COOSEFAN Report post Posted November 25, 2008 VERY pic heavy and VERY long story.......go check out the pics then come back and read it! .......now there are more pics on page 3 too! Well I know I rubbed it in a little that I drew a Kaibab tag but I seriously was excited for it! I drew the same tag 7 years ago and didn't have the time to scout and didn't have the patience to hold out, so this was finally my chance to hopefully accomplish my goal of taking a great Muley buck! Several folks graciously offered advice and info and I really am grateful they went out of their way to help me out! Kevin H. (wetmule), Lance, Bing (grandfather of the 'Bab) and several close friends all went out of their way to give me tips and ideas that really kept me busy for the whole week prior to the season....Thanks very much guys, I owe ya all one! My goal for the hunt was to try and enjoy it as much as possible, it's not very often I get my own tag and I wanted to cherish every second! Everyone asked me what I was holding out for and all I could say was I wanted a "special" buck! I really didn't care about score, I just wanted something that stood out or was a one of a kind and I was prepared to be there for 17 days to get it done! I planned on being in the unit for a week prior to the hunt to scout areas that I hadn't been to before and devise hunting strategies for each. I started at one end of the unit and planned on finishing at the other end, then picking my favorite spot for the hunt. With the way the weather had been, there were deer at all elevations from one end of the unit to the other! Here's some pics I took along the way at the different elevations i scouted....some of these are cell phone pics so quality suffers a little....there were deer in all these places! I found it very tough to find any concentrations of deer and even tougher to find the big bucks! I burned A LOT of fuel driving back and forth changing thousands of feet of elevation each day setting cameras and marking waypoints for glassing areas. I figured the older bucks were still way high and really thought I would start there but I cringed at the thought!!! I HATE rifle hunting up there and almost had Pops bring up an open sighted rifle for the task! The country where some of these big bucks were held up was really thick and nasty, areas where you were relying on a whole lotta luck! I have loved this late hunt mainly because I love hunting the winter range and that's where I wanted to be, but I still felt like i needed to be up high. Thankfully, 4 days prior to the opener I finally had an awesome buck on camera, and he was off the rim....Whoohoo!! The pic only showed the bucks back half of his rack as a doe was standing in front of him, but I could see enough to know that he was indeed a "special" buck! This tank was within walking distance of my camp and was situated in some really thick country at the base of some tall and thick mountains. I kept this buck in mind and excitedly checked the camera daily as I continued to make my way up to the top of the plateau to scout....cussing the whole way up Did I mention I hate rifle hunting thick pines? Here's that first cam pic...... So many people were telling me to hunt high so I felt i had to continue but my heart just wasn't in it. I was having no luck with cams or glassing up there but I know the bucks were there, the sign proved it, but there are so many hidey holes it's not even funny....I have patience, but I didn't have enough to stay up there, especially with a shooter buck right next to my camp! Luckily this buck wasn't real rutty yet and still had a tight pattern, so I was able to get him a few more times on camera which kept me interested. Here's some more pics, I never got any that really showed me what he was, but it was enough to get me excited!!! With the hunt now only 1 day away I had to make up my mind. I sat in my tent and went through my pictures and studied the topo. The non-typical buck near my camp was really growing on me and I decided I needed to see him in person. The cam pics I had of him never showed his whole rack but it was enough for me to figure he had to be low to mid 190's with lots of character, and that was enough for me so he then became my #1 priority. I had no clue where he was coming from, but I did know where I hoped he wasn't! The mountains directly to the east are big and thick, and to the west it was long thick canyons with open tops which would make it a lot easier to locate him. I set out opening morning with the thought that I would try different routes around this tank until I found him.......no matter how many days it would take! I walked out of camp on opening morning and couldn't believe how many road hunters were cruising around, you would have thought it was an early hunt! I think the ones that saw me thought I was wasting my time walking around, but little did they know they were driving past some great bucks every day! Shortly after hiking out of camp and still very near the road, I found a doe in a window on a thick slope and then saw a large bodied deer move behind her then disappeared over the ridge but it was still too dark to tell what it was. I made a mental note of it and moved on. After making my trek through several canyons i had found and passed up several decent bucks and was slowly working my way back towards camp. My plan was to slowly work some other bedding areas behind camp but as I topped out I noticed a buck walking slowly along a ridgeline. I threw my binos up and lost my breath.....it was him! I ranged him at 323 yards and then watched him again in my binos.....and continued watching him.....and still continued watching......I HAD BUCK FEVER! Yeah...i'm not ashamed to admit it, I was freaking out, very short of breath, legs were weak, and I watched as this buck slowly walked well within my rifle range and was now starting to disappear! I realized I was messing up by staring at him through the binos, so I dropped, loaded a round, ranged him again, found him in the scope and tried my darndest to hold steady! His body was slowly disappearing behind the ridge while I had the crosshairs on his shoulder but I didn't feel comfortable with how unstable I was so I just watched him disappear!!! I ran to the top of the ridge and found that he had already gone into the sea of thick trees and the wind was blowing right in where he went, so I ran back down the hill to get my wind right and then returned to camp. I was upset at myself, thinking of all the different things I would have done if I was guiding somebody and trying to figure out why I got so worked up! It's been years since I lost my senses like that and I felt like a rookie.......but I loved every second of it, that was the largest buck I have ever had in my scope!!! I just remember barely seeing daylight through his rack with all them tines, it looked like a bunch of sticks sticking up, so from that point on his name was "Sticks"! I now had my heart set on this buck and it was him or nothing........well, at least until the last day Pops, my brother "Tommy", and long time friend "Gary", all came up that afternoon to help me for a few days. I snuck back in to where I last saw the buck once the wind changed at around 1:30 and "the A-Team" as they are commonly referred to as, went to different points to watch the backdoor areas for me. The road hunters were out in force that evening and it really got on my nerves but it didn't seem to bother the deer that were in the canyons out of sight from the road. The buck never came out, but I felt good that I would see him again! The morning of the second day had Tommy and I hiking out of camp to do the same trek I had done before. Pops and Gary drove out and were going to hike around close by to watch the backdoor areas again. I stopped at the point where I had seen the doe and big bodied deer the morning before, threw the binos up and there was another, or same, doe standing in the same window! I started losing my breath again, my heart beat started racing and I wasn't even sure there would be a buck.....but I just knew there had to be... everything was the same and this is where "Sticks" probably came from on the previous morning! Tommy got the window in his binos and soon we noticed a small 2 point feed through.....followed by a BIG RACK!!! HOLY...THAT'S HIM! I didn't know for sure, I just knew I saw enough that it had to be "Sticks" and I kept asking Tommy what he saw. Tommy just said "BIG BUCK", so that pretty much confirmed it was probably Sticks! Tommy started ranging areas on the hill while I set up on the tripod and shooting sticks, constantly telling myself to calm down! The hill had only a few more windows from our vantage point before the deer would feed over into a thick ravine, so I knew we had to get him fast...that is IF he appeared again in the next window! Through my scope I could see the doe appear in the next window and Tommy ranged her at 381 yards, I turned my turret up to 375 and then deducted 2 clicks for the elevation (figured that out several days prior!) and held firm on the window and saying my prayers! The 2 point then stepped through and Tommy said "NO, no, not him".......just then long tines appeared! Again, this is just after shooting light, but even with the low light I can see enough to know it had to be Sticks. I held on the shoulder as he stopped perfectly in the window.......CLICK!!!!! OMG...I FORGOT TO CHAMBER A ROUND! I slammed a shell in faster than ever before, centered the crosshair on the now quartered away buck and......BLAM!!! I'm blown off target but coming back down with another shell already loaded, I cranked the power down and scanned while Tommy yelled out the "play by play"........ "He's hit....he's runnin' left......he's still runnin'".....I scream "How Far LEFT??!!" I can't find em' through the trees and I'm freaked out that he's runnin' but Tommy then yells out......"HE CRASHED"!!! WHOOOHOOO....STICKS IS DOWN! I couldn't believe it, I even yanked out my 15's just to verify I had indeed killed Sticks and sure enough he lay still about 70 yards from where I put a 180gr bullet in and out behind his shoulder! Pops and Gary had still been close enough to hear everything go down and were right there with us immediately after the shot! I have killed a bunch of muleys before, none of them were ever big, but it has always been my dream to take a really big buck and I had just realized that dream! What made it special for me was all the nights thinking about this buck, staring at the cam pics and topos, trying to figure out what his rack looked like, where he lived, what he did everyday, getting buck fever like it was my first time, and to finally seal the deal with all my practice and equipment working perfectly.......was just an amazing experience that I most definitely will never forget! Thanks if you read the story, I felt bad for leading ya on earlier so I figured I'd give ya the full story and a bunch of pics to make up for it! With 6 other guys in camp helping me figure out where to run the lines for the cable, we came up with a gross score just over 218" with 14 scoreable points! I definitely underscored him off cam pics but never got a great pic of him, once i saw him in person, though, I knew he was "special" and I still can't believe it's MY tag stuck to that rack....WHOOHOOO!!! Thanks again, JIM> ....Ain't no Coues deer!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Schmitty Report post Posted November 25, 2008 Great Job on a Fantastic Buck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
More D Report post Posted November 25, 2008 I sure wish I could see the pics! All i see are little red x's. Great story, I hope if I ever get a 'north' tag I can use it as wisely as you did. Gongrats even if I can see the pics. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firstcoueswas80 Report post Posted November 25, 2008 Awesome job! That buck is a STUD! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azpackhorse Report post Posted November 25, 2008 Holy smokes! Jim, congratulations on a true Monster mule deer! What an awesome buck. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hunterdan Report post Posted November 25, 2008 Jim. Big Congrats. That is a super Buck. All your hard work paid off. I love that Rack very unique and special. I keep coming back and looking at the Pics!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZ402 Report post Posted November 25, 2008 I'm sooo jealous! Great buck, huge congrats!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Red Rabbit Report post Posted November 25, 2008 Way cool buck! Hearty congrats to you. Gotta like those extra tines that make him what he is. What did he age out at? Since he was so close to camp, did you get back and have tenderloins and eggs for breakfast? From your trail cams, did you notice any particular time range that the deer tended to water? Any difference up high versus down int he lower country? Doug~RR Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SilentButDeadly Report post Posted November 25, 2008 looks like I slept in compared to some of these other posters! I knew you had it in you Jimbo; way to go get a true Kaibab buck. Tyson Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
redline410 Report post Posted November 25, 2008 Whoa- Fantastic buck Jim....Congrats! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Browning'sCustomMeat Report post Posted November 25, 2008 Superior buck!! Congrats Jim you deserve it! Thanks for sharing. -Jeremy- Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
willhunt4coues Report post Posted November 25, 2008 That is a pig of a deer congrats. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stanley Report post Posted November 25, 2008 Very cool Jim!!!! Awesome story!!!! Sincere congrats on a great deer! S. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azsagebrush Report post Posted November 25, 2008 jim, Great job and great story! you just had to out do my wife, didn't you! monty Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
desertbowhunter Report post Posted November 25, 2008 Heck of a buck! congrats! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
