CouesPursuit Report post Posted January 6, 2015 After waiting a long 11 months, January archery OTC had finally come. I and my best hunting buddy Frank (campmeat), headed up the fresh snow covered mountain on January 1st after bringing in the New Year with friends and family. We slowly and safely pushed through the few obstacles in our way; Arizona drivers, highway accidents, upwards of a foot of snow atop primitive forest roads - and before we knew it, we were at buck camp 2015 without a hiccup. We quickly set up camp in excitement, soaked up what was nothing short of magic surrounding us, and decided we had time to head to our stands for an evening hunt. Snow had only been on the ground for 24 hours, and both of our stands were covered in tracks. The first evening was quiet at both stands, at dark we backed out of our areas in the same tracks we came in on, and never went in close to check cams. The second day, I sat an alternative stand that had a nice 4x3 coming in from recent weeks. It appeared his (tough-to-see-here) tracks were beneath my tree when I settled in, as they seemed to "swing" through the area in the same fashion we caught him on camera. Unfortunately, he did not come in and check for does on day 2. Frank had 3 whitetail does come into his stand but nothing with antlers checking them out, just a coyote that wouldn't come into shooting distance. Saturday, January 3rd we wake up to a beautiful 8 degree day and we get in our stands early. On my way to my day 1 stand, I noticed there are both new deer and elk tracks on top mine from the first evening hunt. Feeling good, I get up 25 feet high in my climber and Frank and I send each other a text to confirm we are safe in the tree as we normally check on each other every couple hours on the hour. It felt like 10am and any warmth I had accumulated from the hike in was long gone, I stand up, hang up the bow and turn on my phone to read the following. Nobody can tell the story better than Frank himself, so here is the short and sweet of it after I ask him for the details! I couldn't believe this guy grunted the buck in with nothing more than his mouth! The feeling that the rut was in full swing would not leave my mind, and I was hoping at a chance myself. My blood was pumping for him, I could feel his energy after reading his hundred text messages about how it went down. He asked if I was going to come back for lunch, I replied "I'd rather wait a bit and get 2 bucks down!" He then agreed and told me, "Yea stay in your stand man they're moving today." Not more than 35 minutes later while texting him how about and when to track his buck. I just arrowed my 3rd consecutive buck with a bow. I was so excited for Frank, texting back and forth with him, slightly envious of him of course, and here quickly through the snow comes this floppy eared doe with a forkie pushing her every move. All within 20 seconds, I throw the phone down on the seat of my climber, grab my bow silently off the hook, range their only escape route if they wind me at 42 yards, and watch the doe come plowing down the same horizontal tracks from the first photo above, not more than 15 yards away. The doe quickly escapes out of my view and as I am drawing my bow back, I make the slightest sound to stop the buck in his tracks, only his back 2/3rds are showing from behind the ponderosa and oak. I released the arrow to the sound of a thwack and the sight of the buck coming out on the far side. No arrow to be seen, but a big red entry wound. I recovered this buck after tracking him 1,000 yards through some gnarly brush and bedding areas, and after he showed me where 30-40 sets of deer tracks were present in one little 100 yard draw. I believe the buck pushed so far because of his chasing the doe, otherwise he may have bedded at a reasonable distance. I ended up shooting him a little bit back, as this was my only opportunity, but my 450 gr. VAP tipped with an Ulmer Edge met it's mark and brought down this beautiful little buck without him stopping to bed. I knew that Frank had just drilled a much higher caliber of deer than I did, but I was every bit satisfied with my trophy. For the record, I said before this hunt I would not shoot a spike, and for the future, I have graduated to no longer shoot forks unless it is a December archery fill-the-freezer kind of deal. I am now considering myself something between a 'meat' hunter and a 'I want to up the ante a bit' hunter. By 1pm, I recovered the deer, my cameras, and climber - and made it back to camp to help Frank retrieve his buck. After waiting 3 hours and while I was retrieving my deer, Frank had jumped his buck out of his bed at 60 yards in thick cover 350 yards from his stand. We waited until 4pm, now 7 hours after the shot, and tracked the deer for over a mile in treacherous terrain and brush. The ups and downs of this tracking experience were unreal. I would go from 100% confident "this buck is dead and will be around the corner" to "wtf, how did he make it this far." For all of the research I've done on tracking animals (great one here on CWT btw @ http://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/topic/12229-being-patient-after-the-shot/) this was an experience to remember. This blood trail was this consistent for most of the mile. Only in the end it did it start to dry up to nothing. I have to assume it's because he had no more blood to bleed. With minutes of light, we shared our excitement 2 miles from the nearest road, took photos, and began our cold journey back to camp. This buck was a documented member of our hitlist as well. I am crazy about coues deer, but it was pretty cool seeing the two buck species side by side. And - we were lucky enough to get out for a bonus duck hunt yesterday before and after processing our deer. I hope you all had a great New Year, add a little time with my wife, dog, friends and family and this was one for the record books. Thanks for reading. Good luck to all in 2015. 16 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
100%DIYazCOUES Report post Posted January 6, 2015 Wow,awesome story congrats to both of you! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lancetkenyon Report post Posted January 6, 2015 Awesome report! Congrats. Cool to see the text screens too. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
randyolson Report post Posted January 6, 2015 That was quite the story!!! Enjoyed the pics too!! The whole layout was very good!! Congrats to you both on an excellent hunt and your bucks!! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
runningbird Report post Posted January 6, 2015 great story and photo's! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jim Report post Posted January 6, 2015 Congrats on the Deer and Ducks. Great story. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JLW Report post Posted January 6, 2015 that is a classic story for some time to come! congrats to both of you!!! james 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kidso Report post Posted January 7, 2015 Great job to the both of you! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pine Donkey Report post Posted January 7, 2015 Awesome. Texting sure has added a play-by-play element between hunting buddies. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Will K Report post Posted January 7, 2015 Awesome. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
capoeirajosh Report post Posted January 7, 2015 Great hunts! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Redman Report post Posted January 7, 2015 very nice!! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coues assassin Report post Posted January 7, 2015 Wow congrats. The story was great made me itch to get out now! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cramerhunts Report post Posted January 7, 2015 Very, very cool story! Congratulations to you both and thank you for taking the time to write it up like you did. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cola Blanca Report post Posted January 7, 2015 Congrats to both of you! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
