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GRONG

Cousin' in Mexico with Reynaldo

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This is my second trip to Mexico with my friend Jim Reynolds. We (Gail and I) got talked into hunting a desert ranch so we did. Nate Jackson and Tim Maddock (TAM) booked with us and Alan Ellsworth also came down with us. Upon our arrival to the ranch we could tell right off the get-go that this wasn't going to be a typical Coues hunt that we've grown up accustomed to. There was plenty of glassing to be done but due to the thickness of the mesquite and palo verde trees and all the boofle grass it made visibility pretty tough in most places. Unfortunately our hunt started during an enormous full moon cycle and it definitely made the daytime rutting tough to see but we did our best. Glassing was tough but we spotted bucks, problem was that if you weren't already behind the gun, knew the range, AND you had an idea of how big the buck was you could shoot. Most bucks I glassed were on the move lookin for love and only offered glimpses of themselves going thru the tall brush. So after the 1st morning glass we started checkin water sources and realized quickly that we should be sitting water cause the drinkers were STOMPED with deer sign. 3rd afternoon of the hunt I sat a couple hundred yards from a drinker and waited and waited. I sawed out some limbs off a tree/bush and hung a shirt in the limbs for some shade cause it was hot! Only had one doe and fawn from noon till dark so that was a little discouraging, but that's sittin water.

Here's the view I had to the drinker.

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Gail was over the small mtn range from me sittin another drinker and had 4 bucks show up chasin does and drinking water. He'd gotten video on his trail camera of a gorgeous 3pt buck and at 5:20 that afternoon in walks a huge 3pt buck with the tips of it's beams broken off as well as the entire G3 on it's left side so Gail let him walk.

Next morning found us glassing another water source and the deer action was awesome. Right off the bat I glassed up a GORGEOUS buck but he's 600 yards away and it was still to dark to tell much about it other than it looked dang nice! Gail was half the distance to the buck closer but all my efforts to get him on the radio was useless since he didn't turn his on.... Nearly an hour later he turned it on but the buck was long gone by then. Knowing the deer were just pounding this spot Gail decided to sit there for the entire day while I took off for the water hole where Gail had passed the giant broke 3 point buck.

About noon I was set up on the water hole. Actually I was laid on the bank of a giant dry tank in the shade under a big mesquite tree. From there I could see easily to the drinker across the opposite bank of the dry tank. To the concrete drinker it was about 135 yards.

Around 2:30 I could see a doe running towards the drinker only to turn and run right back out of sight with a buck on her tail! I could see he was a young 3pt with HUGE eyeguards!! Was bummed they didn't come in all the way but it was neat to see regardless.

At 3:00 I got settled in behind the gun cause I had a feelin it was gettin to be time! At 3:20 a buck comes flyin past the drinker with his nose to the ground as if a hot doe had just gone thru there! I frantically tried to keep him in the scope and tried my hardest to see if it was the buck with the broken G-3. Quickly noticed that this dude was all there and he needed to be shot!! Unfortunately the buck was just MOVIN and covered about 100 yards so quickly that it got behind some brush that was right in front of me to my right that totally blocked my rifle view of it!!! I was in total panic mode cause as quickly as it'd come out it was nearly gone! I sat up on my knees to watch him turn to it's right and come strait at me! Still behind the brush of course but then it turned a 180 and started back across the sunbaked mud of the tank right in front of me about 40 yards!!!! I held on his vitals and squeezed the trigger... NOTHING!!!!!!!!! Squeezed again thinking I was doing something wrong but nothing happened! Now I'm in panic mode all over again!!! I looked at the safety and it was on F but I put it on S and back to F only to realize that this time it went all the way up! MORON MORON!!! I got back on the buck in the scope just as it hit the edge of the dried baked mud and it stopped quartering away! What luck!!! I put the crosshairs on it's vitals and let her rip! At the sound of the gun I looked up only to see the buck laying on it's side with all 4's stiff legged! At this point I couldn't honestly even tell you if the buck was 95" or 115". All I knew is that he had a nice rack and it looked good enough for me on the 4th afternoon of a 5 day hunt. I grabbed the rifle and walked the 75 yards across the tank to my buck.

As I stood above the buck I quickly noticed the height of the tines and the awesomeness of the main beams and did a couple heck YA'S with my fist pumpin in the air! I was totally stoked with this gorgeous and nearly perfectly symmetrical rack of this buck! I also realized that I was pretty sure that this was in fact the buck from Gail's trail camera video, not the busted buck he'd seen the afternoon before. I took about a half hour of pics as best I could and called it good. Went and got the truck and put the buck in the back and headed towards Gail about a half hour drive away.

I pulled off the road about a half mile or so from Gail and called him on the radio and told him the good news. It was here where I pulled the buck out of the bed and gutted it. Just as I was finishing I heard a CRACK...WHOP of Gail's gun went off! I could tell he'd hit a buck and waited for the news. Got my buck loaded back up and Gail called and said, "Looks like my hunt is over." I drove much closer and got to the buck with Gail only to find he'd shot the buck I'd seen that morning in the darkness! We took some pics and quickly got it gutted and drug a couple hundred yards to the truck. It sure was sweet to have 2 awesome bucks in the back of the truck!

 

My buck grossed 111 5/8" and Gail's grossed 106 1/4".

 

Enjoy all the pics

 

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I'll hopefully get the 2 trail-cam videos Gail got on here soon.

 

 

 

Day 5 we drove around and got our trail cameras picked up and did a little shed hunting along the way. We stopped at a spot where I'd glassed a nice 3pt shed up a few days before. Decent 3pt, maybe upper 80's.

 

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A few minutes later Gail says, "Hey get over here and look at this 4pt side off my buck!!". Way awesome!

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Another shed and a rack I found.

 

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Took this pic the last morning we were there, just before we left. Nate shot a nice 90" last day buck after missing a brute from the high-rack on the 4th day. Gail with his 106, Steve Shooks with his 114" buck he shot with Jim on the 3rd day. Then there's me with my 111.

 

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I think Nate said he saw at least 4 bucks from 110" up to who knows how big. Gail jumped and shot at a buck he swears was 120"er on the 4th afternoon. Alan Ellsworth was also there with us and he shot at a giant typical 3pt one day about 6 times and didn't connect. The buck was about 650 yards out and Alan was using Jim's gun but just couldn't connect. I killed the biggest buck I saw on the hunt and I think Tim saw at least one giant as well.

 

Can't say enough nice stuff about Jim and the operation he runs. The camp cook was phenomenal and even cleaned all 4 of our deer skulls!! The ranch house we stayed in was just stupid awesome and had hot water and electricity. Not the generator kind either.

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They cross about 3/8" and are nearly touching, only gapped by a 1/4" at most. Way cool!!!

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Great write up and some killer bucks, Sitting the hot spots definately payed out for u guys.... Awesome finds too!!

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That looks like a whale of a time Josh. Congratulations on yet another outstanding buck (not too shabby on the finds either). Is it a hassle bringing home skulls that you didn't have a tag for?

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Great buck Josh!

I too love the main beams almost touching!

The moon and heat played havoc with us too on the second week.

We were wondering how you all were faring.

 

Congratulations to you both!

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Outstanding!

 

That is one Sexy Buck, Josh.... they don't get any better lookin', IMO!

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That looks like a whale of a time Josh. Congratulations on yet another outstanding buck (not too shabby on the finds either). Is it a hassle bringing home skulls that you didn't have a tag for?

 

All found sheds and skulls stay there, you get caught with one and they can cite you for a Lacey Act violation which runs around $15,000 per shed or skull.

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Josh,

Congrats to you and your group with Jim on a successful trip. I like how the tips of yours almost touch and the tall G2s.

 

Doug~RR

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