It's 4:00am on Thursday morning when my buddy Jesse pulled up the driveway. I had all my gear stacked in the bed of my truck ready to loaded into the now dub "couse mobile ". Ten minutes of loading the gear and good byes to the family and off we went. It was a long drive that was gorgeous, I haven't been to AZ in a long time especially that far south. The desert was really green and healthy everything was looking great.
We get into Nogales at about 1:30 pm and Jesse makes a phone call to a buddy of his that was going to guide us through town so we can get to the access road along the border. And when I mean along the border, I'm really mean the border. At one point along this road I can reach out an touch the fence through the passenger window. After about 8 miles down this wild road and seeming tons of BP agents, we arrive at our location. We stop, eat something, and drive to a glassing spot. Now opening day wasn't until Friday, we only had one afternoon to scout.
We split up to start glossing this small basin that was below us that had excellent cover and just looked great for couse deer hunting. He goes west and I go east, we were only about 250 yards apart. But everyone who hunts out west know that glossing for anything is a game of inches.
So I settle into my glossing spot with my vortex vipers and tripod to pick apart the countryside. It gets well into the evening and I haven't seen a thing. So I head back to the truck and look to where Jesse walked off to and I see him on a little hill. I get his attention and he is waving me over, I hesitate for a bit and then start making my way towards his position. As I approached him he looks over at me and said he saw a buck. So I ask where,and set up my binos. He saw him as soon as he sat down and was following but than lost him in the trees. After a few more minutes of glossing, we back out and head to make camp by one of the cameras BP has set up.
Over a dinner, we talk about what we are going to do the next morning. We crash out and it was like 5 am snuck up on us, we'll at least for me it felt like that. I was still pretty tired from the week straight of hunting here in California. We make the short walk to the glossing point from the night before and were set up in no time. The sunrises and not a thing was moving when all of a sudden at about a half mile I get the smallest glimpse of a couse deer. I hissed "deer", but I couldn't confirm if it was a buck. I told Jesse that I was gonna head over to get a better look at this thing and if it was a buck I'd call him. After awhile of trying to relocate this deer and hiking a little over a mile I head back to him. We call it early and head back to camp for some grub.
After we ate we head back at about noon. We set up on a different location just west of where we were in the morning. We glassed all freaking day never really taking breaks, it was tough. Now these deer are super hard to glass and are not as easy to spot as mule deer. They're solid grey and match the ocotillos perfect. I start to feel beat up after glossing so long and I back off for a few seconds to think about how these deer are using the landscape. I remember reading that they like the thick ocotillo groves and I start to work the three thinks groves on each of the mountain sides. The groves all were facing east to south east, I get to the last on that was the furthest and where I saw the one earlier that morning. It was like magic, I spot one and get a good look at this deer. Now I was amazed by how they glow in the sun light. Now it's about five pm and I feel like I know what to look for now. It get dark so we head back to camp for the night.
The wind started to pick up just before we hit the rack. By the time I dressed down and climbed into bed it was blowing hard. My tent was super pound and I wasn't getting any sleep. Finally I must have passed out for a few, but then, I hear some one scream out loud that woke me up out of a deep sleep. Scared out of my mind I cock my hand gun and listened for a few but the wind decided to pick up again. I calm down and knock out again. I'll say, about 15 minutes later I abruptly wake up again to my tent being pulled so har that it tip my cot sideways. I grab my gun and cock it again thinking the worst. Than I hear hooves running away and stop at about 50 to 60 yards away. This heffer was pissed and bellowing loud. It caught the damn cord that stabilizes my tent and tripped. Them freaking out and running away they left behind a calf in between my tent and the truck. I thought the were going to stampede my tent to try and get their calf. They end up settling and back to eating. But for better part of the night the kept pressing their heads into my tent and brushing up against it. I was freaked.
Morning comes and it's time to wake up , well for me it was just getting dressed cause after all the crap that went on that night I never went back to bed. Still blowing pretty hard I break down my tent and pack it away. I tell Jesse that I'm done camping and after the morning hunt I was getting us a motel room. We head out to our spot and start to glass when the sun came up but nothing was moving. The wind was still blowing pretty hard. Also there was a lot more hunter than Friday and some showed up late and walked right in front of us. We were set up closer to the ocotillo grove we saw the deer in the night before and the hunter that came late walk in and busted some does out of the bottom and they ran right through the same spot I stopped them.
After talking to some locals and them saying that there is alway bucks in the area, we head back to camp. We break it all down and pack the truck, Jesse is laughing at me cause I don't want to stay up there anymore lol I said I don't care I'm done lol.
Well we get to town and I get us a room. We talk strategy and I take a shower to wake up a bit. At about 3 we head back to the first glassing spot from Friday. He dropped me off and I climb up the short hill. Our plan was I'd stay high to glass and he'd walk into the area he saw the buck the first day and we'd stay in contact with our phones. I stop him and then I lose him in the trees, so I decide to glass the ocotillos and instantly I spot a buck that I thought was a forky. It was about a half mile to 3/4 of a mile out. I call him....he answers, " you need to get to your truck now and you got to get to the spot where we talked to the Indian guy". He hangs up, and starts to make his way to the truck. He's driving now and I'm watching him and the buck, they're both moving pretty quick and I see Jesse turn down the road towards me. I'm think what the hell are you doing? I call him and tell him to turn around and head to the spot cause from my angle I'm gonna lose him. He turns around and heads over. Short time later I see him slowly creeping up the hill. I call him and said " you need to move faster just stay on the back side and pop up when you get to the next hill". Short time after that I hear a side by side come up the road below me. They park in the same spot Jesse was at. And I get a call it's Jesse. He said he can't spot him and then tells me if I can't see the corn cob looking plants. Immediately I knew what he was talking about and told him the buck is to his left and on the mountain to his left.
Few minutes pass and I said screw it. I pack all my stuff up and start to run at a dead sprint up the road to Jesse so can help him locate this deer. I make it to the cattle guard when I hear the first shot! I stop and list.....boom...thwack. A second shot and I heard it connect. I wait and I get a call, it's Jesse, he said that he thinks he got him but instantly lost him. So I start to haul butt over to him and just as I crest the hill I hear another shot and I get the call that he's down. I slow down a bit cause Im exhausted and take my time walking over him. The whole entire time I thought this buck was a forky. And then I get closer and watch Jesse drag this big buck out of the yucka plant that was big. We high five and start to take picture.
After all the thing that happened on this trip it was still a freaking blast. Jesse got his first deer and it is a beauty, I was the first time seeing couse for me, Javelinas and Mearns quail. I'll be putting in for that tag come next year and hopefully I can tag a buck like Jesse did.
Me and jesse buck
Some photos of the deer and the area.
The infamous binos
You can kinda see the border fence.
We get into Nogales at about 1:30 pm and Jesse makes a phone call to a buddy of his that was going to guide us through town so we can get to the access road along the border. And when I mean along the border, I'm really mean the border. At one point along this road I can reach out an touch the fence through the passenger window. After about 8 miles down this wild road and seeming tons of BP agents, we arrive at our location. We stop, eat something, and drive to a glassing spot. Now opening day wasn't until Friday, we only had one afternoon to scout.
We split up to start glossing this small basin that was below us that had excellent cover and just looked great for couse deer hunting. He goes west and I go east, we were only about 250 yards apart. But everyone who hunts out west know that glossing for anything is a game of inches.
So I settle into my glossing spot with my vortex vipers and tripod to pick apart the countryside. It gets well into the evening and I haven't seen a thing. So I head back to the truck and look to where Jesse walked off to and I see him on a little hill. I get his attention and he is waving me over, I hesitate for a bit and then start making my way towards his position. As I approached him he looks over at me and said he saw a buck. So I ask where,and set up my binos. He saw him as soon as he sat down and was following but than lost him in the trees. After a few more minutes of glossing, we back out and head to make camp by one of the cameras BP has set up.
Over a dinner, we talk about what we are going to do the next morning. We crash out and it was like 5 am snuck up on us, we'll at least for me it felt like that. I was still pretty tired from the week straight of hunting here in California. We make the short walk to the glossing point from the night before and were set up in no time. The sunrises and not a thing was moving when all of a sudden at about a half mile I get the smallest glimpse of a couse deer. I hissed "deer", but I couldn't confirm if it was a buck. I told Jesse that I was gonna head over to get a better look at this thing and if it was a buck I'd call him. After awhile of trying to relocate this deer and hiking a little over a mile I head back to him. We call it early and head back to camp for some grub.
After we ate we head back at about noon. We set up on a different location just west of where we were in the morning. We glassed all freaking day never really taking breaks, it was tough. Now these deer are super hard to glass and are not as easy to spot as mule deer. They're solid grey and match the ocotillos perfect. I start to feel beat up after glossing so long and I back off for a few seconds to think about how these deer are using the landscape. I remember reading that they like the thick ocotillo groves and I start to work the three thinks groves on each of the mountain sides. The groves all were facing east to south east, I get to the last on that was the furthest and where I saw the one earlier that morning. It was like magic, I spot one and get a good look at this deer. Now I was amazed by how they glow in the sun light. Now it's about five pm and I feel like I know what to look for now. It get dark so we head back to camp for the night.
The wind started to pick up just before we hit the rack. By the time I dressed down and climbed into bed it was blowing hard. My tent was super pound and I wasn't getting any sleep. Finally I must have passed out for a few, but then, I hear some one scream out loud that woke me up out of a deep sleep. Scared out of my mind I cock my hand gun and listened for a few but the wind decided to pick up again. I calm down and knock out again. I'll say, about 15 minutes later I abruptly wake up again to my tent being pulled so har that it tip my cot sideways. I grab my gun and cock it again thinking the worst. Than I hear hooves running away and stop at about 50 to 60 yards away. This heffer was pissed and bellowing loud. It caught the damn cord that stabilizes my tent and tripped. Them freaking out and running away they left behind a calf in between my tent and the truck. I thought the were going to stampede my tent to try and get their calf. They end up settling and back to eating. But for better part of the night the kept pressing their heads into my tent and brushing up against it. I was freaked.
Morning comes and it's time to wake up , well for me it was just getting dressed cause after all the crap that went on that night I never went back to bed. Still blowing pretty hard I break down my tent and pack it away. I tell Jesse that I'm done camping and after the morning hunt I was getting us a motel room. We head out to our spot and start to glass when the sun came up but nothing was moving. The wind was still blowing pretty hard. Also there was a lot more hunter than Friday and some showed up late and walked right in front of us. We were set up closer to the ocotillo grove we saw the deer in the night before and the hunter that came late walk in and busted some does out of the bottom and they ran right through the same spot I stopped them.
After talking to some locals and them saying that there is alway bucks in the area, we head back to camp. We break it all down and pack the truck, Jesse is laughing at me cause I don't want to stay up there anymore lol I said I don't care I'm done lol.
Well we get to town and I get us a room. We talk strategy and I take a shower to wake up a bit. At about 3 we head back to the first glassing spot from Friday. He dropped me off and I climb up the short hill. Our plan was I'd stay high to glass and he'd walk into the area he saw the buck the first day and we'd stay in contact with our phones. I stop him and then I lose him in the trees, so I decide to glass the ocotillos and instantly I spot a buck that I thought was a forky. It was about a half mile to 3/4 of a mile out. I call him....he answers, " you need to get to your truck now and you got to get to the spot where we talked to the Indian guy". He hangs up, and starts to make his way to the truck. He's driving now and I'm watching him and the buck, they're both moving pretty quick and I see Jesse turn down the road towards me. I'm think what the hell are you doing? I call him and tell him to turn around and head to the spot cause from my angle I'm gonna lose him. He turns around and heads over. Short time later I see him slowly creeping up the hill. I call him and said " you need to move faster just stay on the back side and pop up when you get to the next hill". Short time after that I hear a side by side come up the road below me. They park in the same spot Jesse was at. And I get a call it's Jesse. He said he can't spot him and then tells me if I can't see the corn cob looking plants. Immediately I knew what he was talking about and told him the buck is to his left and on the mountain to his left.
Few minutes pass and I said screw it. I pack all my stuff up and start to run at a dead sprint up the road to Jesse so can help him locate this deer. I make it to the cattle guard when I hear the first shot! I stop and list.....boom...thwack. A second shot and I heard it connect. I wait and I get a call, it's Jesse, he said that he thinks he got him but instantly lost him. So I start to haul butt over to him and just as I crest the hill I hear another shot and I get the call that he's down. I slow down a bit cause Im exhausted and take my time walking over him. The whole entire time I thought this buck was a forky. And then I get closer and watch Jesse drag this big buck out of the yucka plant that was big. We high five and start to take picture.
After all the thing that happened on this trip it was still a freaking blast. Jesse got his first deer and it is a beauty, I was the first time seeing couse for me, Javelinas and Mearns quail. I'll be putting in for that tag come next year and hopefully I can tag a buck like Jesse did.
Me and jesse buck
Some photos of the deer and the area.
The infamous binos
You can kinda see the border fence.
