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Last weekend my 2 sons and I went turkey hunting for our first fall hunt. We arrived on Thursday evening and setup camp. Friday morning we went to our first spot and someone beat us to it so we decided to go explore some more of the area and went a few miles north. We walked some tanks and glassed some open areas with no success. On the way back to camp we bumped a small group of hens crossing the road. We tried to get out of the truck quietly but they gave us the slip, we were too slow. We continued towards camp and spotted another larger group of turkey that had just crossed the road. We stopped and started sneaking down the road. As we came over a rise I spotted a coyote also putting the sneak on the turkey and he was headed up the road directly at us, but didn't see us yet. I played the gamble of just shoot him and bag a coyote and then try and go for a bird in the chaos, or hope he runs and doesn't bust the turkey. I chose option 2, but if course he freaked and ran right thru the turkey trying to get away and they exploded across the creek and into the trees. No luck. Next day in the AM we got close to some hens but not close enough. Saturday afternoon we went to go setup on a waterhole. On the way we spotted a group of hens walking the road. I stopped the truck and they walked right up to the truck and I told my son's not to move and let them pass. When they pass we will sneak out from behind and see if we can bag them. They literally walked to 5 feet in front of the truck and then walked around it. We slowly got out and I was clear first so I took the shot on a hen and smacked her good for my first turkey! Lincoln ran down the road and in the chaos was able to get 2 shots off at a hen, but missed in the excitement. We grabbed my bird and went on with plan A to the waterhole. My son's and I setup in a ground blind an archery hunter made and waited. About 30 minutes in a Tom comes flying into the tank. Literally flying in the air with another 2 behind him in the air. They landed a d started eating. 2 more Tom's joined them shortly. The 4 walked around on the other side of the water about 80yrds out for about 15 min. Then I whispered to my son's to not move and stay quiet. I heard a turkey behind us in the brush. A 5th Tom strutted out and worked his way over to the group of 4 and started strutting and parading around like a tough guy. Eventually they all calmed and kept eating. 2 birds started for the water cautiously. They were in range but were crossing each other, and my son froze a little and didn't shoot when he could have. The other 3 started working in too, and finally the 3rd bird which I think was the one from behind us walked in and my son smoke him at about 40yrds. 1 clean shot and he was flopping. Unfortunately he flopped right into the waterhole. My son's were both stoked to say the least but I may have been more excited on the inside than both of them. My son's first turkey was a nice Tom. 7.5" beard and once we washed it the fan turned our pretty nice.

Well Wyoming provided again this year on my annual hunt with my son. Shot a pretty decent buck opening morning about 9 am. I have found a few places that hold antelope in this northeast poverty unit and have been slowly gaining knowledge as to their behavior when pressured. My son an I hiked in 4 miles before the sun rose and sat a fence line that backed private. I knew this was a popular escape route when the shooting starts. Well at about 9 am, an outfitter with a client on the private bumped a herd right across the fence in front of us. I drew two additional doe tags and as soon as I shot the buck, I turned to my son and asked if I should shoot a doe. He say heck ya so I shot a doe as well. Probably not the smartest move 4 miles from the truck but it was good to have 2 tags filled opening morning. We took some pics and I began cutting them up. I considered bringing my pack frame but just opted for my lighter badlands super day. Well I pushed that pack to the absolute max and was able to get both boned antelope and my rifle strapped on. My son had to carry every other thing we had in his pack. We arrived back at the truck right at sun down. Today was cutting and grinding meat. Snuck out this evening looking for a whitetail doe but no luck.

I have always enjoyed journaling my noteworthy hunts on here both for posterity and entertainment. Although this is not MY hunt, it is noteworthy as it is my sons FIRST hunt. Not just of deer but of ANYTHING.. My son has never shown ANY interest in hunting. ZERO. Not even in VIDEO GAMES. I mean ZEEEERO. So when he said he would be interested in applying for the deer draw I was somewhat surprised. I think we were ALL shocked when he actually got drawn. I spent a LOT of time planning and preparing and begging for advice (a HUGE thank-you to all that sent info to me) I had a pretty good game plan of how to get him a deer. All that went out the window after we learned he is HORRIBLE at shooting. We practiced and practiced and got help from some extremely good teachers(not me) but he just couldn't find the rhythm. He developed a pretty bad flinch even with the lightest of deer rifles. So I switched him to my 223ar and locked him into a pretty decent tripod system(field optics research) to help with the flinch and stability. He was shooting good this way but it severely limited our range and options for hunting. I decided we would be limited to 100 yds or less and in a controlled environment. So that means sitting water. So now our epic journey begins,,,,,, Day one. Opening morning. It's over. The end. Our view curios visitor The best part of the entire hunt for HIM The end...... Sat until 10 am when it started getting hot and I figured they might come get a drink. First saw the above doe and watched her for quite awhile. Then another and another. Eventually two small bucks showed up. There was a larger buck farther back behind the water hole but Easton could not see it well. The small one was standing broadside at 80 yds. After about 5 min of watching and waiting for the bigger buck he decided the little one was good enough. Calm as a rock he he went through the process we practiced. Pretty much a bang flop. I was a "little" nervous about the 223 but it WRECKED that little deer. Never had a chance. He was a ROCK. ZERO nerves. ME on the other hand. I was a nervous wreck. Took me forever to calm down. I was so bad I for got to video it. Oh, I HAD the camera set up and I turned it on. I even followed the deer around for 5 min all the way through the shot. I just neglected hitting the record button. I so totally suck at video. It is my Achilles heel. About 5 min after the shot 2 buggies came up the trail. I think if he waited for the bigger buck any longer we might have gotten nothing. I commended him for his good call and his excellent shooting. Funniest part of the entire event was afterwards. I asked if he had fun and he said it was awesome. I asked if he wanted to do it again and without pause and very emphatically he said... Nope. Oh well. We'll see,,,,,

Just got back from my New Mexico antelope hunt. was a wonderful hunt with a lot of antelope to glass. got this guy on opening day. First time hunting antelope so didn’t really know how to judge size, they all looked the same to me.

This was shaping up to be quite the year, with my son Zane drawing both a youth deer tag and a youth elk tag, one week after the other with the deer tag coming first. Thursday before the deer hunt came along after multiple scouting trips, and I sent him off to school to pick him up at noon to leave for the hunt. Between sending him to school and picking him up, we got the call that my father in law had a stroke. When I picked him up, instead of leaving for the hunt, it was rushing to point guard his deer tag and then leave out of state to go see grandpa in the hospital. After a whirlwind couple days, we headed up to get ready for elk. We grabbed an OTC turkey tag and got in a little turkey hunting. We didn’t get a shot but got in birds a few times and had a blast. It was nice to clear our heads in the woods. He turned 14 on opening day and we had more family matters to attend to, so we didn’t get to start our hunt until Saturday. Saturday AM, We were in place before sun up, listening to screaming bulls. About 10 minutes into shooting light, he spots cows across the clearing from us. The first one kept walking. The second stopped for a cow call, Maybe 40 yards away. It seemed like an eternity waiting for a shot that never came. When he said the gun wouldn’t shoot, the cow walked off as we realized the bolt had lifted a half inch. Got that fixed just as a third cow stepped out and stopped. Again, no shot. Trouble shooting in a hurry found the safety was on. Safety off just as that cow walked away. We moved to try to get ahead but never got another shot. He was pretty crushed, but I was proud of him for not taking a shot that wasn’t there. We spent the afternoon and evening hunting a different spot, and had eyes on elk but never had a shot. Sunday morning we heading back to the same spot as Saturday. This is my sons third elk tag, and it’s been magical watching his patience and hunting improve across the tags. We took our time, and he caught two cows crossing in a clearing at about 200 yards. One stopped quartering to. This time I heard the shot and watched her hunch up and stumble forward. We waiting a few and went to tracking. It was quick work. She had gone about thirty yards and piled up. Great shot and great bullet performance and we had a great birthday present for a happy kid. I wanted to thank @bojangles and @BritSaz for information during and before the hunt. This is a great community, and both were a huge help when I was in a bind and the usual spots weren’t producing. Thank you both. The last two stills are of opening morning. I was trying to film the bull when he saw the cow and the way it worked out I was able to get a short video . The shot above the gun was me wondering why he wasn’t shooting, then the last still was the camera flashing across the not closed bolt. Lessons learned all around. I was thankful for another hunt and time in the woods with him.

First off thanks to the good Lord for the time I got to spend with my boy, it was a heck of a time with plenty of ups and downs. Can't say enough how cool it is to watch your kids slowly become young men. Second thanks to @M@tt for coming down to help the first couple days. Great guy for sure. And of course @zackcarp for squeezing room in the walk in to hang the kids buck. This hunt started with high expectations, Kiki said he wants to hunt muley's, and so we did. Started off in an area I thought was a slam dunk. As usual (for me anyway) hunting mule deer made me humble. Spent the first couple days glassing up only forkies and does. Moved the camper closer to home, glassed up more forkies and does. Luck turned Sunday morning when we spotted a couple decent coues bucks and we went for it. As they do like ghosts they disappeared while on the stalk. Thought for sure they were heading for thick cover but in retrospect that phrase got me.. "coues are always where you last saw them". Looked up to see them high tailing it away from us. Next morning got off to a 15 minute late start, my fault but it could a made the difference. Got to the glassing point and immediately picked up a herd of muley's. Saw one that I knew right away was a stud. Bailed off the hill to give chase. No biggun where I thought he should be though. Had a doe and a spike walk right in front of us and that was it. I decided to pull out to not ruin a future chance. Came back that evening and no deer to be seen. Talked momma into coming the next morning, promised her we were close to sealing the deal. The next morning she was not as gung-ho when 330 rolled around, but she still came. Got breakfast at Denny's (part of the deal we made) and off we went. Got to the spot early and started glassing in the dark. No deer... Kept glassing... No deer.... Kept glassing... A couple does.... Oof. I told Caliche even if it's trash deer we should probably go for it since momma don't come out often. He agreed. Well once the sun was up I spotted one lone coues over a mile away verified he was a decent buck based on overall frame but we kept glassing for a closer opportunity. Suddenly like clockwork several white rump patches started appearing very close to the coues buck. We all converse quick and decide there is a chance the big one is nearby and if not we still got the coues. Bailed again off the hill, while in route momma said the big one is out there. We got to where I felt comfortable stalking and started to glass and could not find any muley but the WT buck was right in front of us under 200. The wind also started to shift. Momma said where the big muley was but due to the wind shift and not knowing the location of the rest of the muley herd we quickly decided let's kill this coues buck. Texted momma we are on the WT and getting ready to shoot. Well momma was so mesmerized by the muley she didn't keep eyes on the buck we were actually shooting and she didn't realize what I meant by WT. So we set up for the shot in a quick and quiet rush, Caliche looks at me and says "dude, this is so exciting!" and a minute later bang! I see the buck in my binos fly backwards and drop. Clearly we are full of adrenaline and I tell him he dropped, I texted momma "he dropped him". She responds I'm still looking at him??? I'm like no babe he shot the whitetail buck! So we rack another round and creep in just in case. we were in tall grass and sure enough the hit was a spine shot. Saw him up flailing and told him put one through his neck high and he did but for good measure had him put another in his head. Hence the bulging eyes. Once we really stopped and got to look him over I was pretty stoked at the buck he just killed. I assured him this buck was an old stud. Pretty gnarly horns and big body. Rack had some serious character and we had no regrets shooting this guy over the big muley. Called momma for the pickup while I showed Kiki how to quickly gut a deer. We earned ourselves some deer dragging sweat and met momma for some more pics. As per usual my new hunting partner Bucky the Boston terrier was there for the entire hunt, although not on the stalk he still put on the 12+ miles with us for the rest of it. Can't say as a dad how proud I am of Caliche.. out of all of my kids he's the one that seems to be bitten by the hunting bug the most. He was all in and fully immersed in this hunt. Even being the first one to pick up deer behind the glass a few times. This kid has grit and he sure makes me proud. He even caped his buck himself and measured him. He did dam good too on both fronts. Buck grossed 94" and netted like 88 and change. Can't wait to do it again. Got another youth tag this Friday and can't wait. It's my youngest boy Enoch. I don't think he's gonna embrace the suck though so probably forkies are on the menu, but if he's happy I'm happy. Thanks for reading. Ps. Not gonna lie, we had a hard time not laughing while taking the first few pics. Them crazy Steve Buscemi eyes

I have a nice pair of 10x42 EL's just got back from Swarovski freshly cleand up was gonna give them to my son but he wants a pair of 12s or 15s so $1500 gets them.

We were excited to see that my son drew a junior deer hunt again but this time in an area we never been in. We put in some crazy hours scouting google maps and onX maps just to find an area that looks interesting. I hit up some friends that hunted the area before and they gave great advice. We did scout trips and seen 10+ bucks a day and was feeling great before the hunt. Thursday I parked right outside Colby’s school and when his bell rang, he came running out, jumped in the truck and I think I peeled out a little bit. We got to camp, my pops had things already set up and we ate dinner and were ready to roll in the morning. My son decided to go to bed at 7:30 pm which was a new thing. Opening morning was the exact opposite of scouting, basically saw a coati, 4 mule deer does, 2 small coues bucks and 5 coues does. At 10am we decided to move to glass bedding areas. Glassed for a bit and my pops and I told Colby that we have to glass at 11am, we cannot go back to camp for lunch. We told him that’s when bucks change their beds. Sure enough at 11:12 I saw a buck moving from one bed to another. Colby asked if it was bigger than his buck from last year (that’s his only goal, to get something bigger than his last buck)I said yes and he said game on. We waited til the buck bedded down again and made our move. Colby is real confident under 300 yards so we snuck in to 267 yards and the only place we could find a lane to shoot in was out in the open field. No shade, just dirt and sun and no wind. We waited 3 hours and 12 minutes and when the buck was ready he stood up, the buck was quartering towards us and Colby put a bullet behind his shoulder and the bullet went all the way to his opposite side rump. The buck hunched up, went a few steps and rolled down the mountain. Turns out that this buck is real old, can’t imagine how many lions, bears and hunters he evaded the last 9-10 years. Had some giant hooves and teeth were won down pretty good. We hung around the area for a few more days glassing, saw plenty of bucks but nothing in this caliber and headed back home today.

I keep replaying Friday afternoon, Oct 6, in my mind and am so proud of our son, Jacob. I'm also thankful for the friends (family) that helped make this happen. Grandpa Goose and Christian made this hunt even more special. We were glassing in Unit 10 Friday afternoon, looking for a cow elk that we (Christian) spotted that morning over 2000 yards away bedded between two junipers. A bull bugled to our right down in or across the canyon immediately east of us. We knew he had to have cows with him. While making a plan, I decided we didn't need three people going in. That was too many bodies and, therefore, too many chances for something to go wrong. I stayed back with the gear while Jacob and Christian went in to look and, hopefully, make something happen. I know when it's time to let go and time for someone else to lead him, especially someone I trust wholeheartedly. 10 minutes later, at 4:40 pm, I heard the shot, followed by the wracking of the action of Jacob's 300WM. Then dead silence. Nobody answered my radio or text inquiries. This dad was shaking, but confident. Jacob is an ice-cold shooter. My radio went off at almost 4pm letting me know Jacob hit a cow solidly. She entered a thick clump of junipers and never came out. I grabbed the gear and headed down to Jacob and Christian. I got the full download. Jacob made a perfect 357-yard shot on a slightly quartering-away mature cow. Christian kept eyes on the area while Jacob and I picked our way across the canyon. Christian guided us in perfectly after seeing her fall and tumble down the canyon side. Jacob paid his respects to his elk and helped me drag her 15 yards down the canyon to the wash where we could process her easier. We got some great trophy pics before we ran out of light and began the hard work. Fortunately, Christian and Goose were able to drive Christian's Pioneer right up to the elk. The ride out on the tailgate of the Pioneer was beautiful under the stars. I got my chance to say thanks to all those above who watched over us. That's when my emotions caught up to me. I lost track of how many times I hugged Jacob.

Hey everyone, Thought I'd share a recent video that we just finished up to help us get through the rest of July and first part of August until the archery hunt. I hope you enjoy!

Are there only sasquatches on here?

Axis Works is in Tempe and I've never heard a bad word about them. Todd with Southern Xpress in mesa has threaded several rifles and handguns for me and they are straight and true. I have given my money to both of these.

Axis works just did 2 of my rifles they did a great job

Awesome can't wait until my mule deer and antilope hunt by Sundance next fall. Impressive packer you have there. Memories

Second buck tagged.

In this day and age you try to raise your kids right and give them opportunities and experiences that you enjoyed as a kid! Then getting to watch your kid pass the tradition on to their kids! Gives hope that not everything is a complete wreck out there in the real world!

One tag filled.

FYI we are getting him a haircut tomorrow.

Haha +10 Great service guys. A buddy used yall a year or two ago when he couldn't find time to zero in a new rifle before a late elk hunt. Apparently the RSOs have time to watch the movements of visitors using the vending machines. Last time I went to Ben Avery, I was screamed at for eating an M&M with peanuts near the shooting line lol. Yup, I'm a rebel. 3 years later, I'm the RSO. Have had to ask one individual I saw drawing from the hip to holster his weapon and put it away since he wanted to argue. Still, I didn't need to scream. Dang good thing he didn't compound the infraction with an M&M.

Congrats on a great hunt! I went on my first pronghorn hunt about 6 years ago (also in New Mexico), and I've been hooked ever since! Hooked both on the hunting AND the table fare. Thanks for sharing with the site! S.

My turn this morning. Called him and his hen in…..when he saw my decoy it was game over. One arrow at 18 yards was all it took.

And they are all overhunted. No matter what you hear.

(Edit): We ended up hunting for 6 days straight, 3 with my little one right by our side. On third day a forky ran right up on us at like 30 yards while we were talking to a game warden. He got spooked and darted off in the bushes and while we were trying to find him, a truck pulled up from the road and the father and son jumped out and shot him right in front of us. On the 4th night we spotted 2 forkies and a doe right at dusk at 460 yards, but we ran out of good shooting light and then they weren't there in the morning. But while looking for them ended up spotting a nice 3 x 3 bedded down on the side of a hill at 315 yards. All we could see was his big head and while attempting to get closer for a better shot he got spooked and ran over the hill. For the next two hours went all the way around the hill, directly through the cat claw bushes trying to find him, but never did. On the 6th morning we conquered just about the biggest hill in the area, to find this beautiful specimen. Ryder shot him in the lungs at 360 yards. All of the hard work payed off and it was a great lesson for Ryder. Hunting teaches so many valuable lessons and that's exactly why I wanted to teach my two sons to do it.

By Darr Colburn Darr Colburn with a 100 inch early season coues deer buck. Lots of hunters will being hitting the hills over the next few weeks to hunt coues deer on the early hunts. The early hunts offer some great draw odds and you can usually draw a tag every year. These hunts are easy to draw but the high tag numbers, hot temperatures and low deer movement can make for a tough hunt. The hunter success rates on the early hunts are generally pretty low. We have been on these early hunts many times and had some good success. Here are a few tips that we have learned over the years. Good luck on your hunts! 1. Get to your glassing points before light. Lots of times deer are moving as it gets light and if you are not glassing you may miss a buck moving or feeding. Hot daytime temperatures can limit deer movement to a few hours a day. Take a headlamp and plan on walking in and out in the dark. Glassing until dark also increases your chances of picking up a buck right at dark. 2. Don't go back to camp during the middle of the day. Pack a lunch and stay out all day. Have you ever noticed from your trail cameras that coues deer usually hit water between 10am and 2pm? Lots of times the middle of the day can be your best chance to glass up a buck. By staying out glassing all day you may pick up a buck headed to get a drink mid day. Coues deer rarely stay bedded all day long. Even if the deer are not moving around very much due to hunter pressure, hot temperatures or a full moon they usually will get up and stretch and browse for a few minutes every few hours. As the sun and shadows change deer will often get up when the sun hits them and move back into the shade. This may be your opportunity to spot your buck. 3. When the temperatures are hot focus on the north slopes and shaded areas. The north slopes and shaded areas usually offer more cover and cooler temperatures. Coues deer will seek out these areas to bed in. Glassing the north slope and shaded areas usually means you will be glassing in the sun. Take a floppy hat and sunscreen to keep you from getting sun burned. 4. Mount your binoculars on a tripod. It does not matter if you have Swarovski or Bushnell, if you mount them on a tripod you will see more! When your binos are on a tripod your eyes are able to pick up movement and game better. The Outdoorsmans carries several types of mounts to attach your binos to a tripod. We like 12, 15 and 32 power binoculars for coues deer hunting. My 15x56 Swarovski SLCs are my favorite all around coues deer bino. 5. Be quiet and stealthy. When you get to your glassing point don't clank tripods, talk loudly or make a lot of noise. There could be deer within shooting range that you don't want to spook. I have hunted with lots of people that just don't get that you need to be quiet even when hunting with a rifle. Act like you would when you are bowhunting and you will seen way more game within rifle range. Turn your cell phones off or on vibrate! 6. Know the area or areas you plan on hunting. It really helps to know glassing points, roads and water sources prior to your hunt. Get online and put glassing points, trails, water sources and roads into your GPS prior to your hunt. I spend a huge amount of time looking at the areas I plan on hunting on Google Earth and my topo map program. I can have all the waypoints plugged into my GPS so I am not wasting valuable time while in the field. I know how to get in and out of areas I have never been to by plugging waypoints from Google Earth or my topo map program into the GPS. You can also find road less areas where there will be less people. 7. Get away from roads and other hunters. If you can hike into areas away from other hunters you will typically see more bucks. Most hunters are not going to hike very far from a road. Cross a large canyon or hike for an hour in the dark and you will be hunting bucks that are less pressured. If you can't hike very far look in areas that may be overlooked by other hunters like flats, lower desert country or thicker areas that are harder to hunt. 8. If you have seen bucks scouting before your hunt they will likely be close by. Bucks typically don't move very far this time of year. I feel that if you have a big buck spotted the early hunt is your best chance to kill him because they stay in a relatively small area and you get first crack at them. Don't give up if you don't spot him the first day or two. Change your glassing location and keep looking where you have seen him before the season. Persistence usually pays off. 9. Once you spot a buck you would like to shoot don't take your eye off of him. If the buck is in range get set up and shoot. If you have a buddy with you they can watch the buck while you get set up or move into position. If you are alone watch the buck until he beds before making a stalk. Take note of land marks and vegetation around where the buck is bedded. Move into position and wait for the buck to stand up and give you a shot. Sometimes this could mean waiting all day for a buck to get up and give you a shot. Be patient and don't think the buck is not there just because you can't see him. Also don't try and get to close. We usually never get any closer than 250-300 yards. We have found that anything closer you are more likely to spook a buck without getting a shot. 10. Know your rifle and where your bullet hits at different yardages. Most of the bucks we have shot have been at ranges from 300-500 yards. Sometimes the canyon country that coues deer live in prevent you from getting close. Carry a rangefinder and know your ballistics. Practice at the ranges you expect to shoot. Don't try and shoot a buck a 500 yards if you have not practiced shooting that far. View the full article