ScottAdams

I drew a 31 Spring hunt several years ago and actually called in what was without a doubt the most beautiful cinnamon red bear I've ever seen, looked like a huge ball a fur. I was using a Johnny Stewart fawn distress tape and shot him from across the canyon. Unfortunately my shot wasn't quite on the mark and I wounded and lost that beautiful bear. Spring hunting can be tough and I personally don't put in for those hunts. The area I shot that bear in 31 was in Deadman's Canyon. I do have a friend that knows where a bear is denned up in unit 27. I don't know if that will do any good or not. I suppose if the bear's not out yet one could prod him with a long sharp stick and run like the devil whilst his partner waylays him from ambush Scott

I'll second that. Never trust the mechanical safety, it could save you some heartaches...some serious ones. Scott

Good Heavens!! I'm gonna have to take up archery hunting!! What a brute!!! Tell that man congratulations. He is a beauty...the buck I mean. Scott

I found Coke Ovens on the North Butte 7.5 minute quadrangle map. Aprox.: 12 04 84 547E 36 62 720N These Coordinates are UTM, NAD27 The area you are looking for may be just north and east of their where I show a Red Mountain mine, in which case it could be on the Mineral MT topo. Hope this was what you were looking for. Scott

Great buck Mike and fantastic story to go with it. Scott

Ernesto, that is a sad story. Would you believe the same thing happened on my son's junior hunt this year. His gun was the new Winchester Super Shadow in the 270 wsm. We never did figure out what happened. It works perfectly now. I would have taken the gun back but we had done some trigger work to it. It wasn't anything that we could see and it just started working properly again. We did take it apart, checked it out and made some adjustments. My son learned why you always keep a firearm pointed in a safe direction. Scott

I have to respectfully disagree with hunteraz. I use quads in almost all my hunting. I don't take total offroad cross country rides or anything like that. I use them for what they were intended for...transportation. There are a lot of rough 4 wheel drive roads where I hunt so instead of beating the crap out of my 40+ thousand dollar duramax, I use the ATV's to get me there and then start my hike. It's as simple as that. Anyone that has ever hunted with me knows I'm not a lazy hunter and I sometimes hike in miles from my atv. My quad was made for rough nasty roads and costs a fraction of what my truck does to own and operate. I save the wear and tear on my high dollar truck. There is a huge place in hunting for ATV's. Don't throw me in with those that abuse them. Scott

I don't remember Tim. I'll go back and look or better yet I'll just email you. Scott

Good job Tim!! Very nice buck. Great photos too! Scott

I sent you the info in a personal message. Scott

What a unique buck!! Way to go. Thanks for posting them. Is that ole Shane I see in that one photo? Scott

Man I love big bears!!!

Wow, great story Johnnie!! That's what it's all about. It's nice to relive a hunt like that, especially a successful one. Thanks for the sharing your success with us. Scott

What a MONSTER!!! I'm jealous too Amanda. Great deer Matt!! Fantastic photos too Matt, I love the before and after. Scott

Let me see what I can do for ya. Scott

Yep I know 'em. We're the same age, both are pretty good hunters.

I?ve been out the last couple of days with Ralph Harris and his friend Patrick. Patrick has a tag for 27/28. Yesterday was a good one. We glassed up 22 does and 5 bucks. 1 of those bucks looked really good, however we spotted him with the 30?s from 2 ? miles out, so we weren?t sure how good. He could have been 90 or he could have 115, we just didn?t know. So we head over to where we bedded him down and wouldn?t you know it, he was gone. We hunted him until dark and never located him. We also saw an 80ish 3 point that had his nose to the ground hot after two does. Here?s a photo of 1 of 3 spikes we saw. Today we saw 5 bucks and 12 does. Right off this morning we picked up a monster Coues buck. He was coming down a ridge following a doe. It looked like if we hurried we could get on him. We made our way across a canyon and up a ridge. We quickly found 2 small bucks but not the big?un. Oh it was cold this morning, 13 degrees. We were dying up on the ridge trying to find that big rascal. Soon we located a doe and shortly thereafter the Muy Grande. There were 2 other bucks vying for the affection of the doe and the big?un didn?t like it, he postured and chased to keep the other bucks away from his fickle doe. It wasn?t too long into the morning before he and she had had enough and they both bedded. We sent Patrick in for the kill while I snapped some photos of this monster. Here he?s peeing on the does bed. Taking a much-needed nap. Notice the palmation on the right antler. A very nice 3x4, with 5 inch eye guards and a gross score of over 110. Scott

Ok, ok, ok Lark. One Peein goat comin up!! You happy now????

Wow Mike what a post! I think we all have a lot to offer each other and this forum that Amanda has put together is second to none. I met Craig Holmes (300 wsm) through this site and we are now the best of friends and hunting buddies. Like Mike I just can't say enough good about this site. Thanks Amanda, for bringing us all together. Scott

Boy Josh I'm glad you thought he looked bigger too. I was feeling kind of bad. When Craig dropped him I told Craig that I thought he had just killed a 100 inch buck. I definitely thought he would go higher than 92. I just went through my numbers and again and everything checked out. It certainly doesn't detract at all from a really nice buck, and I don't know many people... make that any people that would have passed him up. I just wish I could get a little better on my field judging. The Hike out. He doesn't look quite so big here. Thanks for the compliment on the post. That digiscoping is a lot of fun, and you're right, the photos are the next best thing to actually harvesting the animal. About that wind. It had been in our faces for a while and then slowly shifted around on us. The change was so subtle the we hadn't even realized it until the buck spooked and we started trying to find out why, we then realized it was blowing right up our backsides!! What luck. Man, what a great year to have a tag!! I'm ready for more!!!! How bout you? Scott

I was wondering where you and your buddy were. I never did see you after I talked to you. I thought maybe the rain had run you off, it nearly did us. Yes, Craig made a fatal hit on the first shot but when the buck didn't immediately go down he put a couple more rounds in his direction. He only went about 30 yards before expiring when Craig put another round in his boiler room, so we didn't have to track him in the rain. I think Craig is still on top of the world. Unfortunately Bret you probably missed the best hunting during the cold spell right before Christmas. There was a lot of rutting activity with rut crazed bucks chasing does everywhere we looked. I only wished the hunting had been this good last year. I saw at least 3 bucks this year that were bigger than anything I ever saw last year. Oh well, like you said, there's next year. Scott

I know Ron Gerdes. He's now retired from Phelps Dodge and lives in Sierra Vista. His son still works for Phelps Dodge here in Morenci. Let me know what you would like i.e. phone number, email. By the way Ron is a great whitetail hunter. Scott

Go get'em Tommy!!

Very nice Becker. Scott

Way to go Recurveman. Sometimes you just never know. Congratulations on a very nice buck. Like Tommy said, "Now you've got the fever!". Scott