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Showing content with the highest reputation on 10/04/2022 in Posts
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3 points
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2 pointsWe currently have them in stock. See them at: Binoculars (healypremium.com) A gentleman from Cave Creek came all the way across town to get a pair, told us "everyone he called was out" and that we should let people know we have some. So - now you know we've got 'em - while supplies last. We have BTX eye modules as well as the 95 and 115 spotting scopes. Lots of useful things and Outdoorsman Tripods, Fluid Heads & Attachments too. Call with any questions at 480-621-5555
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2 pointsMaybe we just do away with guilds and go back to hunting for fun? And if you “didn’t have time to scout “ it’s because your just not that into hunting
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1 pointDoes anyone know if you are allowed to bring a rifle into Mexico for a deer that has a suppressor on it ?
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1 pointHey guys, got this guy last Sunday on day 10 of a tough hunt. The rut was sporadic at best with some days having almost no bugles during daylight hours. I've been getting caught up at work so haven't done a full write-up, this guy came in screaming with about 10 cows at 7:15 am when it had been quiet all morning. I had to wait at full draw for what seemed like ever for his cows to clear out from between us, but managed to make a heart shot. He only went about 30-40 yards before tipping over. I'm super exited. He's my biggest bull to date, and broke my drought. It's been a few years since I've put anything bigger than an turkey or javi on the ground.
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1 pointThis year continues to be one for the books. My 12 year old son Max drew a muzzleloader bull tag in a unit many consider to be sub par for elk. I have assisted on 3 archery bull kills in the unit, so I knew that although trophy elk were tough to find they were there. The opener found us calling our way into a major dark timber bedding area that I had seen multiple large bulls on previous hunts. It was dead quiet. No bugles and after one calling sequence a satellite 5 point came sneaking in but never game Max an ethical shot. Yesterday, day 2, I decided to slip in to the edge of the bedding just after first light and wait. No bugles at all, so I decided to do a few soft cow calls. Less than a minute later this giant snuck in silent 52 yards below us and Max made a perfect shot. We had no idea how truly magnificent he was until we walked up on him 30 minutes later. Bull is an 8 by 7 with a 14” flyer point. Didn’t get to fully score him but a few quick measurements indicate 370-380”. 42” inside spread and total width with flyer 58”. Best hunting day of my life and one I will never forget!
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1 pointHere is my 2022 NM archery mule deer. I hunted hard for 8 days, passing many bucks before I was able to sneak in on this buck and his buddy. 46 yard shot through the heart.
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1 pointSpent the last few days up north chasing bugles. I’ve killed a bull before with a rifle and killed a cow with a bow so not necessarily a stranger to elk hunting but far from seasoned. Lots of failed attempts, long hours sitting trails, miles walked. In the end it came down to me and an ancient bull mixing it up one on one in the timber. Our paths so happened to cross and a single arrow put him down quickly. I believe he will easily qualify for P&Y, making him the first “book” animal I’ve ever taken. Couldn’t be happier with how everything turned out! Side note - I knew he was “old” but after getting a look at his teeth I was hoping maybe someone with more experience could chime in with an age estimate!
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1 pointOh boy, I’m definitely no expert. I think whether the water every day or not, it’s really gonna depend on how lush the feed currently is, and whether there is any heavy dew or rain to hydrate them.
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1 pointNot sure where you're hunting, but I can point you some 11M spots if you need a change of scenery! Hoping to get out this week after school and next Sunday to help fill my son's youth 10 cow tag now that I'm back walking post-surgery!
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1 pointWe’re you guys able to seal the deal? I’m on the peaks and haven’t heard a bugle in 5 days. Been tough over here.
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1 pointI’ve stayed at the double B lodge a few times. Owners welcome hunters and the rooms are nice and clean.
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1 pointA buddy of mine switched from Verizon to T mobile and his service was so bad he bought a new phone and went back to Verizon but was locked into his T mobile for a year. If your in a big city it probably doesn’t matter but in the high country ….Verizon.
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1 pointSo I cashed in on some points and decided to go to Colorado for a Mule Deer muzzy hunt. I tried my hand on the Elk hunt there a couple years ago but a early season snow storm threw me off and I left empty handed. One thing I decided this time I was going to buy a lighter rifle and to bring a pair of llamas. This past year, a friend and I pulled the trigger on some llamas, but I will have to write up a new thread on those. Fast forward to the hunt, I showed up a day later than I wanted, due to life issues. I rolled into camp at mid night and as I proceeded to park, my alarm on my truck goes off, declaring my presence to everyone in camp. I thought, great, an awesome way to start a hunt. Over the first 2 days I spent my time just day hiking and hunting with the llamas trying to adjust to the thinner air. Which i didn't do very well. The first couple days I didn't see much, other than spectacular views, does, fork bucks and tons of hunters. I was going to adjust my plan to take the llamas in deep, and spend a few days doing that. But one of the guys in camp convinced me to try another area first, but due to the access in getting there I wouldn't be able to take the llamas. At this point I was happy with a decent 3pt. The next morning we were in our glassing spot. As the sun came up, this new area proved to be better than anywhere I had been the previous days of the hunt. We located a few bucks that peaked my interest and began to see which one would give us the best play. I about had my mind set on a buck we called the miner, until he walked over a ridge and out of our lives. Soon after, one of my buddies, who seemed to be struggling behind the glass, calls out a doe on a ridge across from us that we had all seen. Shrugging it off we laughed and said, yeah we've all seen that doe. But as we all look were he is describing we see 2 awesome bucks, in the chutes below her. We waited till they both bedded. Which happened to be in one of the gnarliest places I've ever seen. But off I went. I had to decend 2k ft and then climb 3k ft to get above the bucks. Then come down 500ish ft to get into a shooting position. I was stoked. It took me almost 2 hours to get into position but I finally made it. I settled in and could see this buck was an awesome 3x4. At least 30" wide. I was positioned directly above him at 42 yards on a cliff over hang. I couldn't see the other buck, but I knew this was the one I wanted. I ranged him several times, and I knew couldn't miss at 42 yards. I kept calm but was excited. I leaned over to make the shot, I am in and squeezed, POP, the muzzy misfired. The buck looks at me and I slowly lower out of sight. I think ok, he's not leaving. I add a new primer to the rifle, wait for the buck to look away, hang over the ledge again, aim, fire, POP, another misfire..... the buck looks up again then away. At the point I can't believe this is happening. I decide to lay on my back, pull the breech and kick the load. I have never been under such reloading stress. I grab some grass and clean the breech hole. Reassemble the rifle and reload. I reprime a 3rd time, take aim, squeeze, POP, again no ignition. This time the buck gives me a hard look. He must have stared at me for 15 minutes. Now I'm panicked. I'm only carrying 5 primers, and I'm down to 2. Reprime one more time, not knowing what to do. Aim, POP! Again! At this point he knows something is up. In a panic I decided to kick the load again and add a new one. Its at this point I finally remembered that I could add powder in front of the primer in the breech hole to get a stronger ignition. As I hurried to reload and set my primer, the second buck i had forgotten about stands up, and we are both terrified, staring each other eye to eye about 20 yards apart. Now I know I'm in trouble, he then breaks running down the chute towards the other buck. I pop up to see if I still have a shot. And there they are, both standing there broadside, I take aim, squeeze, BOOM! Clean miss.... both bucks run off and out of sight. I couldn't believe it. When I got back to the truck I restocked, this time with stronger 209 primers. And shot a practice shot, dead center. That night at camp I was disappointed, but I had no one to blame but myself for missing a great shot opportunity. But we decided to head back to the same spot the next morning to see if we could turn up another buck. The next morning we hadn't been glassing 30 seconds, when my buddy says, "Got him!" Sure enough, there he was, the wide buck on the same ridge, 300 of yards from where I missed him. Today other hunters were around, so we made no delay and went after him. We figured he would bed in the same spot again, so we were gonna get close and just wait till he bedded. As we watched from a closer location, we watched as a trail hiker passed under the buck and the buck was having none of it. He bolted over the ridge and gone. We decided to climb up a separate ridge and get eyes on him again. We did a huge circle, another 3k ft climb, but it paid off. We saw him walk back over the ridge toward the chute were he was bedded the day before. This time we were already positioned above him. So we gave him some time and made our move. Once we got above the chute I began to climb down, I looked back at my buddy and told him to stand by here as I stalked lower. The wind was constantly shifting and we weren't 100% sure he was in the same bed. I crept down the side of the chute periodically looking down to see if the buck was in there. It wasn't until I got to where I missed the day before that I finally found him in the same bed as yesterday. This time facing away from me and dead asleep. This time I took my pack, rested my gun against it, peered over the edge. I ranged him 41 yards this time. I said a little prayer and took aim. Due to the swirling wind, I knew I didn't have much time to shoot. The angle was an almost straight down shot. I aimed in on his spin in-between his shoulder blades. Slowly squeezed, BOOM! Perfect shot. The bullet broke his back and straight into the boiler room. He death rolled into and down the chute, stopping inches from the edge and 1,000 ft drop. I was beyond excited and in disbelief. I turned around to yell at my buddy to start the climb down, but to my surprise he was already there. He said he got selfish and had to watch it go down. We slid down to the buck, broke him down and made our way out. 6 primers fired at a single buck. Later looking back, I practiced using blackhorn 209 with Triple 7 primers. In practice the gun went bang everytime. But at higher elevation I figure the lack of oxygen was reducing the flash of my primer. When I switched to shot shell primers it went off everytime. Inside spread was 30 7/8 and outside was 33 7/8. Gross 170.
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1 pointI had some good luck on the early archery tag. Killed this bull opening morning at around 11am. He was the main bull we heard bugling and that turned out to be his downfall. My cousin - who also had a tag - was able to get a good chunk of time off work so he was out scouting 4 days before the hunt started. He saw this bull every single day prior to the hunt. I made it up late Wednesday and scouted with him on Thursday... and again, saw this bull and his cows in the morning and in the evening. Bugling as well. We saw another 10 bulls or so in this same drainage so we figured we'd start there opening day and give them heck. We hiked into the area in the morning and we were able to chase some bugles, but they weren't as vocal as they had been the couple of days prior. We ran into a good group of elk, but they spooked and we thought we might have boogered everything up too bad for the afternoon. My dad and uncle were on a ridge glassing above us and could hear elk below them bugling every so often - even after the bigger group spooked. For some reason - even though we were pretty close - we couldn't hear the bugles. The ridge we needed to climb was pretty steep and thick with overgrowth so I wasn't thrilled about the hike to get up it, but we sucked it up and made the short, but steep, hike. We finally got up to the same elevation as the elk and spotted them about 250 yards away. I saw a group of cows and had a feeling we were on the same bull we had seen all week prior. Sure enough it was him. We watched from a distance as he ran off a couple of raghorns that were nearby. He was one of the few bulls that seemed to be ready to rut. We continued working in closer, but didn't feel like we would have the shooting lanes available if we kept stalking straight at them. We were in some thick cover. At this point, the elk had been milling around in the same small area for more than an hour. We backed out and looped around to get on top of them. For the most part, the wind cooperated. It started to swirl a bit as we got close to the elk. They were in a thick stand of aspens and the cows knew something was up. They weren't quite sure where we were though, because the vegetation was so thick. They first trotted one way and then back another way. We could see them in the aspens less than 20 yards from us. The bull let's out a bugle to corral his cows and get everyone going the same direction. At that point my cousin gave a quick cow call and the elk stopped. I side stepped to an opening to my left and could see the cows going one by one up a trail into a small shooting window. Naturally, the bull was last. My cousin ranged the cows at 65 yards and I drew back. Right when the bull stepped out and showed his vitals, I shoot. Downhill, quartering away. I hit the spine and into his cavity. He was paralyzed. I quickly moved in closer and finished him off from 20 yards. (I would love to say that my first and only shot was the arrow shown in the picture - I'll be honest with you guys, but probably not my drinking buddies ) Needless to say, I am thrilled with this bull. Good mass, lots of character. It's also pretty cool that we were able to watch him for a few days in a row and put a plan together that got it done. This early archery elk stuff is awesome. Can't wait to do it again...... in twelve years.
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1 pointWow! That is a NICE bull! Way to keep that draw held and finish it off with perfect shot placement. Congrats on the hard hunt
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1 pointI was truly blessed again this year being able to take this buck. I had actually passed this buck up 2 years ago waiting for something bigger ( still kicking myself). He is actually not much bigger than 2 years ago, but did add a small point off his G2. I sat in my stand for 35 hours before this guy made his appearance. That is the only good thing that will come out of the trail cam ban... not knowing what's coming in, I wasn't waiting for a "bigger buck".