CouesKelly's 22/23 Season in Review

[CouesKelly]

I thought I would take some time now that we are all waiting on draws to recap my hunts from the past season. This recap will include:
NM Turkey
AZ Bison
WY Antelope
NM Mule deer
AZ Coues deer- multiple seasons
AZ Sandhill Crane
AZ Javelina

My season started off on a New Mexico Turkey hunt in April. My husband and I have been half-ass attempting to turkey hunt in AZ and NM the past few years. Usually we just goof off and get side tracked picking up sheds instead of truly going after turkeys. We are terrible turkey hunters and have never killed one.
This year he was working and couldn’t find time to get out. I still wanted to get out for a weekend, so I headed out to an area a friend of my husband’s had shared with us. His buddy was also going to be out that weekend. Not too far away from where I was planning on camping so I would have someone out there for safety if I needed anything. I e-scouted a little spot I thought looked good on the map and headed out Friday after work. And how nice of my husband, he let me take his Truck!
I got to my camping spot with a few hours before dark so I thought I’d take my shotgun for a little walk and hike out to a water hole with a nice open meadow I had pinned on the map. The area is ponderosa pine forest. As I am walking around I am noticing TONS of bear scat. All old and looks to be from the previous fall. Definitely taking notes for a potential future fall hunt!

I approached the water hole slowly. Peaking over the hill behind it just a little bit at a time and surveying the area a bit more as a creeped closer. Once in full view I determined the water hole was vacant and I could move in for a closer look. I walked around the water looking for tracks and found some around the water and also on a worn in game trail leading to the water. I decided to sit in the trees for a while and watch and listen. After about an hour of no action I decided my spot was not the best vantage and decided to move to a new vantage point. As I moved, 3 hens started running down the hill about 50 yards away. Wow! I was so surprised I had not heard them moving in at all! No bearded fellows in the bunch. After they moved off I sat my butt back down and waited until dark. I heard a few puts but that was all.

The next morning I got ready at the truck in the dark with excitement. There were turkeys in the area! As I am grabbing my gear to start walking down the short road from my camp to the foot trail into my planned area, a truck pulls in and heads down the road. Well that is public land for ya! I still walked down the road behind them, but once I got to the trailhead, I headed in the opposite direction from the trail. They were very likely headed to the water hole and the meadow I visited the night before and I did not want to mess them them up. As the sun came up I head a gobble not too far off and decided to sit and call. No luck as his gobbles faded further away. Hiked around until lunchtime and learned more of the area. In the evening I headed out to the foot trail again and the other hunters had left the area. I hiked around and down to the water again. No luck.
Here is a cool encounter with a Tarantula Hawk and his kill. Pretty neat find.


Sunday Morning I was able to execute my plan from the day before. I walked down the road to the foot trail in the dark. The moon was very bright and visibility was great without a headlamp. I enjoy walking in the woods in the dark on a bright moon night. I was still walking down the trail as the sun started peaking out. A gobble rang out in the direction of the waterhole. I picked up the pace a bit, getting excited. Another gobble…. sounds like they are still in the roost but gearing up for the day. I keep heading in that direction and the gobbles become more frequent and they are playing off one another. Once I get close to the sound of the gobbles I slow down and creep in. I can locate the group from the ruckus they are making and it sounds like multiple birds are flying down from the roost, but I still can’t see them. As I move closer I try to go slow and quiet as possible the forrest floor is a bed of pine needles in this spot. It sounds like the birds are just across a small drainage and then up a small rise to a flat spot. I cross the drainage and then slowly crawl up the hill on all fours just bringing my head up a little at a time. As I crawl up I see a tom at full strut, he has a beard! There are probably 10 turkeys in the mix and they are milling around, and some strutting. They are about 25 yards but they are moving away from me so I pull my shotgun up slowly as I am lying down trying to get a bead on one of the toms. I aim on the head of one of them and then it moves behind a log … he pops out on the other side and bang! My bird goes down and the others book it out of there. I walk up on my bird and I can’t believe I actually got one! As I inspect the bird I realize this was not the big tom I had spotted first. I must have mixed up the birds as they were moving around and focused on this jake instead. He still had a small beard and was a legal bird. Chalk it up to inexperience! I was was still very happy to have taken the jake as my first turkey.


Back at the truck at 9am. Got the bird cleaned up and meat on ice. Ready to head back to AZ with plenty of time to spare… or so I thought. Go to start the truck and click. Nothing. Shit. Luckily My husband’s buddy was nearby. He came over to they and help jump the truck… we tried a jump box but it wasn’t enough to get the dual battery diesel truck to turn over. He brought over his truck and we couldn’t get it jumped form that either. Eventually we decided we needed to get new batteries. So I went to go hand with his crew for lunch while my husband bless his heart made the trip out with 2 new batteries. While we waited we even went out for an afternoon hunt. I had a second tag so why not? No luck that afternoon but once I got the text from met husband that the truck was ready to go I headed back and we got to drive home finally! I think we got home around midnight. I guess that should teach him to come with me this year! Lol.

Next Up.... June AZ Bull Bison Hunt.

 

[duckhunt]

Great stuff kelly

 

[375H&H]

Bison please!

 

[CouesKelly]

This year I got lucky and drew a Az Bull Bison tag. This tag is a OIL tag if you kill. My hunt was the shortest one and the season is 14 days. I decided to hire a guide mostly due to needing help if I got one down to handle getting it broken down in the summer heat. The hunt was on the Kaibab just north of the Grand Canyon National Park.


The best way or recommended way to hunt the bison here is to sit a blind over salt. The bison are highly populated on the park side of the boundary. They will only cross onto the Kaibab out of the safety of the park if they have a need. They will cross for water if it runs out on the park and they will cross for minerals like salt that they can’t get on the park side. Success has gone up historically for hunters if everyone plays by the “rules” and does everything not to create pressure on the Kaibab side to create a friendly environment.
This was my view from the blind each day:

The first morning I arrived at my blind and salt there were tracks and a fresh bison pattie. Size wise I was told it was more like a cow sized track but hey it was activity. A trick to help mask your scent is to take the bison dung on a stick and smear some on the nearby trees to help mask your scent. Or so I am told….. I did it anyway. What could it hurt?

I would park a mile away from my blind and walk in the dark each morning. Sit quietly for 15 hours a day waiting for an opportunity until dark and then would walk the mile out. The days are long and it is very hard not to fall asleep. I can’t even explain the mental game that goes on in your head during those days. Basically I had to convince myself that my only job was to sit there and wait. I committed to my self I would sit until a Bison came or the hunt ended. I read a few books during that time but my favorite was Surviving Alone by Clay Hayes. He wrote it about his time on the show Alone and how he got through it all. My zoleo was invaluable on this hunt. It was great to be able to communicate with the other hunters. We had some excitement throughout the hunt. A hunter shot one in the eye with a bow and did not recover it, then a few days later he redeemed himself with a second chance and smoked a bull. Another hunter killed on day 10. 2 kills out of 10 hunters on this hunt. There 2 other sightings that we heard about as well. One bowhunter with a bull who came in at 100 yards and then must have got some bad wind and left. Another story where the hunter said he had his pants down doing his business and wasn’t ready. I can tell you that I sure wasn’t going to miss my opportunity. I would have no shame in shooting a bull with my pants down!

During these days, you look forward to animal visitors like the deer. An you curse the squirrels! Some days there are a lot of visitors and other days there are none. Every once in a while you hear a crack that sounds like a gunshot. It is is the trees falling. The country is beautiful and the weather was great on the hunt. A couple really windy days and some light rain but that was it. I can say I gave it my all. I sat all 14 days every second of daylight. It is not an exciting hunt by any means. I never had a bison come in to my salt, bull or cow. I hope I can draw it again someday, but to be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t mind waiting a few more years before that torture again!



Next up, WY Antelope!

 

[Wallydeuce]

Following. Good stuff here from a great hunter and even better person.

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

This is good stuff!!!

 

[375H&H]

Love your bison recap even though you weren’t successful.

Did you consider just tracking them and then contacting the outfitter in the event you got one down? It seems there are a few rogue hunters every year that go against the grain and get their bulls that way, even though it may not be as socially acceptable (or as boring) as sitting salt.

 

[CouesKelly]

Love your bison recap even though you weren’t successful.

Did you consider just tracking them and then contacting the outfitter in the event you got one down? It seems there are a few rogue hunters every year that go against the grain and get their bulls that way, even though it may not be as socially acceptable (or as boring) as sitting salt.

Thanks! I enjoyed your Bison hunt story as well!

Definitely considered it. I did do a little checking close by at the sinkhole and down the small trail I found the dung on. I kept it limited though. I tired to be good and keep my scent in the blind as much as possible. I have heard of others also doing like you said and getting bulls. I also head a lot more stories of others running bison out of the country that way.

 

[CouesKelly]

Following. Good stuff here from a great hunter and even better person.

Kind words from a fellow great person and hunter!

 

[375H&H]

Thanks! I enjoyed your Bison hunt story as well!

Definitely considered it. I did do a little checking close by at the sinkhole and down the small trail I found the dung on. I kept it limited though. I tired to be good and keep my scent in the blind as much as possible. I have heard of others also doing like you said and getting bulls. I also head a lot more stories of others running bison out of the country that way.

Gotcha. Hopefully you draw again someday and get redemption.

The persistence and determination needed is rather unexpected when hunting the mountain bulls, regardless of the state.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Fun times! Keep it coming

 

[Chief23]

Really enjoying your writeup plus nice pictures.

 

[CouesKelly]

This past August I tried something new and went on an outfitted archery antelope hunt on private land. I’ve never gone on a hunt like this before and the experience is of course different than diy public land hunting. The hunting is not difficult and the point is to have lots of opportunity. The experience was more than just killing an Antelope though. While this type of hunt definitely won’t replace my diy public land hunts, I have to say it was fun to try out this type of experience and I would go again If I have the chance. This is in a unit that took 1 point to draw last year.

The ranch I booked with were excellent people with a long history of hunting and ranching. Most folks who hunt there come back multiple years and usually bring another friend or family member to introduce them to the ranch. Accommodations are basic but comfortable. The food and camaraderie are top notch. It was fun chatting with the other hunters in camp hearing past years experience hunting at the ranch and all the other stories about thier lives and hunts.


It is a short 3 day hunt where you are in a blind next to a small drinker. The blinds are dug into the ground so you are eye level with the center of the opening which is just above ground level. The first night the hunters arrive we draw for blinds- there are a lot of blinds/ drinkers around the ranch and they don’t use them all on every hunt.
I didn’t have big expectations on size of buck I was looking for. My plan was to watch and see what came in and if something got me excited then I would go for it. I told myself I wasn’t going to shoot the first buck I saw though. That would be foolish right? Lol

So the first morning I get dropped off at my blind in the dark. I get set up with the stool and get comfortable drawing back a few times with my bow.


As the sun came up I spotted a group of does about 800 yards out on a far hill. I sat for about an hour and a half before any action happened.


They came in silently from behind the blind and just appeared in front of me. It was 3 does. They meandered around for a little bit before starting to drink. They drank for a minute or two and then moved back from the water a little.


Suddenly a buck came in from behind the blind and bent down to drink. He must have waited further back to watch the does drink first to check for safety.


Well he looked good to me! I decided I would be really happy with that buck if I shot him even though he was the first buck I saw. I just got excited darn it!


He was quartered away at 13 yards with his right side facing me. I double checked to make sure all 3 does were clear of him. I drew back and held my top pin just slightly forward of mid-body based on the angle. I pulled through the shot and there was almost an instant thud sound hitting the body since the range was so close. He took off in a blur, the does along with him to my left and I was able to see them through a small side peephole. The buck stopped looked back at the blind but with his left side facing me. I didn’t see any blood. Then the group moved down the hill where I could not see them. Then the group of does emerged and ran off. The buck was not with them.

Ok so the buck is probably down below where I can’t see so I wait a few minutes and watch to see if comes up.

Nothing happens so I go ahead and signal the guides that I took a shot. I take my bow and slowly creep over to where I think I should be able to see where the buck disappeared. I don’t see him any where. I walked back to the drinker to look for my arrow. I can’t find my arrow anywhere.

A couple of the guides came by and I gave them the story and they said “yeah we saw you shoot him!” They had been watching through the binos a long ways off, but they did not see where he went after the shot. So we start the search. There are so many folds in the terrain and the grass can be quite tall in some places. Where the buck disappeared, there were a couple potential escape routes that could have been taken that would have been out of view. We searched all of them.

We saw a buck hanging out on a far off hill. He was just standing and watching. Looking down at the ground toward the bottom of the hill. He didn’t look hurt, and we got the spotter on him. We could see his right side where he would have been hit and it was clean with no blood. I’m sure this is not my buck…. But I am starting to second guess myself and get worried. The thoughts that I have wounded a buck and he will have a slow death are creeping into my mind. It is also starting to get warmer as the sun climbs in the sky.

About an hour or so passes and more help arrives to help search. We had 7-8 guys out looking for my buck with me. It was great to have so much help! We split up and start glassing further out and expand the search radius. After I told them where saw the buck stop and look back at the blind, one of the guides finds just a few small drops of blood. We head over to the spot with the blood and there is no real clear trail. Now here is where I learned a new skill that I will take with me for the future. Second blood was not found just by looking down at the ground. One of the guides kneeled down and got eye level with the blades of grass. Using his binos he was able to use the focus to look through the grass and pick up blood on the grass. Genius! I tried the technique and was able to pick up blood too. We had a blood trail! We followed and marked as we went. It took a while. It was sparse in some places, but it went straight through the spot I saw him disappear into and then back up out of it and across a road. I never saw him come back up and across the road. Once he hit the road he started dumping blood. The easy to follow trail at the point went straight down into a deeper cut. He had been hidden there the whole time. Whew! Relief that we had found him. It had been a few hours now though… would the meat still be ok?

When I came up on him I saw what had happened with the arrow and. Why it had not passed through. The arrow had entered exactly where I was aiming. It went through the liver hit one lung and exited at the top of his back/ base of his neck. He must have been quartering harder than I thought and my angle must have been lower than I thought. The blind in sunken into the ground and the window is just a little above ground height. His legs were still flexible and rigor had not set in yet. This was good news for the meat, but I regretted that he had not expired right away and likely suffered while we searched for him. The lesson learned here was wait for a true broadside shot if you can. You likely have more time than you think and a different, better angle could have presented itself.


The buck was gutted and we took him back to hang in a nice walk in cooler. One other hunter had also killed a buck that morning. We had a nice lunch and then headed back out to go check on some of the other hunters. It was a lot of fun to ride around in the trucks with the guides checking on everyone else. We saw TONS of Antelope while we moved along. Basically checking on a hunter meant finding a spot a long ways off and watching the blind and drinker area through the binos. We watched a buck come and go at one blind as the hunter passed on the buck. None of the other hunters killed that day and we got to hear all the stories back at camp that night at dinner. By the end of the next day all 5 hunters had tagged out.


The third day since all the hunters had tagged out, we got to tour the ranch and watch animals. We saw a bunch of elk, some petrified wood, and I even found a matching set of sheds that they kindly let me keep.

 

[duckhunt]

Great pictures and glad you found your buck.

 

[Wallydeuce]

Wow Kelly, nice buck and a great story. Congratulations!

 

[Hawk Tuah]

Good stuff

 

[Derek44]

Awesome recaps and pictures. Thanks for sharing

 

[Big Fin]

These are great stories. That's a great season. Congratulations.