scoutm

Rick - Thanks again! The food was outstanding! I can't wait for more.

Awsome!! Great Pics presented very nicely. Thanks for sharing.

I've fished the black many times. My experience was the ten of diamonds area was the transition zone down stream small mouth upstream trout. Small crawdad patterns killed on small mouth. Ten of diamonds can get big crowds in June and July. Another great trip is between wildcat crossing up to buffalo crossing. We would hide a bike at buffalo crossing drive to wildcat and fish our way up stream and camp along the way - we would take 3 days to do the trip. We always did the trip in during the last two weeks of May. Both trips are great.

Ok Casey enough with the head shots - they are getting a little old. Good looking pup you have there but what happened with the pointer you were thinking of? Oh yea, thanks for taking out another fawn killer.

Great first post...I look forward to future posts.

Sorry to hear about your loss. Never an easy thing but as they say time heals all...

Dream Hunt: With friends in beautiful country with lots of game with perfect weather conditions with no presure/interference from other hunters, illegals or just plain Jackarses I don't really care about the species although Dall Sheep would be pretty cool.

Chris - that sucks! I as hoping to see pics of a deer you were able to take. Larry

Doesn't look like we are going to need to review the flows down here in southern AZ. Looks like all the big rain/snow is passing to our north. I just read a revised forcast and it looks like they are expecting less than a half an inch now. Far less then the 2"-4" forcasted earlier. Unfortunately, doesn't look like too many tanks down here will be filling up from this round of storms.

Phil - sorry to hear you didn't tag a deer. Hopefully you can find time for at least a quick trip - either way still sounded like a great hunt. Larry

If it's Feb 20th I'm good to go.

Sounds like he was saying thank you there at the end - you could really see the joy on his face and in the sound of his voice. Thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed that.

Happy Birthday my friend. Make sure Rica's gift for you is exactly what you want.

As with any December Whitetail hunt anticipation, excitement and expectations were all running high. Unfortunately, that means the disappointment can run pretty deep when the expectations are not fulfilled. In total, I spent 22 days in the unit with different CW.comer’s scouting, helping others with their hunts and hunting. We have hunted this unit in the past with good results prior to last year’s hunt when we picked up leftover early November tags. We had a total of five tags to fill that year – three with experienced hunters and two with casual hunters. Disappointedly, all 5 tags were left unfilled. After drawing a pair of the coveted December Tags for this same unit, Sundevil and I were determined not to have a repeat of last year’s dismal results so multiple scouting trips were put on our calendars and the research began. We decided to focus most of our efforts on new areas to try to improve upon last years results. Our scouting trips exceeded our expectations with multiple areas producing high deer numbers and several good bucks. Opening weekend of the October hunt Sundevil and I made a quick trip to the unit to see how much pressure there was, where that pressure was and what kind of success was being had. As anticipated, there were hunters everywhere. We saw one nice deer hanging and received several reports of really good deer hitting the dirt. I must admit, hearing of all the success disappointed me a bit as I knew it would impact the quality of our December hunt. Between the October hunt and the first November hunt, I made a quick day trip down to our unit to check out one last canyon before joining Red Rabbit, Firstcoueswas80 and Scottyboy on their early November hunt. The trip proved to be very fruitful – the canyon held a very high concentration of bucks. The early November hunt was extremely hot but everyone made the most of it. Red Rabbit and I went up into the canyon I scouted the week before and almost immediately located a few bucks. One of which we felt deserved a closer look. As luck would have it, we were unable to get on the deer before it moved over the ridge to be taken by a fellow CW.comer – Shortpants (We believe – we aren’t 100% positive but we are fairly sure). Having seen lots of deer and a number of bucks Red Rabbit, Firstcoues and I decided to head back into the canyon the next morning. Not 5 minutes into glassing (we arrived a little later than desired) I located what appeared to be a good buck so I pulled out my spotting scope and was pleasantly surprised to see a really nice 4x4. Red Rabbit and Firstcoues both took a quick look at him and after Red Rabbit asked if I wanted to save the buck for my hunt the two of them were on their way after him. Again luck was not on our side and we were unable to get him down. With the holidays upon us, the scouting efforts were at an end. I felt pretty good about that as we had located several new areas and had seen many nice deer. In addition, we also had our old tried and true locations. I was certain we would not have a repeat of last year’s results. Finally our hunt arrived. We left Thursday to scout one last canyon before deciding where we would be opening day. Having not seen any deer in the canyon our decision was made and we were off to track down the 4x4 that eluded Red Rabbit and Firstcoues in November. An hour before sunrise we arrived at our trailhead only to be disappointed by the site of another vehicle parked there. Sundevil, Blackdog and I all piled out of the truck and SunDevil quickly spotted someone hiking up the side of the mountain. We were relieved as he was heading in a different direction than where we wanted to go. We, therefore, felt we could comfortably stick with our original plan. We arrived at our low glassing spot 10 minutes before glassing light. We took the extra time to get comfortable and setup to glass. Within minutes of starting to glass, we start locating deer. At around 9:30 A.M., much to our dismay, a hunter stands up and becomes visible to us on a hill about 500 yards ahead of us. As that was our intended next stop, we had to rethink what to do next. Surveying the area we decided to relocate to another glassing point further south that gave us a look over another canyon and stock tank that held water. This point also still gave us a view into the canyon which was our original destination. As the morning progressed we continued to glass up a number of deer but no bucks. Around 10:30 I take a look back into our desired canyon to see if the other hunters were still present when I see a buck. Being so far out I couldn’t make out how good it was but either way it didn’t really matter as the other hunters were still in the canyon. I turned around putting the buck out of my mind and continued to glass. Just before lunch we all hear a shot behind us back up in the canyon that held the other hunters. Naturally, we turned around to see if we could see anything but we could not. Periodically, Blackdog was looking back in the canyon to see if he could see them packing a deer and was surprised to be greeted with the view of the other hunter’s middle finger. We have no idea what that was about and didn’t much care so we returned to our glassing. With the canyon now void of other hunters and with the hope of relocating the buck I had seen earlier that morning, we decided to head into it for the evening glass. Around four in the afternoon I relocate the buck - he’s a really wide 3x3. Unfortunately, he did not provide enough time to evaluate him before heading to thick cover to re-bed. My snap reaction was to pass on the buck as I really wanted to relocate the 4x4. At around 5:10 the wide 3x decided to show him self again. I quickly put the spotting scope on him and decided I would pass. SunDevil took a hard look at him through the scope but before deciding what he wanted to do the buck quickly checked a nearby doe and then headed deep into the canyon. Being late there was no time to make a move on him. The next morning we decided to see if we could relocate the wide buck but were once again greeted by the hunter that should us he knew how to count to one with the aid of his middle finger (there’s more to this story but don’t want to get into it) so we decided to move to a different location. The new location only produced a few does. While back to camp for lunch, a bow hunter pulled in to say hello and see how the hunting had been. Through our conversation we found that our visitor was also a CW.comer – Motoxno53. Already feeling frustrated by the events (not detailed here) of the last two days I was about to be delivered another disappointing blow when Motoxno53 revealed that the 4x4 I was searching for had been killed by his buddy at the end of the late November hunt. After another two days of glassing does and spikes, having work and family obligations, Sundevil and I were forced to return to town for a few days so camp was packed and we hit the road.. The only positives to our first four days out in the field was meeting Motox and getting to see field photos of the 4x4. Ready to erase the events of the first trip down, we were eager to get back to our unit for 4 more days before the Christmas holiday. These four days were again highlighted by hunters on nearly every hill and tons of does, fawns and spike bucks. We just couldn’t seem to locate any bucks with forked horns so again disappointed and frustrated we packed up and headed home for Christmas. Christmas with the family was a pleasure but with several stories being posted of success and pre-rut activity, I couldn’t help but be anxious to get back out in the field. Feeling confident that when we returned to the field our luck would change, we made final preparations. We made a few calls to friends, reviewed more maps and finally settled on a location to start our final few days in the field. Back in the field for our last chance trip, we returned to an area that fit the criteria that should have offered a high chance of success. On one of the less than ideal days of our previous trip we found an area that did not appear to be pressured and held many does. On that trip, in one afternoon, with high winds, we located over 40 does in just a few hours. Having been frequitly told, "in December find the does and the bucks will appear", I was extremely confident this area would produce for us. I was wrong. The does were still present but not a single buck. Dumbfounded and disappointed we moved to a different location. The remainder of the trip was much of the same - Hunters, does, wind and no bucks. As the sun set on the last hour of the last day all hopes of filling our tags faded and all I could think about was returning home to spend the ringing in of the New Year with family and friends. So, we packed up for the long drive home empty handed. Reflecting back on this hunt, I’m a bit surprised at the level of disappointment I’m feeling. We saw more than 400 different deer in 11 days in the field and not more than 10 of them had forked antlers and not more than 3 of those were 3x3s. A far different experience from what we saw in our scouting and on the November hunt. So, for the second year in a row in same unit its tag soup for me and tag sandwich for SunDevil. It was great to see and meet so many CW.comers in the field and thanks to all that provided information, help and support on our hunt. Come on 2010 season the Soup and Sandwich tastes like….

Was treated to a nice view of the fire - the picture could have been taken from my back porch. If we don't get rain soon we can look foward to a lot of these this spring. What happened to El Nino and a wet winter? http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=11781643

Thanks Simon. Ya, it sucks that some guys feel it necessary to mess with others.

I would guess that if you make the assumption that 50% of the fawns are bucks the ratio you stated is pretty close to what we saw. We just weren't able to locate the bucks of the higher age class. I'm certain they were there they just weren't out during glassing light. I think the continued pressure of the restructured hunts and then the bad lunar phase of the last week had them down.

+1 for sure.

In my hunting and scouting I found two bucks killed by lions both looked to be killed in the last year. One was a nice 3x3 and the other was a spike buck with some trash. The spike with trash is really cool looking. I'll post some pics of it when I get a chance.

I think most of my disappointment stems from two very negative encoutners with a guy I hesitate to include in the fraternity of hunters and a tremendous amount of trash everywhere you went. Add to that the impact the "alternative management" is having on what should be a quality hunt the overall hunting experience has greatly diminished from when I had this tag last. Going home empty handed is the least of it. All that does is get me more pumped to get back out next year.

Just like you that dang unlucky bean residue is still around. I'm thinking of burning my hunting clothes and starting fresh.

Nice Job Ernesto. Good way to start the new year.

Congrats on a great buck!

My 270 WSM didn't like the 110 TTSX too much but it doesn't like much of anything. My 270 win loves them. Shooting 3300 FT/Sec and Sub MOA.

mullie or coues? Coues.