Summary of this years hunt in Mexico:

We started in early January on the remote ranches, with two of our clients that hunt on a regular basis and a new client. One of our return hunters took the first buck on the second day, a 28 1/2" very heavy 180 buck. A few days later he took a 35" 6x6 plus nice eyeguards, scored in the low 190's. On the last day of this hunt his partner was hunting from a high rack truck and drove right up on two bucks fighting, the bucks were only about 40 yards away but there was brush in the way. As it turned out he killed the smaller of the two according to my guide, the buck was about 25" wide but was a massive tall 4x5 plus nice eyeguards. Our third hunter was our only hunter this year that did not fire a shot, on the last day we showed him a buck very similar to the 4x5 but he decided to pass.

After five days we drove to our east ranches, where my first two hunters were scheduled to hunt for another five days. They were met there by two other hunters. The hunter that killed the two deer at the remote ranches took two more nice mulies, yep thats right for a total of four and also a 100" coues deer. His first buck here was a nice 26" wide 5x5 plus eyeguards, his second another 28" 5x5 plus eyeguards. His partner was on a very nice 30 plus inch mule deer, the guides were trying to point it out to him, it was only about 80 yards out, we think he was looking over it, looking further, of course when it ran he saw it but it was too late. The third hunter took a very nice heavy 3x3 plus eyeguards, our fourth hunter had a rough hunt. He started off first day with me as his guide hunting from a high rack truck. We stopped to glass a ridge and we found what I believe was the biggest coues deer I have ever seen on the hoof, its body was half again as big as any coues deer I have ever seen and from 500 yards we couldn't be sure how many points it had but it had more than four per side and was unbelievably heavy. I stayed in the truck glassing the buck while Victor, my head guide, put a stalk on. They closed to within 260 yards, all the while the buck just stood there never moving, nodding off from time to time. It eventually walked 30 yards down the hill and bedded under a mesquite. The hunter took a rest on the tree and the shot was high, the buck dog trotted over the ridge never even raising its tail. We looked for two weeks for this buck and of course never saw it again. Then on another ranch the same hunter missed a 30" 4x4, and then the next day after seeing 11 bucks he shot what we would consider a small 4x3 and he had seen bigger bucks than this one that day. But he was one of the happiest hunters we have ever had, made no excuses and indicated he wants to come back and try it again and we will be glad to have him.

By now you are probably wondering why we haven't mentioned anybodys name, it is very simple, this can be a cut throat business. We have guides that have tried to get our ranches and we have had guides that have tried to contact our hunters, so we no longer mention names or where the hunters are from.

We had four more hunters that came in the end of January, they took a nice 26" wide 4x4, a 30 1/2" 182 buck and a really oddball 27" wide 4x4 that was extremely high and heavy his horns reminded you of a fallow deer. And our fourth hunter got a shot at a 32" heavy and high 3x3 plus eyeguards, the situation dictated that he take a front on shot and while there was a blood trail after looking for several days this buck was never found. After taking these hunters to the airport Janet and I went back to the remote ranches.

The first buck taken by Janet was a high and heavy 3x3 plus eyeguards that was 29" wide, this was a really old buck that was blind in one eye. It was fun to watch her make this stalk and take this buck. The next few days we hunted the lower ranch where the ranch foreman had told us he had twice seen a buck while riding his horse that was very wide and high and had many points. Janet was walking with Victor when they got into five does and a big buck. It was really brushy and she had a hard time getting a shot even though the buck was only about 30 yards, as it turned out this buck was a 33" wide 4x5 plus eyeguards with very good mass. We got him loaded in the truck, took him to the ranch foreman to see if it was the buck he had been seeing. He said no, the buck he was seeing was wider and higher with bigger eyeguards and more points. And that it was stupid, it would just stand and look at you. As it turned out it was smarter than we were, we spent the rest of our hunt ignoring every place else and hunting the area where he had been seen, we had one tag left and I passed on a very heavy, probably 27 or 28" 5x5 that I am sure would have scored 190 because I still had two days left to hunt for the monster buck. And on the last morning while Janet was walking with Victor again, they got into more deer, four does and a buck, that Victor said was probably 30 inches a 4x4, both of these last two bucks would have been shooters on any other year except for the fact that there was a monster buck we were trying to kill. We hunted for this buck until dark on the last day. He was living in the heart of the ranch and maybe he will be there for someone next year.

Interesting factoid: As we were skinning out the 35" 6x6 we found a 54 calibre roundball just under the hide in the pelvic area. We were with a hunter three years earlier that shot at a 30" plus wide and layed out buck, we looked for hours and never found a drop of blood. The buck was dog trotting away at about 40 yards. The 35" 6x6 was taken within a few hundred yards of this spot, the round ball would be intact with no expansion except for shearing off about 1/3 of the ball on a piece of hip bone. Not only did the buck survive but he was very healthy with a small herd of does three years later. Never have been a big fan of roundballs. See picture of the roundball just to the right of the second mule deer picture, top row.

Check out our 2008 photos below. Click on picture for more details