Got to try my hand at coues for the second time. First time was a late season rifle hunt and this was the 2nd season rifle hunt.
We saw lots of deer on opening day but no shot opportunities. Days 2-4 were blustery - coues seem to be scared of their shadow and everything else when the wind is blowing. We would be watching a buck at 1000 yards and he would suddenly sprint for cover then slowly peek out and start feeding then sprint for more cover. I guess being the smallest deer in the woods makes you jumpy.
Weather turned nice but quite cold over night and the deer sightings really started to pick up. Everyone in the group got a crack at a buck. On the next to last day I spotted a group of three bucks high on a ridge mid morning. I picked a route to the top and started up. Had to stay in a creek bottom and then a very steep, rocky face to keep out of their sight and with the wind. It took over 2 hours to make the climb while every bush tried to make me bleed and many rocks threatened to roll me back down the hill.
I was in position at about 250 yards and started waiting. Didn't take long as they were up and feeding just after 3. I had a bad case of "I'm not going back down this mountain without a buck" syndrome after the nasty climb. I could see the two smaller bucks but not the big one. They had moved to the edge of the next ridge and were just a few steps from being out of sight. I waited as long as I could as they fed away toward the edge of "you're not going down this hill with a buck" then I made the call and shot this one.
Despite it's small size I consider it a great trophy because of the effort required to make it happen. They are most challenging animals to hunt.
We saw lots of deer on opening day but no shot opportunities. Days 2-4 were blustery - coues seem to be scared of their shadow and everything else when the wind is blowing. We would be watching a buck at 1000 yards and he would suddenly sprint for cover then slowly peek out and start feeding then sprint for more cover. I guess being the smallest deer in the woods makes you jumpy.
Weather turned nice but quite cold over night and the deer sightings really started to pick up. Everyone in the group got a crack at a buck. On the next to last day I spotted a group of three bucks high on a ridge mid morning. I picked a route to the top and started up. Had to stay in a creek bottom and then a very steep, rocky face to keep out of their sight and with the wind. It took over 2 hours to make the climb while every bush tried to make me bleed and many rocks threatened to roll me back down the hill.
I was in position at about 250 yards and started waiting. Didn't take long as they were up and feeding just after 3. I had a bad case of "I'm not going back down this mountain without a buck" syndrome after the nasty climb. I could see the two smaller bucks but not the big one. They had moved to the edge of the next ridge and were just a few steps from being out of sight. I waited as long as I could as they fed away toward the edge of "you're not going down this hill with a buck" then I made the call and shot this one.
Despite it's small size I consider it a great trophy because of the effort required to make it happen. They are most challenging animals to hunt.
