Patience Pays Off in No Man’s Land

It was 94 degrees in late October, when I went hunting with my husband and three kids in southern Arizona in a place we call “no man’s land.” It’s very far away from everything, and we never see any other hunters there, hence the name.

I was watching a coatimundi playing when it spooked a Coues deer buck from under a juniper tree. That’s the only reason I was able to spot him. He walked around for a few minutes before bedding down again under a different juniper tree. He laid there for about two hours, while I watched and waited in the desert heat. When he stood back up, I was ready to take my shot.

At 598 yards, I shot him straight through the heart with a Ruger American 6.5 Creedmore. He dropped immediately. He was the first and only buck I had seen in two days. – Amy Granatowski