October 2013 Chiricahua Coues hunt - 2 for 2! ADDED New Mexico leg story.

[Couestracker]

For the fall of 2013, I got drawn for an early unit 29 whitetail hunt and also a mule deer tag in New Mexico unit 23. During the vacation planning process some months before, I inadvertently wrote down the wrong hunt dates for the NM hunt and planned a Hawaii trip with my wife Julie and her sister, which fell between the two huntsor so I thought then. A few days before I left for the Arizona hunt, I realized my mistake. The NM hunt was actually a week earlier and at the same time as the Hawaii trip. Yikes! Luckily the trip wasnt our first time to Hawaii, it was to visit our old neighbors, and not the first time to go see them (or the last), so I exchanged my airline ticket for a future trip and told Julie and her sister to have a nice trip. Thank you Julie!

 

What that meant now was that I had 2 full weeks off and back to back deer hunts! This marks the first time I have ever been able to dedicate the full time for a hunt and now I have 2 full hunts to go on. Awesome for sure. Back to the grocery store I went to stock up, after expanding my menus and beverage lists.

 

Julie and I recently bought a new 5^th wheel toyhauler-its our retirement home, as we plan on traveling the country when the time comes. The original hunt plan was to just take it on the NM hunt and tent camp on the Az hunt, but that all changed with the trip to Hawaii off of my plate. So I loaded all my clothes, food and hunting gear and the Ranger into the trailer and off I went to live in it for 2 full weeks!

 

 

By the time Jorge, my hunt partner, showed up later on Thursday, I had camp already set-up. We were right next to Pinery Canyon Road, just past the Forest Boundary. Before Jorge got there, I heard a quad coming down the road, so I looked to see who it was and saw them kick up a nice 4x4 coues, which apparently was right by the trailer! Wow, right there! Maybe I can just hunt from camp tomorrow, I thought. Naah, thatll never work.

 

The 1st day neither of us even saw a deer. No worry, this has happened before. The 2^nd day, the morning was going by fast without seeing anything again. I was giving my eyes a rest from glassing and just looking around, when I saw something had showed up in a little clearing down the canyon from me. I glassed it up, it was a coyote laying on its belly, just looking around. I ranged it to 172 yds, got my varmint call out and set-up my rifle on it. When I let out a series of rabbit distress sounds, he snapped his head to look at me, then when he got up and took a step in my direction I blasted it! Fawn killer down! Turned out to be a male dog.

 

 

I went back to glassing for deer and after a while I glassed up a real nice buck about 700 yds away in a canyon beyond a ridge that was between me and it. I studied him and the area so I could grab my range finder and not lose him. I grabbed the range finder and.lost him! I spent about 15 minutes looking, but couldnt find him again. Finally I radioed Jorge, who was further around the side of the hill I was on, about the buck and where it was when I saw it. Several minutes of silence went by as we were glassing, then BOOM. Jorge radios back, I think I found him, ha ha ha. Jorge later went on to say that he was glassing, looking for the buck I mentioned, heard a noise, dropped the glasses from his eyes and sees this buck running right at him! He didnt have time to aim, just pointed the gun and shot itat 20 feet! So yes, we figured for whatever reason, this buck got spooked out of that canyon and ran right at Jorge, in fact was about to run him over. It was a nice 3x3, but unfortunately the shot hit him in the eye and not only emptied its head, but destroyed the skull plate as well. Too bad, as it was Jorges best buck ever.

 

 

The 3^rd day we were both glassing one of our favorite and most productive areas. Not one deer was seen all morning, so when Jorge radioed me that it was time for lunch after 11 oclock, I didnt argue. I stood up and began repacking my gear into my pack, my back now turned to where I had been glassing. On the other side of the hill I was on is a large meadow, over near where the Ranger was parked. I happened to look down the hill and saw a deer walking across the meadow. Theres a deer I thought as I grabbed my binos and brought them up for a look. Its a buck I said to myself. As I was grabbing my rifle, range finder and binos, I noticed it started moving faster, so I started hurrying over to the side of the hill I was on to get closer. By now the deer had flagged its tail and was in a full run, and I ran too, wondering if the deer was running from me. I only had time to kneel and aim at the deer, guessing it was under 300 yards. As I did this, I thought I shouldnt be doing this, but I did anyway. As soon as I got the cross hairs on him, I fired. I looked over the scope in time to see him kind of kick-up in his gait, just before he disappeared off the meadow edge and into the next draw. I thought I think I hit him-hope it was a good hit and he doesnt get away. Then Jorge radioed me Another coyote? he asked. I replied, no, a buck and hes like A BUCK? No way. Way I said. About that time I see Jorge at the far end of the meadow, near where the buck had come from. Apparently Jorge had spooked the buck out from below me as he was making his way towards the Ranger. I think that buck was bedded below me all morning.

Jorge asked me where it had gone, and from my vantage point on the hill top, I directed him to where the deer went over the edge. A couple of minutes later, Jorge radios me YOU GOT HIM!, a 2x3 piled up just off the hill. I ranged down to where I hit the deer, it was 250 yards. So I packed up my stuff and headed down there.

 

As luck would have it, I hit that deer in the perfect spot. He was quartering away from me as it ran, and I hit him inbetween the ribs, the 130 grain .270WSM Nozler Accubond bullet traveled through his vitals and came to rest against the hide in his lower neck on the opposite side. Hes a small 2x3 with weird eye guards. One pointing inwards, the other forwards. High fives! This was the first time ever that we both got a deer on the same hunt. Two filled tags!

 

 

 

Back at camp, we had him hanging and was carving him up, when I saw some movement on the road next to us (Pinery Canyon Rd). It was two Hispanic guys, each with huge back packs on, walking West towards the highway. Neither was carrying anything in their hands and the back packs were plain looking with nothing clipped or strapped on them.drug runners!

[tjhunt2]

Great write up Tommy. Congratulations on both of your bucks. That's a pretty neat trick on how to get out of a vaction to go hunting. Probably only work once though. I'll have to keep that in mind. Nice looking toy hauler by the way.

 

TJ

[ScottAdams]

Good story!! Nice to have a 100% success and then be able to bask in the glory of success! How did you do in NM 23?

[cramerhunts]

Very nice! Congratulations on a couple of nice bucks.

 

How'd the NM hunt go?

[CouesWhitetail]

Congrats on a fine hunt! Shot at 20 feet!! Wow!

[capoeirajosh]

Congrats on an awesome hunt! How about the NM hunt?

[Couestracker]

Thanks for the nice comments guys. The New Mexico leg of the trip ranged from awesome to horrible. I left the Chiricahuas on Monday morning and headed to New Mexico, unit 23 and my friend Jorge took my buck's quarters and cape back to Phoenix for me. I arrived that afternoon and setup "camp". My only Aunt and Uncle live in Albuquerque. My Uncle Rob has been very ill and I hadn't seen them for a long time. Since my hunt didn't start until Saturday, I decided to drive up Tuesday to visit them. After I got up and got ready to go Tuesday morning, I managed to lock the keys in my new truck with the engine running! It didn’t take long to figure out I was going to have to break a window. I picked the rear electric slider, as it was the smallest window. Man are those things hard to break. I ended up bashing it in with an axe. Yes, on my brand new truck! That thing exploded like a grenade and sent a million tiny pieces of glass into every nook and cranny of the interior. NOT the best way to start my NM trip. I spent the next hour cleaning it out enough just to be able to get in safely and taped over the back window.

I had a real nice visit with my Aunt and Uncle. He and my Father and my Grandfather were the ones that got me hooked on hunting in the Chiricahuas. On the way to their house, I took the time to make prints of some of my pictures of my hunt and deer for my Uncle. He enjoyed that a lot. I knew this was going to be the last time visiting with him.

I got back to camp late that night and slept in until late the next morning. It felt great to have so much time until the hunt started on Saturday. I filled the days by cutting up steaks from my deer's back straps and tenderloins and freezing them (nice having a freezer!), cutting firewood for the week and doing some scouting.

There was a ton of hunters in the area, more than I've ever seen, as there was a muzzle loader hunt going on. I had the first rifle hunt this time, I usually have the second hunt, plus I've never been there this early before.

It was slim pickings on seeing any deer. I went to an area I had been in years before, taking the longer but better road around to it, only to find the road was totally washed out 2 miles from my destination. I made the best of the late afternoon situation and sat on a hill overlooking some awesome areas. But no deer! I was ready to head back to the Ranger when I saw movement through the trees. Two coyotes trotting along! I quickly ranged them at 365 yds across a deep canyon. I got out a call and setup on one as it was moving to my right. I let out a series and stopped the dog, then fired. I couldn’t tell if I got it or not. I saw the other dog run off, but the one I shot at was next to a juniper tree. Great, now I have to hike over there in the near dark to see. Got over there at dark thirty and no dog. Oh well, would have been an awesome shot though.

After I got back to the Ranger, my phone buzzed me with a message. My Uncle Rob had passed away that morning. A week from when I saw him. I knew it was inevitable, but it still crushed me.

The next day, Wednesday, was the last day of the hunt. I had yet to see a buck. I went to my favorite spot before first light and planned on staying put all day. This is where I've seen the most deer and where I have gotten two and missed two others. I kept thinking about my Uncle and the influence he had on my life. He was the last living relative of my late Father. It was hard to stay focused on glassing for deer, but I wanted to be successful for my Uncle. I was hoping he was there helping me.

A few hours went by and I hadn't seen anything yet. I was just looking around, giving my eyes a break from the binoculars when I saw a deer on the far side of a clearing. I glassed it up, but it was so far I still couldn't tell if it was a buck or not because there was a bush behind it. It stood there quite a while, looking up my way. Then I realized it was concerned about this weird thumping noise that had been driving me nuts for a couple of hours. A constant slow thud coming from about a mile behind me. Anyway, it finally began moving across the field towards the Arizona fence, which was in view of me. That's when I saw it was a buck, but it was hurrying to the fence. I quickly ranged it at 385 yds and got my rifle setup on it. "Please stop" I thought, as it was real near the fence, then he stopped! Already aimed, I fired. As soon as I could see after the shot, I couldn't see him. Oddly, it's exactly where I shot my forky 2 years prior. I strain to see it laying there with my binos. One way or the other I gotta go over there, so I establish landmarks, ranged it again, grab my stuff and hike over there. It still took me a while to find the right spot, but no deer, blood, nothing. I make sure by circling around, bigger and bigger, searched over an hour. I just flat missed him. I held out there the rest of the day anyway, hoping for another chance, but no, that was my chance. I still had a great time and enjoyed the solitude that the wilderness provides.

[capoeirajosh]

So sorry to hear about your uncle.

[Mocha1545]

Great write up and pics. Congrats on 100% success in AZ. So very sorry to hear about your uncle.

[bonecollector]

Congrats on your success in AZ. Sorry to hear about your uncle, at least you got to spend a little time with him before he passed.

[cramerhunts]

Thanks for sharing your NM leg of the journey with us, sorry it unfolded as it did though.

[SNEEKEE1]

Good story sorry about your loved one but I have a question what size toy hauler do you have and is it pretty easy to get in the woods with it?