2009 Cactus buck - Story finally added!, Laid the hammer down! Options

[Joe Kauffman]

Just got in....story to come!

[Nuggetslayer]

I like the extra eye guard. That is a nice muley

[Mike Furness]

Joe ... A true mossy horn ... great job!
I leave on Sunday for a week of whitetail hunting in northern Maine and hope there is a big one with my name on it up there in the mountains.

Mike F

[FrogMick]

Very nice buck! Reminds me of of when I use to hunt back before AZ had area tag draws.

[Montana]

Joe. That's a dandy!. What's the spread ?

[Chris Gholson]

I got a chance to see this impressive buck yesterday. It's a beauty and there's a real interesting story behind it...Congrats again Joe!

[Joe Kauffman]

Man, there just isn't enough hours in the day! He measurs 27" wide and 22" tall. I'll get the story up tomorrow....it's worth the wait!

[Joe Kauffman]

This year I was fortunate enough to draw a tag in a unit I've been working hard at learning the past few years and was very excited at the chances of taking a true trophy mule deer. The unit spreads from low desert to high pines with a majority of the unit being high desert, cedar & juniper country which is my favorite type of terrain to hunt as it can allow for long range glassing and can hold large mature bucks especially once you've gotten off the beaten path. On several scouting trips leading up to the hunt I glassed quite a few bucks ranging from small forks to mature 3 & 4 points, but had yet to see anything that really got me excited but I knew they were there....somewhere.

The season started Friday at daylight and unfortunately I wasn't able to leave for the hunt until Friday morning which would put me there in time for a early afternoon through dark evening hunt to at least get the adrenaline going before hitting it hard Saturday morning. I chose to stay low in the flats glassing several mesas and ridges coming off a main Westerly facing mountain range in hopes that there would be some deer feeding out into the last light of the day. I was pleasantly surprised to see an abundance of does with a few small bucks in the last hour or so of daylight which only solidified what I already knew; there had to be a large mature buck in this range....somewhere.

Saturday morning found me up on top of the largest mesa I was glassing Friday evening, this time glassing the Eastern facing slopes waiting for a monster buck to show himself sunning in the fresh daylight of the morning. But after a couple hours of does, smaller mulie bucks and even a couple Coues deer, I decided to start glassing slopes on some of the finger ridges running off the mountain to the north to try and find a larger buck held up in the thick. A few more does was all I found so I decided to head back to the quad for a quick lunch and regroup for some midday glassing for bucks in their beds.

During lunch I thought back to the previous scouting trips and remembered a nice sized ridge that overlooks a grassy flat with numerous finger canyons leading to a larger draw with a water tank at the bottom. The temperature was slowly creeping up so I decided to glass the shadey ridges leading into the water tank thinking maybe a buck had watered in the morning and was now bedded nearby. I arrived at the spot I usually park around 1:30pm and began the hike to a good glassing spot where I'd be able to see about 300 degrees around me and still see the tank below.

About 100 yards shy of my glassing spot my brother glanced over to our left and noticed a dark spot under a Juniper tree just over 400 yards away. He whispered to hold on a minute while he grabbed his binos to take a closer look. As soon as the glasses were to his face his jaw dropped and he quietly screamed "There's a monster buck bedded over there!". I pulled up the 12 power Steiners and had him in sight within seconds. I knew immediately that this was the buck I'd been hoping for....dreaming for the past 3 months.

Although he was too far for me to comfortably take a shot, he was in the perfect location bedded down facing away from us. It was still early in the day so I knew we had plenty of time to plan out how to get closer. The first thing we both noticed when watching him through the binos was that he still had velvet on his antlers. Most mulie bucks are rubbed clean by the October rifle hunts so we knew it could mean that we had just found a Cactus Buck. Cactus Bucks are named so because of an accident where their testicles are essentially puncutred & deflated by some sort of trama to the area; usually a cactus thorn or Manzanita branch. It renders them sterile with no desires to rut or challenge with other bucks and the two main characteristics of this condition are late season velvet and "kicker" points grown off the antler in odd spots. He was too far to see if he had any kickers, but we knew he was still in full velvet.

I decided to do a quarter circle to our right which would not only put me within range for a nice clean shot, but would keep us out of sight and down wind of him. After about 45 minutes of ups & downs, ridges & draws we found ourselves on the ridge right above where he was bedded, although we had yet to put our eyes back on him. We slowly worked down the ridge keeping our eye peeled for that noticable Juniper he was bedded next to and within a few more minutes I spotted him still bedded in the shade facing to our right.

My brother pulled up the range finder and a smile came across his fac, "223 yards man, he's all yours!". I handed my brother the video camera as he gladly handed me the tripod holding is 15 power Swarovskis and told me I could shoot right off the top of them. I think I was a little worried about damaging those high dollar binos, but it must have lasted less than a second because I was rested on top of them with the scope cranked within about 10 . The one thing about having time to plan the attack and really look at the buck is that it really sinks in just how big an unique he is. I've been fortunate enough to take many big game animals in my life but this was the first time that I had to take the gun down due to shaking! A couple deep breathes and some nerve steadying and my 300 mag found its resting place again.

I whispered to my brother, asking if he had the camera on him and he replied that the camera was on and his ear was plugged & ready. I clicked off the safety, took one last deep breath and squeezed off a round. Because of the dark shade he was in there was a couple seconds of uncertainty but one look through the glasses and one zoom of the camera and we knew the bullet had found its mark. There were numerous high fives & cheers and after a quick throat wettening swig of water we headed down the hill to claim the trophy.

We had glassed the buck around 2:30pm and I made the final shot at 4:00pm, just before he should have been getting up for the evening feed. After tons of video & pictures, we made the hike back to the quads to unload our gear & hike back in for the heavy haul back out. I finally put a tape on him and he's 27" wide, 22" tall and is a 4x6 when including all the kickers he has. Truely a once in a lifetime buck and experience. It was one of those days where everything just came together and went as good as it could.

Joe Kauffman

[Terry Soloman]

Great story Joe!!! Congratulations, and thank's for letting me in on a super experience through your story. Most Sincerely - Terry

[Mike Furness]

All hunting stories should have such a good ending! Mike F

[Bandana Don]

Joe you wrote a suoper story about you taking that Cactus Buck, WTG!!

Don

[Jim P.]

Hi Joe, Is that why they call you "Cactus Joe" also??? Sorry, couldn't resist. Congrats on the nice buck, not many like that around. Later...Jim P.

[saimetek73]

You learn something everyday. Id never heard of a cactus buck before. Thanks for the link. And now that I am edjuk8ed, Ill go with Cactus buck.