Gduncan

Thanks Kev! I would not have believed that I could have done this (getting within 500 yrds of a buck during a hunt season with a tag in my pocket!) 1 1/2 years ago! But got talked into trying archery by a guy I used to work with years ago. I'm glad I did try it! He's glad too as I shared some venison with him! Surprised the heck out of my Dad, I hadn't told him we were into archery until I sent him a picture of me and my buck. I even one upped the old man by one point bigger than the Couse buck he got a couple months before I was born 60 years ago! As to my wife of 36 1/2 years, I can't even think about trying to go hunting without her and not expect to get in hot water! Got ourselves a jeep a few years ago that helps a lot in getting closer to the areas we can't hike to. She is the one that does the hide tanning and did the skull that I have on the wall now.

My 2018 Hunting included several firsts for me. I got my first bow and started archery shooting for the first time in September 2017 and my wife got her first bow in October. Feeling like we were shooting well enough to attempt hunting we got OTC Deer tags and on some vacation time the last two weeks of January 2018 picked an area we had seen deer in before while driving through. Since our ability to hike any real distance is limited and so far our stalking abilities suck, we found a water hole to sit to hopefully ambush a buck that might come in within our bow range. We saw quite a few deer come in, some does within 10-11 yrds from us! We both had shot opportunities at nice bucks but our inexperience along with Healthy doses of Buck Fever prevented us from connecting with only clean misses. We practiced all year and went back out to this spot on December 16. We got in and set up under a big oak about 7:15 and waited and watched, my wife just over an arms length to my right. About an hour later I saw a deer moving through the brush and trees about 70 yrds away. When it dropped into the bowl of the water hole at about 40 yrds I thought it was a doe due to limited visibility and not wanting to move enough to use my binos and spook it out in case a buck was following her in. When it went to the right past a big Juniper tree enough my wife saw it was a buck and tried to whisper "Shooter" which of course I couldn't hear but the buck did and stopped and looked straight at her. After a few moments it looked away and continued to the small water puddle back to our left. When it cleared the Juniper tree to my side I realized it was a buck not a doe. He stopped at the waters edge at 21 yrds and I released an arrow at 8:21 am. The sound of the Swhacker broad head hitting him was louder than I would have thought and seemed like it echoed! He jumped, kicked and took off tail tucked over the earthen dam of the water hole and we listened carefully and in a few moments thought we heard him crash. We forced ourselves to sit for 30 minutes before even going down to look for my arrow that I found covered in blood and buried about 6" in the ground. Following the blood trail about half way to where we found the buck down I saw motion to my left and had to run off what was either a coyote or Mexican gray wolf that looked like he was already scent tracking my buck! We found my Couse buck at about 60 yrds in a drainage double lunged. This is my first ever Deer, a Couse Whitetail and first Archery kill. He's not real big, but real Couse deer aren't big anyway!

Wow, Thanks for all the support and suggestions!

After numerous short conversations with a young guy through my work (he works for a contractor doing work for my employer) I have agreed to try to help him on his first game hunt and he has chosen the spring hunt for Javelina. At 19 yrs old I guess he doesn't qualify for any of the typical "Youth Hunts". I am not what you would call an experienced hunter. I did help my wife get her first game animal, a Javelina and then was finally able to get my first one the following year. Haven't seen any sign of Javelina in that area since seeing lots of Mountain Lion tracks. We are going to do the Online Hunter Education Course primarily since he hasn't been around anyone that hunts to make sure all bases are covered to get him started. So, I'm looking for any advise and/or help from this point to offer him as good of an experience as possible. We both live in/near Tucson and once we figure out where to put in for tags and determine if day trips or setting up a hunt camp is appropriate, as we will most likely be weekend hunting only due to work. Thanks in advance for any thoughts, advice or help!

Between my wife and I, four different bows using the QAD Ultra rest Hunter with noise at shot, inconsistency, with some arrows doing a visible wild bronco ride to the target area. All installed at archery pro shops, including one shop also setting the center shot way off on the Mathews I had. I ended up plugging the QAD CD into the computer and reviewing the installation instructions several times. Then went through step by step and remounted the rest and timing cord length and served in position and nock height according to QAD's instructions. Every one of our bows suddenly got dramatically quieter and more consistent shots. We did discover the QAD rest that replaced a whisker biscuit on my wife's first bow came up with a glitch during drop and would bounce. Replaced it with a new QAD rest and used cheap lipstick on the launcher to verify clearance of the fletching and all is well now with that bow. I went with a QAD HDX with the lock down function that stops any launcher bounce on my Evolve 35 and it's still doing great at 1,000 arrows shot so far with it.

SOLD!

Message sent

It is made to fit either way and can be changed easily. I liked it this way as it helped make it less top heavy feeling.

TTT Will be posting this bow on Craigslist this weekend.

2016 Mathews HTX in Lost Camo XD 70# limbs Draw range 23" to 29" Two Draw modules included, 28.5" with 29" installed, both 85% Torque Less Custom Bow Grip Maybe 200 shots on new ABB Platinum string set installed 4-5-18 QAD Ultrarest Hunter drop away arrow rest 7 pin lighted PSE sight Mathews 6 arrow Quick attach Bow Quiver in matching Lost Camo XD Asking $650 I really like this bow and would not be selling it but it's max draw length is too short for me.

Thanks everyone! Well we weren't able to find a Javelina for my wife this year, but think we know why. One, the area looked like there had been mud bog parties going on in the area due to the severely pounded out mud holes in the roads and trails and large and small vehicle tracks all over the desert. Two, heard lots of active coyote's in the area. We spotted one female that looked like she laid down and when we approached it turned out to be a den that she had ducked into. Three, Mountain Lion tracks that measure up to be in the 150 lb. size cat! After seeing all of this and very little Javelina sign we feel fortunate to have gotten the I did on opening morning. Four, and of course the biggest reason is our extreme inexperience at hunting. Just reading and going out and trying to apply what we have read. But we are having fun learning as we go while enjoying Arizona outdoors! So, until next season!

This was my second year hunting Javelina. Last year on the morning of the last hunt day my Wife on her first ever hunt got a nice big old male and I got tag soup. Due to multiple things we didn't get to go scouting for this years hunt so we figured we would just start where she got hers last year. So we drive in and park the jeep and hike on to the water hole just as there is enough light to get into position to wait. At about 8:25 I see one javi through some trees at about 80 yrds for a moment before it disappears. At the same time we are hearing vehicles not far away. I turn back to look for the javi again and it's now on my side of the trees and about 10 yrds left of where I'd seen it before. It comes on in to about 75 yrds in the open and turns to give a perfect profile for the shot. It spun around and ran about thirty feet back into the brush and trees and piles up just as the two vehicles drive right up to the outside of the waterhole behind us. I'm amazed that the vehicles coming up so close didn't spook the javi back into the brush before I could get my shot off. It turned out to be a 53 lb female for my first ever Javelina! So now I get to play Sherpa for my Wife to see if we can find one for her before the season runs out.

My wife and I are confirmed for unit 29 wt in November! This will be her first ever deer hunt! But she needs a better guide than me since I have yet to get any game in AZ. Hoping to find a bigger buck than the Coues my dad got back in the late 50's!

Even though my wife had a lion tag in her pocket we hadn't planned to actually hunt this trip as it was an anniversary weekend outing. We only had 9mm hand guns with us, no rifles and forgot to pack the e-caller... We do plan to go back as soon as we can plan/afford to go up there again with the appropriate gear to see what we can find hiking farther into the canyon the cat box smell was coming from. Thanks for the comments!

Wife and I were up on the rim the last weekend of June enjoying the cooler temps and the dry green scenery (compared to the even dryer triple digit heat in Tucson..) and found this tree. We started to debate if it was from bear or mountain lion until we got close and could smell the cat piss all around it. I'm 6' tall and while the majority of the claw marks are 5.5' and below, there is a couple scratches at and above my eye level. Is this a male lion territory marking? We did find some very fresh lion tracks in the softer dirt on the FS roads in the area. Just crawling along in the jeep with the windows down now and then we could smell what we thought was cat box but never could find them. The wind was blowing pretty good so we may have just not hiked down into the canyon far enough to locate the cat box. The next day in an area about a mile away we found some smaller lion tracks with some even smaller, we figured these were a female with kittens?