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Showing content with the highest reputation on 10/21/2019 in all areas
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3 pointsLets hear more about "excellent " condition. Missing eyecups, inside cover on the bridge, lenses look like they were cleaned with a piece of sandpaper.
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2 pointsOpening morning 12A West we got a late start but she tagged out @ 7:50 AM. Kids hunts are so much more fun than my own!
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2 pointsPart 2. We get settled in the blind and spend about an hour just trying to organize gear and have everything ready just in case an opportunity presents itself. Set our burritos in front of the buddy Heater to start warming up our breakfast. After it starts to get light start seeing and hearing critters emerge. Muley doe and her fawns come to the tank and keeps us entertained for a few minutes. 730 ish rolls around and here comes the co OP hunter. I'm kind of thinking to myself why do they meet at 5am and still show up so late. Dave the other forum member who just killed said the same thing when he hunted his spot. I see him glass my blind and I get out to go greet him. I let him know I'm happy to share the spot, and encourage him hes at one of the best spots. Since he showed up I told him I would only ask for dibs on first shot and told him I would use my bow to increase his chances by not blowing out the herd if they show up. He agreed and I continue to tell him about what my trail cams showed and assure him it's a good spot. We get back in our blinds and the wait begins.. Well about 8am or slightly after I see a bull coming in from the North, what? That's freaking weird I for sure thought they would come from the south.. I tell my boy Bison Bison! Immediately adrenalin starts flowing, I try to quietly alert the co OP guy. Behind the bull another then another and then an entire herd and they are moving fast and with apparent purpose. I was truly surprised how quick they were there. The water tank was mostly iced over and they just come crashing in breaking the ice it was totally nuts. There all in line along the water and one bull seems to ram the herd sideways pushing them all like dominoes splashing and just making a total ruckus. Now I have my bow in hand and already pre ranged certain spots. I'm holding my binos and constantly scanning bellies for that penis sheath. I see a cow and draw back... she moves. I wait and draw back again and another pops in front of her. Same thing a third time and have to draw back down... wow this is frustrating. Calm down kev just wait for your chance. A lone bull comes over in front of us to the salt and stares at us, does he see me? Anxiety is creeping in with the adrenaline now. Finally a confirmed cow heads over to the salt and my heart starts pumping faster... this is it dude make this shot count. She gets to the salt but has not pulled her right leg forward, still slightly back and I know I should wait but the panic sets in and I let the arrow fly.. hit but not in the heart where I wanted it. Just slightly back barely catching a back lung and angled out through her stomach. I'm already mentally kicking myself in the face. You freaking idiot why didnt you wait?! The herd is immediately alerted and half start trotting off. She turns opposite direction.. now I'm even more jacked up and not having the chance to correct my bow I try to make a follow up shot and completely forget I'm shooting left and fling another arrow. Thump right into the shoulder blade. Jeez kev you are totally blowing this shoot.. it penetrates but not enough. She's still more or less staying in place as the first shot hurt her and now the all the remaining herd bolts except for two other bison. This is where I start to notice something interesting. After speaking to another hunter he mentioned that after a bison is killed sometimes the herd will come back to mourn there fallen herd member. I dont know if I believe that but then the two other bison come and stand on either side of her and start sniffing the arrows sticking out of her. They stand around her seeming just to keep her company and watch over her. It's a very surreal moment, but still I am here to try and fill this tag. At this point they have worked out to 40 yards or so. Finally she turns and the other two give me a shooting lane. She is quartered away from me facing the right. I draw back and aim for the boiler room, again completely not remembering to compensate and sure enough right in the guts and anchors into the front left leg. Kill shot yeah but I'm still kicking myself in the face. Now I'm wondering why the co op guy hasn't shot the other cow yet. I nock my fourth and last arrow and wait for a boom from the other hunter or another shot opportunity. Finally she turns to the left about 45 yards. I attempt one last double lung finish shot and let her rip. Again to the left and now that she's farther away it's even worse. Bam, right through the neck and I hit the jugular and blood starts spewing out and I feel a tidal wave of relief pass over me. She starts to wobble and falls over in an amazing cloud of dust. I'm extatic and me and Caliche are quietly celebrating, but quietly to offer the other hunter his chance. I say to my son why is this guy not shooting.. I hear the co OP guy say "is that a cow" and im like yeah dude I'm pretty sure that's a cow. BOOM! the whole area echoes like thunder and the animal falls while the other bull runs off into the woods. We get out of our blinds celebrating. We are in sheer disbelief that this all happened so quickly. Me and Caliche go look at the cow and I'm in utter amazement. Then we walk over to the co op hunters bison. Oh shoot this is a bull! My heart immediately drops and I am overridden with guilt, he asked me for verification and I was certain it was a cow and now I feel like a total asshole. Here's the thing, my main objective for ID was the penis sheath and when we checked this animal the sheath had a small amount of mud which made it matted up against the belly and it totally looked like a cow and since it was young the head was still small. In retrospect the horns were a giveaway but I know theres exceptions to the rule which is why I focused on the sheath. Well he calls the guide to report it and I head back to the camper ro round up the crew for help. I come flying into camp honking the horn like a madman when I start getting close. My daughter informs my wife apparently "oh its dad honking the horn, he probably just needs to take a crap". Lol what!?!? and as I pull up I see the door open and my wife pops her head out like no way... I jump out and yell Bison with my bow first day!!! She bursts into tears and starts hugging me and screaming with excitement. I then tell her about the other hunter and what happened and were all feeling awful about it. We all jump in the vehicles and head back to break the animal down. When we get back I apologize to the guy profusely and tell him I swore that was a cow. He didnt hold me at fault, he thought it was too and he pulled the trigger. I still feel crappy that my good luck was somewhat tainted by his bad luck but that's what happened and I just cant do anything to change it. In the end game and fish took his tag and confiscated the bull. He does at least have a chance to bid on it at auction which I hope he does... Eventually the guide shows up and offers to winch my cow into the back of my truck to get it and myself out of the area for which I gladly oblige. The rest of the day is spent doing the dirty work.
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2 points
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1 pointwe got a call Yesterday from her 1st time we talked since the initial Hostage call they make when they arrive at boot camp. she completed the Crucible sat. in 11 weeks Ive seen a chin a nose or forhead in pictures and wasnt sure it was her. today this was sent to me via txt. we go to her graduation next week and bring her home for 10 days. Final Drill picture this afternoon. went from this to this.
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1 pointIt all started with the credit card update and then the morning check to see if the cards got any hits.Boom $650 hit on the card and now the waiting game began to see if it was the wife or I that grew the bison tag. Weeks later and I find out I am the one that drew the tag and the homework began. Started watching every video I could find on bison including everything the game and fish had for us.also sent out a few pm messages to catfishkev and idgaf. They both handed out info on the hunt and catfishkev was gracious enough to let me jump on is bandwagon and use his trail cams that he had. politics up there made us come to conclusion it would be best to have our own information. catfishkev made the first trip up to place trail cams. He placed 6 cams on different locations. My turn was next and I headed up with my dad and son to meet up with another hunter that catfishkev new and we checked cams and went over the pics for the start of his hunt which started sept 13th. After viewing the cam pictures we learned that we had a lot of bison coming thru different locations with some at night and some during day. The other hunter took that info and just couldn’t make it happen during his hunt. i also Sent the cards to Kev so he could view them and also see what the bison were doing. Seeing this cam pics made the weeks before my hunt even longer and to top it off I was unable to make it for opening day and weekend for my hunt. From day one of getting drawn and looking at graphs of herd movement and what time of year the herds were moving to different places from there gps collars I had my eyes set on the east side of the unit. All the cameras on the east side said different and that the bison just were not there. I had e mail game and fish to ask about any information I would be missing on the hunter meeting that takes place night before hunt. I got an e mail telling me I didn’t miss much and was told over the last week or so there was some movement on the east side. 5 days into the hunt and I arrive on the plateau worried I would not have a place to hunt. Went to the east side and checked out first spot. Cam didn’t work but there was very fresh sign that wasn’t there 2 weeks before. Decided to sit there for evening sense there was not any other hunters. Sat from 3 to dark and only saw deer. On way out I stoped at another camera location and man had that place changed. For over a week there was bison at that location everyday and nobody was there hunting them. That night I reviewed the cameras and saw there was a guide checking cams too that day and he had placed a ground blind in the location due to what he saw on cam. That morning I get to location and there is nobody there and I had the spot to myself so I thought. Hour into sitting with sun up I hear a truck driving up close. Said to myself no way is somebody going to walk up on me after seeing my truck. Few minutes later I hear foot steps hour after sun up. I look over and see it’s a guy my age and an older man with crutches. Start talking to them and find out that the hunter Dan is a wounded warrior that received the tag a week prior to hunt. He had met up with the Guides up there and they had sent him to this location. After I found out he was a wounded warrior and he had a hard time getting around I decided I was going to leave the area and let them hunt it telling them that there are bison coming in everyday. They turned and looked at me like I was crazy and asked me to stay which at first I was still going to leave still but then decided to stay and hunt with them. Told the wounded warrior to take the first shot if anything comes in and i will see what happens after. 0930 comes around and they are at 90 yards and closing. The heard came In and it was a mad dash to the water then the fight for the first licks of the salt. That’s when the real stress started and had to try and identify a cow bison out of the herd. I can hear the other hunting trying to figure out which one to shoot and I was doing the same. Boom they take a shot and the herd scatters. son jumps out of there blind and says well he shot let’s go look for blood. As he was doing that I decided to Pursue the herd and I went around a clump of aspen and they’re were standing there 80 to 100yards away. I dropped to the prone position and put my crosshairs on the first bison I see. She was starring right at me facing me for what seemed like an eternity. She then turned broadside and one shot dropped her in her tracks. I guess the east side of unit was calling to me because that’s were I made it happen. Turns out the wounded warrior missed his shot and didn’t get a bison down. The wounded warrior and his son stayed with me after my harvest and helped me break down the animal. I couldn’t tell them enough how much I appreciated that and if they were not there I would be having one heck of a time getting it done. I gutted her and flew back to camp to get my saw and my dad to help out. The whole time the other hunters stayed to watch over my bison tell I got back. We finished the bison and his son help me load everything into truck and I was back to camp. Long drive back to gilbert to get meat taken care off and hide and head to taxidermy. all in all I had an amazing time from start to finish and I met some great people along the way that were very helping in every way I could imagine. I am very grateful for being able to harvest a bison and share the memories with others. Catfishkev without your help I am pretty sure it would of never happened and I thank you. hope you all enjoy the long read! And catfishkev and idgaf thank you both again. trail cam pics are location I harvested my bison plus I threw in a nice deer! All cam pics are from catfishkevs cams that I was lucky enough to be able to share with him
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1 pointI've seen this mentioned in a few replies to threads on here, but wanted to add my own 2 cents since I'm (a) new to hunting in general (b) have my first big game hunt coming up with my muzzleloader Coues in a few days and (c) couldn't have predicted how amazing it was to spend the morning with Duwane learning where and why to look. I met Mr Adams at 5a in Oracle and we meandered into the Catalinas. I brought my own tripod (too short) and bino's and we pulled up on to a road and started glassing. Duwane is constantly letting me know why this spot is good and, as we timed it for sunrise, we spotted a ton of deer. Does with their fawns and plenty of bucks. It was the first time I'd seen bucks tussling with my own eyes. We scanned and Duwane kept pulling me to his binos to see the detail he was noticing and slowly I started to be able to spot the deer first (not too often), and even saw a pack of coyotes working the hill side between two big deer groups. We went to a couple of other spots so that the I could see first hand what the angle of the dangle was all about and it was impressive. We never glassed the same ridges or sections of mountain, but the formula of when and where the deer move was reinforced every time we stopped. Mr Adams fundamentally changed everything I will do in the future with my binos. Admittedly I don't have the sort of experience most of the forums members do, so I'm still years behind most of y'all with equipment that is right at the beginning of the journey, but I feel a lot more comfortable heading into my first hunt. He's a gracious and generous man, and talking with him put so much of the info from books and podcasts either into context or allowed me to change how closely I adhered to it. Highly recommend it, and can't say enough positive things about my morning with him: It was incredible.
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1 pointMy 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).
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1 pointI just feel a little under powered even when I had 15s and was trying to find bedded deer or deer in heavy cover if it was anything over 1200 yds. And I can’t do the one eye glassing. I shoulda mentioned I have a buddy coming and we’re only packing one gun and the other can pack the kowas if I decide to take them. The 2 bucks I’m targeting hang in pockets on either side of the canyon so I’m trying to get to points I can see it all but it requires me to start a little farther back then move in once I find them. I’ll probably pack them then at the very least I got some good exercise 😁
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1 pointConsolation prizes. Elk woulda still been a lot cooler..
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1 pointWhen we went to the store for snacks she didnt even wanna go in because her stomach hurt so bad over it. She's a good kid.
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1 pointAny ideas on what I should do with the copper bullet and coin that I got up on the rim?
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1 pointwell obviously searching for it the day after the season is the right thing to do. and if you found it alive and had to put it out of it misery thats also the right thing to do. talking about it on the internet, wrong thing to do.
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1 point
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1 pointThis is true. On the phone with my wife I said I killed a bison on day one, brakes didn't lock up on the highway with my kids in the truck and we are all safe and alive. Son killed second day and daughter had a shot. Heck I'm just happy to fill my bison tag. Even after all the bad luck I still feel lucky to have a once in a lifetime harvest and all my little ones safe and sound. My oldest baby girl has true grit when it comes to hunting, I'm proud of her regardless of what tomorow brings.
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1 point
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1 pointYou guys literally don’t realize that you are the minority on this one do you? The dude is wrong. He shouldn’t have backed out and literally the entire house (including a vast majority of the republicans) and the senate ( working on the same thing as we speak) also don’t agree with him. I can see it’s obviously not ok to think outside the box on this forum, but truly look at this issue and the fact that his party is literally walking away from him right now and let me know how in the heck you think he’s gonna win the next election. My whole point with this is that the guy is literally burning down any chance he has of getting re-elected (any chance WE have of getting another republican in office) (yes I said WE, like it or it I’m in the same party as you guys even though I have different opinions then you do).
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1 pointTrump will win in a landslide. 400+ Electoral Votes. Greatest President in the history of the USA. Ok, so he banned bump stocks which were a stupid novelty gun accessory. I can look past it if it means he puts Pelosi, CNN, the globalists, and all the retarded progressives in their place. He’s the only one who has the balls to do anything. I’d run through a brick wall for that man. Think of all the shot he is putting himself through to make this country great again He could have retired and lived the easy life of a billionaire, yet he fights everyday for the American people. Viva la Trump! I was lucky enough to go to the rally in Mesa last year... I got some special access and it was an awesome night!
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1 pointYou assume too much , Yotemuster. But that's what closet libs do. McCain and Romney call themselves Republicans too, thank God half of them went bye bye. I figured you out years ago, I'm even less impressed with you now that you've come out. Get a clue.
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1 pointChina has been allowed by previous administration's to steal industrial secrets, manipulate its currency and put tariffs on US goods sold there for decades. Now that we have a president willing to stand up to the Chi-Coms, it's all Trump's fault. Get real. And how was farming doing so great there in 2006-2012 when land prices tumbled and diesel prices hit $5.00 a gallon a month after Obama was first elected? How do you operate a farm at a profit when it costs $300 a day to operate a tractor? That's the economy I recall operating a farm in se UT 2006-2012.. Now you're being flamed? Lol Please, no sniveling and I'd appreciate you using paragraphs, even though I've read enough of your nonsense.
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1 pointThat sucks but at least you have the capability of fixing it yourself. Dam 6.0
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1 pointThe text below is an excerpt from the Foreword of our book. It happened sometime in the early 1990s on the road to the observatory in 34A. We had vehicles passing alongside of us while we were glassing. "... I don’t recall the exact year, but my oldest son and I drew Coues deer permits in a unit we had never hunted, and we hated going to a new area cold, so to speak. I called Duwane for some suggestions with the idea to head down to the area and scout on my own. Instead, he offered to meet me the weekend before the season opened. My momma didn't raise a dummy. Knowing Duwane’s reputation for finding big deer, I quickly accepted. Long before I talked to him, however, I had heard about his skill with a pair of binoculars. I wasn't too surprised when he asked me during our conversation if I had a pair of decent ones. He laughed when I told him I had 7x50 Nikons. "No, no. I mean REAL binoculars. Something with lots of magnification." I had recently acquired some inexpensive 8x to 24x zooms and mentioned them. Duwane said they would be perfect for our scouting trip and also recommended a tripod. I met him at a rest area, and we drove to a spot he had picked out. We parked the truck on a dirt road before daylight, and waited for sunrise. We hadn’t left the road but instead set our tripod-mounted binoculars high enough to peek over the metal guard rail bordering the edge of a steep canyon. During the first hour we spotted seven deer, and one was a real bruiser buck. By the time we had left, we saw 17 other deer in that canyon. I was shaking my head. Just that single experience convinced me that Duwane Adams knew his stuff."
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1 pointI've never met the guy but I know several people that know him and have helped guide for him. Ive learned from the other guys and they always refer to Duwane a dang good guy. Cool that you got to hangout with him.
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1 pointDude, you just shortened your learning curve by years! When I started hunting I was clueless. I spent weeks sitting in bottoms of canyons just waiting for a deer to come by me (archery guy). Although I was successful to some degree I wanted to be better. My first post here was about guide schools and someone mentioned Duwanes apprentice program. A couple years later I went for a glassing lesson like you did and man it was a game changer! Not only is Duwane a very good teacher he's just a great guy to be around. Not being savvy to the tripod and 15s after my lesson I came home and took the wife out glassing off 15s for the first time. We spotted 17 deer in about 1 hour of glassing. It was crazy to me that I spent literally months worth of days in canyons with my bow with little to show for it. Now I consider Duwane a mentor. Last year I joined him and his guys in camp for the early and late kaibab hunts and it was an amazing experience. I felt like a kid at disneyland glassing giant bucks. After my bison hunt and kids elk hunts next week I'm planning on being up there again for deer camp. Good luck on your hunt, you got this bro. Maybe someday our paths will eventually cross.
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1 pointGet on the Ruby road and head west anywhere past Pena Blanca lake. Then hike in south of the road, find a high spot and start glassing. Easy Peasy. 😉