galiuro mountain man

Another awsome buck. Good job. GMM

Congrats, nice buck. GMM

Another awsome buck.

That is an awsome buck.

I tagged out yesterday morning. I have been hunting hard the past couple of weeks looking for two certain bucks I have on trail cam pictures. They are both roughly 110 to 115 inch bucks, but they dissapeared a week before season. I think all the extra water we got the week before the hunt spread the deer out, and the two bucks split up and went to the bottoms of some nasty canyons. I did see some nice bucks though, just couldnt get a shot at any. My wife and I saw a buck around 100" on the first sunday, but it was right before dark across a nasty canyon about 350 yards away. Then on this past sunday I saw two 90" + bucks. One in the morning and the other right at dark, The first one was about 20 yards from me and my hunting buddy, but niether of us got a shot, he spooked about two seconds too soon. The other one was right before dark too far away to stalk him. Those were the big bucks this year. My buck wasnt very big, he was a small 3x4, about 60 or so inches. I had passed a shot on him and another one his size once at about 40 yards at a waterhole on Tuesday of last week. On Wednesday last week I saw him and the other buck again in the morning and decided to pass on the stalk, he was about 150 yards in front of me feeding my way. I saw him once again though binos on sunday afternoon. I went home on sunday night to shower, and I was talking with my wife, she was telling me how we were just about out of meat and I was not liking the gas prices, so I told her then I would shoot any buck I saw. Monday we got back out to where we had been seeing the deer the past couple of days, and there was the buck, not 1/2 mile from the truck. I drew, and let the arrow go, it hit good, but one blade from the mechanical BH cought the elbow, hung up, and just barely punctured a lung, I didnt realize when I shot he had his leg in a funny position, till my buddy told me, and I saw him run by. The chase was on, I didnt know I had hit a lung untill a little later in the chase when I caught him. I would have let him lay down and die. I only thought I had hit the leg, so I chased him to keep the broad head working, so he might bleed out. After about 300 yards of following him I saw him laying down 60 yards away, all I could see was his head and neck, so I aimed for his neck, shot, and he was up again, but only for 30 yards. He layed back down, and was looking at me. I couldnt see any blood from his neck, so I thought I missed the second shot. I found that I hit him right through the neck, but didnt hit anything vital. I snuck up on him and was able to get a 20 yard double lung shot, and it was over in about 10 more seconds. When gutting him I found out my first arrow had hit him and poked a little hole in the bottom of his lung. I think I am done with mechanicals now. Had I used a fixed blade, the first shot would have deflected off the bone and caught both lungs, and possibly part of his heart, instead of hanging up. I still had fun though, cant wait for January. GMM

It wasnt a half mile shot, I found him close to my truck. I wasnt even to where I wanted to hunt yet, but it made getting him out easier. GMM

Thank you guys. I have been shooting vortex for a long time. I have put down a lot of animals with them, but the past 2 years I have had issues with them. The buck I hit yesterday would have been a passthrough using a fixed blade, it would have glanced off the bone and hit it perfect. Last year my bh hung up on the opposite side of my deer and didnt let it bleed out right, it was a perfect shot but no blood. The reason I liked the mechanicals was because of the larger cutting diamiter. I can make just about any head fly just as good as the Vortex. You are right about shot placement, a person can kill a deer with a field tip if it has been well placed. The reason I am switching is because of penetration. On my second deer I had a BH punch through the shoulder on on side and through lungs and stick in the tree behind my deer. It was slightly quartered to me and I made a slightly off shot, but it still made it through. It was a fixed blade, and the bow I used I only estimate at about 50# KE. I know my vortex wouldnt do that. It has to make too big of a hole and the blades arent at the best angle to penetrate. I will still carry at least one though, just in case it is real windy. GMM

I emailed my pictures to Amanda, hopefully they will be posted soon. I also sent the pictures of my deer from last year now that the taxidermy is done. GMM

I work for Phelps Dodge Morenci also. I am a heavy equipment mechanic. I work in the pit out of a service truck. I also own my own bussiness on the side. I have an archery shop in Safford. It is R & C Archery Tuning. Right now I only tune and repair bows and equipment, but I hope to be dealing in some equipment soon. I just started a few months ago, but things are starting to pick up now. GMM

I will email pics. I had to take pictures at my shop after I got him cut up and in the cooler so it wouldnt spoil. They arent the greatest. GMM

I shoot a Mathews Outback, 30" draw, 70#, 385 gr. arrow. I chronoed last week at 294 fps with broadhead on. I am getting just under 74# of KE. GMM

Well, one of the best areas for mulies in 32 is closed off now. It has been closed up for over a year now, and G&F is trying to get it opened back up, but as far as I know, it is still closed. It is on the sunset loop, and you have probably been there before if you have hunted 32 a while. GMM

It takes a well tuned setup (all parts, bow, arrows, etc.) and a good shooting form to make just about any fixed blade BH fly like a field tip. I have had good luck with G5 montecs for fixed blade. They are a one piece BH and are really strong and balanced very well. I havent had any problems with them. Mechanical BH's have come a long way, there are a bunch out right now that will work and fly well, you just have to have enough KE to use them and not worry. I personally like vortex 3 blade 100 grain BH's. I dont even worry about them because my KE is about 75 pounds. I do however carry 1 fixed blade with me in case I am shooting through light cover, a fixed blade has less of a chance at hanging up and wounding the animal. There are also the short BH's, I havent used them, but I have heard good things about them. GMM

Unless you shoot daily with pinpoint acuracy, you wont even notice a difference. Most people (even me, though I dont like to admit it) dont shoot near good enough to notice the slight difference in straightness. I can group 6 arrows into a 3" circle at 40 to 50 yards with .003" arrows, and cant tell a difference with the .001" arrows. I have shot long distances with my hooter shooter for arrow comparisons (40 to 50 yards) and can barely tell a difference. It only averages around 1/4" smaller groups with the .001" compaired to the .003". The only real thing I noticed is that there seem to be less "flyers" with the .001", but that is because of a stricter quality control on them, which is why they cost more. I feel you would be happy with either arrow, but for me, I will take .003" gold tip xt's. GMM

I dont use scent lock suits, but I have found a good way for scent elimination. Right after I arrive to where I start walking to where I hunt I find a little loose dirt and roll in it. Every now and then you might hit a cow pie, but it is just a stronger cover scent. If I sweat while walking up a hill, I do it again. All of my friends use the sprays, and think I am nuts, but I get deer and they dont. I sold my dad on the idea last year and he also tagged out. I dont know if it really works, but I have a feeling it does. Another good thing about it is it dulls out your camo, brand new camo wont shine like it normally does, it usually takes a few good washes to get rid of the shine. This year I might even try a small mud hole to roll in. If it dont help with scent, maybe the sun wont feel as hot. GMM

Just stay away from high density hunting areas and you shouldnt have any problems. I hunt way out of normal travel because of these nuts. I have had problems twice, and both on the Aug archery deer hunt. One time I was in unit 27 driving from one area to another and saw someone turn around and follow me. I stopped my truck where I got out to walk and they (4 of them) stopped about 100 yards from me. I just went on my way and ran into a small herd of deer with a couple of bucks in it. I grabbed an arrow and the people started yelling and the deer spooked. They started laughing and yelling at me, so I ran to get away from them. I ended up in a nasty canyon and picked my way through, I got on the other side and saw them trying to make it across. One of them fell hard so they left. When I got back to my truck I had 2 flat tires (slit sidewalls) and a note that said "we are watching you" so being 16 I got back into the forest and slept there all night, I was safer there than anywhere those wacos would find me. The next morning I flagged down another hunter on the highway and called the police. They finally got there and I showed them the note and tires, I also told them the make and model of vehicle. I havent heard anything since then. The other time was in unit 29, I was hunting with some friends and were driving and saw some deer. We decided to drive past them and sneak up on them. We got out of the truck and got about 50 yards from them and a truck drove by, the couple stopped and talked with our girlfriends that were in our truck. He got hateful towards our girlfriends and spun out backwards, spraying our truck with rocks. He got to where the deer were and let his dogs out, they chased the deer then were growling at us, so I shot one of his dogs wth a blunt at 10 yards, so he called his dogs off and we ran to our truck. He was yelling at us while he was haullin butt toward our truck, I yelled for the girls to get out and he swerved at the last second away from our truck. He stopped about 50 yds ahead and said he was calling the police, which never came. He drove off honking the whole way. One other thing happened to a friends dad in unit 29. He shot a nice deer,, so he went to Portal and was restocking his camp supplies so his friend could continue to hunt. He came back out to his truck and his deer was gone, the people left a note that said something like "we took your deer back to nature for a proper burrial" Im not sure i that is exactly what it said, but it is close.

Redman, I usually look at topos first, but there is a lot of places not listed on them, so I walk. I glass for water kind of like glassing for deer. I look for differences in the plants and trees from the ones all around. I have found a lot of springs this way. I like springs later in the hunt because pressured deer will use them more than tanks or troughs. I have found over 30 big springs not listed on maps in AZ. I have cams set on some of them right now, so I will see what is using them. I forgot to tell where to look for springs. I have found most of them in canyons (of course) but I have found some on tops of ridges and 2 of the springs I hunt are on saddles. I also found a spring that has standing water in it only at night (set up cam on wet spot with lots of tracks, then noticed there was water in it on night photos). GMM

In my experience, whitetails will still hit tanks if they arent pressured. My wifes cousin and I were out before, during, and after a hard rainstorm last year, and found this out. I was trying to get him a bowkill so we went to a tank I know has deer using it. There were deer using it in the morning about 9 till 11, then it started raining, it rained hard for a couple of hours. I wondered if the deer would still use it with all the water around. I got my answer about 20 minutes later, the deer started coming in just like in the morning. He just couldnt get a good shot at them. There was even a couple of 90+ bucks in that afternoon. I think the biggest factor for WT is pressure from predators. If the deer arent messed with they usually will do close to the same thing every day, year after year. GMM

I personally like water holes over mineral licks. The deer will use pretty much the same water every day unless they are pressured. Licks are good, but sometimes the deer will go 3 to 4 days without using them. I usually try to focus the Aug hunt around water, but if it starts to rain, I head for the salt licks. I have seen 16 deer at one lick from the time it started raining till 30 minutes after. I think it is easier for them to get the salt when the licks are wet, so they use them heavily when raining. GMM

I have a glendel buck, it is a great targert. It is a little more expensive than other targets though, but I think it is worth it. One side of the insert will stop 3 times more arrows than any other target I have tried, then you can turn the insert around and get about another 2 times more arrows in that side. I just changed the origional target insert after 8 months of heavy shooting, roughly 25000 shots. I shoot nearly 200 arrows a day at it on my days off, and I have half of each month off. If price is an issue, make sure to get one with a replaceable target area, it is worth the extra cost. One other thing about 3D's, put them inside when not shooting them. They will last forever this way. GMM

If it is just a day trip I go in 2 to 4 miles. If I am backpacking, I have been as far as 19 miles from my truck. I havent been able to backpack in for a couple of years though. GMM

Went scouting today, and finally saw some antler growth in the area I hunt. It wasnt much though, but I saw quite a few bucks. I saw 21 deer all together between noon and 5pm, so I am getting excited about August. There was one buck in a small bachelor herd that had a good sized body and about twice as much antler as the rest, it could be the one I messed up on in Jan. I also set up some cams, so I may have something to post in the next few weeks. GMM

I only found one small shed. I left it for someone else to find.

Is everyone ready for the archery seasons to start? Less than 3 months till deer season. I am ready, and so is my wife. We have been shooting all year round for a few years now, and it makes getting ready for season a breeze. It is time for everyone to dust off the bows if they havent been shot in a while. Take them on summer scouting trips, go stump shooting, tournements, and family camping trips. Its almost time, hope everyone is ready. GMM

My dad had this problem also. Three things to try are 1) put cock vane up on all arrows, 2) set timing on rest to come up 1" to 2" from full draw, 3) I have seen one rest where the cord was contacting the arrow, The cord was twisting and hitting the arrow. The best way to check is like Red Rabbit said. The foot powder works. GMM