# AZ coues deer



## mikevanwilder (Nov 11, 2008)

I had the whole story written up but it disappeared before I submitted it soooooo.... heres a condensed version.
We hunted unit 32 the past 8 days. All 3 of us tagged out, even though it was very tough hunting. With wind, rain, snow, and fog. 
We also were able to get the trifecta of AZ quail. Those Mearns are some good looking birds!
My deer ended up going 80 5/8" I'm pretty happy with him and will probably get him mounted.


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## mikevanwilder (Nov 11, 2008)

Here's the photos


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## AF CYN (Mar 19, 2009)

That's awesome! Nice work!

Let's see some pics of the quail.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

That is a nice one. I'll be down in 36c 3 weeks on Christmas day to start my hunt for them. 

I'm starting to count the days along with packing and unpacking.


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## mikevanwilder (Nov 11, 2008)

I didn't get photos of the quail but here's one my cousin posted to instagram. And yes he was using his wife's shotgun. This isn't all either we ended up eating a bunch earlier in the week. Except the mearns we only got the 1 male and 1 hen.


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

Back in my day, I think we called them Montezuma quail... but those are pretty birds for sure. That looks like a fantastic trip.


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## mikevanwilder (Nov 11, 2008)

Yeah I guess they have a bunch of different names. Fools quail, clown quail. I do know they scare the crap outta ya when you're hiking. They hold pretty tight and flush when your almost on top of them.


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

Very nice! my Couse scored 84 5/8.....Im not mounting mine though, we can get bigger. I have a lot of family that live in southern AZ, they shoot big bucks a the time (105+)
it was an "off" year due to the extreme wind.

80 inches is a great deer....


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## mikevanwilder (Nov 11, 2008)

I do believe there are bigger bucks but with it only being my 2nd time ever hunting and trying to figure out where the bigger ones are. Got discouraged at one point when we talked to a Game warden and he said don't expect much bigger than what we got off unit 32. I knew better but it did make me think.
I just need to figure them out better.


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

No that's a great deer. Don't listen to that gamer! He doesn't now his head from his azz. We hunt the same unit. On opening day I saw a 110 I stupidly passed on. the next day we saw a 120 that gave us the slip and my cousin missed another 120. After I left my brother missed a 100+ and ended up shooting a 90" two point. 

Average bucks we kill down there are between 95 and 105. A few 116-120's. we've seen bucks in the 130's. 

Those deer are a tough deer to hunt because they are small. They could lay down behind a loaf of bread and you wouldn't see them.

I don't know what you know about those deer but, shooting a 100" Couse deer is like shooting a 180" mule deer.


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## mikevanwilder (Nov 11, 2008)

Yeah I know they are small. It's just getting to know the area and figuring where the big ones are. We spent the whole time on the winchester mtn range because we know it better now but don't even know if there are those 100+" bucks there. Just don't have the time/money to spend on the unit figuring it out better. Wish I did though.


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

mikevanwilder said:


> Yeah I know they are small. It's just getting to know the area and figuring where the big ones are. We spent the whole time on the winchester mtn range because we know it better now but don't even know if there are those 100+" bucks there. Just don't have the time/money to spend on the unit figuring it out better. Wish I did though.


 What portion of the Winchester mountain range northside or southside? There are monsters on the Winchesters, plenty of 100+ inch bucks on that range. And bigger


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

People say that deer don't bed down all day but, the Couse deer is an animal that will literally bed down all day. The one I shot bedded down an hour after it got light and didn't stand until 2 pm. My uncle was glassing a canyon all day from sunrise until 330 when that 120 buck desided to stand up. Couse can be tough to
Find because of their size and the terrain. Chances are, you glassed over a big buck that you couldn't see


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## mikevanwilder (Nov 11, 2008)

We were on the south side. I'm sure we glassed over a ton of bucks. The one thing we learned to late was to stay out all day. We would glass from very first light until about 12 then head back to camp for food then get back at it at 230 3pm. Apparently they move a little around 1 or 2. Oh well learned something for next time.
Those little buggers can hide so good. I was keeping my eye on this lone doe one night and I literally moved my eyes off her for 1 second and I couldn't locate her again for a good 5 minutes. I searched and searched finally I looked at the last bush she was by and she had been standing right in front of it the whole time. Definitely takes a while to get used to looking for them instead of mule deer.


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

mikevanwilder said:


> We were on the south side. I'm sure we glassed over a ton of bucks. The one thing we learned to late was to stay out all day. We would glass from very first light until about 12 then head back to camp for food then get back at it at 230 3pm. Apparently they move a little around 1 or 2. Oh well learned something for next time.
> Those little buggers can hide so good. I was keeping my eye on this lone doe one night and I literally moved my eyes off her for 1 second and I couldn't locate her again for a good 5 minutes. I searched and searched finally I looked at the last bush she was by and she had been standing right in front of it the whole time. Definitely takes a while to get used to looking for them instead of mule deer.


Im sure we drove past you at some point. probably really early in the morning. When we hunt Couse deer, we pack lunch in our backpacks and we go all day because sometimes those deer will move all day long. Especially when the temps start to drop.


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## bugchuker (Dec 3, 2007)

How many points does 32 take? I hunted 36B a few years ago, it was a blast.


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## mikevanwilder (Nov 11, 2008)

I have drawn it twice in a row with no points. Talking with the Fish and Game officer who showed a us a list of all the tag holders, he said only 22 non residents drew tags 12 of which were from utah. I think they do 10% of the tags to non residents.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Very cool!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


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