JasCald02 Report post Posted December 6, 2007 Let me apologize twice: 1. This is long, sorry. 2. I should have posted this when it happend last month, sorry. Hope you all enjoy....I sure did! Having arrived two days before the opener had allowed us to “fine tune” some of our scouting or so we thought. By Friday night we were still unable to say that we had actually seen a Coues deer, only three mule deer does and one forked mullie buck. I can honestly only blame myself for this as I knew the due diligence required to really hone in on a good spot before the opener rolls around was much more than I had put forth in the off-season (lesson learned). However, being that I had read almost everything available regarding Coues deer over the past year and a half before gave me confidence that I had all the right ingredients: Appropriate country that held deer, glassing equipment that would allow me to hole up for an entire day if needed, and a .270 for those “hard to reach” places. Needless to say, I still would have slept a little bit better, or not, the night before the opener if I had actually seen a Coues deer in that limited time in the field. It was still dark when we reached our hunting destination after the 18.5 mi drive over god forsaken “roads” which was a result of what we later realized poor camp placement. After a thirty minute walk the sun peeked up to the east and cast it vibrant colors overhead, you have to love these moments when you are in the field. When I began my cautious decent into what could pass for New Mexico’s Grand Canyon I immediately bummed four whitetails just below the rim rock. I could only confirm that two of the four deer were bucks but mind you that these were the first white tails that I had ever seen in the flesh. I was ecstatic to have actually located game, what a great way to start the hunt! They bailed off into the "depths of the abyss” and I could only watch the fleeting deer as a reasonable shot was out of the question by the time that I got set up. After I had spent two or three minutes settling down I noticed that the commotion had stirred up two other bucks 350 - 400 yards to my left and roughly 100 yards down hill. Of the two bucks, one was visibly bigger of than the other one. I set up on the larger buck and squeezed off my first round at a big animal. The resulting dust cloud ten yards below him confirmed that I had “the fever”. I kicked myself (mentally that is, as actually “kicking” myself would probably result in my falling off the rim that I was on and falling seventy five feet to my death) for taking such an irresponsible shot. I committed to calm down and shoot when I was confident. By the time that I was ready to give it another try the deer had walked out of range and behind quite a bit of vegetation. It was a bitter sweet moment for me; I had seen and shot at game, but I had not connected. I resolved to remain there until lunch, glassing with no avail. Early afternoon found me dropping back into the canyon about a quarter mile south of where I was in the morning. Again, I bumped another deer! I could not immediately see the deer but I could hear him blowing and he was CLOSE! I scrambled to a small rock outcropping that provided some visibility. After five minutes I busted him peeking around looking for me. By this time he was 100 yards downhill and his entire body was blocked by a large bush. I steadied the Winchester and held the cross-hairs on him with deliberate intent. As luck would have it wandered back down into the "Abyss" without ever presenting a good shot. Needless to say I was pretty bummed by now. I glassed the rest of the day from that rocky point and was bit in the neck by a big hairy nasty caterpillar (they were everywhere), no more deer. As the sun began set over the horizon I decided that it would take me about 45 minutes to still hunt back to the truck which would make me “on time” to meet up with my hunting partner. I crawled out of the canyon and began back over the table top mesa. Three minutes of still hunting across the top resulted in another bumped deer! He was 75-85 yards away and visibly legal as he was running from my right to left (broadside) headed towards the canyon’s rim rock. He had about 100 yards to go before he would make it to the canyon's edge. I raised the rifle, put the crosshairs on his front shoulder, and decided to squeezed the trigger........."click"…….oh no……I did not have a round chambered! I had been leaving the chamber empty as I was climbing all over the rocks as it made me a bit nervous to have loaded gun when I was rock climbing. I had simply forgotten to chamber a round when I got back on top; I am an idiot! I chambered a round as fast as I could, just as I got the crosshairs back on him he reached large juniper tree at the canyon’s edge. God must have been smiling on me that evening as he somehow convinced that deer to stop for one split second to look at me. That was all I needed. I touched off the round without even hearing the boom…..the deer bailed into the canyon. My heart and mind were both racing. As I walked up to the area where I shot at him I could not help but keep on second guessing my shot “did I or didn’t I?”. I was elated to see blood everywhere. At this point I went through my mental check list: get out my GPS mark the spot on the GPS and start flagging the blood trail with ribbon every 15 feet, and hurry because it is getting dark! I wanted to get on the trail as far as I could before visibility was gone. After about 45 feet of tracking I looked up and I saw the deer 30 yards in front of me. He was still standing and looking the opposite direction......this is when I realized that I LEFT MY RIFLE ON TOP OF THE MESA!! (I guess that my mental checklist needs revision, again the idiot title holds true) I scrambled back to the top and was back to the same spot within 60 seconds. The deer was exactly where I had left him. My second shot dropped him where he was standing. I scrambled to my deer and was overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity to take such a beautiful animal. It was actually a pretty heavy moment for me, especially since I had never taken a life like that before. After I came out of my "moment of silence" I realized that I was in a predicament. The first shot had created a very large exit wound about the size of a baseball (we found the second shot later at the base of his spine above the shoulders) and there was a lot of blood. I did not want to leave him there overnight because I was afraid of the coyotes getting to him but I did not have time to dress him as I my hunting partner was expecting me in about 20 minutes and I had no way of telling him why I would have been so late. So I marked the deer's location and ran back to the truck to pass on the good news. We ended up going back the next morning and recovered the deer. I have been fishing, camping, and hiking my whole life (26 years) I have only been hunting the past 5 years. This experience was the high point of all the time that I have spent in the field! I am absolutely hooked on these deer and can't wait to get back out next year! Thank you to everyone in this community. From my first Google search return for “Coues deer” a couple of years ago, to the day that I describe above, this site has provided me with a window into something has become a passion. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firstcoueswas80 Report post Posted December 6, 2007 Very nice! Conrats! Word of advise, no matter what the predicement, you may want to field dress the deer as chances are the meat is no good. what bullet were you shooting out of the .270? sounds like a 130 Nosler Ballistic Tip. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elpepe25 Report post Posted December 6, 2007 awesome animal, not to mention that its your first Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BRYCE CANYON Report post Posted December 6, 2007 Nice buck and great story! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mattobertin Report post Posted December 6, 2007 Nice buck brother! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jamaro Report post Posted December 6, 2007 Awesome... jason Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HBU Report post Posted December 6, 2007 Good work, I love the story. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest 300ultramag. Report post Posted December 6, 2007 The question at hand here, does it get ne better? Yes it does. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CouesWhitetail Report post Posted December 6, 2007 Congratulations on your first deer! Glad to hear this site helped you develop a new passion!! Amanda Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
crazyaboutcoues Report post Posted December 7, 2007 Congrats on a great buck and good luck on your future hunts Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JasCald02 Report post Posted December 7, 2007 Thanks everyone! I guess that it was bound to happen at some point......eventhough I would have been just as happy to arrow a bull this past september, there seems to be somethign cool about my first animal being a Coues. I sometimes have to explain to people what they are! FirstCoues, I was shooting a 130gr Remington bronze point......I was surprised by how well it worked! Almost as surpised as I was when I was GIVEN the pre '64 Winchester Model 70 that fired it. I had no idea how special of a rifle it was until I showed up in camp and and the guys filled me in on how lucky I was....... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firstcoueswas80 Report post Posted December 7, 2007 Ive got $200 for that pre 64 in .270 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
