Verndog

Congrats. Gotta love them South of the Border Coues!

Are you using some sort of sound deadner? Like Sneakie Feet? I swear by them in addition to everything else.

After growing up in Payson and having javi's in the yard every night and then moving south and having javi's in my yard every night, which I was quickly advised that they were off limits, I finally scored on one this morning. Me and a buddy and his son located a group last Saturday, but they vanished pretty quick and we couldn't relocate them. Funny how they can do that! Then last Sunday, I was at 29 yards waiting on a big boar to just move two steps, bascially a standoff, and ran out of light. Since then, I've been putting on the miles and couldn't locate a javi to save my life and frankly was getting pretty bummed. This morning, I went out and after putting on the miles located three at 186 yards. Put on my sneaky feet and closed the distance to 11 yards on a small boar or sow that bedded down in front of me. I then waited for this boar to come into a shooting lane and nailed him at 31 yards. He went about 40 yards and I heard that thump that I like to hear. Now I can concentrate on locating one of those elusive coues! Another plus this is the first kill with my new Matthews Z7. What a sweet bow. Thanks Ms. Santa!!!! I also got to use my new Havalon knife. Great knife, but you need to be careful with that bad boy. Ms Santa wanted a life size mount. Well the taxi has a couple little holes to fix now! Not to mention, I need to get some more Bandaids! Thanks Vern

Congrats.....I like her colors! -VH

Thanks Amanda. I'll be ordering them ASAP!

Congrats Harold on an awesome trophy. Enjoy the ride! -VH

Sneaky Feet!

Wow.......great story and an awesome buck to boot! Great job guys. Wish I could get my hand on those maggots (cuz that's all they matter to). Again, congrats on a beautiful buck! Vern

Well, just got the new bow back to the house from the archery shop. Thanks to the guys at Archery Headquarters for getting it done this afternoon after a quick drive from Tucson. I finally made the decision and went with the Axcel Armortech sights, 7 pins and the QAD HD rest. I really liked all of the micro adjustments on the sight, but more importantly how good the fiber optics are protected. This new Mathews Z7 with the combo of the rest and sights is perfect. A 29" draw at 70 lbs with 379 grains of arrow and tip still hit the 299 fps mark. What a great shooting bow! Quick, no hand shock and nice and quiet. Thanks for all the replys. It's been so easy to get this thing shooting right, I'm already dialed in out to 70. Be working on the 80 yard pin tomorrow. Hopefully I can find a toad coues, if not here piggy piggy piggy!

Hey guys.... Mrs. Santa delivered a new Mathews Z7 to me this year and now begins the setting up process. I think I have narrowed the sights down to the TRU Ball Axcel Armortek-HD and the Spott Hogg Hunter Hogg It. I know that they are very similiar, but what's your guys input? And those with the 7 pin setups, are they too busy or cluttered? Also what's your thoughts on rests. I think I have it narrowed down to the QAD Ultra-Rest HD and the Trophy Taker Fall Away. Anybody using either????? Looking for input from those that know. Thanks in advance guys. Vern

Thanks guys for the replies.

I've searched and searched and can't seem to find an answer. Will the National Geographic Mapping Software work on the Garmin Etrex Vista HCx? I read one spot that says it will and another that says it won't work. Anybody have any experience with it? Thanks in advance.

Great job Courtney and congrats on an awesome buck! I definitely enjoyed your perspective of your hunting experience.

Well I'm finally getting the chance to sit down and get this done. My buddy and his son came down to the house for the October hunt and both tagged out early with Cody getting a great first deer! See "Cody's First Buck." Well, with them tagged out, and still with a few days off, I kept the scouting going for our November hunt. After a good hike in on one of the scouting days, I found several good bucks bedded deep in a tree, at the bottom of a canyon. After waiting on them for five and half hours in a howling wind, they finally stepped out with one of them I thought to being around 90". Here I am a week and a half before our hunt dreaming that this would have been a perfect opening day scenario for my wife, as her goal was to improve upon her buck from last year and biggest to date. A 90" deer at 250 yards, with another 3x3, taller but appeared smaller, lots of time......just dreaming for her. After a couple of pics, I left them to be, hoping that they would be under that same tree in a week and a half. Well opening day came and after glassing up some smaller bucks way up in a canyon, I located some other hunters on the top of the ridge that I had spotted the bucks a week and a half earlier, I thought we were doomed. They eventually went over the top and Lori and I we went ahead and hiked in to my spot and sat down, with me showing her the tree that I had taken all the pictures of the buck from. I got the glasses out and set up and immediately went to that tree and told her I got a small buck. She said, "Ya right." Then I showed her the little spike. Looking closer, I seen two other bodies way up under the tree. Occasionally, as they turned, you could see their antlers. To my amazement, at 251 yards, all three deer were buried under the same tree a week and half later. So the waiting began, with no opportunity to take them out of their beds. Three and half hours later, they finally got up for their afternoon stretch and Lori was able to harvest her biggest buck to date. After a couple of misses, she hit him at 293 yards. The smile on her face was priceless when she finally put her hands on him. I gross scored him at 92 6/8". Once at home, she couldn't believe how much bigger he was than her 3x3 from last year in the same area. With really dry and hot conditions in Southern Arizona, not to mention coming off a full moon, hunting and glassing seemed alot harder this year, with deer bedding real early and not getting up or moving as much. But on Veteran's Day, with only one day to hunt, I had previously located a deer route to a different water source. My son and I went in there and after a couple of hours located a nice 3x3, that also had two additional cheaters off each of his G2's, so maybe a 4x4. At 151 yards and heading hard to water, my son was able to harvest his biggest coues to date. To watch him get gittery, excited and to get to see the same smile I did when he was 10 harvesting his first deer was just plain awesome and why I still hunt to this day! I seen alot of bucks, mostly little, but just never found the one that I wanted. I know that there are some bigger bucks in the area and that I still had an archery tag to look forward to, so I decided to wait till December. But after watching this critter for about 10 hrs over a couple of days, I decided that he would make a great addition to my living room. I went back in after the hunt was over, located him on some water and he went down at 197 yards. I had one of the most memorable hunts, with good friends, family and the awesome opportunity to be out in nature's glory! Thanks guys.

Thanks guys and gals for all of your kind replys. Lori

Way to get in done! Great job and Congrats.

Awesome job! Congrats to all.

Congrats..... and great shooting!

Welcome and look forward to reading on some of your insight!

126 4/8....Simply awesome!

Way to get it done......Congrats!

Congrats!

This morning Cody put the hammer down on his first Coues. What started as a 900 yard stalk ended in a 20 yard perfect shot on a great first deer. Great Job Cody!

What a awesome buck........ 119 6/8.

For those that have, what special precautions do you take if you harvest a deer in velvet and hope to have in mounted? Each person has some thoughts and just wanted to see what new ideas you guys had.