High Country Coues Hunt

Bryant and P.T. had been scouting for their December coues hunt in Northern Arizona.  A handful of great bucks had been seen over the weeks, and the two found themselves set up on a rim above the country they planned to start out on tomorrow when their hunt finally started.  This is the night when Bryant found a buck he said he was going to hunt, and he would only leave with this buck or no buck at all!

A monster coues buck was feeding about a mile away as Bryant called P.T. up and told him to “get over here quick!”  Bryant watched the buck as he slowly fed in the fading light.  As far as he could tell, the buck would definitely score over 100”.  He had extremely heavy antlers, but it looked like something was going on with his right side.  When an out of breath P.T. finally sat next to Bryant, the buck reached the treeline and disappeared!

The next day (opening morning), Bryant was sitting in the exact spot he was the evening before!  After a long morning of small bucks, does, and elk, P.T. called Bryant and told him to head over and help him look at a buck he had just found.

Bryant set up next to P.T. and a decision was finally made to let the buck walk.  A decent 3X3, but not quite what they were looking for on the first day.  The two started working along the rim, setting up every so often to sit and glass the country that lay out in front of them.  Finally, P.T. claimed “I got a buck, a good buck!”  Bryant located the buck and watched him as P.T. packed up his gear and headed out to try and get a shot. 

P.T. chose a location that should put him across a narrow, thick canyon the buck was heading to.  The thick trees made it difficult to identify anything across from him, so  P.T. would move a little, glass, and repeat.  Finally, P.T. spotted the buck about 120 yards below looking straight at him!  P.T. set up on a dead pinion tree he was next to and settled down for a shot.  The buck disappeared at the sound of the rifle!  Not long after, P.T. caught a quick glimpse of a coues deer flag as it was heading away from him through the thick timber!  With thoughts of how he let the buck get away running through his head, P.T. started toward the last place he knew the buck had been.  At the same time, Bryant packed up his gear and headed toward P.T. 

As P.T. arrived to the location, he immediately saw the rump of a deer laying just yards away!  He walked around a clump of oaks and got his first close up look at his great 97” 3X3!

 

The days ticked by, at one point, P.T. watched the big coues Bryant had found the day before the hunt, but Bryant was quite a distance away glassing a separate canyon. 

The second to last day of the hunt was a rough one.  Bryant was battling the flu, and with his wife Cindy McGee and P.T. along, the three sat in battering winds in single digit temperatures.  The same 3X3 P.T. passed up on opening day was below Bryant feeding on some scrub oak.  At one point, Bryant was within inches of talking himself into shooting the buck so he could leave with a buck and put an end to the freezing hunt! Eventually Bryant talked some sense into himself and packed up his gear.  Bryant and his wife were working the rim and glassing when Bryant saw a lone doe with a buck about a mile and a half away.  Immediately Bryant recognized the buck and the mad dash was on to get within shooting distance before the deer disappeared!

20 minutes later, Bryant and Cindy popped up on a rock ledge that should put him directly across from the buck, and it didn’t take long for Bryant to locate him as the buck chased a doe through the thick oak!

Bryant set up and ranged the buck at 350 yards.  Bryant was convince he was never going to get a good shot at the buck when he suddenly chased his doe through the thick oaks and stopped in a small opening.  A slow breath out and the gun went off!  The dull “whomp” was a good sign that the deer was hit, although all he saw was a coues deer flag just as it topped the ridge and out of sight!

Bryant and Cindy waited until P.T. reached their location before they headed into the bowl to search for the buck.  When the bunch reached the location, there were several moments when they though Bryant had surely missed when Bryant spotted the buck lodged in some oak trees.  Bryant pulled his buck out of the trees with a sign of relief!  His buck had 3 points on his left side, and a total of 5 on his left and taped out at just over 114”!