Late season tour- Coues and Aoudad

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Your Aoudad/Barbary hunt is in a draw unit? If so you should at least see some if you have several days to really get after it on foot and behind the glass.

Good luck on both!

Yea draw tag. I’m pretty optimistic on that one, should have plenty of time and season to get it done.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Day 2 morning:
Got the wife to come with me today. For some reason yesterday she didn’t want to come sit in the wind and rain after driving 14 hrs
Fog was a big issue this morning, spent most of it socked in. We did get a 15 minute window about 8:30 with sun. We saw about 15 deer, mainly small doe groups with one small 6 point and a forky sniffing around. Was really glad to see the does, hoping one or two will cycle in and pull some bigger bucks out of the canyons.

Definitely have more snacks when the wife comes!


Glassing headquarters- constantly moving around to different vantages but like to have one central to keep most of our stuff



What most of the morning looked like



Several of the deer. Getting photos with fog was a struggle


More Javelinas

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Yea draw tag. I’m pretty optimistic on that one, should have plenty of time and season to get it done.

This looks like a great trip you have going btw. Definitely following along, excited for your Barb hunt.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Day 2 evening:
This evening was encouraging. There wasn’t any mid day action, rain showers here and there and more javelina. At about 4 pm I saw a doe running from a spike. He about ran her to death and then a heavy tall forky jumped in. I ended up watching them for about an hr until they got way too close (150 yards). I really try to stay 400+ from coues until I’m ready to move in, but these kept getting closer and closer. Ended up having to scale an almost vertical rock wall to get out without spooking them. The doe was either hot or fixing to come in, hopefully the morning will hold big bucks! All in all saw 2 bucks and 5 does this evening. Pictures should improve, had issues with new phone in adapter but got it figured out.

Spike and forky


How many deer do you see?


If you are getting tired of seeing javelina, sorry. As someone who grew up in the south, these desert animals cool!

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Day 2 evening:
This evening was encouraging. There wasn’t any mid day action, rain showers here and there and more javelina. At about 4 pm I saw a doe running from a spike. He about ran her to death and then a heavy tall forky jumped in. I ended up watching them for about an hr until they got way too close (150 yards). I really try to stay 400+ from coues until I’m ready to move in, but these kept getting closer and closer. Ended up having to scale an almost vertical rock wall to get out without spooking them. The doe was either hot or fixing to come in, hopefully the morning will hold big bucks! All in all saw 2 bucks and 5 does this evening. Pictures should improve, had issues with new phone in adapter but got it figured out.

Spike and forky
View attachment 493594

How many deer do you see?
View attachment 493595

If you are getting tired of seeing javelina, sorry. As someone who grew up in the south, these desert animals cool!
View attachment 493596
View attachment 493597
View attachment 493598

Stink pigs. there goes the neighborhood.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Day 2 evening:
This evening was encouraging. There wasn’t any mid day action, rain showers here and there and more javelina. At about 4 pm I saw a doe running from a spike. He about ran her to death and then a heavy tall forky jumped in. I ended up watching them for about an hr until they got way too close (150 yards). I really try to stay 400+ from coues until I’m ready to move in, but these kept getting closer and closer. Ended up having to scale an almost vertical rock wall to get out without spooking them. The doe was either hot or fixing to come in, hopefully the morning will hold big bucks! All in all saw 2 bucks and 5 does this evening. Pictures should improve, had issues with new phone in adapter but got it figured out.

Spike and forky
View attachment 493594

How many deer do you see?
View attachment 493595

If you are getting tired of seeing javelina, sorry. As someone who grew up in the south, these desert animals cool!
View attachment 493596
View attachment 493597
View attachment 493598

one deer for sure, maybe two.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

one deer for sure, maybe two.

3, on those cloudy days they disappear in the wide open.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

 

[FLATHEAD]

Uh-oh, dude you ok?

 

[Fatcamp]

Let's see it!

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Sorry to leave y’all hanging, was getting everything cut and packed out
Day 3:
Morning started off pretty slow, foggy and cloudy. I had seen two deer way off about 8am, then at 9:30 caught a glimpse of some does and what looked to be a decent buck. They were just walking into a cut where we wouldn’t be able to see. We repositioned the best we could considering wind direction and got ready for a long wait. About 10am I could see a small 6 point coming across the flat towards where I assumed the other deer would be bedded. I was hoping he would come in and stir them up and that’s exactly what happened!
There were 3-4 small bucks that shot out and about 5 does. Finally the nicer buck came out. I could never get a great look at him. If you haven’t tried to get a spotter on scattering coues deer under 500 yards in cat claw/cedars/grass in craggy canyon country…. it’s insanely difficult
I managed to get prone at a slightly down hill angle but stable. They rutted around a while, lost him a few times but finally found him bedded. My wife had him on the spotter and I was on him, felt right so I took the shot. 450 yards, he stood up but didn’t look hit (turns out hit rock in front of him I couldn’t see), shot again and he went 5 yards before falling over. I stayed on him just in case and about 5 minutes later heard someone say hey. Turns out my buddy from the previous hunt had gotten there about an hr before, didn’t know he was coming, and had been watching from the rim. He heard the shot and came down.
It couldn’t have worked out any better, my wife was there, helped me spot, AND my buddy ended up being there and coming with us on the recovery. Considering the flight delays, drive, awful weather/upcoming weather, and hunt days cut in half, I don’t think I could have asked for much more.



Shooting position

 

[Fatcamp]

That's a dandy.

 

[realunlucky]

Good looking buck congratulations.

Now on to the Barbary sheep

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

 

[rodney747]

Dang this is very interesting. What an adventure so far. Waiting for the Aoudad updates! Good luck!!

 

[hobbes]

Great buck, congrats.

 

[Thebigbaby]

Glad it worked it out man. Been following since the beginning. Happy you were able to kill. Props to you for grinding.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

In case anyone is wondering, coues deer fits great in a RV fridge! Doing some touristy stuff today with the wife. Wishing everyone a happy New Year.

If it’s ok with the mods I’ll go quiet for a day or two while traveling and pick back up with Barbary Sheep on the 2nd. If I need to keep it daily can update on travel. Here are some more photos from the last few days

RV aging coues before deboning


A few different bucks from yesterday





Odd liver damage in buck, any ideas?

 

[topher89]

Odd liver damage in buck, any ideas?
View attachment 494366

Booze.

 

[COelk89]

Congrats, nice buck!

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Dropped the wife off at the airport today after doing some hiking. She has to get back so I’ll be solo on the aoudad. Should be there mid day tomorrow and the hunting will begin.
I’ve never seen an aoudad or know much about their behavior. I’m just planning on parking and covering a ton of ground every day, should be able to turn something up. I hunted this unit in Aug for archery pronghorn and didn’t see any sheep, so know a few places not to go!