Went pretty well for me this year. I harvested an animal on both of my hunts in New Mexico and my Coues Deer hunt in Arizona this year. Two were archery hunts and one was a rifle hunt in Arizona.
The first was my archery Elk hunt in the Gila Wilderness. It was a lot of fun but a lot of work. Not a huge bull but Elk has turned out to be my favorite tasting big game meat so I just enjoy eating it. But any 6x6 is a good kill with a bow in my books
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The next hunt was in Arizona. It was a rifle Coues deer hunt. I spotted the buck walking up the side of a tall hill and heading towards some trees to bed for the day. Shot him at 550 yards. It ended up measuring 105" which is actually a pretty nice trophy for a Coues deer. Also, Coues deer meat tastes really good and my wife REALLY likes the taste of it so I have permission to try to kill one every year! I did a write up about it on this site in November.
I just got back from my January archery Mule deer hunt. Spotted a decent amount of bucks over a three day period and decided to put the stalk on this one. I had tried two days before to put a successful stalk on him but the wind was just not being very nice. We watched them for a while until the buck and around 15 does bedded down on the side of a hill. They bedded almost at the very top. I hiked around to the north side of the hill as the deer had bedded down on the south side of it near the top as I said before. The wind was working great so I started up the hill. I was walking really slow as there were a lot of loose rocks on the ground that would make an awful loud sound if you walked to fast. It seemed like it took forever to get up the hill. I got to the top and my buddy messaged me that the buck was still bedded in the same spot but the does were up and eating. I crawled up behind a cactus that was just above where the buck had bedded down. I peaked up over the cactus and a doe was about 20 ft from me and looking right at me. I lowered my head and started to strategize. I knew that the doe had seen me and that she would take off soon and the buck and other does would follow. So I decided that my only chance was to wait until the doe started to take off and then stand up and draw and hope that the buck stopped to look back (as Mule deer typically do). Well the doe took off and the others followed. I stood up and drew my bow back and sure enough the buck stopped right at what I had guessed to be 65-70 yards. I put my 70 yard pin on his shoulder. He was slightly quartering away. At the release of the arrow, it felt like a good shot. The arrow hit right where I was aiming and you could see a the huge hole that the Grim Reaper Razorcut had made and blood pouring out. He ran about 150 yards into a cut on the side of the hill. I never saw him come out. I gave it a little bit of time and walked over and found him dead. I am very pleased with this public land desert muley. He has dark antlers and they are tall.
It was a really good year!
The first was my archery Elk hunt in the Gila Wilderness. It was a lot of fun but a lot of work. Not a huge bull but Elk has turned out to be my favorite tasting big game meat so I just enjoy eating it. But any 6x6 is a good kill with a bow in my books
. The next hunt was in Arizona. It was a rifle Coues deer hunt. I spotted the buck walking up the side of a tall hill and heading towards some trees to bed for the day. Shot him at 550 yards. It ended up measuring 105" which is actually a pretty nice trophy for a Coues deer. Also, Coues deer meat tastes really good and my wife REALLY likes the taste of it so I have permission to try to kill one every year! I did a write up about it on this site in November.
I just got back from my January archery Mule deer hunt. Spotted a decent amount of bucks over a three day period and decided to put the stalk on this one. I had tried two days before to put a successful stalk on him but the wind was just not being very nice. We watched them for a while until the buck and around 15 does bedded down on the side of a hill. They bedded almost at the very top. I hiked around to the north side of the hill as the deer had bedded down on the south side of it near the top as I said before. The wind was working great so I started up the hill. I was walking really slow as there were a lot of loose rocks on the ground that would make an awful loud sound if you walked to fast. It seemed like it took forever to get up the hill. I got to the top and my buddy messaged me that the buck was still bedded in the same spot but the does were up and eating. I crawled up behind a cactus that was just above where the buck had bedded down. I peaked up over the cactus and a doe was about 20 ft from me and looking right at me. I lowered my head and started to strategize. I knew that the doe had seen me and that she would take off soon and the buck and other does would follow. So I decided that my only chance was to wait until the doe started to take off and then stand up and draw and hope that the buck stopped to look back (as Mule deer typically do). Well the doe took off and the others followed. I stood up and drew my bow back and sure enough the buck stopped right at what I had guessed to be 65-70 yards. I put my 70 yard pin on his shoulder. He was slightly quartering away. At the release of the arrow, it felt like a good shot. The arrow hit right where I was aiming and you could see a the huge hole that the Grim Reaper Razorcut had made and blood pouring out. He ran about 150 yards into a cut on the side of the hill. I never saw him come out. I gave it a little bit of time and walked over and found him dead. I am very pleased with this public land desert muley. He has dark antlers and they are tall.
It was a really good year!
