crazy4COUES

Welcome! I would have to recommend treewalker treestands for climbing stands. They fit large trees well and are light weight and very comfortable. They may be a little pricey but I know they are made in america, funding legal americans. To me it is worth every penny! Good Luck!

Thanks Guys for all the replies! I am excited to get started, hope I didn't sound too negative I was just concerned. Glad to hear others shared the same thoughts. I trust the board will make things as best they can. As far as safety I am glad to hear it is the first concern we all want to go home in the same condition we arrived. The speed thing doesn't bother me.....accuracy wins tournaments. Speed just gets the arrow to the target faster. Good luck to all this year!

So they are following the rulebook 100% or just a few items? I have a few questions...is it an IBO sanctioned event? Will it be a qualifier for the nationals? Are we going to have to be an IBO member to participate? It just seems odd to say the IBO rulebook will be followed and then make acceptions or changes to allow for more problems. They need to either follow it to the letter of the rule book or modify the ABA book to represent what changes are taking place, based on the IBO rulebook. I can understand the scorecards being labeled with a 12 already and some considerations for that. But if the IBO rulebook utilizes a "11" ring in place of the "12" ring then by all means the ABA should get the proper scorecards printed up and do things as noted in the IBO rulebook. It will make for less complications during tournaments and allow the interpritation of the rules to be as written. Really it appears to be a half hearted attempt to mitigate some issues. Basically if we change to the IBO rules then do it 100%! Don't leave it to a mixture of rules old and new. Also it would be nice to have additional classes other than what is allowed, possibly the team competition as well as a semi pro class and advanced hunter class. It would be more fun to have the more competetive shooters in an upper class than the beginners that may shoot the same equipment. As the money shooters vs. trophy shooters were in the past. It would be discouraging to a beginner to know that he/she will have to compete against a significantly more advanced shooter in the same group. Therefore affecting the amount of shooters that would normally register. Hopefully it will be a change for the positive as we all want to continue moving forward and see the sport of 3-D archery continue to grow.

That thinjg is SAWEET! nice bull CONGRATS!

Thanks for all the comments. It has been one heck of an experience. Just got the meat back from the butcher shop, This thing sure tastes great!

It has been years of waiting for the archery bull tag. We were into bulls everyday and passing on severel bulls. On day five things were different. In the early morning we setup in a location the bulls had been traveling through. We waited for hours listening and hoping they would come. There was a ton of bulls bugeling behind us on another ridge and it was causing me to doubt we had made the right choice. When all of a sudden bulls started to bugle in front of us...YES! We continued to wait, A bull and his cows approached within a hundred yards just over a small rise. BECKER and I then decided to move in closer. The wind was right, bull was bugeling and the cows slowly feeding around. After we got a look at the bull deciding to pass on him, another bull bugled within 1/4 mile. So we sat and waitied thinking he may approach the heard that we had been watching. Well after a long wait it seemed as if he had bedded just out of sight. The sneek began, there was a small patch of aspens neear the location of the bull. We checked the wind and began to slip in on him. After about 100 yds or so of the sneek the bull jumped up to left of the aspen thicket and trotted off, CRAP! He was a good bull. BECKER and I then decided to give him some time to relax. Thinking he may bed and/or bugle nearby. After a brief pause we decided to continue in the direction the bull had gone in hopes of catching him again. After walking to the top of th hill we seen a small bull and some cows. One of the cows had us pegged for what seemed like an eternity. When the stare down was over we talked a little bit about our next plan, when what sounded like a big bull bugled...COOL! BECKER then mentioned we should crawl up to a blown down ponderosa and peek over the top. So we crawled for about 100 yds or so to the blow down. There was a dozen or so cows feeding and a couple spikes in the mix but no shooter bull. So we glassed the heard looking for the heard bull. Then BECKER spotted a large antler back in the woods. He was bedded about 180 yds up wind. He bugled several times and stood up. He then started chasing cows around. I told BECKER that i would like to sit and wait for the bull to male a mistake and get close enough for a shot. As we waited a couple of spikes, cows had moved a little to the left of our location. The wind was a litlle shifty and caught us from the backside....uh oh! Then I noticed the spikes sniffin our wind. They them trotted through the herd taking them to the far right. Crap! Then the bull ran over and pushed the heard back to the left around the far down hill side of the knoll counter clockwise from our position out of sight. We could hear the bull bugling like crazy. So I decided to head clock wise around the knob, the wind would be more favorable, hopping to cut them off. Well when we got to the other side in was steep canyon country. Rocky and difficult to manuever in. The bull continued to bugle and the cows headed for the bottom. I then realised if it was going to happen it would have to be in the bottom of the canyon were the cows are crossing the creek. The bull was not moving as quickly as the heard and held up in the nasty canyon. The cows were mewing to coax him down. As the last of the cows were calling for him to come down we continued to the bottom. About 40 yds from the bottom we glassed trying to locate the bull in the timber. We spotted him proceeding down to the canyon. He was walking very slow and laboring every step of the way. Those cows had him tired out. Once he commited to follow, the cows got quiet and moved on. We then proceeded to the bottom near the creek. I peeeked around the trees in front of me and...there he was drinking and grazing at the creek. 117 yds away. I continued to quickly make up the distance between myself and the bull as he drank. Then our last bit of cover between us and the bull was a blowdowm tree. The range was 73 yds. He continued to drink and graze, slightly quartering away. I drew my bow, said the UNCLE TED prayer and settled the 60 yd. pin on the hump of his back. leveled the bubble and realesed.....waiting watching the arrow arc. When the arrow started to drop I held my breath, waiting.......thump right in the center of his vitals! Instantly the bull hunched up and jumped through the river as blood ran out were the arrow had been. At that moment my prayer had been answered. A beautiful shot on an awesome bull. I then began cheering and hi fiving. He ran about 50 yds, and laid to rest. After only a few steps his antlers could be seen in the tall grass. YES! I would like to thank all the friends and family that helped support me on this adventure I couldn't have done it witout you all. THANKS It was truely a hunt of a lifetime.

The Elk are getting started bugeling up were I am. The weather is on the dry/hot side but cools off at night.

I am currently shopping for one as well. It seems to me the major diff i noticed is the Leupold has a smaller eyepiece than the bushnell....so it seemed more comfy to point and shoot with the bushnell. Had a hard time figuring out how to adjust all the settings on the leupold. Anyone else have any input? Will be interesting to hear opinions.

nice finds....even nicer login name!

sure, sunrise has a BBQ planned during the shoot as well. If a date and location is available post it up.....THANKS!

All of the above comments are worth looking into. The bow recoil should be the same everytime and have the same effect on each arrow. It should not vary arrow to arrow , shot to shot. Another thing I have learned over the years is if you dont hold the back wall of your draw cycle solid and allow it to creep forward. It will have arrows go low vs. holding back firmly.

SWEET! Was that up in the white mountains?

That is the same tradition I was told. I have an arrow in the tree for my Javelina harvest. It is one cool site to see. They have a framed photo of it in the Bear Wallow resturaunt in Alpine that is cool too.

SWEET! Has anyone warned you this trail cam stuff is addicting? Always try yo clear any branches, tall grass. I had one cam taking pictures almost continuously because of one little tree branch blowing in the wind. After that I alway take the time to trim things up.

I agree, my first thought was, "hey that is the wal-mart in Globe." Those monsoon storms can screw any hunt up.