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Pine Donkey

4 x 4 coues

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I have been on several coues hunts this year with friends and we have see multiple bucks just about everyday. This includes a hunt in a different unit where we saw the biggest buck I have ever seen; we spotted it several times over a two week period. With all this, I was pumped for my December hunt. I had put in a lot of time hiking, glassing, hanging and checking cameras. I was confident and ready to hunt hard in a few different areas and get a good buck.

 

Opening weekend arrived and we struggled to find deer. In three days of hard hunting we were only able to find two small bucks. A friend was looking to fill his tag on the first weekend so on Sunday we took him into our backup buck, a 90ish buck we always find in the same spot begging to be shot. We could not even find this buck. Some friends scouted throughout the week with the same pathetic results. Thursday was rainy and cold so we hoped it would get the animals moving.

 

Saturday morning Mark (MJE1), Garrett and I started out before first light. We rode mountain bikes for 1.8 miles, then hiked almost another mile. As we approached the area we wanted to hunt, Garrett glassed up a buck. Mark set up his swarovskis and said, "Thats a good buck, you need to take a look at him". One quick look and we decided to get closer. Mark stayed back to spot as Garrett and I closed about 500 yards to get on the next ridge. We set up on the buck and began to debate his size. "he is not very wide, inside his ears" I said, "look at his g3's" Garrett said, "yeah, but weak G2's" I replied. It went like this for a couple minutes when Garrett finally said "dad, if you pass this deer, you're a fool". Not wanting to look like a fool to my 16 year old son, and really liking the symetry of this buck, I decided to take the shot.

 

I guess he help up his part of the bargain by carrying the buck all the way to the bikes, then riding the bike pulling the equipment trailer, with buck in it, most the way. Mark also worked pretty hard once this deer was down. He rode back to the trucks, hooked up the trailer, brought it in, and pulled it out for the part of the trail that Garrett did not. Thanks to both of them for making it a great day.

 

 

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Firstcoues,

 

The shot was 304 yards. I used a gun holder that Garrett and some friends have been developing for a while, we call it "the hoof 3.0". I hit him solid on the first shot, but he did not go down so I put some more in him. I was using Garrett's newly made .270 which he had built on a mauser action. This gun is now 4 for 4 on big game. This year it has taken an antelope, elk, mule deer and now a coues. We have worked out the problem we were having with cracked bases on our reloads, (see post in reloading about 2 weeks ago). We are using 130 grain Speer soft point boat tail bullets in front of 53.5 grains of IMR 4350.

 

 

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That's Goodun ! B)

 

Very symetrical.

 

Congratulations.

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That was a quick and fun morning Robert glad I was there to watch you shoot youre biggest Coues Buck Congrats. Thats the first 4x4 coues ive had the chance to see in field, or least able to positively ID. You cant see it in the picture but he has a G4 on his right side also. Very symetrical and pretty Buck hes going to look great on youre wall with that antelope you also harvested this year. Great Year!

 

Mark

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Congrats Robert, that is a great buck. I do find it hard to believe that you spent too much time debating shooting this buck. It is a good thing you had Garrett with you to pull your head out!! :lol: :lol:

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