I was excited when I found out my wife and I both drew tags. I was really looking forward to spending some time out hunting with her again. We use to hunt quite a bit together and since we had our kids it’s been tough to find time anymore. This would be her first coues hunt with a rifle and we were both really looking forward to it.
Since my hunting partner Ronnie didn’t draw a tag he dedicated all his time helping me with the scouting and hunt. I knew between the two of us we would be able to find some great bucks for my wife and I. We were out scouting nearly every weekend and even sometimes during the week. We also had another buddy that had the tag that was doing some scouting as well. We were all on a mission to get some great bucks located and patterned.
A few weeks of scouting turned up some great bucks and a few shooter bucks. Opening morning could not come soon enough.
Unfortunately my wife had some things come up and she was only going to be able to hunt for the first two days of the hunt. A few days before the hunt I was able to break away for another morning. I located a buck I wanted my wife to shoot. It was a good solid 105” buck, real heavy.
Ronnie came up the day before the hunt to help us, along with my buddy Colin that had the same tag as well.
Opening morning came quick and before we knew it we were lacing up the boots, loading the packs and heading up the hill with a deadly game plan in mind. It was cold and cloudy and looked as if it were going to start raining, we had about a mile walk into our area where this buck was located. With-in minutes Ronnie had the buck located and my wife was super excited as she was suppose to be “up to bat first.” Unfortunately things didn’t happen as we planned and my wife and I backed out of the area as my buddy headed in after the bucks solo.
So after a little frustration about losing opening morning, when my wife only had two days to hunt I put a game plan together for the afternoon hunt and got after it. By the time we got to my other area where we had located some good bucks, it was about noon. We hiked into the area and got set up to glass. Might I add my wife out glassed me, I was quite impressed with her glassing skills. About 5 pm found us looking through the optics at a couple nice bucks feeding along a hillside. One 90” class buck and another smaller buck they were about a mile away and heading away from us. We decided to let them be, as we didn’t have enough time in the day to make a stalk.
Day two and Chailles last day to hunt found us on top of the ridge where we seen the bucks the previous evening, we set up the tripods on top of some bluffs and began to glass. Right away Chaille Picked up a buck about 600 yards from us. We watched the buck for a while as it fed closer towards us. He wasn’t the big buck from the previous evening but Chaille liked him and that’s all that mattered. She told me she wanted to take him. I ranged him at 450 yards I quickly got her set up on The Claw with the 7mag. The buck walked up on a high point and about to drop off in another draw. I told Chaille “its now or never”. She squeezed the trigger and smoked him, the buck folded up in his tracks. I was amazed at the shot and so proud of her. He is a nice 2x3 with a perfect little basket. We got over to the buck, celebrated, took in the moment and started the pack out.
Sunday morning it was down to Ronnie, and I as my wife headed back home. It was time for some serious backcountry coues hunting. Sunday – Tuesday was a rough three days almost 50 miles put on the boots but we did see lots of great bucks and passed on some great 90” bucks. I was on a mission to harvest a 100”+ buck. I have two bucks in the 90’s and I wanted to break the 100” mark.
We decided to check another area for the last two days of the hunt and after discussing some area with some other hunting buddies we put a game plan together. This is an area we have spent some time in and seen some whopper bucks, but it’s a very hard area to rifle hunt because it is super thick.
We woke up to a chilly Wed morning with the wind blowing like crazy. We ended up getting to our spot about an hour too late and my hopes of harvesting my 100”er were slowly fading. As we glass the almost un-glassable hillsides the wind was picking up more and making for a miserable morning. We knew there were some great bucks in this area so it kept us behind the glass into the late morning hours. About that time when you think you have glassed every inch on the hillside, I got a quick glimpse of a deer. As he worked his way along the hillside we were able to make out that he was indeed a buck as we watched the tips of his horns glissin in the sun. As he turned his head and walked through a small opening we got a better look and instantly knew he was a shooter, packing around every bit of 100”.
We got out to the edge and set up quickly. But as quickly as he appeared he disappeared again… “Ninjas”. We were frantically scanning the area over and over. Knowing that this buck is with in shooting range and we couldn’t see him was almost unbearable. After a good thirty minutes and thinking he slipped by. I picked him up again heading straight up the mountain in front of us. He was weaving in and out of the trees. I jumped back behind the gun as I watched him through the scope waiting for a shot. I didn’t think he was ever going to stop he was now at the top of the ridge and walked right into some thick brush. Fortunately he decided to stop, but in the brush. The brush was almost as tall as him. I felt I had enough room to slip one in there. Ronnie ranged him at 420, I took a deep breath, slowly squeezed the trigger and listened to the echo from the 7mag as it filled the canyon. Ronnie instantly said, “I think you got him”. I wasn’t sure if I did or did not. I said “I don’t know man! I sure hope so, the shot felt great.” We didn’t see him run off but the brush was also as high as him so we were unsure. We threw our packs on and headed up the hill towards the buck. As we closed in on the brush he was standing in I was hoping and praying it was a hit. As I plowed my way through the brush there he laid, 20 yards in front of me. I started screaming with excitement and yelled to Ronnie I found him. Ronnie and I started celebrating and high fives started flyin. At this point we couldn’t even see his horns yet as his head was behind a bush. As I walked around that bush, I will never forget that sight! I started to scream again… And told Ronnie we got ourselves a giant!!
No comments:
Post a Comment