mattys281

The most impressive thing about this thread to me is the uncanny ability of some to draw bull elk and antelope tags, while I seem to only be able to pull bonus points. Yes, I'm jealous! Thank god for otc deer tags.

I've never really hunted them, but every August I always end up with them meandering around right below me in my climber. I'd consider using a light weight portable climber. I don't think you can find a better advantage than being above those sharp eyed turkeys, regardless of what weapon you use. Besides, with a little practice you'll be able to climb a tree pretty much just as fast as you can set up a pop-up blind.

Bear spray should be a part of your kit too. After I called a black bear in right up my bum a few years ago in the White Mountains, I always make it a point to carry bear spray with me. It's light weight and the cans have a range of 10 yards or so. That bear made a mistake and snapped a twig at about 30 yards right behind me. Had he not been so clumsy there could have been a very fat happy bear that summer and one less cwt member today. Note to self: It may seem like a good idea to try calf calling cow elk in for pictures during the summer time, but during the month of June bears are hitting calfs & deer fawns pretty hard....

Robin hoods are pretty cool! They get expensive though after a couple times... After my 3rd one I quit shooting groups at less than 40 yards, but then I did another at 40.

I could give a very long list of hunting styles that dont suit my personal taste, but thats the key isn't it? They dont suit me personally. That makes them neither good, bad, ethical, unethical, kosher, dogmatic or whatever other label people like to use. It just means I prefer a different method. One thing I'm sure of is that theres already plenty of rules, and I dont believe we need more of them. I think radios are legal and should stay that way. If you dont like it then don't use them. Same with cameras, climbers, heat seeking rage broadheads, 100x nightforce scopes complete with a tp roll holder and magazine rack, etc.

Dang shame to lose the good ones. Im sorry for your family's loss, it sounds like a real blessing just to have known him.

One of the guys I work with used to have one just like that. Maybe +/- a year. Had about a million miles on it and still a good running car. This seems like a great deal with that low of miles on it.

One of the best things about raising kids in the 21st century has to be that you literally always have a camera right in your pocket, so you dont miss stuff like this: sunday morning breakfast of pancakes and yogurt:

My thoughts exactly. Check the classifieds on at and look on ebay. Also dont be shy about posting a 'want to buy' ad on AT. Id be surprised if someone didn't come forward with a reasonably priced offering.

For me it was pretty simple and rather unglamorous: single mom with limited patience, four boys that liked to fight about.... well.... anything, and a ton of open undeveloped land behind our house that was loaded with rattlesnakes, rabbits and a handful of mule deer.We would get exiled from the house and entertained ourselves by making spears out of pvc pipe and crappy hand made bows trying to kill rabbits. Never did get it done, but we were the terror of neighborhood birds a couple years later when equipped with bb guns. When my family moved to az a few years later I moved up to chasing and not killing bigger game with a bow. Out of the four of us im the only one it really stuck with, but it stuck for good. Now I hope I can infect at least one of my kids with the same love of open spaces and the nagging desire to always see whats over that next ridge.

I dont use them myself but have known some guys who spot and stalked with the aid of a spotter and radios. The guys I knew still weren't exactly having an easy time at it, so can't really blame them for trying to figure out a way to be successful. After all, theres an entire hunting industry built around selling stuff thats supposed to make it easier to kill stuff, so why are radios taboo?

My wife wanted me to clarify that the penguin jammies are not included in the sale. My daughter photo bombed me!

These hunts have absolutely nothing to do with family friend s or good times. The motivation is the same as the competition between all the billionaires on the list of the 50 richest people: every one of them has more than they could spend in 100 lifetimes, but they're still trying to gain enough to top the list. Its great that wildlife conservation will benefit, but dont blow smoke up your own tush. These guys that buy these tags are only motivated by the record book entry and their own egos. But its their money so they can buy anything they want with it. They could by valentino Rossi's Yamaha at the end of the year too, but it doesnt make them a moto gp champion, they're just the guy who spent a bunch of money on an expensive motorcycle.

This is what you're looking for right? I dont know if they make other models or not. Brand new foam in it.

Good call! I can't believe I forgot reavis. Thats also a great hike for an overnighter, better than Barnhart.

Congrats sneaker! Thats an awesome bull. Gonna look great on the wall.

Barnhart trail in the mazatzal is nice. Mother of a hike in because its all uphill, but real nice coming back down. Theres a nice camping spot under a big umbrella-ish juniper right where the Barnhart meets the mazatzal divide trail, a little ways down the divide trail. Its pretty high up there, it'll be cool, but not Falstaff cool. I think its about 8 miles to the intersection.

Having had a couple cameras kindly removed by the overly ethical, I now go through great effort to make mine difficult to find. They can neither mark territory nor offend the delicate little flowers out wandering the woods (copy of regs in hand no doubt) if they're never seen to begin with.

Guess I'll add ethics to the list with politics and religion to not discuss after the dinner table. I think grey ghost raises some excellent points. Its just my observation, but the most 'ethical' hunters I've known always seem to be the ones holding the empty tag and griping about how others 'cheated' in some way or another. Incidentally, I used to be one of the worst about that. All kinds of ethics against technology, cameras, guides, you name it. Had a buddy call me out on it while shooting one day. Him: "so how many deer you killed anyway?" me: "...... none yet...." him: "its hard enough, why do you want to make it so much tougher on yourself?" me: ......... (no good answer) I bought a rangefinder, starting shooting my bow at 'rifle range' (anything over 40 yards), started playing with cameras the prime benefit of which is it gets my butt out scouting and hiking more. Wouldnt you know it, I eased up on my ethics a little and now, looking back over the last 10 years or so I've killed a handful of deer and honestly can't remember the last year I didn't have at least a couple shot opportunities. Anyhow.... you all can have your ethics, the only question I have is legal or not legal?

Happy b-day! I hope you find some naughty little thing to give you your spankings. If you happen to be in the area of Priest & Baseline, I can make a couple suggestions on where to go for that...

I have a brand new one I can get rid of. No packaging, but its never had an arrow in it.

It sure helps with the backpacking trips, not to mention if you're lucky enough to drop one. The last two deer I hauled out took me 3 trips total to get the deer & the gear back to the jeep. Thank god I was only a mile away from the jeep, but still turned into 6 miles of back & forth, up & down, over deadfalls rocks & crap at 8500 feet to get them into the cooler. I'm not in the greatest of shape, but I was thankful that I wasn't toting an extra 20 lbs on my rear. Almost forgot this guy too: 1-1/2 hours in with a 20lb. pack, 3-1/2 hours out with an 80 lber. I was a jogging beast at that point and it paid off.

I always blood trail too for the practice. I also practice shooting at longer (archery long) ranges just in case, even though I dont want to shoot past a certain distance. I dont limit my range for any reason other than for me the challenge is in getting close.

I've always felt like the ethical/unethical argument is pretty stupid. There's no fixed limit, it all depends on a persons skill level and their assessment of the current situation & conditions. I've never killed anything with a rifle, but my last couple bow kills were 30-35 yards and the deer had no idea I was there. Surprise! WHACK! If you can shoot accurately at 1000, then blaze away. I'd like to develop that skill myself, maybe during retirement....

Here's some Bear Wallow turkeys, up on the rim around the wilderness area. I only hunted there for two days this last August, but both days I had two different flocks move up the hill past me. This is the smaller, at around 14 birds and the other had over 20. Hard to get a real definitive count the way they meandered around, but still pretty good size. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR2IYTp9lgo