WhipRanger Report post Posted February 6 123 2/8” 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Quagmire Report post Posted February 6 Great buck, WhipRanger! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coueswt Report post Posted February 6 Congrats WhipRanger on a great buck With our AZ units having 3+ different hunts with hundreds of hunters on each, lack of predator control and drought, Coues Deer bucks don’t stand a chance. Fully mature big bucks are becoming pretty rare now a days. The bigger bucks are coming from private property where they aren’t over hunted and have a chance to reach maturity just wish we cared more about quality and hunt experience over quantity of hunts 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chef Report post Posted February 6 Beautiful buck WR! ...and with a longbow! Super impressed and well deserved trophy! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sneakem33 Report post Posted February 6 IMO... The amount of rifle tags is unsustainable. Every time I read about a rifle coues hunt it's I shot my deer at 550, 605, 680. Ray Charles could sneak within that type of range. Too many deer are being shot, many of them shooting any buck with horns, and the large bucks take a beating as they are fewer in number anyways. Technology has improved to the point that even so-so marksmen are slinging lead at that range. This is not meant to be a bashing of rifle hunters... it's just numbers of deer hitting the ground, Especially with a few units issuing tags in the thousands, and most in the 600-800 range. People bitched about the OTC bow hunt are killing all the deer. It's been limited now, and rarely do many units get near reaching the quota for coues. Most Southern coues units there are only a handful of bucks killed... Mule deer are another story... I definitely see less mature bucks during the rut, it's been steadily decreasing for years. Sure, someone kills a slug every now and then... but proportionally the number of large bucks seem to be getting less... 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
desertmafia21 Report post Posted February 6 5 minutes ago, sneakem33 said: IMO... The amount of rifle tags is unsustainable. Every time I read about a rifle coues hunt it's I shot my deer at 550, 605, 680. Ray Charles could sneak within that type of range. Too many deer are being shot, many of them shooting any buck with horns, and the large bucks take a beating as they are fewer in number anyways. Technology has improved to the point that even so-so marksmen are slinging lead at that range. This is not meant to be a bashing of rifle hunters... it's just numbers of deer hitting the ground, Especially with a few units issuing tags in the thousands, and most in the 600-800 range. People bitched about the OTC bow hunt are killing all the deer. It's been limited now, and rarely do many units get near reaching the quota for coues. Most Southern coues units there are only a handful of bucks killed... Mule deer are another story... I definitely see less mature bucks during the rut, it's been steadily decreasing for years. Sure, someone kills a slug every now and then... but proportionally the number of large bucks seem to be getting less... Agree 100% Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Non-Typical Solutions Report post Posted February 6 2.285 million (1975) Arizona Population 2024 7,497,004 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Non-Typical Solutions Report post Posted February 6 And, statistically I bet the number of people who actually hunt has not kept up with the population increase and yet if you travel from Heber to the valley after Memorial Day weekend you will see that the number of people who come and enjoy the mountains is beyond belief. Any given weekend during the hot summer months there are very few untraveled back roads! Lots of people who enjoy the cool and the forest who do not hunt! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CatfishKev Report post Posted February 6 15 hours ago, WhipRanger said: 123 2/8” Well done man huge congrats on a buck of a lifetime! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trphyhntr Report post Posted February 6 2 hours ago, sneakem33 said: IMO... The amount of rifle tags is unsustainable. Every time I read about a rifle coues hunt it's I shot my deer at 550, 605, 680. Ray Charles could sneak within that type of range. Too many deer are being shot, many of them shooting any buck with horns, and the large bucks take a beating as they are fewer in number anyways. Technology has improved to the point that even so-so marksmen are slinging lead at that range. This is not meant to be a bashing of rifle hunters... it's just numbers of deer hitting the ground, Especially with a few units issuing tags in the thousands, and most in the 600-800 range. People bitched about the OTC bow hunt are killing all the deer. It's been limited now, and rarely do many units get near reaching the quota for coues. Most Southern coues units there are only a handful of bucks killed... Mule deer are another story... I definitely see less mature bucks during the rut, it's been steadily decreasing for years. Sure, someone kills a slug every now and then... but proportionally the number of large bucks seem to be getting less... 809 last one. i don’t think many people ever expected archery coues quotas to get hit Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WhipRanger Report post Posted February 7 Technology is definitely hurting all hunting but the sheer number of Coues rifle tags is ridiculous. We can definitely see a difference the years when the gun hunters have a good harvest on Coues. I’ve hunted Coues almost every year since 1996 and my dad has never missed a year since I think 1987. And I remember how good it was way back then it got really bad. When you could still shoot does. While I believe one of the best things AZGF ever did was close the Coues doe harvest I also believe it has caused the archery success rate to increase dramatically.. Back in the day all the Coues where scared to death and sharp, now the does will stand around the road. Which gives the road hunter a huge advantage when a mature buck in rut will just stand there and stare at the doe who isn’t running from the truck anymore. I know road hunting isn’t legal but we see lots of guys just cruising all day looking to shoot off the road. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WhipRanger Report post Posted February 7 I would love to see a reduction in rifle tags but I think guys who didn’t get a tag would get an archery tag so. Either they’re shooting my deer or are in my way LOL. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shawn Report post Posted February 7 I agree with a lot that has been said. I think one of the things we are seeing now is the horrible rain year of 2020. Driest on record for Tucson. I saw several springs dry that I never seen dry. Predators had to be eating good. I only saw a few fawns that year and 0 twins 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eastvalleyjerry Report post Posted February 7 Would be interesting to see what the success rates are on some of the rifle hunts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firstcoueswas80 Report post Posted February 7 On 2/5/2024 at 9:11 PM, Huntnfish said: Very nice, with a recurve no less. What did that that bruiser score? Congrats. Even if it's say 20%, but with 2,000, over all tags, that's a lot of bucks killed. Not to mention the hit and lost/not recovered deer. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
