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We drew the early Nov tag in southern AZ and were very fortunate to get perfect weather. Opening morning was supposed to be 25*. We made a plan to hike up and in to an area we have wanted to explore before. Without knowing how ruff this hike would be we finally made it 2 miles into where we wanted to be. We found a few deer but we were still 700+ yards from how high deer were feeding. We decided to make that climb too and get to the elevation we needed. All that work and no shooters. After considering staying put for the evening hunt we finally agreed to back out and not risk a very hard hike out in the dark that night. Turned out to be 5+ miles round trip and a ton of elevation. Sucked. Our legs were cooked for the day so for the evening hunt we decided to “take it easy” and glass closer to the truck. Go figure….That worked. My son found a decent buck at 1200 yards and we made a move to go get a closer look. That hike turned out to be just as nasty as the morning. We got to 525 yards and sat and watched him and decided I would try to take a shot. Getting settled in on the rifle my son said “wait!” There’s a better buck right there too. I located that buck and got another “wait!” Dad there’s a giant right there. I was not able to find that deer and wasted no time turning the rifle over to him. Ranged him at 535, dialed to that, Perfect shot! Unreal. So happy for him. He deserves it. He found that buck and found my buck on Sunday too. Mine went 91” and is my best buck, 715 yards. Super fun hunt. We ended up hiking 10 miles opening day. So worth it. We’ve never had an opportunity on a buck like his before. Any score guesses?

My son drew a tag for one of Colorado’s open space hunts this year. It is a neat opportunity because it allows you to hunt the month of December and January which fits well with kids school schedules. We drove out as a family Christmas Day and headed out on the 26th for our first day of hunting. Saw a pile of deer and my son picked the deer he wanted to harvest and made a great shot. It was a special day and one I will never forget. I can’t stress enough, IMO, how important it is to just get out and hunt with our kids! No expectations, no trophy talk, no making them wait years for a tag because we want them to shoot the buck of “our dreams”. Let them shoot what they want. Just get out there and soak up the opportunities…they grow up so fast and time is so fleeting!

Pheasant poppers

Great story, bucks and pix. Well done gents. Eddie

Been trying to figure out the proper way to go about this. Was going to make a different post…but basically, on day 4 I was able capture lightning in a bottle and dig up one of those big Coues bucks. I found this buck on Thursday morning after hunting half of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I found a nucleus of bucks and was just starting to kind of figure it out when I stumbled across this guy. I had no idea what he was when I shot. After passing up a couple medium bucks, I spotted this one at 286 yards, got him in the spotting scope before the morning sun had hit him, and right then he turned toward me. All I saw was “a big brow” and said “YEP YEP YEP! That’ll do.” I got a great surprise when I walked up to him.

The best part of cooking with wine, is there's leftovers!

My buddy was the fortunate recipient of a once in a lifetime Idaho moose tag this year. Like many of the western states Idaho moose has taken a beating over the last few years from predation, disease, and ticks. We didn’t know what to expect, however harvest data still showed a very high success rate on hunts. My buddy traveled to the unit over the summer to get a feel for the landscape, acquire the necessary access permits, speak with the biologist, and learn the road systems. After that trip we felt optimistic and all we had to do then was count down the days until November. This would be a hunt after the rut, so food was key. These giants are worn to nothing after the rut and spend the majority of the day browsing. My wife and I flew in the evening before to meet him and his wife at the Airbnb and after an evening of beating the girls in cards our egos were overinflated and optimism was at an all time high 😂. Opening day was on par for November in Idaho…fog..then rain…then snow….then fog and snow. We continued covering country all morning glassing when we could and as the snow started to stick looking for fresh bull tracks to try and walk down. We spotted a few cows and calfs in the morning. Shortly after noon we cut two bull tracks and a cow crossing a logging road. We started on the track and about two hundred yards in we saw the cow. The fog and aspens were thick and we could not locate the bulls. After a minute or so we felt the wind switch and her head came up on alert. The hill erupted with moose and they were gone. We went back to covering ground and with it being midday started focusing on dark timber directly adjacent to feed. About two o clock we found two bulls bedded and one was nice. My buddy tried to get on him as he stood and started moving off but the fog and snow was thick and a good shot never presented itself. We hopped back in the buggy and circled to an upper road in hopes of picking them up from a better angle. As we start glassing from the high spot we see a black body moving through thick aspen below. A good bull pops out at 185 yards and my buddy anchors him. Such a cool experience! Average bull for that unit over the last five years was 34 4/8”. My buddy’s was 37 2/8”. We were able to get him broke down and packed out with daylight to spare. For those that haven’t had the privilege of eating moose it is extraordinary!

Both are great bucks! That bigger one is a tank! Congrats to you both. Good on you dad for letting your son shoot the big one. Wow, not sure you'll ever top it.

I’ve used that press for 40 years. Great press.

- Get a factory custom wonder 9mm handgun that is optics ready for any optic out of the box without the need for an optics plate. - Comes with 2 Magazines, original box, and soft gun bag - TTI spring kit and connector installed - Low round count $800 Located in Gilbert

Incredible buck! Congratulations

Awesome thank you for offer, and good news about maybe 6weeks. Main thing i wanted was it to be on portal so she can get the hunter ed point.

I've never met a gifted shooter. I've rubbed elbows with a few of them that practiced their butts off though!

Congrats on hunt great buck

I'm speechless ....wow!

Ok we are hunting 36A which has really been kicking our butts and for only 75 tags it seems everyone else had the same gameplan. Oh well, public land all good. Needless to say the bucks have been few and far between. This past Monday we saw a great buck in an area that takes quite a bit of time to get to so we went back this morning before sunup. Two other pairs of hunters had the same plan, probably looking for the same buck, if he’s still alive. Again, public land all good. We glassed up several deer, one small two point then watched this one bed at about 750 yards around 0900. We decided to make a play for him and moved to abiut 390 where we sat and watched him for the next 3 hours. We could only see eye, nose and antler. Finally he stood and my son dumped him with a Savage 110 Ultralight 6.5 PRC, handloaded with 123 grain Hammer Hunter bullets at 3250. He took a step and was done. Not the biggest with expectations on a late hunt but with work and family calling he’s happy and so am I. Grateful to spend time with him and thinking back to the first deer he shot on a 33 youth hunt at 11 years old 17 years ago. Back at it in the morning.

What a day this was. Went out for a solo hunt. shortly after day light I had glassed up a group of 6 mule deer bucks. I watched them for almost 2 hours waiting for the right opportunity to make my move. I snuck in from just over a mile away and watched/studied from 300 yards out trying to figure the best way to make this opportunity work in my favor. The wind was in my favor, and I had very little cover to close the distance. I ended up at the last juniper tree between me and the 6 bedded bucks. I peeked around the shaded side of the tree just to get caught by the small 2x2 in the group at 91 yards. All the deer got up and were on edge and ended up busting out. I watched them go over the next ridge and then hiked back to my jeep. I sat there contemplating if I wanted to try again and locate these bucks or push farther up the road and hike into a water hole I had found on onx. I said screw it drove farther up and then hiked in 1.5 miles to the water hole I had never seen before. Lucky for me it had water and quite a bit of deer tracks. I brushed myself in a blind and sat down at about 11. It was pretty warm out and I was hot from the hike in. But by 215 this buck showed up and was on water drinking out of nowhere. I ranged it at 41 yards while he was facing me head down drinking. I got up on my knees and drew back. He lifted his head after drinking and looked over to his right while elbow deep in the mud. I debated for a second to let him turn or just send it head on into his chest. I felt super confident in the shot, so I let it rip. The arrow smacked the deer with the loudest thud I have ever herd shooting an animal with my bow. He dropped in his tracks and flopped for a few seconds, and it was all over. I packed up my gear and hiked around to check out what I had just shot. I knew he was a solid buck but definitely wasn't expecting to shoot my biggest coues yet off a random water hole in an area I never hunted before. My gut was telling me he might break 100" mark, but I didn't spend a lot of time admiring him as I had to get to work taking care of the meat and getting it all packed out. After just over a 2mile hike back to the jeep with very little water left i was beat, but it was all completely worth it. The next morning I took the head out of the freezer and taped him at 111 7/8" I was shocked beating my old record of 104" with my bow.

Awesome buck.

Here is a video that popped up on setting up your die for headspace.

Elk Chislic

Smoked mackerel made into dip for lunch and gold spotted bass tacos for dinner. I Fried some gulf grouper in panko also but it didn’t look aesthetic so didn’t picture

A Coues in 37B is always awesome to see

Tuna steaks

Bacon wrapped goose on the trager.

Travis what did you end up doing? Let us know how the hunt goes. I’m hoping to do WY pronghorn in a couple years when I can draw a tag with a bit more public land available. I only have 2 or 3 points right now.