mattys281

My pack is an REI Mars pack which rings in at around 6 lbs. & holds over 5100 cu. in. of gear. It also has several lash points on the outside to tie bedrolls, tents, tripods, or whatever you don't want inside. Price is $200. Sleeping bag is an REI Kilo 0 degree mummy bag that weighs in around 2.5 lbs. This is a very warm bag, priced at $290. Tent is an REI Quarterdome, weighing in at about 3.5 lbs. & priced at $200. You could squeeze one person & all their gear into it, or 2 people (cramped) & the gear outside. I don't usually carry a tent, except in the winter. Getting out of the wind to do your cooking makes a big difference. As for other stuff, don't buy anything that runs off of propane. The 70% butane 30% propane fuel bottles are a fraction of the weight, as are the appliances that run off of them. You may have noticed a theme with my gear - it all begins with REI. Their stuff is very comparable to the top line gear & costs considerable less. Plus if you join thier co-op you get something like a 20% discount on one purchase once a year & they keep track of how much you spend during the year & give you a dividend at the end of the year that you can use to buy stuff. My $200 Mars pack cost me about $140 after tax by using my discount & divident on it. They'll also periodically do special sales where members only get discounts. They're located on the corner of Priest & Southern in Tempe, on the Southwest corner of the intersection. As for weight, I'd encourage you to stay under 60 lbs. at just about any cost. The best way to do that is to contact the FS before striking out & locate reliable water sources. Water is the heaviest thing in your pack & you don't want to carry anymore of it than necessary. Your shoulders & back will thank you for that. I'm in pretty good shape, running several times a week (distances between 2.5 & 10 miles at a crack) & for me, personally 50 lbs. is about my max. A 50-55 pound pack I can carry all day, a 65 pound pack will kill me in less than 10 miles. Good luck out there. Matt S.

I second that. Get into a spot where you can glass south & south eastern slopes right at sun up. Javelina aren't insulated very well like deer & elk, so they'll often feed up into the sunlight early in the a.m. & then bed down & bake for a while to chase off the chill of the night. It's not a sure-fire technique, but it's landed a couple for me. Matt S.

I'm not very good at judging inches, so I stick to a more simplistic scoring method that revolves around 2 criteria: Status: legal / not legal Size: youngster / nice one / monster I think you've found a legal monster. Fire away!

I agree with the others. Leave that tine missing and you've got an open door for the story about how you saw him sparring with another little bronze couesey & he broke it off. Great job, can't wait to see it done. Matt S.

I've only been doing it for about a year & a half or so, but I can tell you this already: go lite! I picked up an REI Kilo plus zerod degree bag that weighs in at about 2.5 lbs & an REI quarter dome tent that weighs just under 3.5 lbs. Cost about $500 for the two of them. If the weather is warm, I don't bother with a tent, but just carry a small tarp instead. Also, when it comes to hardware, buy all aluminum or titanium. Stay away from steel. Shedding ounces add up to pounds & every pound counts when you'll be climbing more than 500 ft per mile to get up to your campsite. I'd also suggest little tips like rolling your tent up with your sleeping pad & tying it together w/ a single piece of cord, instead of carrying the case that it comes in. Pack everything in stuff sacks or zip-lock bags (the gallon size ones hold a bunch) instead of trying to organize in tupperware or any other type of rigid container. Put your pack on over the heaviest coat that you plan on taking & adjust the straps to where they're comfortable, then cut them off so that you only have about 4-6 inches past the buckles & burn the ends so they don't unravel. Also, spend some time on the phone with the forrest service to locate reliable water before heading in. At almost 8 lbs./ gal. you're much better off to carry Chlorine tablets than water, which brings me to another point. Chlorine tablets kill both Girardia & crypto, where as iodine tablets do not kill the crypto spores. Some people prefer to carry a filtration pump, but with a pack full of other gear, I'll deal with the chlorine taste to avoid the extra weight & space. An extra pair of socks is worth the weight, after all, dry feet are happy feet. My pack, fully loaded w/ all the necessities including 2 gals. of water (my personal max), binos, tripod, a couple game calls, etc. weighs in around 50 lbs. Hunting packs are heavier than a pack loaded just for hiking. Optics are heavy & so are tripods. Accept it & deal with it. Dough (AZ P&Y) has extensive packing experience. Did I miss anything Doug? In closing, while you can get by with cheaper stuff, you'll find that if it's something you plan on doing lots of, over the long run you save yourself a lot of heart ache, not to mention muscle ache, to invest in good gear. If money's an issue, piece it together over a few years. The REI Polar Pod is an excellent bag too and it comes in at around $100, but it's more than a pound heavier than the Kilo +, which rings in at $290. Like wise, Black diamond makes a tent that is a pound lighter than the Quarter dome I bought, but it is $400 versus the $200 I paid, plus you have to seal the seams on it, where as I didn't have to on mine. Do some research, read lots of reviews on whatever you're interested in & test your gear right away so that if you're not happy with it you can return it. Matt S.

I wouldn't mind doing some backpacking in 32. Feel free to give me a shout & if you're interested we could do a short trip prior to that as a test run. I think that testing a hunting partner ahead of season is more important than testing gear up front. You don't want to be on your hunting trip when you discover the guy you're with can't keep up or haul his own gear. Matt S. Here's some shots from my Dec. trip. Didn't see many deer, but the scenery was there.

Great job guys! Javelina are definetely the Lord's gift to bowhunters. I can't wait for my ham hunt in Feb. Matt S.

Thanks alot everybody. I've only been on this site for about a year and a half, but it has really made a positive difference in my hunting. Everybody is so encouraging & positive, that this forum has really done a lot for my motivation. You guys have also gotten me to try things this last year that I probably wouldn't have had I not read all your posts, such as trail camming & baiting. I've seen the little counter thing that says we're the twenty-seventh ranked hunting site or whatever it is now, but that's crap. You guys are number one! Doug, I was glad to help you out. Anything to keep a guy hunting. I look forward to shooting some dart & tipping some cold ones. Christian, you'll see the skull as soon as I get it back next week, just let me know what days you'll be at the store over there. Nick, I owe you more than for just the help with the deer. This guy has pointed me to several spots out here around home that have proved productive & probably saved me years of scouting with his willingness to help. I also have to mention that my javelina a got last January was on a tip from him. When I moved out here to Superior two years ago I decided that I was going to reprioritize my life and focus on my family & my passions instead of spending the 60+ hour work weeks I was used to making other men rich. I've followed through on that decision & spent more time scouting & hunting during the last two years than I did in the ten before that. As a result, in less than a calendar year I've gotten two big game animals, tons of small game & countless memories. I've been truly blessed by this move and this site, and both are appreciated. Thanks again to everybody. Matt S.

Stalker: Most of these guys on here are coues killing machines, so I'd listen to any advice they have. As far as holding out for a bigger one, I'm a believer that a trophy is measured in effort, not inches, so if it seems to easy for you than do what you have to to make it more challenging. Be it waiting for a bigger deer or getting down out of your treestand & stalking, I believe that at the end of the day you'll have to sweat a little before you'll be satisfied with your trophy. That having been said, getting within bow range of any coues deer is an accomplishment. I've only had three shot opportunities at coues deer & managed to miss all of them, so I'd be happy to trade for one of your little guys. Matt S.

Great buck Jason. Congrats. Matt S.

Congrats on a great buck, Gary, and welcome to the site. I'll be holding out for a coues buck next January..... Matt S.

That's a great buck. Congrats! Matt S.

p.s. The taxedermist said that he thinks he might hit the 145 minimum for the Pope & Young book. I'm not one who cares a lot about numbers, but I have to admit that I'm excited about that possibility. Either way, I couldn't be happier with him!

This is long winded. I apologize, but I had more than one user give me some info on backcountry areas, so I figured that the entire story/explanation might be in order. I set two goals for myself going into this hunting season. Number one was that I wouldn’t eat tag soup. I’d get my deer this year, no matter what I had to do. The only requirements were that it had to be unguided & public land. The second goal was that I would pack in & do some wilderness hunting. The optimal scenario, obviously, would be to hit my first deer on a D-I-Y backpack hunt, but that’s not how things turned out. Opening weekend of the December hunt found me a few miles deep in the northern part of the Mazatzal wilderness glassing the breaks along the east fork of the Verde River. Do to a work schedule that had me working pretty much non-stop through October & November, I didn’t have time to scout the area, I was just going off of a couple calls to the forest service, an e-mail tip & some topo map scouting. It didn’t pan out. I spent four days glassing my butt off & never laid eyes on a single deer let alone a buck. The only deer I saw on that trip were the few does I kicked up while hiking up to a new glassing point. On the afternoon of the fourth day I decided to hump out & spend the last two days of my December hunt around my house in some area I new better. That worked out for me, as at 2:30 in the afternoon on my first day home I glassed up a small 4x4 muley bedded about 400 yards away down in a rocky canyon. He was in a bad spot to try & stalk, but I was hard up for some action at that point and went for it anyway. To make a long story short, a couple hours later I was standing over his empty bed with socks full of stickers & more than a couple cactus needles in my feet. The following day I glassed-up five or six does and than it was back to work after that. The following weekend found my in hot pursuit of a spike I glassed up at about 800 yards in the fringe area around the Superstition Wilderness Area. I closed to with in 200 yards of him & waited for him to bed, which he eventually did. However, like all youngsters, he was restless & was back on his feet less than ten minutes later. Eventually he bedded down again in a more comfortable spot & I watched him to make sure he was settled. After about twenty minutes, I figured it was safe to get moving, so I began to circle on him. Unfortunately, though, when I circled the knob I was glassing from & checked his status before dropping down the ridgeline to stay out of sight, I found him up & wandering around again. I hounded him for about two hours trying to inch my way in but ended up blowing it. Got busted by a couple does that he was trying to impress. I did manage to call those does to within 15 yards using a fawn bleater, but the spike didn’t follow & eventually the ladies got tired of the game & bolted out of there with him on their heals. The January hunt again found me in country I’d never seen before. My plan was to set up a base camp close to the trailhead & pack into the Galiuro WA for 3-4 days at a crack. Mother nature had other plans however, as when I got there on the first the wind was blowing so hard that it knocked down my tent & broke two of the support poles before I could get guy-lines on it to add some support. The thought of backpacking for days at a time & not having my air mattress & space heater to relax on back at base camp didn’t do anything for my morale. I decided to quit being a sissy-butt & tough it out, so I slept in the back seat of my Blazer that night & humped in the next morning. The wind was still blowing, however, to the extent that I couldn’t glass & was having a hard time even hiking. A couple gusts literally almost blew me over. The sixty pound pack loaded w/ food, water, tripod, scope, tent, etc. wasn’t helping my case any. I made it in about 5 miles or so and the country looked great, but I still wasn’t having any luck with the glassy. My binos were shaking like crazy on my crappy tripod & I couldn’t handle looking through ‘em, so I pushed further in. I started climbing but the area I was heading through was on a north face, so I ended up in snow that was pretty deep & hillsides that were thickly overgrown. Things may have gotten better further in, but after about a half hour of humping through snow & thick brush that I knew I couldn’t hunt, having no base camp to seek shelter in, and not really having a good idea about where in the heck I was going anyway, I did the first smart thing of the hunt & got the heck out of there. I was back to my truck by late afternoon & headed home. I hunted out of my house for the next few days & didn’t see much but a few does. On the 5th I took my GF & her boy out glassing with me in the afternoon & we glassed up our first lion. He dropped into a draw & I went for him, but ended up not finding him. I did find a muley doe on my way after the cat, though. The next day the storm blew in & it rained non-stop for two days in Superior. When ever it looked like it would let up, I’d hurry & get dressed to head out, but by the time I got my truck started the wind would pick up & the rain would start falling harder. On Monday, the 7th, I said screw it & drove out anyway. I headed to a glassing point that I’d seen some nice bucks from before, but the weather never let up. On the way in I jumped a couple really nice coues bucks, but couldn’t call them back. I blew on my fawn bleater & the bigger of the two turned & took a step towards me, but then his buddy fled & he followed. I backed out of there & planned on coming back the next day to try & pick them up, as the storm was supposed to break during the night. On the morning of the 8th I headed out right before day break & after a short drive & short hike I was set up & glassing. The weather was beautiful, no rain & almost no wind. I glassed all morning & didn’t see anything, so I decided to change spots & try my luck on the other side of the highway. I stopped at home on the way & had a good lunch & then got back to it. I’d planned on heading up high to look for coues deer, but a few miles in I drove past a forest service truck that was parked on the side of the road. The ranger just smiled & waved at me as I went past. About 50 yards up the road I found out what he was smiling about. The road was washed out. I wasn’t going any further, so I turned around & parked it right there off the side of the road. I spent the next 2 or 3 hours glassing the lower hills there & wasn’t seeing anything. I was planning on heading out on a pack trip the next morning when my GF got home from her office (she’d been out of town for the last few days), so I decided to pack it in early so that I had plenty of time to sort my stuff & reload my pack before delving into the Superstition. This WA I am familiar with, as it’s close to home so I’m in there quite often. Anyhow, on the way back to my truck I spotted some jeepers stuck in the wash right by where I’d turned around. They’d come from the other way & were determined to get through. I stopped & talked to them for a minute & let them borrow my shovel to dig their way out & then got back on the road for home. At the spur of the moment I decided to make one last stop & check that spot where we’d glassed that lion & the muley doe a couple days ago. The sun was starting to get low already, so I though maybe I’d see something out feeding in the last rays of sunlight. Turns out I was right. I hadn’t even put the binoculars to my eyes yet when I spotted a glowing dot on the far hill side. DEER! The binoculars confirmed it. The first one was my buck, at 400 yards. A quick glance around showed he was with two does, one of which had his full attention, although she didn’t seem in the mood for love just now. The next question is, how do I get close. They were in a very stalkable spot, but I didn’t have any time. It was already 4:45, just over an hour until dark. I knew I needed to circle on them & try to come in from above, but the hills were low there, so making a loop like that that would keep me out of sight would require probably more than a mile of romping through rock & catclaws. I didn’t think I had time for that and the deer were moving, so I was worried that they might move off once I lost sight of them. For a moment I had decided that the smart thing to do was to watch ‘em until dark & try to pick them back up in the morning. And then it happened. The little voice of reason in my head quietly whispered, “ARE YOU FREAKIN RETARDED?!?! MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN YOU DINGLE-CHEESE!” One of the does was already watching me so I sat still until she went back to feeding & then crawled down the hill, out of sight & crept back to my truck. I dropped off my tripod and spotting binos, and picked up my grunt call. I then began creeping down the road that ran perpendicular to the hill side they were on, but they were high enough on the hillside that the one neglected doe could still see me. I would check here through my binos & when she was feeding I’d scoot a few yards down the road & then hide behind a bush long enough to check her again. Check & move, check & move. I was a little over 300 yards out when I came to a sandy wash that ran parallel to the road & would get me closer to them. I knew I had to move fast & quite (it was after 5:00 already!), so I slipped off my boots & pulled on my extra pair of socks & was on the move. When I was about 250 yards away from them I decided to try a buck grunt & see if I could get his attention by challenging so close. Neither he nor “his” doe noticed, but I did draw the attention of the other doe. She stared me down for about five minutes & then went back to her feeding, so I decided to keep the calling quiet & just get in on them as quick as I could. At a couple points I was sure that doe had me busted, but I’d just stay still & watch her through my binos & eventually she always went back to feeding. Finally I was under 200 yards from them. I’d probably covered about 400 yards of ground, but was moving in a direction that would take me past them in an effort to get up on the hill side they were on. At this point I’m ready to abandon the wash & get up on their hill, but then all of a sudden I here what sounds like hooves crunching away through the gravel & I’m sure that I just jumped another deer that I hadn’t even seen. A check of the binos shows all three deer staring in my direction. I’m well hidden, so I don’t think they had me, but I’m sure some other muley is bounding away & that has put them on alert. A moment later I hear the crunching again, but it’s louder & getting closer. Too loud. It’s a fricking horse! Coming right down the road some 15 yards behind me! The man on the hose sees me hunkered down there with my bow and asks if there’s a buck up there & I shake my head yes. He says, he’s going to leave the road & ride up over the ridge so that they’ll watch him go. Off he goes & it works like a charm! All three deer pivot their heads watching him & I creep forward. I had the deer landmarked under a big ole saguaro cactus and I ranged it. Still too far so I scoot forward some more & range it again. I’m at about 150 yards and losing light fast. It’s some where around 5:40 at that point. If I’m going to do something, I’ve got to do it now. I nock an arrow & get out my grunt call. I’m right behind a bush with about a 30 yard opening in front of me. If I can coax him towards me, I might get a shot. I decided to cross my fingers & get aggressive, so I blew twice on the grunt call & then spent a minute thrashing the bush in front of me trying to sound like a competitor for his does. A minute goes by & nothing so I do it again. Still nothing. After what seemed like an eternity, but probably was no more than a couple minutes I see one of the does pop up on the hill side about 100 yards out starting hard in my direction through the brush. A moment later the buck is standing next to her. I try calling again, but no movement, they just stand there staring. Finally I decide that if they’re not going to move, then I am! There was brush between us to obscure my outline so I raised my bow right in front of my face & bent over to not look like a person’s silhouette & started off sideways up the hill. I was whisper quiet in my socks, you foot steps or broken twigs. I stopped every 5-10 yards & thrashed some brush with my hand before cresting the hill. When I got up there, I couldn’t see them. At first I though they’d left, but then I realized, no, if they’d stotted away I would have heard that for sure so I snuck forward being dead quiet now. I’d moved maybe ten yards when the doe bounded off in front of me to my left. She went maybe twenty or thrity yards then stopped to look at me. Suspicous, but I wasn’t busted yet! I knew the buck would follow her, probably right in her foot steps as that’s where he’d been ever since I spotted him, so I ranged her, knowing I wouldn’t have time to range him. 49.5 yards, according to Nikon. I slipped the range finder back into my pocket & then clicked my release onto my loop. Seconds later he trotted after the doe, maybe ten yards & then stopped to look at me. I drew the minute I saw him & as soon as he stopped I brought my 50 yard pin down onto his chest & punched it. My arrow hit high. It was probably a combination of ranging error with the doe & punching the trigger. Whatever the cause, the Nitron tipped ACC broke his back & dropped him in his tracks, as his ladies abandoned him when he was in trouble, a trick they no doubt learned from my ex. I ran up to him & put another in him from about 15 yards. He was moving around a lot, so I hit poorly, only taking one lung. He then flopped over & I waited. After a few seconds he was still breathing so I put another in him at point blank range. That one appears to have clipped his hear & finished off the other lung. It was instantaneous at that point. I took a moment to admire him & then ran back to my truck. By the time I got there it was dark. I drove home in my socks to get my pack & call for some help. I have to give a big thanks to Nick (aka Greyhawk on this site) for helping me. He played the cameraman for the trophy photos, helped gut him, drag him, & then showed me how to skin him. Actually, saying he helped is an understatement, he took the reins & showed a rank amateur the right way to git-er-done. Thanks a lot Nick, I owe you big.

That's awesome, congrats DB!

I'm headin to 32 Tuesday morning, so I hope you're right. Good luck over there. Matt S.

Spent a couple hours tailing a spike in 24b on Sunday afternoon. He ended up running into a couple does that he worked hard to impress, but they gave him no attention. It was funning to see a little guy like that thrashing brush with his pencils & acting the big guy. Bet his attitude woulda changed quick if a full-sized buck had showed up. Anyhow, I glassed up 8 deer & that was the only buck I saw. Where are they hiding?!

I only spotted one buck over the opener & he was bedded way down in a rocky canyon showing no interest in anything other than snoring & munching on the bush he was under. Matt S.

After reading that article, I think that settlement is BS! This guy does $200 million dollars worth of damage & only has to cough up $7 million (the rest is from other companies he subcontracted) & it's not even out of his own pocket. His insurance is covering it!? What kind of justice is that? Ohh, but his premiums will go up, I'm sure that'll teach a lesson to some SOB who's worth over 100 million bucks.

Congrats guys! Glad to see you both taggin out. Matt S.

Don't forget the IRS. Just got done with them this moring.

I'm outta here in 11 minutes!!!! Good luck everyone!

Casey, you've inspired me to change my signature line. I'm not proud, & my goals are much more modest than yours. Good luck buddy, I'm routing for ya! Matt S.

The way that I've always viewed this forum is that it's for hunters, but doesn't necessarily always have to be about hunting. I'm glad to hear what other sportsman think about these kind of issues. Is it just me, or does it seem like sportsman have somewhat of a more down to Earth point of view on these things, where as those city people who don't hunt or fish are broadcasting ridiculous poop from planet God-knows-where? Must be all that smog, it not only destroys lungs & causes respiratory ailment, but also make you turn into a liberal idiot. Or maybe it's just that we get away from all the commotion & rat race once in a while & slow down so that we've got more time to actually think about things.

5 hours & counting......