mattys281

Nice! What a monster congrats!

Congrats! Great archery buck!

Great pics. Its always amazing to me to see how freaky some deer grow. Genetics are a funny thing. Thanks for sharing.

Ive had two incidents. 1 was october ish. Stashed some water with a friend for his October hunt, but he couldnt make it. Tried to pick up his water for him during the January archery hunt and it had been raided. Looked like the work of a thirsty bear. 2 was rodent related. Something small chewed into my food pocket on a dec hunt in 22 mazatzal wilderness area and helped itself to my cliff bars and special k yogurt bars. In its defense, it didn't eat everything. Apparently said rodent believed I had plenty to share. While I appreciate the gesture, I went ahead and left the uneaten portions for him to find the next night, and started putting my snacks in the tent with me. Probably not the brightest idea in bear country but it was cold enough that I hoped they were hybernating or had moved lower down. Plenty of bears in az that dont sleep through the winter, so its always good to be mindful.

This is for sure plan on doing. Stash some water beforehand. Consider bear proof containers. Ive returned later to find my stash scattered and empty.

Something like that does sound favorable for getting game out. Also, for a first backpack hunt. Not looking to go super deep on a first time thing. Gonna try to focus on locating mule deer as well. Not that I would turn my nose up to a coues at all. In my experience, the mule deer are just way easier to stalk and are less jumpy. Smart move for a stalk hunt. Muleys tend to stay put longer when they bed too. I never met a coues deer that didnt suffer from extreme adhd, especially during the rut. They usually get up and move before im done planning my stalk. Coues deer are much easier to ambush though. Glass in the morning and afternoon, but if youre not on something two hours before sundown, have yourself a good ambush spot picked out to spend the evening. Good time to try rattling and grunt calling, both of which can work on coues and muleys. Just my .02

Awesome muley! Congrats!

I usually bivyout in the roadless fringe areas around wilderness areas. My favorite winter time ridge is within an hours walk of a hwy cross country. I can hear the cars on the hwy, but have never seen another soul on it, except my daughter and my hunting buddy that goes with me. You dont have to go that far to lose the crowd, and you should always consider game evacuation. I would go much deeper for coues than for muleys.

heck with the tape measure, that buck is the trophy of a life time no matter what number you out on it. Congrats!

Nice! Im jealous, I dont get anything but black widows and pigeons in my yard.

Amazing goat! Congrats!

I don't get it... I dont think anybody does. Im not sure what this guy's angle is, starting about 20 threads in two days then marking them all expired??? I guess whatever floats his boat is fine, but this kinda crap is exactly why god gave us the ignore button.

I really started ponying up the doe for sitka gear when I started getting into backpack hunting. Cant run to the truck to change or crank on the heater so youd better be able to stay dry and warm in the freezing cold. My sitka stuff has lasted me a long time. Ive bought more since, but the first items I bought in 08 are still in use.

Welcome to the site richie. Glad to have you.

26million in international economic terms is about the same as any of us leaving a $2 tip for a pancake breakfast at dennys. It is literally the very least the US could contribute and I seriously doubt it'll be the end of our involvement. We're going to end up with boat loads of refugees landing on our shores before its over. So dont get too worked up yet, its just starting.

Awesome muley! Congrats!

Hadnt seen it. I was referring to the spear chucking video posted earlier. That was pretty dang nasty. I guess natural selection is an ugly business...

Diamond black ice..... until they make spears legal.

In the morning start with east and south east facing slopes that catch the low morning light. They like to warm up a little then move off to bed. Through mid day they could be anywhere. Ive seen them tucked up into thick shadows hunkered down and ive seen them up and moving at noon. Just keep looking. Train yourself to look for pieces of deer. Coues deer will often crawl up I side low growing junipers or lay down at the backside of a tree up against a rock, almost like a litte tree-cave if you know what I mean. With the branches they can be hard to spot. I usually always see the ears of a bedded deer first. Then once you are sure you are looking at a deer, it can be tough to determine if its antlers or just branches you are seeing. Get big glasses even if you have to rent them or borrow them. At least 12x, 15x would be better. And get a thick confy buttpad to sit on. Itll keep you comfy and warm. Colsd Ground will suck the body heat right out of you in November.

Im trying to get out sunday-monday. Have family coming in from out of town though, so kinda depends on when theyre leaving.

I use them to warm up the tent a little so I can get dressed in the morning. Never run them while I sleep though and always with some ventilation.

The voting thing is key, in my opinion. If youre hunting public land, theres always the possibility of encountering nonhunters. If you value hunting, and dont want it voted away (as Californian voters are doing right now!) Than it should be very important to you to be friendly, informative, helpful and generally knowledgeable about the benefits of hunting so that you can change the nonhunter from being against or nuetral to hunting to being more receptive of it. Peta and the humane society are absolute media whores and they are expert at getting their propoganda out to the sheeple. Many people hold a negative view of our sport even though theyve never known a hunter. If you have the opportunity to change that, take it.

I think I may have seen that movie. Was he the creepy cab driver that kept looking in the rearview mirror and trying to make akward small talk while that other dude that was back there with those two asian gals? That movie's a classic, in certain circles.

I buy bare shafts on ebay or amazon and then build them myself.

Wow! My ole pap used to always say, "You mess with the bull, you get the horn...."