Yuma Outdoorsman

I put together a little video of me bass fishing Mittry Lake down here around Yuma from a few days ago. I caught one flipping and the rest on top water. The frog bite is picking up and I hope to get some more footage soon. Hope you enjoy!

The deer in the desert where I'm at look really healthy. Antler growth hasn't been any better than in the last few years though. The desert is really green though with some areas looking like a jungle. Should make for a good year. Here is a picture of a decent buck I got on a camera recently.

Got this buck on camera and quite a few others as well. He isn't the biggest I've seen at this location but got my blood pumping with a little over a month left till opening day. http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i73/tshaddy16/th_PRMS0152_zpsv56y4zzo.mp4

Checked my camera yesterday and in 4 nights I got some good pictures. Pretty crazy to see how much these deer have grown in just under a month.

Unfortunately these deer are in an area closed to hunting right now.

Just curious to see some fish people have caught around the state or even the country. I fish mainly at Mittry Lake or Martinez/Fisher's Landing for bass down here in the Yuma area and here are a few fish I have caught this year. Please feel free to post up some pic's of fish you have caught this year.

Set my camera up for 4 nights on a waterhole in the desert and got over 2200 pics of deer. About 90% of the photos I got were of bucks, granted a lot of them were smaller in size. Here are a few of the better ones I got. Curious to see what these racks look like in another month. They seem to be a little slow growing but I've never put up a camera this early to compare for past seasons. Thanks for looking. Just realized in the group photo that the first and last buck were the same one, oops.

Man I bet those made some great fish tacos!

Oz31p- sounds like she is being raised right! 👍 Coues Stew- those are some nice fish!

Try a wacky rigged senko or a drop shot rig if you can see the bass. Cast out ahead of the direction they are headed and usually they will hit those 2 baits right away. Good luck!

Thanks for the kind words. I've been extremely lucky and fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. Unfortunately the 10lb mark was never met but they were a blast to catch. The weights in order of the pics are 7.5, 9.49, 7.4, 6.1, 7.9, 5.10, and 6.8. That double digit mark is truly something special. There is no way I could repeat the luck I've had his year in years to come but I'm hoping so. Oz31p- very cool to be able to catch a variety of species and allow some kids to enjoy it as well. My father included us kids in almost all his adventures and I am very thankful for it. It's awesome to pass the passion of the outdoors on to the next generation. I just had a daughter of my own and look forward to those moments in the future! Anyone else have any pics? I know there has to be someone rippin up the flatties and stripers!

I have set a camera up on a fresh rub in the desert around here before for a week and never got a picture on the camera. Hopefully you have better results. I would think they would come back but not on my case...

I got this guy on camera a few years ago. What would you guess he would score? I've never seen scoring done on a bighorn and have never hunted them but would imagine this would be a shooter in most sheep hunters opinion. Thanks for looking.

Spotted this guy this past january with 30 minutes of light left on the last day of archery season. I couldn't close the gap in time to get a shot. I knew he was a good one but couldn't ever get a real clear view of him so I set up a trail camera on a waterhole in the area. I left it out for a week and ended up getting 20+ photos of him. This one (cropped a bit) was my favorite of them all.

Really appreciate all the opinions on this ram. Also have enjoyed the tips on what guys look for when guessing scores.

Thanks for the replies and words of advice on how to judge a score on bighorn. I appreciate the information. Cool to see different opinions.

Another good shot!

Try to fix this post haha didn't realize I put all my photobucket stuff up for everyone to see. Anyways, nice bucks I got down in the desert over the weekend on camera.

Couple more.

Last year I was able to get a buck opening day. We usually are headed out before sunrise but last year my fiance' wanted to go hunt with me so we got up and hung out in camp with the rest of my family and made a quick breakfast. We left camp around 7:30. I did not plan on hunting too hard opening day. She wanted to ride in the jeep and get a feel for things a bit. We putted around different roads trying to catch fresh tracks coming across. We checked a couple waterholes and never really saw anything too intriguing. She had been suffering from a bad cold and scratchy throat and around 11, she said she wanted to go back to camp to grab something to eat and take some medicine. Well we hung out until about 1 and I tell her I want to go check another waterhole. She decides she wants to go but asks, "why don't we wait till later, there won't be any deer moving around at 1 in the afternoon will there?. I told her most likely there wouldn't be but I'd still like to check tracks and I might be able to cut some fresh ones to follow. Well we head off around 1:30 and head up to a waterhole. We are driving around BSing about different stuff and not 15 yards off the road, I spot 10 does, 2 spikes, and a couple fawns. I look at her and start laughing and say, "Well it sure looks like they are moving around," She gets excited to see those spikes and tells me I have to shoot one. Of course, I just laughed and said they needed about 3-4 more years before they would be shootable. We watched them for about 15 minutes. Of course, I'm looking ahead, behind, and past them looking for a shooter buck but don't see any while they are in view. She was happy and excited to see some deer and I tell her let's keep going. We drive another 50 yards and I look over to the same wash those does were in and bam, out walks this beautiful 4x4. We got a quick look at him and he starts bouncing and within seconds he is gone. I could not believe that we seen deer like this off a well used road but hey, things happen. I immediately pull over and tell her, "Sorry babe but I gotta go after this guy solo." She is ok with it and I park her under a shade tree right off the road. I get on his tracks and he was on it for a good half mile. I thought about giving up but decided to keep going another 100 yards and see if he slowed down. Well about the quitting time, I noticed his bouncing turned into trotting. I stayed on his tracks for another 1/4 mile and the trotting turns into a quick walk and it gradually slows down back to a normal walk. I had a good wind in my face and knew if I took my time, I had a good shot at catching up to him. There was a bend in the wash with a high bank on the east side. I decided to get up out of this wash and walk the bank and get good look down the wash. When I got up on top, I walked maybe 30 yards and spotted him beneath a tree, only 50 yards away, looking in the opposite direction of me. I put my gun up and dropped him on the first shot. I got on the radio and let my fiance' know I got the deer and she couldn't believe it. She later admitted she thought I had no chance at catching up to him just because of how quickly he disappeared. Needless to say, I was pretty stoked. My family heard us on the radio and came over to help us get him out. He isn't the biggest buck I have shot but it was a solid 4x4 and it was her first time being part of the hunt. Still can't believe how close these deer were to the road though. I guess it was just meant to be. Anyways, sorry for the long post. Hope you enjoy the photo.

Been lurking the site to kind of get the flow of things. I am a Yuma native and hunt mainly around this area. The reports on here are better than any site I've been part of so I hope to be adding some in the future. Here is a pic a took this morning out east of Yuma. I did not put in for this unit but for those who did, these will be nice to see come opening day!

This year we got a 2nd choice tag for the Kofas. The Cibolas (43/44A&B ) is always our first choice. Still am very excited to not only get drawn, but to hopefully get after some quality bucks the Kofas are known for.

Here is a better one of the biggest buck.

Thanks for the warm welcomes! These were actually mule deer exiting a cotton field about 80 yards out. I took this photo with my phone through my binoculars. The two better sized bucks were just inside their ears spread wise. I couldn't get them to provide a good straight on shot though. Sorry about that!