Couestracker

Congratulations on a great goulds and an awesome hunt. I have a tag for unit 29/30a....PM sent Mark. Thanks, Tommy

That's awesome! Tommy

After not seeing or even hearing a bird for two days and getting beaten to my area of choice by other hunters Monday morning, I had to come up with plan "C". I drove to an area I've never been in, and started hiking in to try to make something happen. Well, I realized I had parked on a huge path of scratching that looked fresh, started following it and within 1/2 hour I heard my first gobble along with some hen yelps...the chase was on! I caught up to a flock of 14 birds, 1 good gobbler, some jakes and the rest hens. They responded to my calls, but kept heading where they wanted to go, so I had to stalk them. I got close 4 times, going over two ridges, across 1 meadow, and then we played zig and zag on this one ridge, until finally I saw them through an opening in the trees. They were moving in a single file, passing one by one through the opening. I didn't know if "my bird" had gone by yet, so I took aim and watched as they went by. Then the big gobbler appeared and I blasted him from what wound up being a 71 yard shot. He weighed 17.3 pounds and had a 9" beard! I packed it up amongst the high winds that started about then and beat the rain (and mud) home. 2 for 2 on the San Carlos! Me and 3 of my friends that "took me" turkey hunting for the first time (back in '04?) have tags for next year-should be a hoot...er...yelp of a time. The picture isn't very good, only got 3 before the camera croaked. Thanks for looking, Tommy UPDATE 1/31/2014: I just picked up my 2013 San Carlos bird from Sven at Wildlife Wings Designs. I had him do a walking pose, just like it was doing when I last saw it. Sven did his usual awesome job! I forgot how big this Tom was.

Oooh....nevermind.

I'm not seeing the vote buttons. Thanks, Tommy

It's a lot of fun for sure! This year the early hunt is about 9 days earlier than when I hunted there in 2011 and some of my experienced turkey hunting buddies are going to go on the "late" hunt next year, because the birds will be in a more active state for better hunting action. Anyone else want to chime in on that thought? Thanks, Tommy

This year I was fortunate enough to have a Coues deer hunt with my friend Mike down in Mexico on a ranch named "La Tinaja." The owner of the ranch is Juan Pablo Donnadieu, who turned out to be a great guy. This would be my first time hunting in Mexico. Mike had already gone down two weeks before Christmas and hunted very hard for 4 days without seeing any good bucks. On his 5th day he took an awesome 114" buck! I wish I could have been there for that, but I had used up all vacation and couldn't go that week. My time finally came to go hunt, so Mike and I headed down there the day after Christmas, planning on returning New Years Eve Day. (Thanks Julie!) The drive to the ranch from the border crossing took us about 40 minutes and crossing with the weapons was a painless and easy procedure, with the proper paperwork handled by Juan Pablo. Once we got to the ranch we unloaded our food and gear and prepared to head out for an evening hunt. Main ranch house Our 2 bedroom casita View from front of house The wind was extremely gusty and we only saw a couple of does that evening. We headed back to the ranch and had a great meal of reindeer stew (ok, whitetail stew). Mike said it was D..E..L..I..C..I..O..U..S ! I stayed in the casita where the fireplace was already set up by the cowboys. Pretty cozy little place. The next morning we headed out early to get to a good glassing point. We set up our tripods and 15x56's and start glassing. Not more than 5 minutes go by, when I pick up a buck below me bedded down and looking up at me. I got all excited because he looked huge to me and he had double eye guards on one side! I motioned to Mike I had one glassed up, he quickly grabbed his gear, came over and set up next to me. He estimated the buck around 100", as his rack wasn't as wide as his ears and not much mass. He went back to the truck and returned with his spotting scope then set it up on the buck. The whole time the buck is frozen, staring up at us. At first, I was ready to shoot then and there, but finally decided not to take him. Mike said it was a good deer but we'll do better than that...geez! Finally, the buck started twitching an ear, then got up and trotted away. I thought, "Nice buck-what? I'm letting a double-eye-guarded, 100" buck walk?" Mike said, the fact is, if you saw a buck like that in Arizona, you wouldn't waste any time setting up on him and try to get a shot. But down here, a hundred inch buck is quite commonplace. Wish I would have taken a picture of him now... Not long after that, Mike calls over to me that he has a real nice buck bedded down around 1500 yards out. We looked at him through the spotting scope and decided to get a closer look at him. So we packed up our gear and hiked into a position that was above the buck and about 360 yards away. The buck was looking away from us, but would occasionally turn and look in our direction. We tried to stay as quiet as possible but the ground was a little crunchy and the noise would carry over to the buck. The buck appeared to be tall and heavy with an extra sticker point coming off of the G2. We both liked the buck a lot but we were not sure what he would score. In the end I elected to set up on him. I ranged him at 365 yards. I took aim with my Winchester .270 WSM and squeezed the trigger. I heard the "wack" and knew I hit him, but he bolted to its left, up and over the ridge and out of sight! We hurried over there and located where the buck was standing when I shot. We tracked it over the ridge. It took a few minutes to locate him in the thick cover, but when I got near the buck, I was a little taken aback. The deer's antlers seemed like they got smaller and smaller as I got closer and closer, and I was getting worried that my first trip to Mexico was a ruin. Mike saw him and said he thought it would only go 98, maybe 100". I was kinda bummed-thinking I could have had double eye-guards! I thought "What?- I'm turning my nose up at this nice buck?" It was cool, I was happy with him....but we couldn't wait to get it back to the ranch and measure him. The buck was really gnarly looking. extremely heavy with a lot of character. Mike went back to try and find the cowboys and have them use the horses to get the buck out. In the meantime, I sat with my buck and a pair of binoculars and started to glass the surrounding area. I actually was able to find another buck that looked really really good......it was hard to tell for sure, since I only had my 10x42's. Eventually, the cowboys rode up on me, tied the buck on the back and took him over to where the truck was located, dropped him off and then headed back to the ranch along a drainage. We got the deer back to the ranch where the cowboys skinned and quartered him out. One of the cowboys' wives brought us venison tamales for lunch...yum! After lunch we put a tape on him, and to our surprise the buck actually went over 105 inches gross. The tine length was fairly short, but his mass measurements took him the rest of the way. A couple of leisure hours go by, and Juan Pablo tells us that when the cowboys were coming back to the ranch that morning from packing the buck out, they had seen a really good buck near one of the gates on the backside of the ranch property. Juan Pablo asked us if we wanted to go and try to find the buck to get a look at him. Juan Pablo and Mike made a $10 bet on who'd find the deer first. We jumped in Mike's truck and followed Juan Pablo to a glassing spot. The wind was howling and Mike didn't think we would see anything let alone a deer. Juan Pablo decided to take his truck farther down the road and closer to the area where the buck was last seen while Mike and I stayed in our current position and kept looking. Not more than 7-8 minutes later, here comes Juan Pablo driving like a maniac back up the road to us. Mike said "I think I just lost $10, he must have found the buck." Sure enough, he did.. We jumped in the truck and drove down to get closer to the buck. Juan Pablo said he saw him at the base of this huge cliff, tucked in behind some brush. We put our binos up and quickly found the buck looking down at us from about 450 yards. This picture was taken through my 15's. Here's a close-up of the previous picture. This one was taken through an old spotting scope (sorry Dan!) After getting a good look at this buck we were awestruck. A giant Coues deer... this one had a 2 inch sticker coming off of his left G3 and a small drop tine on his left G4. The other side had a large spoon or palmation with 3 points near the end of his main beam on the other side. No questions.this was a shooter for sure. I made the decision to try and take this "buck of a lifetime" as Mike and Juan Pablo kept saying, so I grabbed my rifle and headed around to a ridge that was adjacent to the buck so I'd have some elevation and the sun would be directly in the bucks eyes. I found a clear spot in a saddle on the ridge, laid prone, set up the rifle on the bipod and ranged the buck at 260 yards. I found him in the scope, took aim, and slowly squeezed the trigger. The rifle kicked and I heard the sound of impact..the buck was down! I nearly ran off the ridge to get to him. He was hanging out below that cliff on some of the steepest terrain possible. It was extremely hard to walk up it without taking 1 step up and sliding 2 backwards. With the buck now in my hands, it was handshakes and high 5's all the way around! What a buck, and what a trip!!!! Two huge Coues deer in one day...it seemed like a dream...A REALLY GOOD ONE! We tried to take pictures where the deer fell and lodged itself into a catclaw tree but it was just too steep to get anything good. So we pulled him down the hill about 40 yards and took pictures there. You can see the green on the base of his antlers from rubbing on ocotillos. Me with my second Coues of the day! A Coues double! Mike and me with my buck Juan Pablo and me with my buck We got him down the hill and back to the ranch and the cowboys skinned and quartered him out. We put a tape on him that evening-he scored at 124 inches!!! But the score would not have mattered, because this deer has so much unique character to him. Truly a Coues deer of a lifetime. Later, we enjoyed beer margaritas, Mexican tequila shots, and then I cooked my wild turkey green chili enchilada casserole for dinner-what an AWESOME day! The blood on my leg is mine....ouch...tripped/fell on rocks getting to the first buck, but saved my rifle and scope!! The second day was partly spent varmint hunting (I'm a Phoenix Varmint Callers Inc. member). We did several stands, then I finally called in one coyote that presented a shot for Mike, but he missed due to a bad position/gun rest. After that, I hiked in with my bow to an area where javelina were known to hang out, but didn't see any. The rest of the day was spent glassing for javelina, but none were seen. That evening, over venison chili and beer margarita's, we talked to Juan Pablo about where to start the next day looking for javelinas and he gave us some ideas on where to glass. The next morning (day three) we glassed from the ranch while drinking coffee. It took about 40 minutes, but some pigalina's were finally spotted and the chase was on! We wanted to head home that afternoon, so I decided not waste any time and took my Winchester out with me. By the time I got over to where the pigs were seen, they had moved over to the next ridge. I got a little too close to them and got busted. Over the ridge they went, so I followed and got caught up in mesquite and catclaw thickets on top of the ridge. So I went over to the edge of the canyon where the going was easier and then I saw them running along the bottom of a cliff on the far side of the canyon. I knelt, set up the bipod, ranged it at 165 yds, then took aim. One stopped running...boom, racked in another round, took aim, another stopped running...boom. Two pigs down! They rolled to the canyon bottom. GREAT.. more DANG catclaw! I hollered back to Mike, who had driven as close to the canyon opening as possible, that I had two in there. He hiked in and helped me recover them and take some pictures. This picture was taken from their trail at the bottom of the cliff where the pigs were when I shot them. Had to climb up there to find blood so I'd know where they rolled into the thickets. They rolled down in there somewhere. My second double in as many days! What a fantastic hunt! This was the first time taking javelinas with a rifle. It seemed like it was a little too easy, IMO. I have used various pistols, which I think makes it more challenging. But hey, it was still a blast! After the high 5's and photo shoot, we carried those stinky critters out to the truck and headed back to the ranch. The cowboys skinned and quartered them for me. I gave them one of the javelinas and some of the deer meat for their efforts, as well as a nice tip. Mike and I packed up the truck and headed home 2 days early-Julie was going to be happy! We had a little New Years Eve party planned, so I'll be there to help. We were only at the ranch for a few days, but it seemed like a couple of weeks. So many things happened and so many things seen in such a short amount of time. It was truly a "Once in a Life Time" event that is burned into my memory for as long as I live. My thanks go out to Mike-it couldn't have happened without him, and to Juan Pablo for giving me an opportunity to hunt on your ranch, and to my awesome wife Julie!

I finally got my 2011 San Carlos turkey fan mount finished. First off, I should tell the hunt story...this was my first time hunting turkey on the San Carlos Reservation. I had an absolute blast! Called one in early on the hunt, missed him from 25 yds! DO NOT KNOW how I did that, but not even a feather went flying. Had a hen visit me on two different days, looking for "that other hen". She was close enough to touch a few times. She was yelping her head off! That was fun. Called her back after she walked away 50 yds, in disgust of not finding her "friend", 3 times one day and twice the second. I saw the biggest tom ever one evening, he was huge. Beard dragging the ground and waddled when he walked. Called him into the clear right at dusk, thought he was 80 yds away, so I didn't shoot. After he left, ranged the spot to 60 yds! I've taken a tom at 70 yds with my Browning....should have ranged spots when I sat down that day for sure. On the last day of the hunt, I hauled butt to some gobbles I heard at first light and set-up. There were a few gobblers roosted across a small meadow and were responding well to my calling. They flew down out of sight and circled around through the woods and brush, again, out of my sight, but close. As they circled around, I had to turn around so I was looking over the fallen tree I had been leaning against. I caught some movement through the brush, then a tom came out into the clear and stopped, cranning his neck and looking my way. I was froze. Then he started walking more to my right, and as he got behind a small bush I brought up my shotgun. I followed his movement until he got between two bushes and then fired. My first Apache turkey! It turned out to be a 60 yd shot. Ok, back to the mount post....I wanted to make something different, so I decided to replicate the Apache highway arrowhead sign from ADOT's blueprint into a plaque. My friend Carl has a laser cutting and engraving machine, so he cut the shape, routed it for me and did the engraving too. He also has a cool machine that can make emblems-not sure what the process is called, but it's more durable than paint and it moulds to an aluminum disc. So I had him make the San Carlos Tribal seal, the Apache NDE Nation seal and the Recreation and Wildlife Dept. seal. Once the plaque was ready, Sven at Wildlife Wings mounted the tail fan, wings, beard and spurs on it for me. Thanks for looking! Tommy

THAT is really cool! I missed the original post. I didn't see where the video was posted in this thread. Is it posted elsewhere on the site? I'd love to see that. Congratulations on an awesome bird! I have a 29/30A tag this spring and will attempt to take one with a bow also. Thanks for the post, Tommy.

Thanks Amanda! The weights were before we dressed them out. I carry a Rapala fish scale in my pack for weighing the lighter critters, It's small, light and good for around 60 lbs I think. The dressed weight on the boar was 38 lbs and the sow was 33 lbs.

I would like to make some chorizo with some of my javelina. Would be willing to share your recipe? Thanks, Couestracker

That's an awesome video and hunt! Congratulations on both. Couestracker

Thanks for the feedback guy's! The pistol is a L.A.R. Grizzly Mark 1, which fires a .45 cal Winchester Magnum, 260 grain bullet. Basically a larger 1911 with a 6.5" barrel, LAR made these in the 80's and 90's. Other calibers were available also. Mine is an early Mark 1, serial # below 250. I mounted a Burris Fast Fire III red dot sight on it. This was my first hunt using this pistol. It's accurate and fun to shoot!

WOW, that is really cool....and rare! Get it to a taxidermist sooner than later so the hide is taken care of. Wouldn't want it to slip. Thanks for sharing. Couestracker

Just awesome to share that with family-great picture & smile & deer-you two knocked it out of the park. Huge congrats!

Very cool! AND all archery-congratulations.

Wow, really cool you got a video of him and what an awesome buck! BIG congratulations!

I'll also recommend Sven at Wildlife Wings. Excellent work and he's a nice guy.

That's an awesome buck! Please tell us about the hunt too. Congratulations!

That sounds really good! Thanks for the post.

Now that is a w-i-d-e buck! Congratulations sir, that'll make an awesome mount.

WOW! That is a wicked looking buck-just awesome! Congratulations to you and your friends on a spectacular hunt.

Congrats on a real nice buck and an awesome hunt! +1 on calling in those dogs!

Doubles are rare...and fun! Good job! Was one of each sex-mates maybe?

I had a whitetail tag for unit 23 this last fall. Hunted where we know that the NM recrd was taken a few years back, with recent reports of other nice bucks in the area. Hunted all 5 days....never saw a whitetail at all. Drove up to a muly buck and his does, they kept feeding while we glassed them. Could have shot half of them....funny, they must have known which tag we had.