arizonian

Good luck! While you're lookin' for ruffcountry's knife, keep an eye out for my CRK! It's sittin' on a hill in 36A, west of the McGee Ranch. Bill in sunny Tucson

"Rosemont is one of my favorite places to hunt, trail ride with my wife and quad with the kids...." Let's see, quads are made of metal... Metal doesn't grow on trees... Where does metal come from?... !!It must be mined!! Bill in sunny Tucson

Special thanks goes to Tristan McGee. A new found freind and the son of an old aquaintance, Tristan opened his heart to a couple of old codgers. Tristan should have been in one of these pics, but his wife called and he bowed out before the camera came out. Shot right after noon on Friday morning, the hike to the rim with just the rifle took 45 minutes. We came back from the bottom of the canyon and cut him loose from the tree where he was field dressed. I'm the guy on the left. Leroy, on the right, shot and missed from 350 yds around 10:00, then gave me the opportunity (and his rifle) when Tristan spotted just the horns of this Coues moving in the grass. About the curse: After following in my father's footsteps (God rest his soul) for more years than I care to count, I finally connected. I wish Dad would have lived long enough to see this. Bill

Good Job, Terry. That's a great buck. Bill

The best remedy for dental pain is aspirin. A quarter of a tablet twice a day against the tooth that hurts will deaden the pain. It kept me going for a full week before I had a chance to get in and get it fixed. Bill in sunny Tucson

Terry, you on line? Bill

I drew the early Nov leftover tag for 36A... Tried to get Grumpy interested, but no luck... I'll camp out and avoid the drive... There'll be four of us in camp, including the youngster (14)... Haven't decided whether to hunt the Black Hills or the Sierritas... Scouting every weekend and have only seen a couple of spikes and a fork... Most mornings I sneeze like crazy. Must be something in the air that close to the mines... or not... 25-06, how's your scouting going? Bill

Some days I wake up grumpy... Other days I let her sleep... Today I woke up Grumpy so we could scout Reddington. Got a late start, didn't leave the house till 7:00, and knew it was going to rain. No matter, the buggy don't care about the weather, we had raingear in the pack, a bit of food and drink, and the whole day ahead of us. An open buggy is not ideal for wet weather, but it's all I have. We got our share of rain today. It came and went, and then came back. Only once did it really pour, but that was over in five minutes. Ponchos kept us and the seats almost dry. For lack of a better term, the honeybowl was dry. Didn't see a darned thing until about 2:00. We had stopped at a corral and were poking around a bit and I saw legs through the log fence. Because of the construction of the corral, there was no way to get a look at what those legs belonged to. We looked over the fence once we got to it, but the critter was long gone, down into the bottom never to be heard from again. Or so I thought. On our way out, I had to take one last look at the honey bowl. I found a deer that was just starting to bed down. It was under a juniper tree about five hundred yards away. I don't know if it was a doe or buck because the head was turned away until it finally settled in, and then it was too deep under the tree. As overcast as today was, there wasn't any excess light to reflect off any horns, but my mind keeps telling me there were horns on that thing. Something was between the ears, so it might have been a spike. Now comes the question: When do Coues whitetail shed their antlers? I know the antlers are fully developed before the Oct hunt and the rut is in Dec/Jan. When are they in velvet? Bill

Thanks for the info. I'll be keeping my eyes open for sheds. Terry, If work slows just a little, I'm thinking Saturday again. Bill

I heard the report on NPR and was wondering if they had an eyewitness available or not. The school in the report is Steele Elementary, I think it's on the corner of Sarnoff and Kenyon, near Pantano and 22nd. Bill

A key point in any hunting essay is self reliance, responsibility, and family involvement. If you butcher the meat yourself or with family, it drives the point even harder. A comaraderie amongst hunters is something to look forward to every year. Hunting is truly organic. Meat that has been harvested during a hunt contains no additives or steroids. (Personal opininon:) Most hunters understand geography, cartography, topography and meteorology more than a non-hunter. The ability to read a map and not get lost will help anyone planning to take up flying. Staying oriented is something most schools can't teach. Flying school will require cartography classes, and you'll be miles ahead. The ability to "walk" a friend to the deer bedded down in your binoculars by description of the rock formations and the alignment of certain trees and plants shows an aptitude of descriptive reference. Good Luck Bill

Unit 33. 3 tags, 6 binos, 12 EYES, and only one shot that was a clean miss. Terry (25-06) is still up there with his brother. Says he ain't comin' home until he has his or the hunt ends. All the scouting done prior to the hunt has not helped (yet). Bill

Ya mean ya gatta have comfort when you're glassing? I've never thought about a seat to glass from, but now you got me thinkin'. I borrowed my wife's sewing machine and made a hood out of some light canvas. A bit of elastic keeps it in place, and it goes into the bino case when walking. Bill

Backwoods RV & Trailer Sales 5151 N. LACHOLLA BLVD Tucson, AZ 85705 520 293-4400 The Boat Brokers, Inc. 1680 INDUSTRIAL BLVD. LAKE HAVASU CITY, AZ 86403 928-453-8833 TOM'S CAMPERLAND, INC. 2183 E. APACHE BLVD. TEMPE, AZ 85281 480 894-1267 Did a Google search and came up with this. Bill

New to this forum, 25-06 turned me on. Great site! How do the phases of the moon affect deer movement? My thinking is that deer will feed during any available light when the weather permits. When it gets hot during the day, they bed down. If the moon is out, they will feed at night and lay up in the day. Comments? Have you ever planned a hunt based on the moon? Bill

I've never really paid attention to the moon when planning a hunt, but it's always been in the back of my mind when I finally get out. I'll just keep glassing whenever I can. Hey, Terry, good luck on your hunt. I'll see you on Sat. afternoon. Bill

What are the Solunar tables? How are they used and where are they found? Bill On edit, I found Solunar tables and a program for a PC on Weather and Wildlife.com. According to the literature on the site, deer are nocturnal. Makes sense why they bed down during the day.