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Well that took a plot twist I wasnt expecting. long butt drive to show low tonight.

Son got it done opening morning on a nice lope with great cutters.

Took a day trip from Phx yesterday. Deer seem healthy and plentiful. 7 weeks and counting.

Agree completely. Although I didn't see this thread before he cancelled it, I think the reason he did it was because the first two replies had already started it down the side track of politics and conspiracy theories. From there it would become even worse. Earlier today I read the messages about the buck in the newspaper and saw where Tony mentioned starting a topic about legends and stories from way back. I think he called it a trip down memory lane. He decided against it because of exactly what you said -- the idiocy that seems to crop up in almost every message thread now. That's unfortunate. I would really enjoy hearing some of his stories from those bygone days when most members here weren't even born yet. In other words, we're the losers, not him.

Maybe he just didn’t want his thread to turn into another string of idiocy. Stanley and Outdoor Writer are the kind of contributors who make this site head and shoulders above any other of its kind. The rest of us would do well to follow their lead.

Ok... since we are sitting in the OR waiting room with nothing to do. The hunt was a bit of a whirlwind, but definitely a huge success. We spent Labor Day weekend getting familiar with the unit and trying to locate a few goats. To my surprise antelope were relatively scarce and the heat waves made it really tough to glass more than a few hundred yards. Saturday we drove up to Valle and across unit 9 on the Willaha road towards Tin House then down to the Espee road and back into Williams. We did not see a single antelope. Sunday we ventured over to the Aubrey Valley and before we even arrived we saw a buck chasing a doe near Ash Fork and one lone buck North of Seligman. Once we rounded Chino Point we started glassing the AV and immediately picked up a buck with several does far across the valley floor. He was impossible to judge from our distance but size wasn’t all that relevant anyway. We weren’t being picky. We hadn’t been glassing long when Ty from OE4A called and told me that one of their youth hunter’s had just tagged out with his crossbow. We packed up shop and headed their way. This was my first time on the Big Bo, and I must say I was a little bit intimidated by the rules and permitting. I was very pleasantly surprised that it was not complicated at all and their hint manager Lee made everything easy for the folks helping Hunter. Once we got signed in we met up with Ty and Joe at his buck. I have to say, of the whole experience, this might have been the most important part. I had both Hunter and Nash with me and they got to meet Joe, a 16 year old boy with two prosthetic legs and toes sewn onto his left hand for fingers, beaming and showing off his very well earned trophy. While we were standing there he took off his prosthetics and dumped out the rocks and sand that had accumulated from crawling under fences. This is important, for my kids to see someone with incredibly challenging circumstances, not being defined by them, but instead choosing making their own course. After driving around the flats for a while we ventured around the West edge of the unit and up to the far north and drove roads into camp 5. Again we did not see a single antelope, which really had me perplexed. But, at least we had some goats located for the next weekend. During the week I talked to a few archery hunters who suggested I take a look near Tin House again. Fearing that all 85 tag holders would experience the same thing I had and the AV being a foot race on opening morning, I resolved to get out of town early enough on Thursday to go check some Of the points that had been provided. Thursday came quick. Fortunately Ty would be joining us and was able to get up to the unit on Thursday morning and spend most of the day looking for a buck. We arranged to meet near Long Point and after working for the AM and a rushed packing job we were in the truck and headed North. Hunter was all smiles. Because of the size of the unit and not wanting to be tied to a specific location we decided to pack a nomad camp and just throw down cots and cover wherever we ended up at the end of each day. I would love to regret this decision. After several hours of driving we were sitting on the Babbit ranch overlooking lots of great antelope habitat but only managed to turn up a solitary doe. Ty had found a decent buck, but with 4 guys staking him out, it looked like the next morning would be a foot race. We talked it over and decided to drive the 2+ hours to the Aubrey Valley where we at least we knew there were more antelope. There wasn’t a convenient campsite for where we planned to glass from so we plopped the cots down on a pull off from the highway and hunkered down for the night. Well if you have ever been on Route 66 you know that a train passes through that country about every 20 minutes. Thursday night was not exempt. Our cots were about 100 yds from the train tracks. I MIGHT have slept for 2 hours. Maybe. Good news is that Hunter is a professional sleeper and he was out before the second train of the night. In the morning a quick muffin for breakfast and then we made the short jaunt to our glassing outpost. To my surprise before we were really even settled AZGFD had pulled up alongside our trucks and an officer made his way out to our knob. The check was uneventful but professional and courteous. Before long we turned up a buck with several does about 4 miles across the valley floor. We didn’t have any better options so Hunter and Ty geared up to head out after him. They needed to move the truck for the stalk and in the process they found that several other groups were headed after the same buck. We aborted the plan and decided to move on. Shortly later Ty called and said he and Hunter were headed after a different buck. So I dropped off the glassing hill and headed their way. Now I think this is a good time to mention something I learned recently. I heard Eddy Corona recently talk on a podcast about the value of having kids spend some time with a mentor other than Mom or Dad. Spending time with their parents is good, but sometimes kids respond differently when it’s not mom or dad pushing them to do something hard, or try something new, etc. This was on my mind going into this hunt. Part of Hunter’s condition causes his hands and feet to be weak and causes occasional drop foot and he is really skinny. All of this combines to create a kid who can be a bit cautious and hesitant to try new things physically. So instead of being the one to take him on his stalks I asked Ty to go with him. Ty does this for a ton of kids and is awesome with them. It was hard to hang back and not be by his side the whole time, but I also remember being a young man and that sometimes the last thing I wanted was my dad telling me what to do and how to do it. So I played eyes in the sky and watched things unfold. Mine thing that Ty provided tha was very helpful was a 30.06 with a chassis and suppressor. So I didn’t even realize as I was watching that Hunter had actually taken a couple of shots. Unfortunately some crossed wires on the range / coping ecercise lead to a clean miss.by the time they got back to me I had another group spotted. I could tell there was a buck, but the mirage was so bad there was no way to really judge anything. So if there was a buck, we were just going after it. While going out after those lope we ran into a group of hunter’s who had just tagged out. It was a well known outfitter and his family. When they saw the CHAMP sign on the side of the truck they stopped and were very gracious to share all of their scouting results and took our number to check with us if they found anything of interest, which they did later and called us to see if we were still looking. Class act, all the way. After looking that buck over Hunter was anxious to get back after it. We started cruising the flats and glassing. It was tough when we would find them out in the flats to get on them with out much topography or landmarks. While eating lunch I was glassing with a sandwich in one hand and found a small group we had been after earlier. We made a plan for me to keep eyes on them and the dynamic duo to drive around and come at them from a different direction. I was looking back and forth between my 15’s Which were set on the goats and glancing at the truck periodically to see their progress. To my surprise they had only driven a few hundred yards when the truck stopped. Soon I saw the doors open and Hunter getting the rifle on the tripod with Ty looking over his shoulder. I glassed down the fence line and soon saw two bucks just down the fence from Hunter. My heart raced as I put my 15’s on the bucks and prayed for a clean shot. Soon I saw the bucks take off running and smiled as the larger buck slowed and laid down. The shot wasn’t perfect, but soon with a follow up the buck was down for good. When I walked up Hunter was already holding his buck, all smiles, and refusing to let go of those horns. The buck ended up being better than initially thought. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. I cannot thank everyone who helped enough. There were tons of people who offered suggestions and shared info. Eddy Corona who helped hunter receive this tag is really amazing. The guy spends an unbelievable amount of time helping kids and vets get awesome opportunities. And on this hunt especially Ty was fantastic. For a kid who cant play sports it was important to have this experience of having someone mentor him and push him. When the time came, having someone other than Dad, say he was proud of him. Hunter was eating up the attention. Thanks again to everyone and sorry for the long read. Thanks for sticking it out.

An illegal or a lion hanging in the tree?

Looks like hanging meat! The hunters that GRIND with a good attitude will always be the most successful. Congrats

Here i'll repost it, and I dont even drink heres a read on it https://libertyonenews.com/budweiser-911-commercial/

My hunt started around 6 weeks ago when my son and I decided to hike some cameras and treestand into some remote country. A couple weeks after that him and a friend dove in and checked pictures and hung another treestand for me. We had several really nice bucks hitting his stand area and a couple good ones at mine. We could not head in until opening morning so we spent the first 3.5 hours of friday hiking into camp. My son passed up a decent buck that first evening as I sat around camp recuperating from the hike in. Day 2 my son missed what he called a giant and from the scouting pictures if it was the buck he thinks it was he is right. On Sunday morning I shot my best archery Coues buck as it is my only archery Coues buck. After a few more chances we packed out after 7 days spent in the Az back country. The trail cam pic is one of the bucks he missed (we think).

God is good!!! The first few trips out this hunting season were less than stellar in productivity, but I was able to enjoy the country I was in and the company I had on every trip out. Yesterday evening after getting off work at 2:15pm my buddy Brad and I hit the sticks for an evening hunt. God blessed me with great company and very good help as well as a nice archery coues deer. Thank you brad for all of your help it is very appreciated!!! Hadn’t chased coues in over 10 years since I had moved away from Tucson and couldn’t be happier with getting this buck my first few months back.

It is an all out assault on guns and hunting from all fronts in CA. Everything is becoming a horror story......I hope to leave in the near future, but in the meantime, dont let this happen in your state....fight it all you can..... Internet orders require an FFL-----but none want the headache. Cant bring ammo purchased out of state Retailers that do carry ammo are charging "a bit more" than they used to or available on-line-------good for business, bad for keeping shooting sports alive Ammo purchases require a backround check---like buying a firearm---everytime you purchase All hunting must be done with non-tox bullets and shot. Stores hardly carry any non-tox ammo minimal infractions result in MAJOR penalties... Anything public land that has any water, elevation, feed or cover has been declared a wilderness or off-limits Rant over- Good luck this season

Let us know if your seeing stuff. August and September are the best times to scout but August sucks. It will start cooling off a bit, get out as much as you can. What you find now should be relatively close come season time. Research threads on glassing and get a tripod and decent glass. Good luck

Find the cows, you will find the bulls.

Just wait in town for the herd to cross the road. Good Luck

Just gotta call first man

Man had a scare tonight. Got home tonight earlier than I was planning and drove past the house to feed horses about 80 yards away. Dogs were barking as they always do when someone comes to the farm and it alerted the ol lady. I didn’t tell her I was coming home early. As I’m feeding horses I hear a shotgun blast and then get peppered. I hear “Kenny is that you” and I say yes thanks for the shower. At least she was ready and willing to protect herself. Kinda funny and at the time I was like dang she did good lol.

I’m glad that her AR, Glock, and creedmoor didn’t come out.

Curious -- What do you want to be when you grow up??

June Goodman postal worker from Snowflake still missing! Rumor is she is somewhere between Snowflake and Concho!!!!

This is the perfect title for this post. DELETED! That's what many of the people in this country want us to do, delete 911 from our memories. We cant forget, we cant delete this tragic day if we want to continue as a great nation. It's just the easy way out, if we just delete it! I will never forget 911!

Here's the culprit!

I drew the 11-29 to 12-8 tag this year.... never been in that 34b but am looking forward to it... live in TN now but have taken several nice coues while living in AZ. Can't wait to get back to them... lol.

just bought some printer paper at walmart. if i boycotted every anti 2a, anti trump, pro sjw business id have to be harvesting and hand crafting everything myself at this point.

After 5 days scouting and 8 days of hunting I don't think I'll be able to make it back. Saw lots of good bucks. 2 giants and passed up shots on over 40 bucks under 50 yards..mostly young bucks but 1 solid 160 class at 20 yards. Blew opportunities at big bucks multiple times, but no shots at them... General hunt pressure is insane and I never could get it done on one of the big bucks. Sorry about the quality of pictures. I took a bunch of screenshots off the video clips...easier that way. 0818190731.mp4 0818190814.mp4 0818190814.mp4