sixgunner455
Member
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2006
- Messages
- 3,052
Well, it's official. My 2011 quest to take a Coues Whitetail in southern Arizona ended today with nothing on the meat pole, but a mind full of memories.
Technically, I have one day left on the tag I drew, but I have to go back to work tomorrow.
This hunt, as all big game hunts do in Arizona, started in the spring when the hunting proclamation came out. I looked it over carefully, looked at the hunts offered for the unit the ranch I had already gotten permission to hunt on was in, and then entered my preferred hunt numbers, starting with December and working my way back to the early season being my least-favored choice.
The whitetail rut starts in mid-December here, so the hunt that coincides with it is the most successful, traditionally. Also the hardest to draw out for.
Well, then I had to wait to see if I got a tag. Sure enough, I didn't get the December hunt, but I got my second choice, Thanksgiving weekend through December 1st. Nobody I knew drew out for the same unit at the same time, so I figured I'd end up doing this solo.
I had never owned a centerfire, honest-to-goodness hunting rifle. I grew up hunting, but my dad was into muzzleloaders, so that's what I got and what most of my hunts have been. Besides my muzzleloader, most of my rifles have been milsurps, and I still own a K31, a muzzleloader, and an AR15 in 5.56mm. In doing my research, I discovered that ... Coues are hard to hunt. And close (muzzleloader) range shots are rare. They live in steep, high, rough terrain. Getting to within 400 yards of one is considered good stalking. A long-range, accurate, scoped rifle is almost required to take one, according to most of the research I did. Quality binoculars are a must. A spotting scope is recommended by most, as is a quality laser range finder - to ensure that the animal you think is in range actually is.
I thought about using my K31 with a scope, since it is a capable, accurate, hard-hitting rifle, but after researching that option, realized that (1) putting a good mount on it and getting a good scope and rings would cost me about what a Savage 11F would cost, and (2) the Savage weighs about half what the K31 does, so I determined to get a Savage. The caliber is .243, since the .243 is more than adequate power-wise for a 100lbs live weight animal, and it shoots flatter than most belted magnums. I sold off a Colt revolver to fund the rifle purchase, and paid cash for it.
I got dies, bullets, powder, and started working up loads. Lots of fun. I ended up liking the 100gr Hornady Interlock Boattails best, over 35.5gr of IMR 4895 as that load grouped exceptionally well. I can ring steel to 400 yards with it, so the rifle was taken care of.
The Bushnell scope that came on the rifle was adequate, but ... had a 4"+ POI shifting issue when switching between magnification levels that left me sour, so I got a Nikon Prostaff 3x9 that is a better scope in every way I can think to measure it. Orders of magnitude better.
I already had a spotting scope, but added a better tripod, and then started shopping for a range finder.
Dang, this hunt got expensive! I ended up getting a Bushnell Legend 1200 Arc range finder. It is simple to set up, use, and works very, very well. I ranged a rock formation with it at 1295 yards.
In the midst of all of that shopping and equipment prep, I spent days glassing and hiking in the areas I intended to hunt, hunted doves and quail with my dog in some of those areas, and decided that I needed to lose some weight to survive the strenuous hiking better.
I didn't actually lose any weight (I'm 5'10'', 205), but I can spend most of my lunch hour on an elliptical trainer without collapsing, so despite my disappointment at the inches on my waist not decreasing, I felt like I had prepared myself as much as I could.
So. The Sunday before opening day, my uncle called to invite me and my family to a Thanksgiving gathering - the day after Thanksgiving, which was the opening day of my deer season. Cousins I haven't seen in years. Oh well, they didn't see me again this year!
Thanksgiving morning, I made cornbread for the stuffing, and then ran off to haul the camp trailer up to the ranch. Kids didn't get to come with because they had homework and "it's-Thanksgiving-help-mom" stuff to do, so it was a long drive by myself.
After all the feasting was done, I packed up the truck and drove back up to the ranch. It was late, overcast, the wind was blowing, and after I got to bed, it started raining.
A lot.
It rained all night. One of the windows on the trailer leaked a bit of water, which was a shock when I put my feet on the floor the next morning. My alarm went off at 0445, but it was still raining buckets and blowing hard, so ... I rolled over and went back to sleep. At 0600, my backup alarm went off. It was still raining.
This is Arizona. It rains some, but mostly in the summer. Rain and wind on opening day, combined with a cloud layer down to almost the base of the mountain above the ranch house, made me just want to curl back up and sleep. But then a few other hunters showed up and started rolling out, so I got up and started getting ready to go.
When I got out of the trailer set my ruck on the ground, the cloud layer had retreated ... slightly. The rain had tapered to spits and drizzles, but the wind hadn't abated at all and didn't most of the day. The low clouds just kept racing through like a train that had someplace to be.
It was time for plan B. I had no intention of going into those mountains with weather like that going on, so I turned north and started walking.
This ranch is a slice of land owned by the same family for generations going back to the mid-to-late 1800s. There is National Forest land all around it, and the mountains are actually south of the ranch house. North of it is also National Forest land. As soon as I saw a map of the place, I labeled the ground north "the Breaks" in my mind.
The Breaks is an area of low hills, draws, dry washes and riverbeds, trees, brush, and so forth. To me, it looks like deer country back home, a place where you can hunt with a .30-30 or muzzleloader and plan to connect on opening day.
The first thing that happened when I crossed the fence into that section of National Forest was, I flushed a covey of scaled quail.
The day was off to a good start.
The next thing was, I came across deer sign, lots of fresh sign. The deer (and several horses from the ranch) had been hiding out in those draws all night, to get away from the weather. Just as I had suspected! I was pumped.
I continued to see that sign all day, but never saw a live deer. I did come across an old mine shaft:
Note the water bottle tied to the frame? Left by an illegal border crosser cuss. Not the only evidence of them passing through, either. I also spooked an owl from his roost 3 times, discovered a fox (up in a tree!), saw several coyotes - including one that nearly landed in my lap as he came over the crest of a hill, and spent several hours staking out a game trail crossing one of those draws that looked like it was being used as a highway.
Overall, day one was a good day in spite of the foul weather, but, ultimately, a bust: no deer.
Technically, I have one day left on the tag I drew, but I have to go back to work tomorrow.
This hunt, as all big game hunts do in Arizona, started in the spring when the hunting proclamation came out. I looked it over carefully, looked at the hunts offered for the unit the ranch I had already gotten permission to hunt on was in, and then entered my preferred hunt numbers, starting with December and working my way back to the early season being my least-favored choice.
The whitetail rut starts in mid-December here, so the hunt that coincides with it is the most successful, traditionally. Also the hardest to draw out for.
Well, then I had to wait to see if I got a tag. Sure enough, I didn't get the December hunt, but I got my second choice, Thanksgiving weekend through December 1st. Nobody I knew drew out for the same unit at the same time, so I figured I'd end up doing this solo.
I had never owned a centerfire, honest-to-goodness hunting rifle. I grew up hunting, but my dad was into muzzleloaders, so that's what I got and what most of my hunts have been. Besides my muzzleloader, most of my rifles have been milsurps, and I still own a K31, a muzzleloader, and an AR15 in 5.56mm. In doing my research, I discovered that ... Coues are hard to hunt. And close (muzzleloader) range shots are rare. They live in steep, high, rough terrain. Getting to within 400 yards of one is considered good stalking. A long-range, accurate, scoped rifle is almost required to take one, according to most of the research I did. Quality binoculars are a must. A spotting scope is recommended by most, as is a quality laser range finder - to ensure that the animal you think is in range actually is.
I thought about using my K31 with a scope, since it is a capable, accurate, hard-hitting rifle, but after researching that option, realized that (1) putting a good mount on it and getting a good scope and rings would cost me about what a Savage 11F would cost, and (2) the Savage weighs about half what the K31 does, so I determined to get a Savage. The caliber is .243, since the .243 is more than adequate power-wise for a 100lbs live weight animal, and it shoots flatter than most belted magnums. I sold off a Colt revolver to fund the rifle purchase, and paid cash for it.
I got dies, bullets, powder, and started working up loads. Lots of fun. I ended up liking the 100gr Hornady Interlock Boattails best, over 35.5gr of IMR 4895 as that load grouped exceptionally well. I can ring steel to 400 yards with it, so the rifle was taken care of.
The Bushnell scope that came on the rifle was adequate, but ... had a 4"+ POI shifting issue when switching between magnification levels that left me sour, so I got a Nikon Prostaff 3x9 that is a better scope in every way I can think to measure it. Orders of magnitude better.
I already had a spotting scope, but added a better tripod, and then started shopping for a range finder.
Dang, this hunt got expensive! I ended up getting a Bushnell Legend 1200 Arc range finder. It is simple to set up, use, and works very, very well. I ranged a rock formation with it at 1295 yards.
In the midst of all of that shopping and equipment prep, I spent days glassing and hiking in the areas I intended to hunt, hunted doves and quail with my dog in some of those areas, and decided that I needed to lose some weight to survive the strenuous hiking better.
I didn't actually lose any weight (I'm 5'10'', 205), but I can spend most of my lunch hour on an elliptical trainer without collapsing, so despite my disappointment at the inches on my waist not decreasing, I felt like I had prepared myself as much as I could.
So. The Sunday before opening day, my uncle called to invite me and my family to a Thanksgiving gathering - the day after Thanksgiving, which was the opening day of my deer season. Cousins I haven't seen in years. Oh well, they didn't see me again this year!
Thanksgiving morning, I made cornbread for the stuffing, and then ran off to haul the camp trailer up to the ranch. Kids didn't get to come with because they had homework and "it's-Thanksgiving-help-mom" stuff to do, so it was a long drive by myself.
After all the feasting was done, I packed up the truck and drove back up to the ranch. It was late, overcast, the wind was blowing, and after I got to bed, it started raining.
A lot.
It rained all night. One of the windows on the trailer leaked a bit of water, which was a shock when I put my feet on the floor the next morning. My alarm went off at 0445, but it was still raining buckets and blowing hard, so ... I rolled over and went back to sleep. At 0600, my backup alarm went off. It was still raining.
This is Arizona. It rains some, but mostly in the summer. Rain and wind on opening day, combined with a cloud layer down to almost the base of the mountain above the ranch house, made me just want to curl back up and sleep. But then a few other hunters showed up and started rolling out, so I got up and started getting ready to go.
When I got out of the trailer set my ruck on the ground, the cloud layer had retreated ... slightly. The rain had tapered to spits and drizzles, but the wind hadn't abated at all and didn't most of the day. The low clouds just kept racing through like a train that had someplace to be.
It was time for plan B. I had no intention of going into those mountains with weather like that going on, so I turned north and started walking.
This ranch is a slice of land owned by the same family for generations going back to the mid-to-late 1800s. There is National Forest land all around it, and the mountains are actually south of the ranch house. North of it is also National Forest land. As soon as I saw a map of the place, I labeled the ground north "the Breaks" in my mind.
The Breaks is an area of low hills, draws, dry washes and riverbeds, trees, brush, and so forth. To me, it looks like deer country back home, a place where you can hunt with a .30-30 or muzzleloader and plan to connect on opening day.
The first thing that happened when I crossed the fence into that section of National Forest was, I flushed a covey of scaled quail.
The day was off to a good start.
The next thing was, I came across deer sign, lots of fresh sign. The deer (and several horses from the ranch) had been hiding out in those draws all night, to get away from the weather. Just as I had suspected! I was pumped.
I continued to see that sign all day, but never saw a live deer. I did come across an old mine shaft:
Note the water bottle tied to the frame? Left by an illegal border crosser cuss. Not the only evidence of them passing through, either. I also spooked an owl from his roost 3 times, discovered a fox (up in a tree!), saw several coyotes - including one that nearly landed in my lap as he came over the crest of a hill, and spent several hours staking out a game trail crossing one of those draws that looked like it was being used as a highway.
Overall, day one was a good day in spite of the foul weather, but, ultimately, a bust: no deer.
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