I took a buddy of mine out Coues Deer hunting out here in southern AZ. He's somewhat new to hunting and hadn't killed a deer to this point. I'm still pretty new to big game myself and have only killed one in 2017. But we were both quite sure of ourselves as we hiked up the mountain on Thursday before the season opener (Friday the 26th) and set up camp on a ridge near where we had scouted a few decent bucks the week prior.
The weather did not cooperate that evening and night with winds shifting from the south at a gentle 5mph to nearly 30mph out of the north (with a 20 to 30 degree drop in temperature). It felt like we were going to to get blown off the mountain. But worse, the wind was blowing straight from our glassing spot towards the area we had found some bucks while scouting. The wind didn't die down at all until about 5pm that afternoon. We didn't see any bucks at all that day, just a hand full of does.
The next day, the wind had calmed and had shifted again to coming out of the south east at 10mph or so. We relocated about a half mile and shifted focus to another ridge where I had seen bucks in the past. We glassed for about an hour and weren't seeing anything across the canyon when my buddy said he could see a few deer hanging out in some fairly thick cover but that he thought they were all does. He often can't really see antlers in the shadows at extended distances with the 10x binos he has so I took a look at them with my 15x binos. Doe, doe, doe, doe, doe, buck! - a nice 3x3 with eye guards. I could see him raking a tree like it insulted his sister. I pulled up my range finder and got a range of 389 yards. My buddy said he wasn't really comfortable with a shot past 300. Based on the pre-season shooting I had done, I felt like it was a makeable shot for me. I was able to get a nice stable shooting position using my pack as a rest. I settled into position, dialed my correction, and waited for him to step into a clearing. As I waited, I focused on calming my nerves and taking slow deep breaths. Once he finally stepped out, it looked like he was going to walk right through the small clearing into an even thicker patch of trees. But he stopped right in the opening and I sent a 162gr ELD-X from my 280 Ackley his way. You could hear the sound of it making contact from across the canyon. My buddy was watching through my binos and said he dropped right after the shot, but that he couldn't see him any more. We kept our binos on the ridge to make sure he was dead. After we didn't see any movement for a while, I crossed the canyon over to where I thought he was but couldn't find him or any blood. I felt pretty low at that point, but was fairly confident that I had hit him. I kept searching the ridge, but still nothing. I looked back a cross the canyon with my binos, to where my friend was still sitting and I could see him gesturing up and to my right. I looked up the hill where he was pointing and there he was!
Packing him down the mountain!
Next, after we got him down and on ice, we headed back up to find one for my friend.
We found another decent ridge to glass and the next morning turned up 4 bucks together moving through a patch of open ground towards a group of trees. One spike, two forkies and a 3x3. The patch of trees was 311 yards and the larger buck was exposed. My friend lined up his shot, and fired. He missed just to the left (the direction the wind was blowing). The bucks bounced out of there and onto a ridge about 800 yards away. We tried to close the distance, but they went over the ridge. We again shifted focus to a different ridge about 600 years away. We were glassing for about an hour when we found a really good buck at 275. My friend lined up a shot, but hit right between his legs. The buck ran down the hill into the wash. We could see the bottom of the wash too the right and could tell he didn't go that way. We went down the hill pretty fast to the left to see if we could find him in the bottom. As I'm glassing the bottom to the left I hear my buddy eject the spent cartridge, chamber a new one and fire a shot to the right. I asked did you get him? right as he said "I think I got one!" As we were looking for the big one, two more bucks poked their heads out from under a tree about 40 yards to the right and down hill of of us. My buddy heard them and managed to get a shot off at the one that hesitated. He was still at max power on his scope and said "all I could see was hair, I just pulled the trigger, I was shaking so bad I don't know if I hit him!" We went over to where he came out from the tree and found blood. From there we could see him down in the bottom of the wash! His borrowed 30-06 and 165 SSTs did the job! His first deer and two tags punched!
Packing him down
We sure had a good time!
The weather did not cooperate that evening and night with winds shifting from the south at a gentle 5mph to nearly 30mph out of the north (with a 20 to 30 degree drop in temperature). It felt like we were going to to get blown off the mountain. But worse, the wind was blowing straight from our glassing spot towards the area we had found some bucks while scouting. The wind didn't die down at all until about 5pm that afternoon. We didn't see any bucks at all that day, just a hand full of does.
The next day, the wind had calmed and had shifted again to coming out of the south east at 10mph or so. We relocated about a half mile and shifted focus to another ridge where I had seen bucks in the past. We glassed for about an hour and weren't seeing anything across the canyon when my buddy said he could see a few deer hanging out in some fairly thick cover but that he thought they were all does. He often can't really see antlers in the shadows at extended distances with the 10x binos he has so I took a look at them with my 15x binos. Doe, doe, doe, doe, doe, buck! - a nice 3x3 with eye guards. I could see him raking a tree like it insulted his sister. I pulled up my range finder and got a range of 389 yards. My buddy said he wasn't really comfortable with a shot past 300. Based on the pre-season shooting I had done, I felt like it was a makeable shot for me. I was able to get a nice stable shooting position using my pack as a rest. I settled into position, dialed my correction, and waited for him to step into a clearing. As I waited, I focused on calming my nerves and taking slow deep breaths. Once he finally stepped out, it looked like he was going to walk right through the small clearing into an even thicker patch of trees. But he stopped right in the opening and I sent a 162gr ELD-X from my 280 Ackley his way. You could hear the sound of it making contact from across the canyon. My buddy was watching through my binos and said he dropped right after the shot, but that he couldn't see him any more. We kept our binos on the ridge to make sure he was dead. After we didn't see any movement for a while, I crossed the canyon over to where I thought he was but couldn't find him or any blood. I felt pretty low at that point, but was fairly confident that I had hit him. I kept searching the ridge, but still nothing. I looked back a cross the canyon with my binos, to where my friend was still sitting and I could see him gesturing up and to my right. I looked up the hill where he was pointing and there he was!
Packing him down the mountain!
Next, after we got him down and on ice, we headed back up to find one for my friend.
We found another decent ridge to glass and the next morning turned up 4 bucks together moving through a patch of open ground towards a group of trees. One spike, two forkies and a 3x3. The patch of trees was 311 yards and the larger buck was exposed. My friend lined up his shot, and fired. He missed just to the left (the direction the wind was blowing). The bucks bounced out of there and onto a ridge about 800 yards away. We tried to close the distance, but they went over the ridge. We again shifted focus to a different ridge about 600 years away. We were glassing for about an hour when we found a really good buck at 275. My friend lined up a shot, but hit right between his legs. The buck ran down the hill into the wash. We could see the bottom of the wash too the right and could tell he didn't go that way. We went down the hill pretty fast to the left to see if we could find him in the bottom. As I'm glassing the bottom to the left I hear my buddy eject the spent cartridge, chamber a new one and fire a shot to the right. I asked did you get him? right as he said "I think I got one!" As we were looking for the big one, two more bucks poked their heads out from under a tree about 40 yards to the right and down hill of of us. My buddy heard them and managed to get a shot off at the one that hesitated. He was still at max power on his scope and said "all I could see was hair, I just pulled the trigger, I was shaking so bad I don't know if I hit him!" We went over to where he came out from the tree and found blood. From there we could see him down in the bottom of the wash! His borrowed 30-06 and 165 SSTs did the job! His first deer and two tags punched!
Packing him down
We sure had a good time!
