This was my first rifle hunt for Arizona Coues deer. Packed my spotting scope, binos and tripod as I would be doing a lot of glassing all day long. Took along my custom 338 Lapua because the shot could be long and I don't really have a long range rig set up besides that one. Its overkill to some but I don't really believe in overkill or I wouldn't have a 338 Lapua in the first place! First day got out there and wasn't having any luck glassing up anything! There were three of us glassing and we were just seeing spikes or fork horns. Second day, I didn't go out because I have been battling a cold so I was going to give it a day to try to get over it because I felt like crap! By that evening, I didn't feel well at all and had decided that I was just going to go home. Woke up that morning and was feeling a little better so I told my buddies that I would go out with them. We climbed to the top of a hill and started glassing. It was a perfect morning, around 34 degrees and no wind whatsoever. The deer were really out moving and feeding this morning as the previous day was VERY windy. We spotted quite a few deer but not any we wanted to shoot. I set up to spot another hill and got on my binos and immediately spotted a good buck. I locked the binos on him and let my buddy look at him. All he said when he saw it was, "Get your rifle out now!"
I got all set up and ready to shoot, dialed for 550 yards and got behind the rifle. The buck moved into some brush so it was hard to find the area in the scope at first. My buddies helped guide me in to where he went behind the brush. I could see shining antlers as the sun hit them. One of my buddies said that he was on the move and would be under the left oak tree in a bit. That particular oak tree had a split in the trunk which made a V shaped clearing between the two trunks that was about a foot or two wide. The deer walked right behind that tree leaving his vitals clear in the v shaped clearing of the split tree trunk. I put the crosshair on him and let it rip. The 338 Lapua barked and the deer slid down the hill a ways. My buddy said he could see the vapor trail go all the way and go through that v shaped clearing and smack the deer. The deer actually took two steps as I shot so it hit him a little back but still was a kill shot.
For those that have never heard of a Coues Deer, they are a very small white tailed deer and (for me) are really hard to glass up. The move from bush to bush or tree to tree and don't stay in the open very long. They are nicknamed "Grey Ghost" for a good reason. They blend in to the terrain very well. One second you spot a deer and the next second it has disappeared into the brush or tree line.
This deer scored right at 105" which is a pretty good Coues deer. 110" makes the B&C record books which doesn't really matter to me but just to give you a comparison of how big it is.
Another good thing about these deer is after quartering them out and packing up all the meat, is that its hardly any weight haha!
I got all set up and ready to shoot, dialed for 550 yards and got behind the rifle. The buck moved into some brush so it was hard to find the area in the scope at first. My buddies helped guide me in to where he went behind the brush. I could see shining antlers as the sun hit them. One of my buddies said that he was on the move and would be under the left oak tree in a bit. That particular oak tree had a split in the trunk which made a V shaped clearing between the two trunks that was about a foot or two wide. The deer walked right behind that tree leaving his vitals clear in the v shaped clearing of the split tree trunk. I put the crosshair on him and let it rip. The 338 Lapua barked and the deer slid down the hill a ways. My buddy said he could see the vapor trail go all the way and go through that v shaped clearing and smack the deer. The deer actually took two steps as I shot so it hit him a little back but still was a kill shot.
For those that have never heard of a Coues Deer, they are a very small white tailed deer and (for me) are really hard to glass up. The move from bush to bush or tree to tree and don't stay in the open very long. They are nicknamed "Grey Ghost" for a good reason. They blend in to the terrain very well. One second you spot a deer and the next second it has disappeared into the brush or tree line.
This deer scored right at 105" which is a pretty good Coues deer. 110" makes the B&C record books which doesn't really matter to me but just to give you a comparison of how big it is.
Another good thing about these deer is after quartering them out and packing up all the meat, is that its hardly any weight haha!
