SIXTEEN days in to Dec coues hunt

[coyotekid]

Good morning.

Well its been five days into my Dec coues hunt and I have not pulled the trigger yet but that doesn't mean we haven't had a good time. I came back today to warm up, do some laundry, take a shower, get some groceries, and of course catch up on five days worth of post that I have missed. I hesitated to post this in the shed thread or in the hunting in AZ thread but the only real tangible thing I have to show is a shed... so he I am. Dave and I have been seeing a good amount of coues does, elk, and muleys and even a few small wt. bucks. there Is lots of time left so Im not worried and I am excited to get back to glassing. I just thought I would post a few pics. Hope you enjoy.

Good luck to all the dec hunters out there.

-sam

[aztrophytakers]

Very cool photos. Thanks

[SDHunter11]

Nice pics thanks for sharing.

[Coues Archer]

Cool nice pics.

[azyoung]

Sam,

 

nice pic's - good luck and can't wait for your success pics!

 

azyoung

[Mrs125coues]

Neat pictures...thanks for sharing. Good luck on the rest of the hunt.

[GRONG]

Those are all awesome!!!

[CouesWhitetail]

Thanks for all the pics! Very cool! Glad you are enjoying your hunt. Good luck with the rest of it!

 

that bird looks to be a Merlin, which is a type of falcon. Cool pic. I don't see them perched very often, usually they are aggressively out chasing prey.

 

Amanda

[Ernesto C]

You hope we enjoy?? Of course we enjoy this cool pictures you just had posted. Sam, this is a proof right here that you dont have to harvest a deer in order to have a succesfull and enjoyable hunt!

Thank you for sharing your hunt with us and you can call this "chapter one". We will be waiting for chapter two my friend. Good luck.

 

Ernesto C

[Coach]

Nice pictures. Thank you for sharing your hunt. Those carvings look very familiar. I know of a spot near Globe where there are very ancient rock carvings of snakes and people with swollen hands. There are several rattlesnake dens close by. If you see the "squiggelly" lines with round heads and pictures of people with large round hands, you know you've stumbled on an area that holds rattler dens. Thanks again for posting.

[coyotekid]

Good evening.

I suppose its not really "high jacking" a thread if its my own thread. right? well I dont have any more sheds to hold up at the moment. but I do have more pics to add to my story.

I just got home to good old snow flagstaff from 16 days of late season coues hunting in northern AZ. Today is the second to the last day of the hunt for most tag holders but for myself, it was the last. Im headed out of town tomorrow to visit some family for new years so to day was the dreaded last day!

Over the past three weeks I have had an amazing time in the woods, trying to track down the little gray cotton tail coues buck, spending time with some good friends, some family and a fair share of just being absolutely alone. I got to see alot of country. and Im sure you can all sympathize with that! I learned some new country and revisited some old favorite spots. I have to admit that I have been rather lucky with drawing this late tag and this is buck number seven (tag number 8) on the Dec hunts for me. During the course of the hunt, not counting all the tanks of gas scouting, I saw 15 bucks (not counting spikers), over 120 does, tones of flop ears, close to 100 bulls, and a array of other az creatures. I had made up my mind this year to hold out to see a bigger buck than I have taken before. I got to get some pics and video of several decent bucks and I even got to try and sneak in to range on a couple very nice bucks and I am not ashamed to say I couldn't make it happen on those occasions.

This morning being my last morning, I was going to pull the trigger on an mature buck. and that is just was I was able to do. My dad and my brother came over and met me this morning to get some extra eyes on the hill. We gassed up several does and even a little buck that was WAY out there. I made a journey to try and get closer and ended up nearly stepping on him. literaly we scared eachother to death with only about a 10 foot boulder between us and then he was gone and I was trying not to have a heart attack! It was about mid day and I called my dad and told him it was time to hang it up and I was going to rim around this mountain and then meet them at the road, they were just going to eat some lunch and wait for me. about five more minutes of walking and I jumped two does out of their beds. It seemed like ever five minutes I would find two more does and just never a buck! I know I had seen several buck in that area but they all must have heard that it was game over day so they stayed home. I pushed one more doe out of her bed and she trotteed right over the hill, as I followed her I caught a glance at her boy friend. He was just shy of 300yrs below me and I mean RIGHT below me. Not but a second later my brother called me an asked if that was the bark of my 300, yes it was. one clean shot and he never took a step.

This isnt be biggest buck you or I have ever seen but I am dang proud of him and I was glad the one day my dad and brother could come was a good day.

He is a low 80's frame buck but broke on both 3rds. so he looks like a bit forky. I cant wait to get some strap steaks of him.

 

Good luck to all you january arrow flingers and pig hunters.

-sam

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

 

Congrats on a great hunt!

[jim]

Great story and pictures. Congrats on the patience to enjoy the hunt.

[Chef]

Congrats!

Great write up.

This is what makes CW.com the best.

[azryan]

Cool pics. Sounds like you had a great time and thats what matters the most.