Leaderboard

I am going into my 8th year living in 19a and I can tell you, for this point in May(over that span of 8 years), conditions have never been better than what it is right now. So much food! Now, just as things are starting to dry a little, we are expecting some good rain this week. Just in time to give food production a big boost, I haven't been out looking at the goats recently, but they were looking fat before all this food production. Right now, the whole valley is green like monsoon season, Good news for the handful of tag holders.

I jumped on the deal that was presented last minute on this site. Day 1. We met at the Best Western in Douglas which took me about 2-1/2 hr to drive from Tucson but traffic at that hour in the morning was a delight. No turkey calls were to be found at Walmart but Jay assured me that Chris would do all the calling. I kind of wish I had one. At 7:30 am, I got to meet Dave, the other hunter, and we piled into Chris Roe’s truck who was pulling his Ranger. We crossed the border without trouble and picked up supplies at Beto’s place. The drive down to the Potrero Ranch between Moctezuma and Hermosillo was long and the last hour was on a challenging dirt road. This gringo was not used to the narrow roads, different language and traffic rules (use your blinker to tell the guy behind to pass, even though it was a double line). We got situated at an old ranch house about 3 pm – rustic living conditions with no continuous power but with running water. We drove 1/2 hr in the Ranger on a rough 4wd 2-track to likely area near a "represso" (pond). We walked up a wash but nothing. However, we found the center of all activity, a great strutting area around the pond. We did watch 2 gobblers and several hens walk up the road we drove down but nothing responded to our calls/decoys. At sundown there was lots of calling to the west on the roost trees. Lots more gobbling occurred at/near dark. Back at the ranch we had great carne asada and guacamole for a late dinner then to bed for a very early wake-up. Day 2. Up at 3am for bagels and we motored off to the represso. We set up under a large tree on the northern side of the pond about 4:30 am but it put us very close to the action. The birds started to come in from the west but didn't like decoys or whatever. They skirted to the back of us. Six hens nervously walk by and up the hill at 20 yd from me but the gobbler (s) stayed back. Things really slowed down after 9 am when it got hot so we went back to the ranch for a late breakfast of chorizo/egg burritos. The guacamole had milk and cheese, so the boys were worried about my lactose intolerance, which provided great entertainment in the blind later on when they were concerned the birds would hear me. It was super hot: too hot to nap. We set up ground blind on south end about 4 pm with just one hen decoy. The result was we got to watch a nice gobbler and several hens walk by from where we parked the Ranger in the wash, just out of range. Dave almost got a shot. Lots activity occurred after sundown. Day 3. Jorge’s rooster alarm did not go off so we “slept in” till 3:15 am; after which, we headed to the ground blind we had left set up. It was very quiet. 17 hens and 2 gobblers came right by the northern spot from previous day about 75 yards from us and went up the east side of the pond and then to the northern, sparsely vegetated hill up from the pond. Later another gobbler with a messed-up fan chased the other 2 gobblers off and came in with 8 hens, one of which was gimping. Another gobbled way off to east. Great morning watching and listen to the strutting. That wing drag was a new experience for me. After all activity ceased, Chris reset the blind to the northern spot behind the tree where all the action was occurring – this was an extraordinary spot with wing drag marks everywhere. The different flocks seemed to take turns coming into the pond and did not want to encounter other birds so we used no more decoys and no more calling. Machaca burritos and bacon, eggs, beans were ready for us for late breakfast. Temps were still very hot and dry which just shut down all activity during the early afternoon to include us! Somehow, we got intermittent texts through my Verizon cell phone and it seemed that Jay and his hunters on different ranches had scored. Heading back to the pond in the early afternoon, we checked out a new spot sort of on the way at 2 pm but there was no activity and then we were off to the ground blind. We sat in the blind till dark. Finally, many (14?) hens came into drink with no gobblers. The hens were very nervous but stayed a long time at 20-30 yards away drinking and eating out of the ooze on the north end of the lake. Day 4 -- last day. We got into the blind early by 4:30. Super quiet. No activity till late, which was very disconcerting. FINALLY, a hen came in alone and stayed a long time till poor Dave had a coughing fit. Then 9 hens came in about 9 am working right in front of the blind, which apparently no longer seemed out of place. The gobbler showed up and went around the opposite side of the pond to make sure other gobblers gobbling to the south did not take these hens away. He went right over previous south side blind location, along with another gobbler later on. Shoulda, woulda, coulda! Then another gobbler came in quietly with a few hens with lots of strutting across the represso on my side but out of range. He worked his way over to within 30 yards. Dave worked his way into position just in case we got a chance at a double (we practiced one, two, three, BANG several times during the slack time) and then I heard wing drags just outside the blind ... another gobbler had come in from the north to challenge the one I could see. My gobbler took off at the site of the new gobbler. He wandered out of range, so I gave Dave the ok to shoot what I thought was the close one which I could not see. Chris was going to stop him but TOO SLOW JOE! I looked back and the gobblers were together and Dave bammed the latter one. I shot but was so frazzled, I missed by a foot and a half as the first gobbler was exiting stage right. Chris jumped out and got Dave’s bird and had me set up again as there were many birds gobbling. He called and even tried the gobble call with lots of response but NOTHING but nothing came in so we decided to go after the closest one that was quite vocal. We got to within a couple hundred yards but could not get him to commit. We heard maybe 2 others but only one or two times so it was back to blind. Then another started gobbling down by the UTV. We tried to work him but he just went up the opposite steep hillside – he sounded like he was really close due to the steepness of the hill. He worked his way up to the top if the hill as Chris called in the blind and I set up to the south of the pond. Foiled again. Chris and Dave then returned to the ranch to take care of his bird while I sat the blind. I heard several gobblers while there but none came into pond. The clouds gave us a reprieve from the heat. Alas, it finally got hot but there was a good breeze, which made it so I could not hear well. Chris showed back up at 3 pm with some lunch for me. We had the blind quite open to keep it cooler. I was telling lots stories like the “pet turkey Gobbles” from way back. At end of story, around 3:30 pm, Chris noticed a really nice gobbler standing on the dam drinking. Thank goodness for the wind covering my story. We were careful to maintain absolutely no movement since the blind was so open. The gobbler walked toward us from 60+ to 30 yds right at the pond’s west edge. At 30, BAM! Straight into the lake as Chris had predicted. Chris scrambled out with boots untied and tethered together. The turkey was swimming out by his flailing and the pond was deep there at the steepest part of the bank. Chris stepped into the murky water and just as it was providentially planned, the turkey back flipped while 10 ft out and swam back to Chris. That poor turkey was a nasty, wet mess but HUGE. It had a nice spur on the right leg and nub on the other. PLUS, it a had a double beard: 10-6/8" and 6-5/8". True trophy status! Chris was really excited! I was shaking like crazy and could not get the phone set up to video Chris swimming after the turkey. Lots of high fives and hugs and hoopla resulted. We pulled the blind and headed back to the ranch arriving about 5pm, the first early quitting time of the hunt. I was so grateful for the total Providence on the last evening of the hunt with some extraordinarily difficult and unusual hunting conditions. The dried-out pics of the bird were much nicer than the shoreline pics! We back home very early the next morning as Chris had his next assignment to work his magic. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

For this season in Arizona, I drew my second Gould's turkey tag, this one in 35A. I found out that Game and Fish holds a survey camp, sponsored by The Huachuca Gould's Chapter of The NWTF, a month before the hunt. Of course I participated in the survey, it was fun, plus I learned a lot about the unit and found some roosting areas. Excellent camp, nice folds and great food! Did I mention the various Dutch-oven cobblers? Opening morning I went in where 3 toms had been roosted, but they weren't there. I heard a faint gobble further up the canyon, so I moved a half-mile further in. It was light by now, so I set-up by a little meadow alongside a running Creek and began calling. I had a gobbler respond about 300 yards up the canyon. Next gobble he sounded closer, the next sounded farther away. I called again and he sounded closer! I strained my eyes looking thru the trees and brush looking for movement. Finally I catch sight of him, he's strutting and gobbling his way in! I was counting on him coming along the creek, but he was on the dirt road on the far side of the creek. As he passed behind a tree, I got my shotgun up on a knee and pointed that direction. I had ranged all parts of the area, so I knew if I had a clear shot I could take him. He continued strutting and gobbling down the road, but there was a lot of brush between us. As I followed him with the muzzle, the road was angling away, when he got to be straight out in front of me, he passed through a clear spot, so I fired-dropped him in his tracks! Turned out to be a 50 yard shot. He was a nice tom! Weighed 20.5 lbs, had a thick 11" beard and 1" spurs. Checked the time: 5:50 am. Beautiful tom! View from where I shot Zoomed in, bird is on edge of road View of camp through trees Not roughing it this time Sunset from Coronado National Monument

Been trolling on this site for years and finally decided to make a profile. Drew a 35a Gould's tag this year with 14 bonus points. Set up this morning and had alot of turkeys talking all around us but nothing would commit in. At 7:30 we Decided to try another area and we found 3 toms together on the hill side. Made our way over there and found a single Tom by himself on a closer hill. Get over to him and bump him and he takes off. Took a chance and kept looking for him and found him walking around at 150 yards. Circled around him and we came up at the perfect spot. Ended up being a 10 yard shot. I know it will be years again but I can't wait to be drawn again.

Took a small hike to check a camera one last time before the mother nature drops the heat hammer. This is a new spot so I wasn't sure what would show up.... no giants but, I was pleasantly surprised. Its probably worth keeping tabs on.... On the way out, I stumbled across these little treasures.. always makes it worth the walk Its going to be a long summer. Thanks for looking. Dave

Congrats ,nice Bird........BOB!

Great job and congrats, Tommy!

Congratulations on a great bird.

They should amend the rescue to be like the "stupid motorist" law.... if you knowingly drive into a flooded wash and get stuck, you pay for the rescue... could be the same for hiking... if they show up and you're standing there in sandals, just know youre gonna pay. ha ha

Thank you everyone. My mom has the second hunt in 35a so hopefully there will be a dead bird next Friday.

It comes with mojo.... Ed F

Took my 3 and 5 year old out a few days ago. They loved it. Didn't find any horns. But they climbed a "mountain" and got some great pictures. I guarantee they'll remember it forever.

Could at least say hi before asking for help.

I'm really glad to see unit 1 go to a draw. Living up here my whole life, it's obvious that unit 1 has amazing potential, especially after the burns. hunthard is absolutely correct. You only have to look at 3A/3C to see that the quality of deer goes up when you give those yearling bucks a chance to grow. Generally speaking, unit 1 used to have tons of deer. They were everywhere. But it kind of turned into a cluster "F". Lots of road hunting, yearling bucks killed en-masse. I actually advocated for an antler restriction like New Mexico has so we could rebuild the age-class deer unit 1 has to offer. Guess how well that went - ha. Our habitat is perfect for growing not only herd size, but trophy quality deer. We just have to back off a bit and let them mature. Unit 1 & 27 are rebounding after years - decades of over allocation of tags. Gents, 3A/3C, 23 are becoming strip-like tags in terms of trophy potential. 1 & 27 will do the same if we allow the bucks to mature. The stories I've heard about 27 back in the "good old days" - and I actually saw it back then when I first came here from Oklahoma. Back then, there were something like 1700 tags - anyone could hunt - and there were deer everywhere. I didn't even have a pair of binoculars the first year I hunted 27 back in the '80s. Point being, of course we all know G&F is all about over-allocating tags because that means $$$ for them. Managing 3A/C for trophy potential should be a blueprint for 1 & 27. It works.

Careful generalizing...... You haven't met my kids.

Nobody wants to work I didn't think about posting job opportunities on here as well I've been looking for a few guys for a while the first thing they always ask is how much you going to pay me and what time we going to be done, they already want to be done and get paid before work even starts times certainly have changed

In my opinion it has nothing to do with Xbox or a cell phone and 100% to do with parenting and culture and big city culture. Growing up in a small town, we kids were always picking up side jobs and learning construction along the way. Parents nowadays don’t let their kids outside let alone go work a side job and parents put more emphasis on school and activities then they do on getting life skills through work experience as a teenager. I hope when my boys are old enough I have guys like Tony around to chew their butt and give them a chance to make a buck or two. Don’t blame the kids, it’s the parents.

I watched the most recent comission meeting and there were probably at least 30 people there to speak against coyote killing contests and 1 for. These people had screenshot Facebook conversations with hunters talking about blowing away coyotes and pictures of piles of coyotes left to rot. I'm in no way against killing contests but it's only a matter of time when the hunters post that kind of crap for everyone to see.

I drew my second choice: first hunt in 26. The western boundary of this unit is a few hundred yards east of my house. Get to sleep in my own bed and eat my wife's cooking! At my age, that sounds pretty darned good!

bump....best seat on the market.....

I drew a 24 Coues tag... was a tough hunt last year...shot a buck, but was rough. I swore I wasn’t going to put in for that hunt again, but after all the effort I put in learning the unit, figured I’d give it one more shot

This is the real problem some old fudds have with social media. They get jealous that there’s younger people out there doing way better than them at hunting and they get mad.

Yep, just meet at the Black Cat with a few groups of buddy's, have a few beers, and place your bets. Go out and shoot'em and do the count in a designated location out of town.

Not trying to sound like an apologist towards the department, but they didn’t ban coyote hunting. You can still go out this evening if you so please. You and your buddies can make a few stands and accomplish the same results without all the social media fanfare.

Why do you have to call it a contest. Just go killing