CouesWhitetail

Hi All, Went out with our church for a picnic on Easter and saw lots of wild flowers on the south side of the pinals. We stayed overnight at the ranch of a friend and then in the morning took a trip with them to look at some petroglyphs and wild flowers. Wow, what an amazing site! Pictures don't do the flowers justice. It was absolutely stunning! here is a rather weak attempt at capturing a panorama of the amazing amount of flowers on miles of ridges. And here are some closeups: The ranch owner bought this swiss army vehicle for the ranch and we were able to use it to get up to an area with petroglyphs and flowers. Neat ride! This thing is built to go anywhere! And here are some of the petroglyphs: There were some deep pools in the creek below the petroglyphs and the dogs went swimming. And finally, as we were hiking up to the petroglyphs we spooked a couple whitetail. These aren't great pics, but you might be able to play the find the deer game with them. This a bit of a hard one and the photo has two deer in it: One deer in this pic: And this one should be the easiest. There is one leaping WT in this pic.

NRS, not sure what trees you are talking about? The area I was in the trees were not dead. I was on the lower south side of the pinals. Pine trees are located higher up in the pinals and some of that area did burn awhile back. Amanda

Hint for finding the deer in the first pic.....both are flagging! And as has been mentioned, open the pic up to a larger image by clicking on it to make it easier to search. Amanda

Nice finds Gino!! How neat that Sheila could help you find some too! Amanda

Yes, that is them. They are listed in the lefthand margin of the front page, the center of the main page and also the righthand margin of the main page (and every page on the main site actually, just not listed in the forum). Amanda

So beeline hwy is open above Jakes Corner? This problem is between phx and jakes corner? I am planning a few trips up through Payson (one is tomorrow and one in a week) and wondering if I can make it ok. Amanda

I got a 6A north archery elk tag for sept!! Woo-hoo!!! No antelope! Amanda

Don't they only go in neutral?

No, I don't have a book about petroglyphs, but I bet you can search the internet to find out what they mean. Amanda

Yeah, my dogs loved it. The only problem was that the canyon is really steep with that super smooth rock and once they were wet, they kept sliding down the rock. Hard to keep them from getting hurt. Julie wiped out more than once (in fact that photo of her in the water is when she fell down off some rock and into the water. That's why the water is splashing around her) and my poor old Molly got stuck in a tight spot and I had to yank her out by her collar. But still they loved it! I was thrilled I got the leaping deer in the pic. The sun was so bright I could hardly see my LCD panel to shot the right spot! Amanda

Does that include my two? Phil Yes, sorry, it did include you for the 11 count. I just didn't put you on the list in the post. Committed so far: Jim White (1) Chef (2) Eric Krznarich (1) Foundryman (2) Linda Dightmon (2) Orlin Egbert (1) Cramerhunts (2)

If you need more stickers, email me a request. Include info on how many, color, and size. The standard is 30 inches long and white. Shows up great on most vehicles. Amanda

Ok, we currently have 11 people committed. Which means we are spilling into another table and we need to get 9 more to fill that! So come on guys, help me out here and lets fill another table. Committed so far: Jim White (1) Chef (2) Eric Krznarich (1) Foundryman (2) Linda Dightmon (2) Orlin Egbert (1) Amanda

Spring seems to be the best time of year to see these monsters, so if you want to see one get out and look. They spend most of their lives undergound, which is why so few people ever see them. Amanda

Did your client get the tag Jim? Amanda

That's awesome! I haven't seen one yet this spring. I sure hope to. Last year I spent a day helping a biologist track the gila monsters that were radio taggged. Unfortunately, they were mostly deep in their burrows, so we only saw the head of one in his burrow. Amanda

Your fishing permit entitles you to camp also. But you can always call the dept to double check. Or ask the people where you buy the permit. And remember that the permits expire at midnight, they don't run 24 hrs from the time you bought it. So for one overnight you need two permits. Nice sticker! and as far as I know yours is the first on a boat! Awesome! Amanda

Nice pic there Casey!! That may be the first camera phone pic I have seen look so good. Amanda

For those wanting to use Paypal to pay, go to the main coueswhitetail.com page and look for the orange donate button under the menu on the lefthand side of the page. Just click on that and enter the amount and a note that it's for banquet tickets. Jason - you are all set. Cramerhunts - I haven't received payment yet for your tix. So far, I have : Jim White (1) Chef (2) Eric Krznarich (1) Foundryman (2) Amanda

Great to hear you guys are doing well out there Danny. My hubby was just asking me the other day if I had heard anything from you. Nice pics. Your house looks great! Say hi to the family for me! Amanda

Thought you guys might appreciate some pics from last weekend's water development project in Aravaipa. The AZ Desert Bighorn Sheep Society and the AZ Deer Association and AGFD and the BLM teamed up to redevelop two water projects, the Brandenburg and Buzan Catchments. Apparently these two were originally created by ASU and U of A, but one of them blew off the cliff and another one got blown out by flooding in a side canyon. A local rancher (Langdon Hill) allowed about 75 people to camp out on his land and then two helicopters were used to ferry equipment and people up to the top of the canyon where the projects were located. It was great to meet some new people and especially some who are fans of CW.com. Tracy (Gr8 White Jr) was there and I got to meet some friends of CnS and Gamehauler (it was Tanner and his wife). And also Jed Nitso was there as always since he works for AGFD for these kind of projects. Ben Brochu a WM for AGFD was there also and it was good to meet him. Most of the volunteers however were from the AZ Desert Bighorn Sheep society. We had maybe 10 deer people there and 65 sheep folks. We really need to get more deer people out there on these projects! These are very fun and the more people that go, the easier it is on everyone. I will try and post projects as they become available, but if you join the ADBSS or the ADA, you will receive emails and flyers about these projects so you can plan ahead. You don't even have to devote your entire weekend to it. Just come give what time you can. It's great camping and working with a bunch of hunters who are passionate about doing things to help wildlife. Anyway, here are some pics. This was the view walking down to the project area after being dropped off by helicopter. Amanda

I don't know Bill. I think he said he moved out to Aravaipa three years ago. Amanda

Here are some photos of the other project that was going on at the same time not too far away. The two helicopters spent all day shuttling gear and people to both projects. This one is the Buzan catchment and it's the one that originally blew off the cliff. This time I think they secured it down better. The structure over the top catches rainwater and funnels it into the tank. Then there is a drinker that is fed by water in the tank. Amanda

Coues deer shed their antlers later than deer and elk. April/May is generally when they shed. here is a link to info on coues deer life stages from the main CouesWhitetail.com site: http://www.coueswhitetail.com/coues_biology/life_stages.htm There is a graph on that page that shows when they rut, fawn, shed, etc. Amanda

That's great!! Love that he is wearing a CouesWhitetail.com hat!!! Amanda