Joe Kauffman

Thanks for the comments all. He's one heck of a young hunter especially for being only 12 years old. I remember archery deer hunting when I was 10 but there's no way I would have been confident enough to try and tackle elk with a bow at his age. He has double football today (flag football game at school followed by tackle practice ) so he'll try and get his story posted tomorrow. Joe

Perfect timing...we have that night free . My wife, son and I will attend so please count us in for 3. Thanks Amanda! Lol...guess names would help . Jenny Kauffman Garrett Kauffman Joe Kauffman

Last week I was finally able to put my latest addition to our CW.com stickers on my toy hauler. After Amanda's post regarding needing a sticker, I emailed her asking what the largest size she had was and if they came in black instead of white. After measuring and figuring out what would fit on the back door of the trailer, she had one made and in the mail less than a week later. Thanks again Amanda! Here's a couple shots of the new trailer bling Joe Kauffman

Funny....my wife and I were thinking a nice deer head cutout would look good in the center area which is why I kept this sticker low. Anyone know where I can get me one of those .

Hey Avion, Ya, my son and I saw you proudly displaying the CW.com sticker on the back. We spent the weekend chasing birds and was amazed to see so many CW stickers on the road. I think we counted 6 all weekend. Thanks for the compliment on the plate Joe Kauffman

That was one of the funnest fishing nights I've had in a long time! We fished several flats starting from 8:30pm and Garrett was getting shots as fast as he could reel back in and anchor his arrow. This was his first dedicated bowfishing trip (he got a little sniff of the fun the weekend before when the wife and daughter were with us going for striper) and after 40 or so shots he nailed a nice one that was about 2 feet below the surface and 10 yards out. It was a great shot but it didn't get complete penetration and ended up popping back out not long after he connected. Right after that shot I saw the light go on in G's mind and he finally understood the aiming strategy when bowfishing. Depth and distance play huge roles in how low below the fish you shoot and I knew he had found the sweet spot. After reeling his arrow back in we immediately had another good sized carp off to our right. This time he was only about 1 foot deep, but was 10 or so yards out again. I kept my mouth shut as to how to aim on this one and he made a perfect shot on him. The impact must have almost knocked him out because he just lazily swam around while Garrett pulled him in. After some high fives, pictures & texts sent to mom we spun the boat around to find a larger carp swimming just under the surface in the deep water. I nudged us as close as I could while G-Man took aim and put the smackdown on his largest carp yet. The following shot ended with a busted nock but with the excitement he'd just had he was good and ready to head home. About that time I looked at my watch for the first time in hours and realized this young whipper-snapper had kept us out until 2:30am. Time sure flew while we were having fun! Joe

Lol...I haven't checked the youth section for a few weeks but see my son has been active . G-Man, I'm excited to get out in the woods for your first archery elk hunt! With your mom having an archery bull tag and you having an archery cow tag, it should make for an exciting and memorable hunt. ....and....good shootin' on the bowfishing trip . After you get your turkey this weekend (gotta be optimistic!) we'll be freed up on weekends to go slay some more carp. Rest that shoulder up son, it's going to be a busy archery year! Dad

Wooohooo...couple of first timers here in the family. I got the big skunk-o but my wife drew her first archery bull tag and my son got his first archery cow tag. Both in 4B so they'll be huntin' together for the first time as well. This is going to be fun! Joe Kauffman

Thanks for the congrats all! As far as the posing goes, when I shot him he topped over the edge of the ridge so I backed off for about an hour before I went after him. He had only went 75 yards but from where I was standing I couldn't see that he was down for good so I waited to make sure I wasn't going to have a foot chase through that thick junk! He was just starting to stiffen up a bit around the neck and when I propped his body up with a few rocks his head just kinda fell into place like that which worked out perfectly. As long as this rain doesn't continue into the morning, my wife and I are heading back out tomorrow to try her luck again. She got her first shot a few days ago but missed about an inch over his back. Now that she has felt the excitement of an archery shot, I know she'll be able to calm herself down for a clean steady kill this time .

This year my wife and I drew archery javelina tags in an area where we have had a lot of success in for several years and we've been very anxious to hit the hills together in hopes of getting her first archery big game animal. We spent the first few days of January near Spokane Washington where we enjoyed a great pheasant hunt and I was finally able to hit the hills yesterday morning to try my luck for a few hours. I arrived at our usual location right at daylight and was glassing several ridges & draws where we usually see plenty of game when I spotted two javelina walking the hillside adjacent to me. Unfortunately these two had plans other than feeding and after an hour of tracking them I was only able to get within 125 yards of them before they disappeared into the thick Manzanita that covers most of this area. I decided to make a loop around a nearby mountain before heading back to the truck to check out another spot that had also produced for us in the past when I spotted three grey bodies moving through the brush. A quick look through the binoculars showed me two does and one smaller 2x3 Mule deer feeding their way up a slope about 150 yards in front of me. This guy wasn't quite worth filling my tag for the year so I continued my treck back to the truck and drove a short distance to my other favorite glassing spot in hopes of spotting a few more javelina before the sun got too high in the sky. After about 45 minutes of glassing at the second location I spotted a small buck walking up out of a draw 200 yards to my left. Again I thought about my season ending early and decided just to watch him for a bit. Shortly after he was fully exposed and started onto a grassy flat I saw another buck come out of the same draw....followed by 4 more! A total of 5 bucks were now carelessly feeding and I was frantically glassing from one to another until I reached the largest buck of the bunch in the rear of the herd. Now this was definately an archery buck worth ending my deer season early for! I decided to try and make a stalk to see if I could close the gap to under 50 yards where I knew if I had time for a careful shot I could make a clean hit. My biggest problem was the lack of cover with only a few small Manzanita and sticker brush on the ridge between us. Luckily they were feeding away from me so I would have to take every opportunity I had to move quickly while their heads were tucked down in the grass. I did this walk, crouch & stop tactic for about an hour until they all topped over a ridge and just out of site roughly 100 yards away. I took this opportunity to move up the ridge as quickly and quietly as possible hoping they stopped on top which would hopefully put me under 50 yards of them. Once I reached the crest of the ridge I slowly stood up and saw his rack sticking up above a bush 40 yards in front of me. I crouched back down, came to full draw with my bow and stood to full height. He was quartering away from me looking in the other direction which gave me plenty of time to take my mark and squeeze the arrow off. It found its' mark at the back of his ribcage and I knew I'd made a nice clean shot. He barely made it 75 yards when he toppled over and expired for good. Not exactly the species I was after but a definate trophy and a memorable hunt I will never forget. 2 hours later (and many text messages to my son & wife ) I was back at the truck and heading home. Needless to say my wife is now itching to get back out this weekend for her chance at a javelina and deer before the hunt ends later this month. Joe Kauffman

I'll write Part 2 of the story when my brother (Haywire) finishes up Part 1 but here's some pics of my Cactus Buck from last weekend. Joe Kauffman

Sorry guys, I've been away on my sons Coues hunt for the past few days. My brother and I glassed this buck up bedded down at around 2pm on the second day. We knew there were some larger bucks in the area because of some experiences my brother had during this years archery season . When we first spotted Mr. Second Chance, he was just over 400 yards and I knew we had plenty of time to close the gap a bit since we had a firm view of where he was and the fact that he was bedded down facing the opposite direction. It took us almost an hour to hike the canyon in between us and get up on the downwind side of him where I knew I'd be close enough for a quality shot. I made my way down the ridge, peering around each Cedar until I finally caught eye of him bedded. After a quick hit with the range finder, I setup for a 223 yard shot. My brother kindly offered his Swarovski glasses that were mounted on his tripod as a rest since it was already setup and I gladly excepted. My brother hit record on the video as I setup and with one squeeze of the trigger we had a big buck down! After some high fives (several actually ) we made our way down to him and talked along the way about the possibilities of him being one of the Cactus Bucks we've heard so much about. After a quick peek between the hind legs, we found that this was definately the case. During field dressing I found that all the poor old man had left was a couple kidney bean sided man hoods which most likely caused him to be in full velvet and also caused the neat kickers he has coming off the back of both sides. There's a bit more extremely unsual parts to this story and hopefully I'll get Richard to post it up in the next day or so....but let's just say it's not the first time he's been close to one of the Kauffman boys . Joe

Great buck! Congrats Tanner!

Stanley, Keep an eye out for a tan F-250 with cw.com in the window . I'll be down there this weekend as well with my 12 year old. He's the only one with a tag left this year so I hope we end it on a good note Joe Kauffman

Hey Pat! Good seeing you on here and congrats on another tag! Those pics remind me of my kids when they were holding on to my belt loops while out beating the brush on scouting trips. It's an awesome feeling when they finally turn 10 (seems like it takes forever!) and can experience the full adventure. Good luck on your hunt, what unit did you draw? Garrett drew the juniors cow in 4A and he is pumped! Joe

WELL SAID!!

I see both sides of the coin, but having an 11 year old boy who will hunt anything at the drop of the hat, I am of course favoring any youth opportunities we can get. I've had the same conversation with several others (being for and against the over the counter youth turkey tags) and one interesting idea came from one of them. My wife drew a turkey tag this Spring that starts this Friday and will be able to hunt side by side with my son for the first time. What about having youth tags available to those whos parents/guardians drew? If a middle ground needs to be found, this could be a viable option, but there could be arguments to this thought as well. Joe Kauffman

I've gotten through twice in the last hour so the fast beepin' doesn't mean anything. Keep tryin' and good luck!

My son was fortunate enough to draw a 20C juniors hunt this year and what a hunt it was. We've prospected and hunted this unit in the past and were both excited and confident about this being a fun and successful trip. With the truck loaded with 3 days worth of gear, we headed out Friday morning about 5am in order to get to our hunting spot before daylight. By 7:15 we were perched on a high ridge waiting for the sun to warm things up and glassing the slopes we could see for any signs of movement. By 7:30 the sun had began to cast long shadows on the sloping ridge 500 yards in front of us. I pulled up my binoculars to start weeding through the shadows and my eyes landed on 2 javelina feeding at the base of a Prickly Pear patch. I whispered to Garrett that we had pigs already and he couldn't hardly believe me until he had his binoculars focused on the herd that had quickly grown to 4 adults and 1 yearling. After another 10 minutes or so of glassing and planning our stalk we began the hike down the ridge. The slope where the javelina were feeding was relatively flat which made it nice for keeping an eye on the herd, but the massive amounts of small brush and Prickly Pear made for an interesting stalk. I let Garrett lead the way for most of the stalk, adding guidance to his path and explaining the essential things in stalking game such as keeping the wind in your face & anticipating their next move. But as with any big game hunting, even preparing for everything isn't always enough. About 15 minutes into the stalk we just about blew the whole operation when I realized that the yearling that we had lost site of had broken away from the herd and now stood 30 yards in front of our path. Another couple of steps or one loud rock kick or twig snap and she no doubt would have spooked and alarmed the rest of the herd. We both knelt down quietly laughing to ourselves while getting some good video footage of the young javelina tearing apart a Prickly Pear cactus. After 10 minutes or so the youngster began to move back towards the herd which allowed us to continue on with the stalk. Picking our way through the thickets, we finally were within 150 yards of several good sized javelina. We decided that the fun in this challenge would be to try and continue on to close the gap to less than 80 yards where he would then take the shot. Garrett understood that this could mean blowing the whole operation, but the fun and excitement of the actual hunt was what he wanted and knew that getting a shot at one was just a bonus. We continued the stalk until we were roughly 75 yards from 2 javelina that were broadside feeding on the roots of some small brush. He whispered that he wanted the one on the left because of it's great salt & pepper coloring and the dominant collar it had. I told him the choice was up to him and to go ahead and take the shot when he was ready. Luckily I was able to get the camera on REC (even though the excitement had me shaking like a leaf) and was able to get the shot & recovery on film. He made an excellent heart shot & with one last burst of energy the javelina lunged about 10 yards into a thicket and expired. Here's a few shots of the proud hunter with his latest trophy. Joe Kauffman Thanks again for the memories bud! You've quickly grown into a hunter that will become a mentor for many youth in the future. Dad

Sorry about the shakiness from excited old Dad. But here's a quick video clip.

Jason, I have to agree with TJ...that picture is priceless and should be framed & put on the mantle. From the looks of the rest of the pictures I'd say the hunt was a huge success and a great bonding experience for the whole family. Congrats on a great hunt and tell Nicholas good luck!

We didn't get a chance to stop by the juniors camp this year. We were hunting quite a ways from there and Garrett was pretty anxious to get home & show Mom and Sister. Quit huntin' after the gutting? Heck no..He's very adimant about doing everything himself (still needs some guidance up inside so he doesn't end up wacking off a finger). Heck, I almost took it personal when he skinned it by himself . He finally let his Sister help when he hit the neck area.

Way to go Nephew! Great strategy and planning Rich....being able to plan and adapt on the fly like that can make all the difference.

Congrats Jakob & Bret! Great hunt and an awesome video to boot! Kind of embarrassed to post my video now .

Hunthis, Add myself +2 to the list of cleanup volunteers. Whether in the Spring or like MidLifeHntr said, and organized cleanup on your own, I'll help donate bags and trailer needs. Joe Kauffman