2015 big coues buck

[elkman]

Well I ended my 2014 hunting season with this toad. I hunted for 11 solid days and turned him up. Story goes:

 

I found this area I really liked from past hunts so I thought I would focus there for the hunt. I did a day of walking the area out looking for water and sign. After a long hike and decent amount of sign I fount a set of tracks that I really liked seeing. So I decide to focus my attention to this area for a few days to see what it turned up. It was about a 1.5 mile hike into the glassing spot I picked out and was a great vantage point. I spent the next three days on this point looking over what I though was every deer in this area. I came to the conclusion this huge track was from a big footed 90" deer since that was the largest buck in the area. On day three around noon after staring into my Swarovski big eyes for 5 hours straight, frustrated and doubting my spot I spun around and started glassing a hill that was three miles out. After focusing my attention to one specific saddle and bowl that looked good I started seeing bucks. This spot had deer all over it. After looking over all the deer in the spot I counted 7 bucks and two does. There was one buck that stood out in width and mass and had all the other bucks bowing at his feet basically., and at three miles I could tell he was a special looking buck I thought I wanted. Man I love those big eyes they are a real advantage.

After the decision was made to go after him it was around a three hour hike to get over there due to the topography of the area. When I got to the base of the mountain and started my way up the steep incline I was doubting the deer would even be there after that long of a time. When I got to my rock outcropping I snuck over the top and started glassing. I immediately started picking up deer. Buck after buck but no big boy. I stayed behind the binos for a hour straight to no avail. I finally got out the big eyes and started picking apart the brush piece by piece hoping to turn up an antler tip or an ear I couldn't see with the 12xs. After another hours of picking apart the brush I finally got some luck. I just happen to be looking at the right manzanita bush when I saw a ear move. After locking in on that spot I finally could see an antler. As soon as I saw the antler my blood pressure started rising immediately. I could only see on side of his rack and I could see all the mass and the split g-2. I new right away he was a shooter. I quickly got my gun set up rock solid and ranged several spots on the hill. 637 yards. That was as close as I could get safely without alerting them to my position. I do a lot of long range shooting and I new that was well within my capabilities.

I set up my camera on the big eyes and got behind my gun to wait for him to stand up. I was behind my gun for probably twenty minutes, everyone knows how hard that is. I was ready for him when he stood up, but as luck would have it a smaller buck walked down to him and he didn't like that guy being so close to his doe. So he stood up and immediately took off running at the smaller buck and rammed him a couple times. Through out all this he really never stopped moving for me long enough to make a lethal shot at that range. He then started pushing his doe all around the hill side without stopping in a clearing. I had to re position several times waiting to trip the trigger. As luck would have it he finally got tired of chasing that doe that was obviously interested in the same thing he was and stopped broadside but behind the bush. I new I was about to get a shot so I leaned over and started my camera. Just after I got it started he did the best thing possible for me. He bedded down in the only clearing on the hill. I got back behind the gun settled in and squeezed the trigger. The recoil knocked me off the spot and by the time I got back on it there was nothing there in the clearing. I started scanning over the hillside and going from buck to buck but he wasn't there. after panicking for a couple seconds I realized I had the camera rolling. I checked the film and was pleased to see the buck never got out of his bed.

I am very happy with this buck. he ended up having 36" of mass and a ton of character. I didn't get too many good pics of him hunting by myself and dealing with that steep hill was the easiest for photography but getting the kill shot on video made up for it. A very memorably hunt and have to thank my wife for dealing with my coues obsession. Thx for reading Josh Weeks

 

you have to double click the link and copy and past the video link to your browser. sorry couldn't get the video to attach

2015 coues shot video.txt

[KeithV]

very cool great job

[WHT_MTNMAN]

Great shot on an Awesome, heavy buck. that is too cool.

[stanley]

Great deer! Great detailed write-up!

 

Thanks for sharing with the site!

 

S.

 

[Tunachaser]

Awesome buck!!! That is a super cool.

[kazpilot25]

Awesome video! Great buck.

[HOSS....]

Awesome work Josh... patience and persistence paid off.... that background looks very familiar.... Is it my back yard?

[DAS]

Awesome buck! Congrats

[Mocha1545]

That is a TOAD! Man you earned him. Great write up and video! Congrats!

[Matt Meyer]

Awesome buck and story. Congrats

[papa]

Great Buck and a great write up Josh. Is this the hunt you were trying to get Chad to tag along on?

[elkman]

Thanks for all the replies. I am defiantly blessed to be able to spend so much time in the woods chasing these creatures. Looking foreword to spring hunts

[Non-Typical Solutions]

TOAD is a good way to put it....congrats on a great buck thanks for sharing your story!!

[tjhunt2]

What a great looking buck. Thanks for sharing. I'm still trying to figure out how to see the video.

 

TJ

[WHT_MTNMAN]

Open up the link that says Coues shot video.txt.

 

Copy the address that appears and then paste that into your browser. It will bring up the video...