C
coueselk
Guest
Here is the story and pictures from my cousin Shane's (4pt on Coueswhitetail) successful opening weekend.
Well it all started Friday morning when I woke up at 2:30a.m to start my journey to my hunting area. To my surprise someone in the middle of all my dreaming of the up coming hunt had managed to steal my zeiss binoculars out of the front seat of my pickup, needless to say I was pretty upset and discouraged. I dug out my old set of Burris binoculars and was on my way.
After arriving and hiking a hour in the dark I was where I wanted to be. As the sun rose I picked out three bucks less then two hundred yards from me, and man they were all toads! The only problem was not an ounce of cover between me and them, so I just watched helplessly as they fed over the ridge into the thickest cover ever. I saw a few more other bucks that day and planned on coming back after the Labor Day rush was over.
Saturday, I was unable to go out but on Sunday I was out and about again. I was only planning on hunting the morning, close to home, in an area that I wanted to check out. After arriving shortly before sunrise I hiked up to a good vantage point and began glassing. An hour had passed with no luck, so I began to make my way up the ridge in hopes of a better vantage point.
Very discouraged in seeing no sign and after running into a giant rattle snake, I was almost where I wanted to be when I spotted ears and a rack sneaking threw the chest deep grass. All I could tell is that it was a buck and he didn't seem really spooked. When I got to where I last saw him go over the ridge I sat on a rock out cropping, hoping to see him again.
After about a hour in a half of glassing I decided to move down the ridge, figuring that the deer was long gone. When I had walked no more than twenty yards, I spotted him again sneaking away from me and this time I could see what he was. WOW!!! A big three point! I watched him sneak about five hundred yards away, then he turned around and came straight back towards me stopping in a burnt thicket and bedded down. I couldn't believe this buck didn't get out of the country, let alone sneak back towards me.
Well, I planned my stalk out, everything couldn't have been more perfect. The wind was good and the ground was wet, which made the stalk a little quieter. After closing the distance in half, I shed my gear, put my slippers on, and began my slow stalk. When I got within seventy yards of where I thought he was laying, I began ranging off targets in case he got up to feed or something.
The next thirty yards was very slow taking. About three steps at a time and pausing for a few minutes in between. I couldn't see the buck, where he was laying, but I just knew he had to be there.
I was now within forty yards of where I thought the buck was at, ranging off everything. Suddenly, I could see the bucks antlers in my rangefinder. I tried to range him, but I kept coming up with different readings. Thirty-three yards! No, forty-three yards! When I was finally confident that he was forty three, I put my range finder down and strapped my release on.
The buck then snorted a little and made a sound like stomping his hoof on the ground. He must of heard me! So I raised my bow to get ready for him to get up. When wouldn't you know it, my arrow rubbed a branch in front of me making the worst sound ever, that at this point a hunter never wanted to hear.
The buck stood up and whirled around making his last mistake of turning and looking at me. I was already at full draw putting my forty yard pin where I wanted it and letting the arrow fly, wack!
The buck took of blowing and snorting as he crashed through the brush. I couldn't believe it, this buck made to many mistakes and I was all over them. The shot placement looked perfect and I didn't think he would go far.
I went back to gather my things and waited a little. Then I started tracking from the last spot I seen him. I must have been tracking him for an hour now when I started second guessing my shot. There was good blood but he just wouldn't give up. I started thinking I wasn?t going to get this buck.
An hour later I found him. After jumping for joy, I settled down for a minute. I looked around and realized that I wasn?t far from the truck. Matter of fact after busting through fifty yards of brush there was the road and there was my truck, unbelievable the buck died fifty yards from the truck.
When I got home and all the excitement started drawing down, I threw the tape on him and came up with a gross score of 112 and 5/8 and a net of 110 even. What a buck!
P.S. He set a high standard for the Coues Contest.
Well it all started Friday morning when I woke up at 2:30a.m to start my journey to my hunting area. To my surprise someone in the middle of all my dreaming of the up coming hunt had managed to steal my zeiss binoculars out of the front seat of my pickup, needless to say I was pretty upset and discouraged. I dug out my old set of Burris binoculars and was on my way.
After arriving and hiking a hour in the dark I was where I wanted to be. As the sun rose I picked out three bucks less then two hundred yards from me, and man they were all toads! The only problem was not an ounce of cover between me and them, so I just watched helplessly as they fed over the ridge into the thickest cover ever. I saw a few more other bucks that day and planned on coming back after the Labor Day rush was over.
Saturday, I was unable to go out but on Sunday I was out and about again. I was only planning on hunting the morning, close to home, in an area that I wanted to check out. After arriving shortly before sunrise I hiked up to a good vantage point and began glassing. An hour had passed with no luck, so I began to make my way up the ridge in hopes of a better vantage point.
Very discouraged in seeing no sign and after running into a giant rattle snake, I was almost where I wanted to be when I spotted ears and a rack sneaking threw the chest deep grass. All I could tell is that it was a buck and he didn't seem really spooked. When I got to where I last saw him go over the ridge I sat on a rock out cropping, hoping to see him again.
After about a hour in a half of glassing I decided to move down the ridge, figuring that the deer was long gone. When I had walked no more than twenty yards, I spotted him again sneaking away from me and this time I could see what he was. WOW!!! A big three point! I watched him sneak about five hundred yards away, then he turned around and came straight back towards me stopping in a burnt thicket and bedded down. I couldn't believe this buck didn't get out of the country, let alone sneak back towards me.
Well, I planned my stalk out, everything couldn't have been more perfect. The wind was good and the ground was wet, which made the stalk a little quieter. After closing the distance in half, I shed my gear, put my slippers on, and began my slow stalk. When I got within seventy yards of where I thought he was laying, I began ranging off targets in case he got up to feed or something.
The next thirty yards was very slow taking. About three steps at a time and pausing for a few minutes in between. I couldn't see the buck, where he was laying, but I just knew he had to be there.
I was now within forty yards of where I thought the buck was at, ranging off everything. Suddenly, I could see the bucks antlers in my rangefinder. I tried to range him, but I kept coming up with different readings. Thirty-three yards! No, forty-three yards! When I was finally confident that he was forty three, I put my range finder down and strapped my release on.
The buck then snorted a little and made a sound like stomping his hoof on the ground. He must of heard me! So I raised my bow to get ready for him to get up. When wouldn't you know it, my arrow rubbed a branch in front of me making the worst sound ever, that at this point a hunter never wanted to hear.
The buck stood up and whirled around making his last mistake of turning and looking at me. I was already at full draw putting my forty yard pin where I wanted it and letting the arrow fly, wack!
The buck took of blowing and snorting as he crashed through the brush. I couldn't believe it, this buck made to many mistakes and I was all over them. The shot placement looked perfect and I didn't think he would go far.
I went back to gather my things and waited a little. Then I started tracking from the last spot I seen him. I must have been tracking him for an hour now when I started second guessing my shot. There was good blood but he just wouldn't give up. I started thinking I wasn?t going to get this buck.
An hour later I found him. After jumping for joy, I settled down for a minute. I looked around and realized that I wasn?t far from the truck. Matter of fact after busting through fifty yards of brush there was the road and there was my truck, unbelievable the buck died fifty yards from the truck.
When I got home and all the excitement started drawing down, I threw the tape on him and came up with a gross score of 112 and 5/8 and a net of 110 even. What a buck!
P.S. He set a high standard for the Coues Contest.
