Leaderboard

My season lasted a little over a half day. I got into my blind at about 7 am. Didn’t have any action until about 10 am, when a doe came in. After she left, nothing went on till just about noon when a two point came in. After that it was a steady stream of deer, couple spikes and does, till 1:30. I had about as much of the heat as I could take. I never had been so hot in a blind. I was wringing wet with sweat. At 1:45 I had enough. I got all my gear ready to go and took one last scan out of the blind to make sure I didn’t miss something. I looked up the hill and here came a big buck down the trail a long with a 1x2. I scrambled to get ready. The buck came right in front of my blind at 15 yards and was quartering away. Drew, settled my pin on the last rib, and released. The arrow it exactly were I aimed. The buck ran up the hill and stopped then walked off. I didn’t like the reaction of the deer so I gathered my stuff and went back to camp. Decided to give the buck two hours. At 4:00 I started on the blood trail. Not much blood. A few drops here and there. When I got to where I last seen him, the blood quit. Slowly I followed a few tracks and a couple broke limbs. 40 yards later there he was piled up. The arrow hit the last rib and came out on the back edge of the opposite shoulder. What an amazing day for a great buck! Brian

All day in a treestand is tough.. thankfully this guy and a buddy showed up around 3 on Saturday. Came into water at 32 yards, 100 grain montec to the heart and he was dead 50 yards later. He needed about two weeks to finish off and he might’ve broke the 100” mark but I’m happy nonetheless.

Day 2, Hectic day, my brother picked the spot Saturday we went down to deffinbaugh. I was cursing him most of the way because we didnt get there until after 800. But the action made up for it. around 930 we see bunch of bucks that I take a look at. there is a giant typical bigger (deeper forks anyway) than the one in the pic I posted. I get to 78 yards and wait,wait, and wait some more. Something has the other 8 bucks skittish and blowing. I try to force the issue but get busted and they take off like a cheetah chasing them. Twenty minutes later we meet up with GF officer. Really nice guy, I showed him some pictures and he said "you are passing up that". Litterally just after that we run into a group of three bucks that I make a play on. I get to 67 yards and feel very comfortable with the shot and miss. This buck was younger but had mass and points for days. we park there and do some searching hoping to get caught up. around 100 we sitting in a pine draw having lunch and throwing pine cones at each when I spot antlers. 219 yards away. I have my shows off to take out the stickers from socks. My brother says SHOOT IT. and I say we will let fate decide if I can within range I will take the shot. I get to 67 yards again (I just practiced at a waterhole after my earlier miss. He stands, I release, and he Matrix's my arrow. The stalk You can see his horns ffour trees from me The witching hour It starts with me seeing the biggest bodied deer I have ever seen with kicker on each side making him have 40 inch outside spread or very close to it. (I drop my bow arm and wiff it) Next we see this little guy and few of his friends. than a big group of 10 with a typical with double eyeguards.

bad signal. Day 1 @ very first light we got into these guys. 45 yards The rest of the morning was spent exploring the mountain to the east of mesquite and west of black rock mid day was a four mile (round trip trek) to check the one and only trail camera I left out here. A baby double drop buck and a lion on it I go to check to see if I can see the buck I posted earlier (blurry) then the witching hour hits and I have this guy at 25 yards. I like his look and considered filling my tag. Look at 4 inch sticker point.

Just a quick post to thank board member Stomp442, Clint Neff, for donating several trigger guards to AZGFD's Hunter Education program. I volunteer with them and we needed a few trigger guards to drill into some dummy rifles we use for TAB+1 training, the +1 was tough without trigger guards so the donation really helped. Thanks Clint!

My work does a customer and salesman trip every year to Picabo Idaho to do a fly fishing trip. This year I was fortunate enough to be able to get the opportunity to go. I took 2 clients up with our group of about 12 clients and spent 2 days learning to fly fish near Picabo. It was an amazing experience. I arrived with no idea how to fly fish, and left with a some new skills to work on, and alot of good memories. Neither of my clients had fly fished before either and they left with the same experience. We were guided by the staff of the Picabo Angler and they were top notch. Very patient and helped teach us alot in a short period of time. I worked with Nick and Zac and both were excellent. The first day I reeled in 5 trout including a 22" brown! Day 2 took us up to a river with smaller fish, but more of them. I hooked into 14 fish that day with plenty more missed opportunities. If you are looking for a place to go have fun, check out Picabo and the Picabo Angler.

I ll never get tired of seeing you whollop nice velvet bucks

Id let an arrow fly with no shame

I would have been done. Crazy mass on that buck. Hope passing him pays off. Good luck!

The Rifle is a model 94 Winchester in 25/35. This was the first rifle that my grandfather bought and the only one he ever had. He bought the rifle in the Prescott area, this deer was also killed with this rifle in the Prescott area. Pretty cool to have both of them, I can only imagine the miles that were walked carrying this rifle. I even have some of the original boxes of ammo.

This is the single best topic i have seen in 15 years on the forum. Millions of hunters the world over can only dream of such an awesome hunt for the magical Coues deer in the sky islands of Arizona or on the rim. None of us get up at 3am for blake owens or the daily politics-we get up to fulfill our passions for the remaining wild outdoors. Burning legs getting up to that high saddle or rocky point at daylight. Getting to see and experience sights and emotions perhaps no one else ever will, or has, and we should spend some time writing it down and passing it on. The new seasons are upon us-even the next month will bring special memories and even some trophy's. And that little velvet s;pike-someone's first ever archery buck-would be far more interesting to read about than a thousand posts of political crap. This forum has changed-a lot of good hunters have left and its our loss-I don't think I would have joined the way it is now. Why did we run off all those good people? lee

Man talk about bad timing for me I would have been all over this if it was 3 days ago... I just bought a new rifle. Good luck with the sale, someone is getting a great deal!

Awesome buck! Congratulations.

Sitting in a Walmart in St George for the last few hours with a flat. Here is a few pics from our exploring waring cabins

For those of you with kaibab/strip elk tag seen sign at black rock and eating cabins

We president now

Take a look at Montana's regulations, when they say • Skull plates or antlers with no meat or tissue attached I would assume that means no velvet. So far every state that has restrictions has this clause. If CWD infects enough animals, it will probably reduce the herd in the long term. Other states have seen deer populations decline when CWD infects 20 to 40 percent of a herd. In Wyoming, heavily-infected herds of mule deer declined 21 percent per year and whitetails declined by 10 percent. Colorado saw a 45 percent decline in infected mule deer herds over 20 years. Clearly, if left unchecked, CWD could result in largescale population declines. This is from Montana website. Arizona is surrounded by CWD positive states so why wouldn't the state do everything it can to try and keep the disease out as long as possible.

That's a nice bike. Bump

Same here, I have really enjoyed reading all of your fishing and hunting posts over the years. Congrats on a great deer!

Bob ,, You are right on. I am 82+ , and have --zero-- of my hunting friends ;The last two moved upstate . One (lives close to Flagstaff , ask me to stay with him during my (13 SEPT 2013 ) Bull hunt. We did a lot of hunting-past 25 years ago . He ask to go along on the hunt. It's about 20 min. to the area. I did all of his taxidermy. But * Big problem* this last Sat. my wife had a STROKE-DISABLED, THE LEFT SIDE. She is out of the hosp. & making excellent progress using walker. Our son ,said -go do this hunt ,l take care of Mom. They are aware that this is my last hunt. I have survived -Cancer-6 yrs. HEART ATTACK -15 YRS. ABOUT TIME i SLOW DOWN. . But -now I am healthy & All systems(Functions ) work O K. Sorry to hear about your Dad.... It,s all part of that journey -called Life. Don

I actually think it's close. My first response was bobcat. Not to be too equivocal but I'll call bobcat with 65% certainty. Both bobcats and lions can have those white facial markings. Also, it seems improbable to get multiple pics of a lion with out its long tail in the frame. If we had a sense of how far away it was, that would help but it's hard to get perspective from a photo. Finally, I'd bet there are more bobcats in that area than lions but guessing bobcat based on that would just be playing the odds. Any tracks? Any more pictures? Thanks for the interesting post.

I call Bullchit. ............BOB!

For me....

Ah..... Bingo!!! Totally skimmed over that part. I'm going with that, then! (So I can now openly admit that I brought a pronghorn head in from New Mexico on Sunday night. )

A bit north of that actually with their dumb processing fee. Plus galley fees, fish cleaning if you get some and want them to do it, plus tip. Not cheap. Pretty sure its cheaper than buying a boat and spending all that money on fuel though.