Coues deer card hits

OP
huntstrong2850
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Messages
348
Drew another early tag!! Cant wait!!

I'm new to coues and only hunted the January rut. But I hear a lot of guys who love the early tag because they get first crack at the deer. But my question is do you guys think it's even possible to come from out of state and be successful on the early hunt with no scouting other than what you know about from December early hunt and January hunt. I feel like drawing the October hunt would be a waste without having deer pre scouted and located


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

DEHusker

WKR
Joined
Jul 5, 2014
Messages
412
Location
Colorado, US of A
I'm new to coues and only hunted the January rut. But I hear a lot of guys who love the early tag because they get first crack at the deer. But my question is do you guys think it's even possible to come from out of state and be successful on the early hunt with no scouting other than what you know about from December early hunt and January hunt. I feel like drawing the October hunt would be a waste without having deer pre scouted and located


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Nah, it can be done. It is tougher, yes, but very doable. I don't want to save points forever to hunt the late hunts so I hunt the October/November hunts. I don't live close enough to scout pre-season either. Heck, I couldn't even get out there until day 2 of the season last year and I still saw deer every AM and PM. There is a learning curve for sure and you have to do some serious pre-season "Google Earth" scouting to find some promising points. The big thing for me is getting away from others. I'll hike in 1-4 miles to set up camp and glass the heck out of the area. Even in low density areas I've seen good deer this way. Nothing is better than glassing up a buck in the Arizona backcountry. You'll remember the first one you find...it's addictive.
 
OP
huntstrong2850
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Messages
348
Well that's good to know. I did draw the early December hunt this year but I'd like to try that October hunt also one year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Maverick940

Banned
Joined
Apr 2, 2016
Messages
315
The late October and early November hunts are typically "dream hunts", because the bucks are usually still in their individual bachelor groups and still loyal to their little core areas and not traveling all over the countryside doing pre-rut stuff. When wanting to kill an exceptionally large buck (aka; 110 inches and bigger) I prefer the early hunts. The late hunts are great for seeing a lot of bucks and to watch pre-rut behavior. The early hunts are especially good when trying to kill a specific buck and especially if that buck is an incredibly large one.
 

DEHusker

WKR
Joined
Jul 5, 2014
Messages
412
Location
Colorado, US of A
Well that's good to know. I did draw the early December hunt this year but I'd like to try that October hunt also one year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In my experience, the early December hunt is much like the Oct/Nov hunts. Bucks still aren't moving much. It is a bit cooler, however, most of the time.
 
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
804
Location
Dallas
I did it. Drove from KY- arrived in camp Wed night, scouted all day Thursday located some deer. Opening day the nice buck we saw was just about the same place we saw him when scouting. Unfortunately someone got there before we did and tagged a nice 92" 3x3. We relocated and killed 2 3x3 that were hanging out together in a wash that evening. Spent the rest of the week chasing predators and quail while the processor cut and froze our deer.

I did a literal sh*t ton of scouting on google earth, ordered maps, etc etc had gps points loaded and we just started marking things off when we arrived.

I'm new to coues and only hunted the January rut. But I hear a lot of guys who love the early tag because they get first crack at the deer. But my question is do you guys think it's even possible to come from out of state and be successful on the early hunt with no scouting other than what you know about from December early hunt and January hunt. I feel like drawing the October hunt would be a waste without having deer pre scouted and located


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

RoJo

WKR
Joined
Dec 5, 2016
Messages
403
Location
South Central Arizona
I drew an early Nov. tag in 37B. Most of the unit is mule deer country, but the tag is for "any antlered deer", so I plan to devote a few scouting trips to trying to locate some whitetail bucks.
 
Top