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Well they both are fairly new to hunting so limits on bulls werent huge but I had a couple buddies come up to help with my buddy who also drew a late rifle tag as I was going to be taking my girlfriend out. Well Kyle (the other hunter) went with the other guys we got a call opening morning that they hammered a pretty decent bull down in a big canyon. Was pretty awesome to hear about all that went in that morning on setting up on this bull and how it went down. Congrats to Kyle in his first kill ever and a dang good way to start. As with my girlfriend we were so close multiple times and had a really nice 6x6 at 60 yards in the thick cedars but unfortunately never gave us a shot opportunity. On night 4 we ended up getting into a heard and sealing the deal. Everything finally laid out perfect for her, we snuck in quietly and wind was perfect and after all the hard work she has put in for this hunt I couldn’t be more proud how it went down. This has been a year and half coming from when she first started hunting, so when this bull hit the ground the emotions we had were off the charts. She made a great 200 yard heart shot. I couldn’t be more proud of this bull you harvested, she definitely deserved it. Good luck to the rest of the rifle hunter out there putting in the work on the last couple days! The days like these is why we do it!

Well, some of my best elk spots came up empty this year. I did a lot of scouting, and they really moved around. But I did eventually find some decent bulls. It was a tough call, but I settled on a place that I thought wouldn't have a lot of pressure, and had a couple of legit shooters hanging around. Opening day did not disappoint, as the bulls were on schedule and in place. But by the time we had dropped down the canyon, and back up to a knob to shoot from, they disappeared. We sat there till 4 looking for them, but to no avail. My buddy went back up high to look some more for them, and found another 6x6. It took us an hour to get out of that canyon, and by the time we got up there, the 6x had moved on and we could not relocate him. On saturday, we went back in there, and could only find some smaller bulls that didn't slow down for a shot. By the end of the day Saturday, I was pretty beat up. I decided to take Sunday off completely and recover. After church, my son begged me, " let's drive down forrest road **** and just see if we can glass something up. I reluctantly agreed. And sure enough, we did. With my son standing there, excited, I couldn't help but shoot this bull. My son ranged him at 487, i touched off my tikka 300 win mag, and he dropped in his tracks. He struggled, and got back up, but fell over again. It took us a minute to find him, but we did, and thanked the Lord, who is always good. it was a great hunt. Good time spent with friends and family.

Well I had my buddies from Texas put in this year and first time sure enough they got drawn. This was probably the hardest mental hunt I’ve ever been on. We hunted for a full 6 days sun up to sun down. Only ended up seeing 4 bucks total and probably 125 does. Nothing seemed to go right but sure enough we were able to get them both their first Arizona mule deer. It was for sure a fun hunt and beats sitting around at home.

After going through a divorce and trying to figure life out. I lost my fire to hunt (she hunted with me) and hunted a few years and it was depressing so I took a leave of absence. Then a good friend asked me to teach him how to hunt 3 years ago he got a javelina tag I half butt showed him how to hunt. He bugged me about deer until we got tags last year he got a deer I got tag soup. Javelina season was over in about 2 hours for us we both tagged out. This year was different for me I got a new 243 about a month ago dropped a leupold cds scope on it and learned how to use it lol I am old school. Everything I had heard was that this year deer where hard to find. This unit doesn't produce very many bid deer normally so my standards are typically set low. Opening day we see 5 doe not bad considering what people where saying day 2 we get to our first spot and people are there back up plan hit a spot we seen a good buck in the year before. I don't hike in in the dark so we where glassing the area we where going to be hiking through. I set up and within 3 minutes I have this guy glassed up at 7:30 a.m. I hit him with a range he is at 285 I dial my scope in and get on him squeeze the trigger sob I left the trigger on roll the safety off and squeeze the hand loaded Hornaday 95 gr sst hit him high rib hit his spine and out the other side. The fire determination and love is back. God is good now I just need to loose some weight

Awesome... Greatly appreciated man...

The capes frozen. Just looks like a ball of fur unless I thaw it out. If you want it it's yours at no cost. Once you take it to a taxidermist and have it checked out and it's determined to be a useable cape then if you want to give me some money for it that's cool if not no big deal. The reason I don't want any money upfront is because I've never caped a deer before and I don't know if I did everything right. I'd hate to charge someone money for a bad cape. Let me know.

Wife killed this stud this past weekend, made a perfect shot at 550 yrds. What do you guys think he scores? This bruiser finally came home from Mogollon Taxidermy, unfortunately we didn't make the 110" mark, if he had longer eye guards we would have been there. 104 2/8 was the net score. Thanks to everyone and their kind words, going to be a tough one for the wife to beat!!! Thanks Clay for another beautiful mount.

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"Bad" weather just means switching tactics sometimes. The bucks are still there. It may not be the hunt you had in mind but maybe take another approach!

The amount of pressure put on these animals by one tag holder in a huge geographic area over several weeks probably doesn't even register. Especially considering the amount of archery deer pressure in these units at these times, the impact to deer is a drop in the bucket. For the elk, they may get more pressure from poachers than this will generate.

This is the same rangefinder I use. It's Amazing!!!!!

Just got back from my son’s first coues deer hunt in southern Arizona. I’ve hunted Sonora in the past, so it wasn’t all brand new. But Arizona hunting pressure is certainly different than Sonora. Last week we saw lots of deer and a good number of bucks. We learned a few good areas, passed on bucks, had close calls on other bucks, and saw some awesome country. But in the end we didn’t fill his youth tag; (hopefully he draws again soon and he’ll be back down, with another tag in his pocket). I will be headed back down a bit further south this time, to a different unit for my wife’s first coues hunt in December. I’m brand new to this forum, (hope to be a good contributing member) but wondered if some of you experts could give opinions on this buck we saw multiple times on my son’s youth hunt. Just curious if my coues field judging skills are close to accurate, as I prepare for my wife’s December hunt.

On a youth hunt that one should probably be in the freezer. Young buck, probably a 3 year old but pretty good tine length and beams. I’d say 75” as well, give or take 2-3 inches.

He's a shooter

Sorry for hijack. Target Buck #1- Dead buck #2 - Sheds of target buck and damaged cape- I wasn't even looking for his sheds and stumbled upon them later that year. It was an unreal find and closed the chapter into what happened.

wow. love it when guys come on here asking for advice then dismiss everyone's advice. Classic! At least he admitted to being a skybanger!

Killer setup!

Here is a pic of the crew and family.

I have hunted an area in unit 23 on and off for years and have seen fighter jets come roaring just above the tree tops and following some of the canyons that are in the area. There are usually two, or sometimes three of them doing practice runs, following each other. Always cool to see and hear as it sounds like a freight train is just about to hit you. This past week I was walking on one of the open grass covered mesas next to a long canyon. I looked up and saw , then heard, a fighter jet coming my direction, low and fast. I guess he was about 200 to 300 yards above the tree tops. (It's hard to judge the actual distance of something moving that fast, but he was low) I started waving my arrow above my head at him to say "Hi". He must have noticed me because, in one swift movement he turned sideways for a split second, then as he was over top of me , he went inverted for a split second and then he rolled upright again and then finished off with a little waggle of the wings , as if to say "how 'bout that". Then he was gone from sight. I was left standing there in amazement at what just happened. An F-22 fighter jet just flew over top of me, INVERTED, and shook his wings at me. Truly one of the most awesome experiences I have ever had while deer hunting. And , no I didn't get a deer on this trip, but I didn't really mind.

Doesn't really look like NR are the problem.

Made this the other night from a backstrap from my buck I shot this year in Alabama. I used a wooden mallet to pound the backstrap and make it even more tender. Not sure if this is necessary, but most recipes I saw called for this. Sliced the backstrap about 1/4 inch thick, dipped it in a bowl of flour and roasted garlic spice mix, then dipped in egg/milk mixture and then back in the flour. Then put in frying pan with oil and cooked each side until crispy. Put on plate with paper towels to remove some of the oil. Served it with mashed potatoes and white gravy (I just used one of those packets to make the white gravy...very tastey!) Husband and I loved it!

It’s amazing what accurate shot placing will do. If you hit a deer in the face with a vap and a swhacker, it might not die. If you hit a bull with an Easton aluminum and a thunderhead in the lungs it will probably die. I know these to be truths.

Would your blow-up doll really know the difference? Or did you mean you don't want your hand to slip off? 🙄