Thanks again to Oregonmuley for posting the picture.
It was a great hunt in an area I have never set foot in. In a shout out to another thread, onXMaps was key. We spent two days scouting the area learning private vs. public parcels. The unit is a checkerboard of the two with a little BLM thrown in. I downloaded maps to use off-line, and the GPS in the phone worked surprisingly well. We were fortunate enough to run into a Game Warden while scouting and he confirmed our maps with his GPS unit.
We spotted a Very nice buck tending his does the first evening, but unfortunately that would be our only sighting of "The One". The next day we spotted other (mostly on private) groups and marked way points and confirmed glassing locations. Also, we noticed a number of bucks using a shallow valley running north-south about a mile from the main access road. The valley was mostly public/state land and contained only a few two-track roads with some large sections of open country. My guess was that few hunters would venture far from the road to hike into the valley.
Opening morning found us headed into the north end of the unit with the plan of working our way south into the valley. The area had received a lot of rain, and the grass was tall with mesquite and cactus patches making glassing a challenge. I spotted a group fairly early, and checking and double checking onX confirmed they were in about a 1 mile square of public land. But, they were moving.
Insert amateur hour on my part. I wanted to get into the group quickly before they moved onto private land so I headed out with my rifle, binos, phone and shooting sticks. I would pay for this later as I left my pack in the truck.
The next hour found me crouching, crawling and on hands and knees closing the distance. The cholla, mesquite and goat-head thorns were taking their toll on my hands, yes, my leather gloves were in my pack!
I closed the distance to 212 yards and then had to wait for the buck to clear the does for a shot. The only opportunity the buck presented was his neck, but I am confident in the rile and he dropped at the shot. My friend was watching from the truck and having more sense than me delivered my pack after I had finished dressing the buck.
Congratulations to the other successful hunters and best of luck for those who have hunts this coming fall.
