck would be on my priority list if I had the same experience with him! I think he's smaller than 115" but not by much! Best of luck to ya! JIM>

Here's a shed I found south of the border so unfortunately it's still there but I snapped a few pics for you all. I've never held a full size shed like this, it's literally "pencil thin"! I can't believe the buck never broke any of the tines with how fragile they are!

Hey guys and gals, I've been wanting to share my thoughts on a new product that's in the CWT.com store with you all. I think it's awesome we have great products available through our own store here on the site and this new product, the "LoopRope", is definitely one of them! About halfway through this past season I got two of the 5 footers and one of the 3 foot LoopRopes. At first when I opened them up I was amazed at the quality of the rope itself and especially the metal clips. These aren't your typical cheap bungee cords and the clips are actually rated for 150 lbs! I constantly carry extra gas cans and a box with tools and supplies in the bed of my truck, and typically during the hunting season I have much more back there. Every year I blow through a handful of regular bungee cords because they just don't hold up to the constant abuse I put them through. What I hate is how the items in my truck bed will bounce around with regular bungee cords and especially how dangerous it is when using normal bungee cords! Bungee cords are one of the biggest causes of eye injuries and I've had several close calls myself with cheap bungee cords breaking or coming free while installing them! What I love about the LoopRope most is the solid durability of the clip. When I clip it to a hook or hole in the bed, it stays! Also, having the ability to take the hook off and actually run the LoopRope itself through a hook in my truck bed is even better and I then have an extra hook to use somewhere along the rope! In using the LoopRope, the items in my truck bed stay where I want them. There are multiple ways to use the hooks or additional LoopRopes so your items are much more secure and organized. The LoopRope doesn't stretch as much as a normal bungee cord but it stretches enough to keep the items tight. With normal bungee cords they stretch so much that your items can slip free or bounce around which causes you to pull them tighter increasing the chances of it breaking and taking out your eye! This is definitely an awesome product and the versatility and usefulness of it is amazing. I'll recommend to anyone that hunts, fishes or camps to buy several of the LoopRopes, I guarantee you'll use the heck out of em' and be completely satisfied with them just as I am! So far I've only used it to secure items in the bed of my truck, but I already know that I'm going to use the LoopRopes this spring to secure all those brown sheds to my pack and also to secure my bow or fishin' rods down to the front deck of my boat! Here's a link to this product in the CWT.com Store: http://store.coueswhitetail.com/loop-rope/ Here's a couple pics I took this past season of the LoopRope system in action...

Hey Rob, congrats on a great trip and buck, it was cool to see you and Houston at the border and glad to hear you all had a great trip! JIM>

Hey all, I just got back from yet another hunt in beautiful Mexico and finally had time to take care of my albino Javi and get him home! I've been worried that there would be ticks on him or the USFWS would think it was an illegal exotic or something and take my cape. I had the cape checked and rechecked multiple times before crossing and no ticks were found and then yesterday at the border they never asked questions about his color but they did try their hardest to find a tick! Luckily they didn't and I'm happy to say that the cape is now safely at my buddy Bret's shop and will be mounted life-sized in the near future! I'll definitely post up pics of the mount as soon as it's done! Thanks, JIM>

Great job Chris! That was a very tough unit to hunt this year and I know there are a bunch of folks that would've loved to come home with a bull such as yours! It was a pleasure meeting you and seeing your success, you earned it! Thanks for the great story and pics as well! JIM>

So miraculously, after only spending 1 bonus point on it, I drew a coveted Kaibab muzzy tag! What made it better was a bunch of friends and family had also drawn archery and rifle tags for the same unit as well so I would have a ton of scouting knowledge prior to my hunt! The bad thing with everyone drawing tags is they wouldn't have any vacation time to spend on my hunt, so I would be doing my hunt solo. The first couple hunts came and went and the outlook wasn't as good as I had hoped. The antler growth wasn't great, deer were scattered and there was very little activity. The only thing going for me for my hunt was a dark moon and several areas that supposedly held a big buck. What i didn't anticipate was 60mph winds!!! And to make it more interesting I planned to spend my first couple days in the burn with all those dead trees! I had my first camp set up in the middle transition to make travel easier while hunting between there and the top. I had been running cams for several days and was disappointed in the results. Even though it was a dark moon, most of the deer were nocturnal and I wasn't seeing the mature bucks at all. My first day started off with a huge hike planned in a roadless section of the burn. The winds were incredible and I heard later that they were around 60mph! What made it more fun was all the dead trees that were falling and it sounded like bombs going off! Anytime I stopped to glass I had to make sure I wasn't in line with a tree! My plan was to hike up and down all the fingers glassing tight into the un-windy sides and cuts. This turned a mile long section of rim into 5 miles because of the zig zagging but in theory it was the best way to find the giant that supposedly lived in there. I did this for the entire day and unbelievably found only 2 does!!! I couldn't believe it and that's when the frustrations of the hunt kicked into high gear! I did find a broken arrowhead on that hike so it was just a little highlight to the day.. My biggest problem with the wind, other than the crazy cold and falling trees, was that my camp consisted of only a Jumpin' Jack trailer and it's not exactly designed for high winds! I'd lay awake all night listening and watching as the beds lifted up and the frame twisted and creaked. I actually had to brace the inside with tripods and a walking stick in hopes it would take pressure off the beating it was getting. Plus, every morning I'd have to drop it down and put frozen 5 gallon water containers on it so I wouldn't have to worry about it all day! That's basically how the first handful of days went. I transitioned into less hiking and more glassing trying to cover more ground and still couldn't find a decent buck, actually, nothing bigger than a forkie! Most everyone else I saw or talked to road hunted and stayed warm and I heard most of them were seeing way more deer than I was! I just kept at it thinking any second I'm gonna find the giant buried up under a tree but that never happened. I did get to fully enjoy the upper elevations of the unit for the first half of my hunt. I have never spent much time up top so a lot of it was new to me and it's a beautiful place! So now, after a little bit of snow fell and still no sighting of any decent bucks, I decide it's time to move my camp for a 3rd time and hit the country that I'm familiar with. I was excited to hunt the low country and after making a mid day run down there I saw enough sign to know there were mature bucks down there and it would be my last move. The temps were in the low teens and it was crazy cold! I swear Jumpin' Jacks are the worst trailer to have in cold weather!!!! It's gotta be because of the air that circulates under them, but this is how I spent most of my time at night while outside of my coveted Butler Bag! If it was 15 degrees outside, I guarantee without the heater on, it was single digits IN the trailer!!! BUT, I was fine with it because the winds had finally subsided! First thing on the first morning of glassing down low I finally found a true Kaibab beast! This buck was moving and acting rutty which was bad because he was way up high in the wilderness area and I knew it would take me several hours to hike in there. I watched this buck walk nonstop up and over the highest peak and could only hope he stopped to bed. I could tell that he had a huge frame and possibly an extra inline on one side, a definite 190" plus deer even if he didn't have the inline! I sent a text out to my family and friends letting them know where I was headed and to come help if they didn't hear from me by nightfall. I spent several hours hiking up there and just like I'd expected he was nowhere to be found. The views were awesome and yet again I was seeing country I hadn't seen before so there was a silver lining to the adventure. So now it's the 5th day of the hunt and the 8th day of the adventure. I set up glassing the same country where the beast was the day before. I never found him but I did find a small group of does with a forkie and a small 4x4 in tow. I watched them feed for a while and then drop into a cut where i figured they would bed. These deer were yet again way up in the nasty stuff and it would be a long and difficult stalk. I texted my family and friends again and told them I've had an incredible experience but I'm tired of the cold and I'm sore from the previous days hike. I told them that if I could pull off this stalk, I'll be excited to smoke this 4x4. It would be a huge effort getting to him and an even bigger effort packing him out of there by myself! That effort, plus the fact I'm using a muzzleloader, would make this a great trophy in my book.. so off I went! It took me almost 2 hours to get where I planned to do the final stalk. I basically was just guessing that they had bedded in the cut and picked a tree out on the rim to sneak to. As I got closer I realized that my adrenaline was starting to get a little crazy! I kept laughing to myself because this wasn't a big buck but I was losing it!! I actually had to stop about 20 yards short of the rim to try and compose myself! I figured with all the planning, effort and frustrations leading up to and during this hunt, it had just built up to this point. I knew then that it didn't matter how big this buck was, I'm killin' em! So, after calming myself down I moved up to the tree. As soon as I rounded the tree deer started blowing out below me. I dropped the pack, threw the gun on it, found and ranged an opening ahead of the trotting buck at 135 yards, waited for him to get there and then I yelled to stop him.....Snap.......BOOM...Whop! I knew I hit him but for some reason my muzzleloader delay fired and I knew I pulled the crosshairs off him a little. I noticed he was humped up and still standing and that's when I REALLY lost it!!! I had reloading stuff flying EVERYWHERE! My primers went flying, I spilled half the first speedloader that i used, it was crazy! I finally got the gun loaded again, ranged the buck and lined up....Snap.......BOOM...Whop! I hit him again and he went down but again there was a delay fire and I pulled the crosshairs off. I saw he needed another round and this time, after frantically getting it loaded again, I shoved shooting sticks under the butt of the gun and made sure to get much steadier in case of another delay but finally the last shot was a BOOM..WHOP! Here's where the circus took place.... And here's my hard earned trophy!! I completely boned him out and was able to get it all into the Outdoorsmans frame pack. I don't know what that pack weighed but carrying it out physically sucked while emotionally it was very gratifying and I kept thinking the whole time that it will always be one of my most memorable hunts and cherished trophies! No doubt, the harder you work for something, the more it'll mean to you! My favorite part was realizing that I still get all worked up like when I was a kid, even when it's not a giant! I had cell service right where I shot from so the first thing I did was call my dad and he thought it was just as funny that I lost my composure and was having to pick up reloading items that had flown all over the place! Great times! Thanks if you read thru it all! JIM> .

Thanks for the replies all! I'm actually in my truck right now and gettin ready to cross the border headin south! I hope everyone has a merry Christmas and best of luck on any hunts between now and then! BTW... I did buy a Buffalo tag and spent half a day after the fresh snow trying to cut tracks near the park but found none, it was cool to carry a Buff tag in my pocket tho!

That's a cool buck!! Congrats! JIM>

Great story Ilene and congrats on your success! It's easy to get wrapped up in the pressure that typically comes with that tag, I've been there! I got very lucky when I had my late tag and fortunately fulfilled the expectations everyone had of me, I hated that pressure and felt it again this year on my muzzy hunt! All the hunts on the 'Bab were tough this year, it seemed as though mother nature was constantly working against everyone on all the Kaibab hunts, with crazy rains, crazy winds and just enough snow to scatter the deer from top to bottom! It's very easy to get wrapped up in the expectations of that tag, but as you found out, trying to meet the expectations of others takes all the fun out of it! The only expectations that count are the ones you set yourself. It's your tag, your hunt, and if you are happy with the pursuit and the animal you harvested, that's all that matters! You killed a nice buck on a tough hunt, my hats off to you! Congrats again! JIM>

Hey George, congrats again! It was great meeting you up there hope we cross paths again in the future. Best of luck on your Big 10 quest! JIM>

Thanks for the replies! I forgot to mention that this herd of pigs was huge and there were pigs everywhere. I was so focused on this white pig that according to my Mexican friend I didn't notice there was a 2nd white pig that came running out of the canyon with the rest of the herd after I shot mine! I would bet that whenever you have a sow or a boar with that albino gene, they probably produce white babies often. It's I'm sure very rare for them to survive while young and not able to defend themselves. I've hunted all the ranches surrounding this ranch every year for years and this was the 3rd time hunting this particular ranch and I've never seen an albino Javi in that area but it's vast and thick. This pig was fairly old and at least middle aged. One thing I didn't expect was feeling a little sad that I took out something so rare, almost like I killed an endangered specie, but the fact is, it's just a freak stink pig and I'm going to admire it for the rest of my life! Plus, my Mexican friend swears there was another one in the herd so that is really cool! Thanks again all! JIM>

LOL! That was a good one Casey, gotta hand it to ya, you finally made a funny.....and one that was actually funny!

Awesome job Morgan on a beautiful buck! Thanks for sharing it with us! JIM>

Awesome job to all, looks like a lot of great memories and experiences right there! JIM>

Great job to all! I love Randy's buck, beautiful specimen! Great writeup too, thanks for it and congrats to all! JIM>

Beautiful buck and you killed him in one of my favorite places! Congrats and welcome to the site! JIM>