Happiness

Happiness is grilling a couple of venison backstraps for dinner and having your wife look you in the eyes and say "You had better get another deer this year... this is delicious!"

Weapons and Whims

I started bowhunting exclusively back in 2002.  With the exception of predator hunting I haven't picked up a rifle to chase game ever since.  The stick and string and stalking to within tens of yards captivated me, and I turned a naive nose upwards at the rest of the world that thought guns were fine sporting weapons.  I was an elitist, and a purist - or so I thought (can carbon fiber arrows and compound bows with cams really fit that description?).  I was part of a ruffian crew, the bastard stepchildren of the hunting community, and I relished it.  In fact I had so lofty an idea of my bowhunting that I recall telling a friend (and not that long ago either...) that there was not a big game animal I wanted to kill so bad that I would shame it by using a gun to do so.

Coues deer will change that.

After my first attempt at taking a Coues deer with a bow in the January of 2009, I began to second guess my own resolve as a strictly bow-only hunter.  This last January,  the resolve was all but absent.  Not that I didn't hunt hard during the archery season, and I'll certainly give it a go this August as well, but something has changed in my perception about weapons.  And I blame it entirely on Coues deer!  I left this last archery season with a large dose of humility, matched only by my appreciation and wonder for the whitetails of the west.

Now I've found myself recently reading through Boddington's book on Safari Rifles, and getting thrilled over the discussions of bullet speeds and rifle chamberings.  I spent more time in the reloading isle at Bass Pro last weekend than I have collectively in the last 10 years at any sporting goods venue.  Grain weights and powder selections, trajectories, distances, muzzle velocities, there really is a genuine magic in this world of modern alchemy - firearms and reloading.

Would I love to harvest the grey ghost with my bow?  Absolutely.

Would I hesitate to pull the trigger of my rifle on one?  Absolutely not.

This is the quest.

Drawn!

Myself and three friends drew late November group rifle tags for a unit in southern Arizona.  This area holds lots of deer, but requires lots of walking and lots of glassing.  The unit has a wide variety of terrain from mesquite flats to steep oak ridges, and everything in between.  It is a great example of the stereotypical Coues deer country.

With four months until the hunt opens, now is the time for physical preparation, scouting, and honing our shooting skills.  This will be my first exclusively rifle hunt in over 7 years.  I will be using a Ruger .243, and am currently planning on developing some hand-loads for this particular hunt.  I'll keep you updated on the round selection as reloading commences.