nakneker
Gold $$ Contributor
We were fortunate enough to draw New Mexico deer tags again this year, we being my wife, myself, our oldest daughter and some close friends. The season was five days long, Mule deer or Coues deer could be had on the same tag. Arizona use to do that years ago but it became an either or hunt years ago so it was nice to able to hunt them both on this tag.
Opening day we I went with a young friend and hiked into some rough Coues country 3 hours before dawn. We arrived where we wanted to go 15 minutes before shooting light and set up glassing a steep canyon below. I’m 58 and made it just fine but my lungs and knees definitely felt it going up and going back down later in the day. As light broke I glassed up a couple does, we ended up watching them feed towards us over the next couple hours, they were feeding at a 31 degree angle below us which makes me glad to have optics with AB that takes the guess work out of a shot like that. Unfortunately we didn’t glass up any bucks, it’s a spot we’re we’ve seen some bruisers over that past few years and have taken two very big Coues bucks but it wasn’t to be that day.
Day two I gave me knees a rest and moved to another steep canyon that didn’t take near the effort as the first canyon. After glassing for a couple hours my buddy caught a flicker in some thick cedars, we both started watching that area and ended up glassing two 100” Coues bucks hanging out together. After 2 hours they got up and started feeding into an open area where I could get a shot. My goal for the hunt was the first buck I saw over 100” was gonna go into the freezer. That unit has some big deer but not a lot of them. We backed off of our vantage point and side cut the hill we were ended up popping out about 400 yards closer to the bucks. It took us a few minutes to relocate them after we arrived but it turned a 800 + yard shot into a 443 yard shot. They had fed up the canyon wall they were on making the pack out a bit easier. One shot with my 7 Saum and 180 hybrids dropped the buck were he stood. The pack out wasn't bad at all, probably a 3 year old buck with handfuls of fat on his flanks and almost an inch of fat down his back. Coues meat is one my favorite game meats and I was happy to wrap my tagged on the little guy.
The next day I joined my wife and oldest daughter who had been glassing off a knob for the first two days of the season. They had seen quite a few muley bucks but they hadn’t had an opportunity yet. On day three we glassed up two decent muley bucks, both had good frames with shallow forks but nice bucks. They were 2800 yards away, we started planning a stalk when I glassed up a hunter on a ridge in front of the deer walking. He was traveling at pretty good click, the deer weren't spooked, they watched him as his descended down the ridge in front of them, they kept feeding on buck brush and kept watching him. It took him about 45 minutes to get down the ridge and he never did see the bucks. By then it was approaching mid morning, we bedded the bucks and devised a plan to split up and get a shooter on both sides of the knob those deer bedded on. Long story short that’s what we did, we thought one party would surely get a shot as the day went on but the bucks never materialized as shooting light faded, we didn’t want to bump them out of the area so we snuck out of there and grilled some steaks back at camp while we enjoyed a big juniper campfire, something we did nightly.
The following day we were back on the knob and never could relocate those two bucks, after an hour of trying we glassed up two smaller bucks, a forky and 3x4. Again we split up. I was helping my daughter, my wife wanted her to give her the best opportunity. We closed the distance on the deer, just over 1500 yards and sat up. After 30 minutes we caught those two bucks moving to their bedding grounds. My daughter hasn't had a deer tag since she was teen, shes tagged three nice bulls but no deer hunts. The bucks were in thick cedars moving from our left to our right, we closed in a bit and got to a ridge within 200 yards from those bucks. She had three opportunities to shoot but every time she had pressure on the trigger the buck would move and get behind some brush. That opportunity passed without a shot. We got back to camp and I had a discouraged daughter, that unfortunate part was that was her last day to hunt. She returned home the following day without a buck but with a lot of good memories. She was bummed but I reminded her she has a great deer hunt coming up next month.
That left two days for me and the wife to spend some time hunting together. We both took big Coues bucks last year and we’re fortunate enough to hunt 13 days together on that hunt so it felt good to be hunting with her again. We returned to the area were I shot my buck a couple days prior. We glassed up two small Coues bucks but where we found them would required a serious pack out and she passed on the idea. Later, after we took a nap and had some lunch we glassed up a group of mule deer that had a forked horn buck in the group. It was a pretty easy stalk and she decided she wanted to try it. The weather was getting nasty and forecast for the next/last day was constant rain and snow in the higher country. That forecast doomed the little buck, she probably would have passed but that didn’t happen, she wanted to get it done. We closed the distance as they fed into a rolly polly ravine. They acted like they were headed to water, we knew of a cow tank about a half mile down that draw. They were just walking and feeding, not in a hurry at all. We circled around and got ahead of them. When we set up she saw them first, they were doing what we thought they would and just kept feeding down the draw. When they got to 263 yards she shot, a perfect shot that took out his heart. He made it almost 30 yards, how he did that I have no idea. Poor dude left one of the widest blood trails I’ve ever seen. His heart was destroyed along with a broken left shoulder.
We shared a high fives and were all smiles. On the way back to the side by side it started raining, by the time we got back to the buck it was raining pretty hard off and on. We took a couple pics and got the buck back to camp where we hung and skinned the buck under the protection of a big oak that provided decent shelter from the rain. We used a tarp and made a shelter so the deer wouldn’t get wet. It cleared off around midnight and got nice and cold and the buck cooled out nicely. Her buck was as fat as mine, we now have plenty of venison again, prime venison.
My wife has a quality Coues tag this January, last year she took her biggest Coues that was a half inch from breaking 120”, her goal this year is to break 120”. Our oldest daughter who didn’t fill her tag on this hunt also has a quality Coues hunt the last two weeks of December in our favorite Arizona unit. She paid some dues on this hunt and has a good chance to get it done in December.
For us, filling tags is a bonus. Memories made and shared with friends and family in the woods is what it’s all about. We like trying to get one for the wall but we enjoy filling the freezer too. Lots of memories were made on this hunt and it got us excited for the upcoming hunts in December and January. I wish I would have taken more pics but here’s a couple I did take. That country is beautiful, some of God’s best work in my opinion. As get older I keep in mind that some day I will enjoy my last hunt, take my last hike, enjoy my last day with my family in the wild places we love so much. I remind myself of that and try to appreciate every time I get to do it one more time.
Opening day we I went with a young friend and hiked into some rough Coues country 3 hours before dawn. We arrived where we wanted to go 15 minutes before shooting light and set up glassing a steep canyon below. I’m 58 and made it just fine but my lungs and knees definitely felt it going up and going back down later in the day. As light broke I glassed up a couple does, we ended up watching them feed towards us over the next couple hours, they were feeding at a 31 degree angle below us which makes me glad to have optics with AB that takes the guess work out of a shot like that. Unfortunately we didn’t glass up any bucks, it’s a spot we’re we’ve seen some bruisers over that past few years and have taken two very big Coues bucks but it wasn’t to be that day.
Day two I gave me knees a rest and moved to another steep canyon that didn’t take near the effort as the first canyon. After glassing for a couple hours my buddy caught a flicker in some thick cedars, we both started watching that area and ended up glassing two 100” Coues bucks hanging out together. After 2 hours they got up and started feeding into an open area where I could get a shot. My goal for the hunt was the first buck I saw over 100” was gonna go into the freezer. That unit has some big deer but not a lot of them. We backed off of our vantage point and side cut the hill we were ended up popping out about 400 yards closer to the bucks. It took us a few minutes to relocate them after we arrived but it turned a 800 + yard shot into a 443 yard shot. They had fed up the canyon wall they were on making the pack out a bit easier. One shot with my 7 Saum and 180 hybrids dropped the buck were he stood. The pack out wasn't bad at all, probably a 3 year old buck with handfuls of fat on his flanks and almost an inch of fat down his back. Coues meat is one my favorite game meats and I was happy to wrap my tagged on the little guy.
The next day I joined my wife and oldest daughter who had been glassing off a knob for the first two days of the season. They had seen quite a few muley bucks but they hadn’t had an opportunity yet. On day three we glassed up two decent muley bucks, both had good frames with shallow forks but nice bucks. They were 2800 yards away, we started planning a stalk when I glassed up a hunter on a ridge in front of the deer walking. He was traveling at pretty good click, the deer weren't spooked, they watched him as his descended down the ridge in front of them, they kept feeding on buck brush and kept watching him. It took him about 45 minutes to get down the ridge and he never did see the bucks. By then it was approaching mid morning, we bedded the bucks and devised a plan to split up and get a shooter on both sides of the knob those deer bedded on. Long story short that’s what we did, we thought one party would surely get a shot as the day went on but the bucks never materialized as shooting light faded, we didn’t want to bump them out of the area so we snuck out of there and grilled some steaks back at camp while we enjoyed a big juniper campfire, something we did nightly.
The following day we were back on the knob and never could relocate those two bucks, after an hour of trying we glassed up two smaller bucks, a forky and 3x4. Again we split up. I was helping my daughter, my wife wanted her to give her the best opportunity. We closed the distance on the deer, just over 1500 yards and sat up. After 30 minutes we caught those two bucks moving to their bedding grounds. My daughter hasn't had a deer tag since she was teen, shes tagged three nice bulls but no deer hunts. The bucks were in thick cedars moving from our left to our right, we closed in a bit and got to a ridge within 200 yards from those bucks. She had three opportunities to shoot but every time she had pressure on the trigger the buck would move and get behind some brush. That opportunity passed without a shot. We got back to camp and I had a discouraged daughter, that unfortunate part was that was her last day to hunt. She returned home the following day without a buck but with a lot of good memories. She was bummed but I reminded her she has a great deer hunt coming up next month.
That left two days for me and the wife to spend some time hunting together. We both took big Coues bucks last year and we’re fortunate enough to hunt 13 days together on that hunt so it felt good to be hunting with her again. We returned to the area were I shot my buck a couple days prior. We glassed up two small Coues bucks but where we found them would required a serious pack out and she passed on the idea. Later, after we took a nap and had some lunch we glassed up a group of mule deer that had a forked horn buck in the group. It was a pretty easy stalk and she decided she wanted to try it. The weather was getting nasty and forecast for the next/last day was constant rain and snow in the higher country. That forecast doomed the little buck, she probably would have passed but that didn’t happen, she wanted to get it done. We closed the distance as they fed into a rolly polly ravine. They acted like they were headed to water, we knew of a cow tank about a half mile down that draw. They were just walking and feeding, not in a hurry at all. We circled around and got ahead of them. When we set up she saw them first, they were doing what we thought they would and just kept feeding down the draw. When they got to 263 yards she shot, a perfect shot that took out his heart. He made it almost 30 yards, how he did that I have no idea. Poor dude left one of the widest blood trails I’ve ever seen. His heart was destroyed along with a broken left shoulder.
We shared a high fives and were all smiles. On the way back to the side by side it started raining, by the time we got back to the buck it was raining pretty hard off and on. We took a couple pics and got the buck back to camp where we hung and skinned the buck under the protection of a big oak that provided decent shelter from the rain. We used a tarp and made a shelter so the deer wouldn’t get wet. It cleared off around midnight and got nice and cold and the buck cooled out nicely. Her buck was as fat as mine, we now have plenty of venison again, prime venison.
My wife has a quality Coues tag this January, last year she took her biggest Coues that was a half inch from breaking 120”, her goal this year is to break 120”. Our oldest daughter who didn’t fill her tag on this hunt also has a quality Coues hunt the last two weeks of December in our favorite Arizona unit. She paid some dues on this hunt and has a good chance to get it done in December.
For us, filling tags is a bonus. Memories made and shared with friends and family in the woods is what it’s all about. We like trying to get one for the wall but we enjoy filling the freezer too. Lots of memories were made on this hunt and it got us excited for the upcoming hunts in December and January. I wish I would have taken more pics but here’s a couple I did take. That country is beautiful, some of God’s best work in my opinion. As get older I keep in mind that some day I will enjoy my last hunt, take my last hike, enjoy my last day with my family in the wild places we love so much. I remind myself of that and try to appreciate every time I get to do it one more time.
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