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I agree with this completely. Where we differ on opinion is i gladly welcome it. Seems like everyone has gotten over the false statement that cameras do not = more success. I am ok with guys having to actually get out in the field and scout again. If the overall success rate drops, that's a good thing too for our dwindling #'s. I doubt the success drops that much, but forcing guys into the field more is a step closer to what hunting used to be.

Yup, probably the same handful causing the problems forcing G&F to propose a ban.

A trip I'll never forget!! The season came fast and we spent the last few months preparing for her first spring gobbler hunt. We were shooting weekly and doing everything we could to get her dialed in. I started loading shot shells a few years ago and this past year I dove into the world of loading Tungsten(TSS) Shot. My daughter grew fond of measuring exact grains of powder and ounces of shot. She's a chip off the old block when it comes to attention to detail. Her favorite part was sealing the roll crimped shells with glitter nail polish. We tweaked things till we were satisfied with 50 yard patterns that would stone a turkey. From the very beginning I Involved her in every aspect of the hunt. Thursday mid day we were loaded up and headed for camp. Someone was excited to miss some school. We got camp setup with an hour or so left of light. I put out a target at 40 yards to make sure her shotgun was still on. She hit it dead nuts. We spent the rest of the evening trying to roost a bird for opener We were unsuccessful. So I was pretty stressed about opening morning. Friday morning came with a 3:45am alarm. We were out of camp an hour later. Our first stop to listen and shock call produced a gobble about a mile off. We looped around. By gray light we were in the strut zone. It was a morning we had been dreaming about. Multiple flocks going off. Hens cutting and yelping like I've never heard. Tom's gobbling over each other. We setup in the middle of the action. I began cutting on the box. Mimicking the hens around us. I called in a tom but he hung up above us at 80 yards. Boy, Did he put on a strut show!! At the same time a hen came running into our setup. She was pissed. She stuck around for about 15 minutes. We were pinned. All we could do was watch the tom strut over the ridge to flocks going off past him. We backed out and tried to cut them off. Ran into another youth hunter already getting setup. We backed out and tried a few more setups not too far away to see if we could call in a satellite tom. No dice. The rest of the day was some well earned naps and burritos. No bird roosted that evening. Saturday morning my alarm did not go off. I woke up to gray light. We scrambled and got to the same general area as opening day. Immediately Multiple gobbles. We were behind them. We pushed up. We had a satellite tom at 100 yards. I began the spring song. Again my daughter spots him strutting. Working his way towards us. Money in the bag! We got caught in a bad spot. We were lit up. He circled left and as my daughter moved to reposition the shotgun her jacket rubbed the tree loud enough to make the bird get nervous and stop. He started to putt. I purred to calm him down. He came in another 30 yards. But was behind a some small jack pines. The flock started sounding off again and he followed. Decending down into a canyon I wasn't wanting to carry my kid out of. We backed out to get infront of them. We found were they came through the canyon bottom. Fresh scratch and scat. We setup and called. We called in snow and sleet. The rest of the day we spent being tourist and taking pictures at one of my favorite Lookout points in the unit. Screaming and yelling in the canyon to hear our voices echo a dozen times from all directions. She sure did love that. She's a quiet kid so it was amazing to see her let loose and belt out across the giant limestone walls. That evening we spent time in the same area we hunted previously. No birds sounding off back to the roost. My buddy from work was up with us and spent the day at camp while we were shouting at the sky. On the drive back to camp I got a text that 3 gobblers were going off across the road from camp. We ended the night with some coues Backstrap, zucchini and smores on some oak coals. Sunday morning, our last stand. The 3 camp gobblers started shaking the skies around 5am. They sounded a little further than we thought they were the night before. We drove around to get in a good position once they flew down. We were setup above 2 of the toms. I yelped softly to get a location on them. They were in our lap but just out of sight. No time to put the decoys out. We hunkered down at the base of some pines. Here they come. Again, my eagle eye kid spot their colored up heads and fans doing the spring shuffle. They are gobbling their heads off!! They are about 120 yard when she spots them. They come in another 30 and start looking. We both were thinking they were gonna hang up since they didn't have a visual on a hen. I started to cluck & purr and softly yelping like I was a hen moving off and Oh man.... they came right on in. Putting on one heck of a show strutting and gobbling. They stayed pretty tight and we needed to wait for a good shot. Once they broke apart I gave one last yelp to stop them and my daughter let him have it!! 48 yards with a .410 tungsten shell we handloaded. He didn't even flop! He dropped like bag of concrete. She was so stoked! I was so relieved! She was so darn proud of herself! We made it happen. We worked our tails off. We prepared and it paid off. I can only hope that she carries all the lessons learned with her forever. Man, I balled like a baby on the drive home just thinking about the whole experience. I'll NEVER forget it!!! (posting from my phone. Couldn't figure out how to get the images right side up)

Im blessed to be able to roam gods country on my mule following my hounds. I run into these kills probably more than the average hunter. Here are a few from 2020-2021 for you Coues nuts.

5 extended Mags $5 each 3 factory Mags/ Pistol 450$ IWB/OWB holsters $20 each or $30 for pair 950 rounds of .380 ammo $750 250 target ammo “Norma” $150 623-810-5893 Willing to make deals. Would like to sell as a package for $1250 and that’s including everything. Keep in mind, that’s a $1k worth ammo alone.. not including the pistol, mags, and holster. -Alexander MAGA 🇺🇸

Oh didn’t see it, thanks

I dont do the surveys, but my own observations and guys I hunt with all agree #'s keep declining.

Dwindling deer numbers shouldn't have a thing to do with hunters. Not if the dept is doing their job. That would mean that units are dropping below a 5:100 buck:doe ratio and doe's aren't getting bred.

No, not equally. DIY hunters who can’t pay someone else to run cameras for them will be hurt the most.

Yup, I know of one who brags about haveing 130 cameras in a single unit.

Well I know a few guide services too, and I know they use planes to scout with during season. They don’t have their name attached to the plane and therefore are not risking their business. Same will happen with the cameras. They will pay people under the table to run them and when or if they are caught they have deniability.

I was referring more to the statement about loopholes. None of the guides I know.. and I know a few... would risk their businesses by breaking a rule. I mean obviously there are idiots that would do it. Likely the same idiots that already get busted all the time. I guess what I'm getting at is that I don't think most guides are what people assume about them. I know wouldn't risk my guides license and livelihood over a stupid camera. Seems there are maybe a few rotten apples?

Maybe not on the strip or unit 9 or maybe even for elk at all, but what about all the Coues/mule deer that got killed on water this year and all of the last year?. Most of the successful archery deer hunters that I've seen the last few years were because of water and cameras. Rifle can be a different story. Of course I don't have any real research on that but a lot of observation. The guys that decide they want to kill a deer can set up cameras in june and july, check once or twice sit a tank or salt and kill a deer in August or Sept. It is those guys that will suffer, guides and outfitters will just spot light and run up and down the roads more and spend more time than the before said DIY guy that went out 2x.

Great guy buy with confidence!

I no longer have these items

The DIY hunter doesn't spend (or have) as much time in the woods as someone like a guide who does this as his profession. In order to check out more than one area for an upcoming hunt, it can be very helpful to put a camera on a trail or funnel or scrape to see what's in that area and if it's worth it to spend your limited amount of time there or if you should try somewhere else. The average DIYer can't spend more than a few weekends scouting for each hunt. My 2 cents.

Wow that is a score for sure! You must be lucky! Good luck with finding a certain ammo with the Biden effect going on. Just keep looking you have lots of time. Pick up a few boxes of what you can get and make it work! I drew the archery right before yours. Fortunate for me they havent attacked arrows........yet.

I hit the lottery and drew unit 23N early rifle with only 5 points. I did not expect to draw and have a new scope that I need to sight in as well. I cannot find Core Lokt 180gr for 300 win mag. Anyone have some that you can help me? Thank you!

Rez is still closed to America. I'll never willingly give them a dime again.

My buddy Wish2hunt on here brought me some so I’m all set now. Just need to find a turkey now

Make it quickly before the next full moon. I'll be fishing on Saturday but not at night and not in the river, mid lake north shore. Got the wife coming so I had to clean house and put the booze up. It's been a bachelor pad since February. .lol. pm me if you need anything. I always say it how it is, no big secret's.

Closed for some remodeling during the winter. It should reopen soon

I could say we were very fortunate to tag out both tags in camp on some solid birds. They seemed to be very finicky this year and we actually didn’t start hearing any calls until 9am or the last 10 minutes of light.

I was up there two weeks ago Turkey hunting. River is very low. The road are decent but rutted pretty good. Access to the pump station was closed. Whites crossing and 10 of Diamonds is accessible. Plan on doing lots of walking. Water in many areas less than a foot deep. The whole area is dry. Many of the tanks were empty. We did a little fishing and caught a few, but it’s not the same river I fished in the past.

if you don't go the guide route I can help you out as the hunt gets closer, let me know when you have scout time, lots of things could happen, weather, hunting pressure. My Wife has an Oct cow tag up there so i can give you a bit of advice.