NativeRat

Wow! 20 of the last 20 times archery?

This is typically my unit every year, except this year I finally drew a 12A tag for Kaibab muley. Hre's my .02: Find a buddy to hunt and camp with if possible. This should not be too hard with so many tags. And if no luck, consider crashing someone's camp or just camping near them. They'll understand you don't want to be out alone in that unit, and you'll make new friends and maybe learn about the area. Have the BP numbers stored. Carry a side arm. Glass so you see whatever is out there first. Have fun and good luck. There's a lot of good deer in 36B. Usually there are a lot of hunters, too. The deer run all over the place once the guns start going. There are a lot of places in this unit where there will be a concentration of hunters and you can be that guy who gets up early and sits on the pass, waiting for the bucks to run up. And they will. Oh yeah-- and wear orange or at least carry it to put on if there are other hunters that come in to your area. There is some debate about this from those guys who are especially paranoid about drug runners. But I wear orange. I wish everyone would. I almost shot over a guy's head last year.

Dayum!

Niiiice.

...btw Hendog -- beautiful goat. You should post more and give us your whole set up -- bow speed, bow, what you shoot, how you stalk.

Last year, I tried to switch from 4" to Gold Tips with 2" and I could not for the life of me get things dialed in. Some kid at the Sportsman's bow counter in Tucson swore by the Gold Tips and recommended I buy them, and I later found out he was a rep of some sort for the company. The Gold Tips with 2" flew all over the place. It must have been the wrong combination of things (shaft length, broadheads, bow speed, stance, etc.). I am using 4" again, and I feel more confident with them. I now have 4" Eastman's and 100 grain G5 Strikers and Luminocks. Slow, but good enough in the 20-30 yard range. I'm hitting in the middle area of the "pie plate" from 30 yards with absolute consistency, and feel ready to go. Soooo ready, already!

dayum...

I have a post-Thanksgiving leftover tag in 36B. What are the odds there might be a little rutting activity by then? Seems with this heat, its zip to nada. Whadya'll think?

Cool buck. I think I want a horse, too ...

If you look up the USFS info on lions, they talk about the body language the cats will display when they want to eat you. Basically, once they start crouching and staring right at you or come walking up towards you, its time to shoot to kill or throw rocks --whatever you can do. They can close the distance real fast. Here is a link to the same info: http://www.sdgfp.info/wildlife/mountainlions/language.htm

On its way up, bro.

What a great feeling! Congrats!

Nicely done! Put those pictures on your wall -- what a great memory!

Definitely the back of the Santa Ritas.

Good luck to y'all! Can't wait to see your pics posted. I'll be doing the clean up hunt after Thanksgiving, so maybe you can tie one to a tree for me.

Well thanks for the info! I swear I've been asking every butcher at every grocery store I was at for the last three years if they knew who cut deer, and they all said nobody in town. As long as we're talking, does anyone know anyone around here who will smoke a goose or a turkey or a crane?

I have a leftover 36B tag Nov 28 - Dec 4 . Anyone else with that hunt who wants to pm me at builderesq@msn.com, I like to have contacts down on the border just in case of an emergency or to swap info. I built houses for a little while down around Tubac and hunted and explored in my spare moments. I usually hit the Buenos Aires for mulies (and ducks) in January with a buddy, so I know some parts of those southern units (34/36). I have run into illegals more times than I can count, but so far I have been lucky and not encountered any really bad hombres. So on that topic -- just thought I'd ask what do other people do for safety precautions in those units? I have the BP and other numbers stored on my cell phone, but no satellite phone. I carry a sidearm in archery season, and I try to let people know exactly where I'm going. And even though I enjoy solo hunting (esp. archery), on these hunts, I try to bring a buddy or at least talk to other hunters in the field. What about y'all?

I also nap where I'm at. Usually because I am way too far to hike back into camp. And like Audsley, I try to put my back against something. Some 6th sense woke me up one time with a lion staring at me from across the tank. I've heard Hefflefinger say that deer get up and stretch and snack or move when the sun takes away their shade.

?? What processor are you using in Tucson? I didn't know anyone was doing that in town anymore.

Where did you get that PETA sticker? I think I want one to throw on the back of my jeep right there under the DU, turkey track, fair chase, coueswhitetail and texas bowhunter stickers ! Hey, really, aren't we all about ethical treatment of animals? Nice gun. Where did you buy it and how many shells if I can ask? ANd did it come scoped out with the 4x or did you add that on -- and if so -- what kind of mounts?

They were joking on the Daily Show about investing in food and guns. But no joke, Pilgrims Pride Chicken is down to a few dollars a share, and so is Taser. In hard times, people will keep eating cheap, and police around the world will keep buying guns. If we sink into anarchy, guns and food are safe bets. And when you can snap up 20 shares of something for 80 bucks, why not? A lot of people lose that much in a night at the casino.

Can't say that I blame you or wouldn't be tempted, but personally, I don't mess with the tribes. They really don't like people trespassing on their sovereign lands.

270. -- Fannie May and Freddie Mac bought up loans originated by bankers and mortgage brokers. No one held a gun to the heads of those fat cats to originate those loans. And even if this began with loosening up things under Clinton so lower-income people could have a shot at the American dream, you can't ignore the fact that the last 8 years the creeping problem could have been dealt with. How is it NOT the problem of whoever ran the country for the last 8? Truth is -- both parties bear blame. Now, regardless of who is to blame, the middle class got shafted, we are paying 700 billion (just the beginning Congress tells us) and Wall Street traders get to keep their multi-million-dollar bonuses from 2007 and 2006. (Do you remember last year at Christmas hearing about the MILLIONS these people were getting in bonuses? Here is a refresher, in the event you feel like being sick: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/21/...in3638560.shtml ) But I am supposed to be angry at lower class schmucks for trying to buy a house? Give me a break. Anyhow, this is a hunting forum, and that is what I love to do, and what will decide my vote. On election day, I will be wearing my t-shirt from TexasHuntandFish.com that says "Fish.Hunt.Vote." and I bet non-thinking people will guess I am voting Republican. I aint. First: I think both candidates are pure politicians and full of b.s., both power-hungry, and they both scare me in their own ways. That said, I am voting Obama because I hope he will do more to preserve the environment, and gun rights are no longer an issue after the Supreme Court's decision in that D.C. case. Obama isn't taking anyone's guns away, and its silly for people to think that any administration could do that. Especially not now that it has been held to be a personal individual Constitutional right. Obama is not a "radical" environmentalist -- he supports off shore drilling. But his administration is far more likely to stop BLM's wholesale give-away of BLM and USFS land to mineral and gas companies, and maybe even amend the Mining Act of 1872 -- in other words -- save some public land where hunters can use our guns and bows. League of Conservation Voters gives McCain a zero on his environmental voting -- but LCV might be a bunch of hippies fixated on global warming, so, whatever. What is more scary is how McCain is seriously into nuclear energy without talking about where the uranium comes from. Do you know how many active uranium claims there are around the Grand Canyon including the Kaibab and strip? (A: over a thousand. And it took a federal judge to enjoin drilling this year). And McCain talks about smart growth, but one of his big contributors has been Don Diamond. In 1991 and 1994 McCain wrote special bills in Congress to trade big chunks of public lands to Don Diamond for development. On the other side of the thing, Obama's web site spouts the usual stuff about conserving the environment, but when it gets down to specifics, he only says: 1) he voted against drilling the ANWR; and 2) he supports the Roadless Area Conservation Rule (in USFS lands). It is a choice of evils, for sure.

Anyone here ever arrow a bird? What did you use for broadheads? Anyone ever use bait? What kind? I am going to try my hand at Rio Grandes in Texas, and as I understand, the method commonly used is baits and blind. No shotguns -- just archery in the fall, but baiting is legal. (Hmm-- restrict the hunt to string and stick, but allow baiting. Why does that have a familiar ring?...)

I find two quotes from Clint Eastwood films sum it all up: 1. A man's gotta know his limitations. 2. You gonna pull them pistols or whistle Dixie? (You get a star if you can name the movies)