Joe Kauffman

Another great turnout and successful tournament! We ended up with just under 1800 pounds of fish weighed in with a big fish of 19lbs that we hauled and donated to the Adobe Wildlife Center for feeding the rehabilitation animals. Thanks again to our sponsors and participants for helping make this another great tournament. We're already gearing up for next years event that will bring some exciting changes and offerings to the pot! Here's a couple pics from the event.

We had our first annual Phoenix Chapter Mule Deer Foundation Banquet on May 18th and I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for coming out and supporting our efforts. We had a great turnout and raised quite a bit of money for conservation, all of which will be put on the grounds in Arizona to help our deer herds. With these donations, we'll now be able to complete quite a few projects over the next year and we'll keep everyone informed on when these are. It's also a great opportunity to get kids involved, out in the field and helping with conservation while they are young! Thanks again to everyone who attended! Joe Kauffman

All, We'll also have a Remington 597 rifle with scope that we'll be raffling off at the tournament. Tickets will be $20 and will be available for purchase starting at registration time. We'll draw the winner during the weigh in on Sunday morning. See you all there!

Blake, if my brother shoots like he does last year...I hope you have an empty spot cause he'll be swimming your way!

Yes, one big fish option per team and it will be a 100% payout of all monies collected for the option....make sense?

Ok, should be back up and running now. Make sure if you guys want the Big Fish option that you purchase this as well.

Not sure what's up with the link guys, I'll check it out.

Water levels should be prime for a good shoot as well. Thanks again to our sponsors! We still have a few that we're waiting to hear back from so more than likely I'll be updating the flyer with additional sponsors. More prizes!

Hello everyone, We're in the final stages of organizing the 2nd annual Shootin' The Moon tournament and wanted to get the date out to everyone. We'll update when we have more details in the next few days but it will definitely be on June 1st, at Lake Pleasant again. The structure will be changing from the big 10 weigh-in from last year to total weight with a big fish option as well. Stay tuned, more information will be coming soon! Joe Kauffman

Sorry for the delay everyone, but the registration link is now available. Pricing for the tournament is $150 per team until May 20th and $200 after May 25th. We've solidified some great sponsors this year that will offer us some good prizes as well as the jackpot payouts. Hope to see you all there! There is a separate link for registering for the tournament and for the big fish option. You'll need to take both and make the payment for each. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

The picture with the bag of Cheetos is priceless! Love the fact that he has a drive for the outdoors and does what he's allowed to do as a youngster. Another great youth being raised in the outdoors!

Na, can't make this one. My son and daughter have pigs to show and auction in the county fair next week so we're stuck preparing for the show. Have a blast guys!

Hey azhunter85, there will be some coming up and we're still working through the details. I'm hoping to have the 2nd Annual Shootin' The Moon tourney in June which is a night shoot at Pleasant. We have some other plans and will let everyone know when they're solid. Stay tuned!

Sweet haul and nice shooting!..but you haven't experienced the real fun of Pleasant until you do a night shoot there. Now that the weather is warming up a bit we'll be night shooting quite a bit on the weekends. I'm about 15 minutes from Pleasant so if you want to shoot with us some night let me know. Always room for another 1 or 2 in the boat.

Being a huge mule deer fan (and getting plenty of carp jokes from my friends down south ), I love January with the family since we can chase pigs with a bow and have fun stalking bucks at the same time. This year my wife, son and I drew archery pig tags and spent a good amount of time fighting the cold, wind and thermal changes that busted a number of stalks when we were within 50 yards of filling our tags. The best thing about all the stalks we made was the experience my wife and son gained by really seeing how much importance there is in minding the wind direction. Now they understand when I make them hike 1/2 mile around the pigs when it would be easier to go directly at them . This past weekend my son, brother, nephew and I went out for one more opportunity to fill our pig tags and spent most of the morning stalking a couple of herds which ended in a 30 yard shot for my nephew who might have been a little too excited and shot just left of a large sow. After a regroup and lunch we decided to break up and check some spots a few mountains apart in hopes of upping our odds in getting the boys another stalk or 2 before dark. After watching some coyotes, does and smaller bucks we spotted a coues-ish looking 6x4 mulie buck we had seen the weekend before but couldn't get a stalk on. My son knew that if he was to shoot a buck now he'd be done for the year but told me being able to glass and scout for the rest of the family would be just as fun so we headed out to see if we could close the gap on the buck and get my son a shot. Keeping the wind in mind, we almost ran 1/2 mile to get around and in front of the buck and 3 does, hoping we were in the path they would take to the usual bedding grounds. We setup behind a large boulder and watched the group continue up the drainage, slowly feeding their way right towards us. I had ranged the next ridge at 30 yards and knew if they didn't wind us that my son would have no problem making a shot under 30 yards. After about 15 minutes the group of deer made their way up to where we were waiting and the buck presented a broadside 27 yard shot for my son. He made a nice clean kill and dropped the buck where he stood. Not the best picture but I will get some more loaded and add a few later tonight. Once again, nice work buddy! Had a blast being with you on your first archery deer kill!

Here are a couple more pics, the camera with the good ones on it is giving me some fits so I'll hopefully have those available soon.

AWESOME! Gotta love the first hunts and family time in the field. Good job Dad!

This past weekend my brother and I headed out for one last effort to fill our tags for the 2012 archery season and brought our son's along to help glass and get some more archery stalking experience. We had several spots in mind and started high Saturday morning in hopes of finding some rutting mature bucks in an area we've taken some good mulies in the past. First light showed a nice 3x4 buck running solo and after a short stalk we lost him in the thick manzanita and spent the rest of the morning unsuccessful, mainly just watching does running around by themselves. For the mid day & evening hunt we changed direction and decided to head to an area we haven't been to in quite a few years but always held good deer numbers and a few quality bucks. Shortly after arriving we picked up 7 does and a high horned 2 point feeding about 300 yards out and my brother wasted no time putting a plan together on how to intercept them before they made it over the top of a ridge and were gone for good. As happens to often when you have 16 eyes looking around, one of the does spotted him and busted the group about half way through the stalk. We moved in a bit further and picked up a large 3x3 pushing a doe pretty hard and decided to move in a bit closer to watch and figure out which direction they were going to be working before bedding time. The winds on Saturday were horrible, swirling and changing direction frequently and the doe winded us and ran off with the buck in toe. Several bucks and busted stalks later our spirits were getting a bit down so we decided to head back to the truck for a quick snack and refill and discuss some tactics on dealing with the winds and how to best spend the rest of the evening. We decided to head down a bit lower and shortly after arriving glassed up a beauty 4x4 chasing a doe about 200 yards out. We decided to have the boys watch through the binos and my brother and I split up to cover the two directions they were likely to take. About 40 minutes into the stalk it was clear they were going to head my way so I began the process of making my way in front of them, hoping to close the gap enough for a good shot. Although the doe was leading the buck, he was doing a great job of pushing her in the direction he wanted to go which worked out perfectly for me. I was perched on the side of a small knob that was out of the wind completely and they were heading right for a clearing about 88 yards out. I've practiced and am confident out to 80 yards and knew if he stopped and gave me broadside, non-rushed shot I could connect well. I couldn't have written this situation any better as the doe walked right through the clearing, stopping in the trees just as the buck stopped in the gap, facing away from me and offering me a slight quartering shot. I released and saw him take a small step just before the arrow hit and knew it was a slight bit back from where it should have gone but knew it was still a lethal shot and that he shouldn't go far. I took the shot just before dark so we decided to back out for an hour or so and check for blood after some coffee and a few high fives. It was dropping into the low 20's that night so after finding good blood and tracking about 100 yards through the thick in the dark we decided to head back home and continue tracking in the morning instead of risking pushing him at night. The following morning the 4 of us took turns leapfrogging each other on the tracks and blood for another 200 yards or so and found him expired under a small tree. The excitement of the hunt, stalk and the fact that we were all together hit it's boiling point and we all cheered, high fived and spent some time taking in the great memories we had just created before actually putting our hands on the trophy. Monday morning brought us back out into the desert chasing bucks again hoping to get my brothers tag filled as well. After watching 2 bucks partake in the most amazing fight we've ever seen, including seeing the larger buck flip the smaller buck over on to his back several times landing with his feet up in the middle of a cactus patch, Richard made a successful stalk and 66 yard shot on a beauty 2 point to put the successful nail in the coffin for the weekend. Awesome weekend guys, really enjoyed spending the time together and making some new memories for us and the boys. Joe Kauffman

This year's late November hunt has me completed stumped and I'm hoping some of you more experienced coues hunters can shed some light on what we found....or didn't find . I've hunted 36A a couple of times in the last 5 years and never had a problem finding some bucks during the October hunt but have never spent anytime in the unit during late November or early December. My wife, close friends and I were skunked in the draw so we picked up tags for 36A hoping to get my wife her first coues and my buddies wife her first deer. We hunted Thursday morning through last night (Sunday) and kept track of the deer we spotted up until Saturday when we were tired of counting. The last number we were at was 228 and we glassed another 20-30 the remainder of the hunt. Now here's the kicker, every single one of them was a doe or fawn! A little more information on where we hunted. There are spots from one end of the unit to the other covering flats, foothills and higher peaks that we usually hunt and we covered them all this time as well. Some mornings found us leaving camp at 3:30am to make sure we had time to make the drive and setup before light. We glassed most of the day including the mid day stretch period and found deer moving up from the flats, down from the hills, taking palo verde and ocotilla naps and even saw a couple of does being nursed on by fawns that I thought were a bit to old to still be nursing. Aside from shear bad luck, anyone have any input on how we could see so many does in a multitude of terrain and no bucks? Joe Kauffman

I noticed the same thing. We always see some mulies there but the population seemed to be higher than I've seen down there in the past. And we did see 5 mulie bucks, 1 spike with does, 2 forkies with does and a 3x3 & 4x4 running together. The 3x3 was the biggest mulie I've seen in 36a yet. At least this storm moving in will be perfect timing for the start of the archery hunts, I love the first cold day after a December storm for chasing bucks with a bow!

This years juniors hunt was one my son Garrett and I were very excited for. We spent countless hours scouting, studying maps, finding water and just gaining as much knowledge we can of a unit we've been hunting for years already. We had seen some great bucks in new areas and some good mature bucks in the old standby spots so we knew it would be fun, the question was how many bucks would Garrett pass on before he couldn't take the excitement . We had previous engagements for the opening weekend and planned on heading up Thursday, hunting through Sunday which was the last day for this hunt. As goes with most things, all the preparation in the world can't help you prevent life from getting in the way! Thursday was a wash so we ended up leaving about 2:30am Friday morning to make sure we could get to the first spot in time to check a trail cam and hike in to setup before daylight. This particular cam acted up for some reason and quit taking pictures after 1 day so we had very little action to look at. After checking the pictures on the stick we made the 3/4 mile hike in to the ridge we wanted to setup on first thing and were in position with plenty of time to discuss glassing strategy on who will cover which areas first, as we knew the first hour of light would be the most important. As hot as it has been, and with the full moon, the bucks have been heading to cover fairly quickly. We ended up sitting back to back with binos on the tripods ready for the glows of the sun to light up the hills enough to see. Within 10 minutes after we could start glassing Garrett picked up 3 does about a mile out and watched them for a few minutes before they dropped into a shadowy draw with no bucks in tail. That was the norm for the next 2 hours with us glassing up 6 different small herd of deer, all of them does. It was quickly apparent that we needed to get into the thicker, more rugged country about 2 ridges over before we could start finding the bucks. We high tailed it back to the truck, restocked on water and snacks & figured we'd climb to the thicker country hoping to pic up a buck bedded in the brush. Once in position, I quickly picked up a spike moving across a hill about 500 yards out. Being a spike and the first buck, Garrett gladly let him walk in hopes to see him in a few years. While watching him walk down the slope I picked up a small forkie bedded about 350 yards in the shade. Garrett put the binos on him and decided since he was about the same size as the spike but decided to fork that he'd pass on him as well. I could see the excitement and jitters starting to build and I knew the first decent buck we saw would be his next trophy. After finishing glassing the ridges we could see we decided to press over the next ridge. As we dropped down the backside of the hill we were glassing on we had to pass through some really thick brush so I had Garrett lead the way in case we jumped a bedded buck. Sure enough, half way down the slope a deer busted out of the thick trotting away from us. I could see it was a buck, and that he was bigger than the other 2 we had seen so I told Garrett to get ready in case he's the one he's been looking for. After he cleared the brush, Garrett let out a whistle and stopped him in his tracks, broadside about 175 yards out. This is where the patience of a newly turned 15 year old really impressed me. He took the time to pull up his binos and really study both his rack and body size and told me he would be very happy with this buck because of how tall he is and how much meat we would get from him. With a smile on my face I told him that if he's happy, I'm happy. He setup on the shooting sticks and with one shot dropped him where he stood. Words can't describe the enjoyment I get out of hunting with my kids and this was just another amazing memory for our books. A trophy truly is in the enjoyment, experience and knowledge gained rather than the size of the rack. Well done son! As always, I had a blast hunting with you. Those javelina better be scared come January 1, you're just as good a shot with a bow as your rifle . Joe Kauffman

Thanks guys and nice buck McGeehunter. We were anywhere from 1 - 3 miles in from the road and glassed in every direction....back towards the road and further in the other way. We were definitely glassing the harder stuff, that terrain you almost hope you don't see a buck in because you know you'll have a fun time getting to them. A hunt for the memory books either way, we had a blast and my wife really got the handle of glassing off a tripod finally. Firstcoues, we'll be down there during the archery hunt, assuming that 30" muley I've been watching doesn't hit the ground first .

My wife and I picked up leftover tags for the Nov 30th - Dec 9th hunt but couldn't hunt the first weekend due to my son's muley hunt. Anyone hunt opening weekend? Just curious how the deer are moving and if the bucks are moving about yet. We're heading down Wednesday night for the remainder of the hunt. Joe Kauffman

Thanks everyone. Another great memory from the day comes from handy technology. My nephew had a rifle bull hunt that started that same day so he and my brother were in the field about the same time (different unit obviously ). About 8:15am I got a text from my brother saying "Bull down!". I thought wouldn't it be cool if I could reply shortly saying "Buck down!". Garrett shot his buck right at 10:15am so we had a good laugh exchanging pictures via text and thinking how awesome it was that cousins got it done the first day within hours of each other. Gotta love technology!

Mike, good luck on getting your fiance her first buck! We're going after my wife's first coues so hopefully the few degrees cooler it will be will help. Wishful thinking . If you guys are heading back down this weekend, shoot me a message. Dom, if you'd quit tying them up and moving them across the highway there'd be some left for us carp chasers! We'll definitely try and stop by, send me the address to your guys' place.