Leaderboard

Day 3 updates end of Phase 1 I knew I only had a little bit, So I parted ways with my brother so he could make the 11 hour drive back to tucson and went close to camp. I climbed a little knoll and started glassing within a few minutes I see this. I decide to get closer and make a 1/2-3/4 mile stalk. of course I lose them for a bit and then I look to my right and this is what I see, less than 120 yards away I'm trying to figure out if they are shooters when this guys shows his head and has the coolness factor. 89 yards away Ten bucks are around me all of a sudden in waist high oak scrub for 20-30 minutes. I try to make a move to get closer than I get pinned by this guy around 60 yards They make a move to there mid day resting spot and I parallel them then this guy catches movement jig is up. I go to the top enjoy the view and eat an orange and start the long trip back to show low. 3 hours at the only tire shop open on sunday in utah (walmart) I get home about 1100 needing to go to my office in scottsdale for a few days I left this morning at 400. Man I am a little delirious as I write this. three more days and I will be back for 10. I now know what to expect and I may even have a target buck in mind.

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

Hog hunter be like.....

Hoghunter about to get the call.

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.

Hi folks, and I wanted to share my first hunt with you all. I’m in Phoenix Arizona, and on Friday I took my first deer on opening day., and it was a Coues Deer. My buddy Jason who was my guide and really knowledgeable with hunting with a bow and a gun. We sat in a blind from 4:30am until 7:15 pm when I took my shot at 40 yards with my PSE Evolve bow, after the hit it walked 50 yards and laid down under a tree. We were in Unit 22 hunting over water, and if your in Phx, you know we have had very little water this summer. It was a long day with temperatures at 103’ and even hotter in the ground blind. I’m 59 in age and it was a long day, but oh my was it worth it. I couldn’t be happier

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

I would try and kill this guy.

I miss those early days of CWT.com. I still read the forum every couple of weeks but rarely post here these days even though I still have great hunting success. It seems a lot of times these posts will get those knotheads that want to nitpick everything. I mostly post my stuff on my Instagram account. Scott

Took a ride this morning out north of the homestead. While studying the geology of the area that was once the Pikes Peak mining district. Found some interesting minerals including an exposed hematite layer, not to mention hundreds of quail, wow. This guy was snoozing on a wash ledge about 9' up and couldn't be disturbed.

Hopefully a deserving Veteran or a kid that will appreciate it. I donated it to the OE4A.

Have not made it in 2 years so one of my daughters and I picked some fruits here. Pickings were tough this year. Did end up having an awesome time with my daughter. Great time in the heat. Anyway, got about 8 gallons of pears. Made a bunch of syrup for drink mixers, ice cream and pancakes, and used the rest to make a bunch of prickly pear, blueberry and raspberry jam. Turned out awesome! Pics of the finished product.

Ignore the quality of the pic...just focus on the quality of the buck!

Are those powerlines in the background?

Hunting antelope in Arizona on a bad year is still a good hunt.

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.

I just got back from an overnight that went down to Mexico about 40 miles offshore. It's the 3rd year in a row for our group of 21 that charters the same boat every year - Relentless! Aside from the great crew and solid socializing on the boat we almost hit our boat limit on yellowfin and grabbed a few bluefin. 93 tuna on the boat and a fair number of ones-that-got-away and we each got a few mako steaks to bring home. Our tuna was all between 20-30lbs with the jackpot winner pulling in a 40lbs monster. I had a 110qt igloo max in the car and opted this year to have the boat gill&gut the fish and I'll fillet and pack. The 110qt cooler held 5 gutted fish and 40lbs of ice easily. Might have been tight if I'd been lucky enough to bring home either bigger fish, or a bluefin! My trolling set-up (we didn’t snag any trolled fish this trip) was a 85lbs braid with 60lbs fluoro leader on a Squall 60LD and a 6ft heavy action Squall pole with a bunch of lures I had rigged up. Next year I’m bringing Ballyhoo for the fun of trying it. My fishing set-up was 40lbs braid with 30lbs fluoro leader and a #2 hook on a fathom 2 speed 15LD2 and 7.5ft medium action carnage II. 6 of us brought our own stuff, and everyone who rented had slightly larger reels with 25lb braid and 20 mono topshots. They were equally successful. I chose to buy the 15LD2 to have a more versatile pole for other fishing if I wanted it. (I’m also as new to fishing as I am to hunting). The trip was a weekend trip and I was working in San Diego for 3 days afterwards, so brought along my vacuum sealer, knives and snippers, and cleaning supplies. I set my hotel bathroom up as a cleaning station. triple bagged trash for the bloodline trimmings and the carcass, 20lbs ice as a platform to keep the chopping board and the tools cold as I went along. Cleaned the shower down between every fish, and kept my tools, the chopping board, and myself clean between every stage for each fish. For the vacuum bags, the closing seal was 2 seals for top half of the fish, 3 seals for the bottom half, with the belly and collars for all 5 yellowfin being consolidated into a single bag for. Saved on labelling and adding a step. Once the fish were packed up in their bags there was 2 day old 40lbs ice underneath, a towel laid down, the packs spread out evenly and more towels, another fresh 40lbs of ice on top, and finally 2 towels on the top of the ice. I've found the igloo MAX 110qt to hold temp well except at the top. In AZ and road-trips to CA the lid gets very hot and the top ice melts fast warming the top layer of food a little. The top towels eliminate that. I drove home about 3pm from CA to AZ along I8 and it was 100+ outside from east of alpine until the sun set, with the sun always shining in the rear-hatch window pounding the ice-chest. After 6 hours of driving there was very little water to drain and the fish was nice and cold. I popped the fish in the freezer and we had poke bowls for dinner last night. Great trip.. wanted to share.

Rough Crowd.

Some good advise already given. If I were you and your used to stalking deer with a bow. Just find a place on a map that a rd is a min of 1 mile out from any other roads. Find that and head that way before sun light. Start hiking in 1/2 mile and wait for the sun to come up. If you can find a high spot thats your baby. Stay there for about an hour and glass. If you don't have good glass well practice. If you don't have glass at all just walk through the woods like grandpa always did. Nice and slow and look and hear for everything. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast! If you come across water holes search the areas. If good activity stay there. Or hit it in morning and evening. Stop road hunting! You need some time on those boots. Good luck. And everybody wants a buck! And most people will take a meat buck as well.

This posts blows my mind, you wait 26 years for a lope tag, your "NEW" to lope hunting and you "THINK" you can tell the difference between a 78" and 80" lope? Dude your one of those High Maintenance chicks aren't you

That second buck looks pretty good to me.... I'll be waiting for next seasons "27 points and I couldnt draw a tag" rant.

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'd be in for a CWT trip.

Ah great trip, nice write up. I love doing these tuna trips. Im doing a 6 pack hopefully towards end of sept. It would be fun to do a CWT trip.

Looking forward to it. Will be down there for Sunday and Monday.