Basser15

Good job with the coyote! I hear those KS turkey get up a little earlier than these AZ birds...

Great photos everyone! My first big game. First pig and first bow kill. Trophy jackrabbit! Good Fall turkey day You can spot and stalk anything in this state... And my first coues....hopefully I can have as much hunting success during dental school as the guy sitting next to me!

Nice footage! Liked watching the buck running across the hill, amazing how quick and effortless they can make it look.

Coming home from Rosey a couple years ago Last year during the "Spring" turkey hunt

Good for you. Let's hope that spike is still in the same meadow... Oh and btw, In case you didn't know....

Don't know about that, but I'm sure if you get caught in the woods with your pants down you might get cited for some sort of "baiting"...

Thought I'd share a pic of my javelina from last weekend. Was almost more excited to see a tortoise as I had never seen one in the wild yet. Always cool to see something new while I'm out and about.

Great job!

During the December hunt a buddy and i were driving into a range and saw a group of Border Patrol trucks coming off the hill. We stopped to wait for them to pass and when they did we saw a couple of agents sitting in the back of one truck with approximately 15 bails of weed that they had just collected. We decided that we weren't going to hunt that area since the agents were probably all over the area throughout the day and when we left we caught back up with BP as they were loading it all into another vehicle. The crazy part was that when we ended up talking with one of the agents that it seemed to be just another day at the office for them and busts like this happen ALL the time down there. I'm probably not putting in for it again due to that and the uneasy feeling that some of you guys had mentioned about while being down there hunting. Takes away from the experience a little bit.

I hear that's the case anyway...

WOW!!!! Only words I can think of right now...

Congrats on the pig! Can't believe your dad made you go to school before tracking your pig....that's just cruel!!!!

Thanks guys. It was truley an enjoyable hunt and after 12 days I was ready to be home....but once I was unpacked and had a good nights rest I was already itching to get back out! Heading out on Saturday with my bow.

....the deer gods gave to me! (Sing it in the 12 days of x-mas beat ) (This was copied from another message board, so if some of the names don't make sense I'm sorry, but a lot of you view over there too so I'm sure it'll make sense.) Well my first coues hunt is unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, now over. In fact, it is my first ever rifle deer hunt (8 bonus points ). We had 3 tags between us and were able to fill all 3 of them over that time frame. I was there for mine and one other but wasn't able to be with Jay when he filled his, but I think he did ok withouth me. Thanks to everyone who helped us out over that period and I truley enjoyed the time spent out there with all of you and can't thank you enough. Quick recap: The first 2 days of the season Dan(GBR) and I were tagging along with Jay in his unit to help him locate some deer. The first morning we glassed up a real nice buck but as we were moving into position we were busted by some does and a spike who of course ran in the one direction that we didn't want them to. Game over. The only good reason for that happening is since we had already hiked to the other end of the valley and draws that we were hunting we decided to sit and glass some more from there and leave Dan all by his lonesome on the other side...which was the only time we had peace and quiet all morning That afternoon was when we glassed up the lion....what a sight. The next morning we went to another area and where Jay didn't pull the trigger on a couple bucks that we were trying to talk him into, but it all worked out since this area produced his toad of a buck the last weekend of the season. http://www.azsj.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14408 The next 3 days Dan and I spent hunting for my deer but all we could locate were does, a flat tire on the Rhino 8 miles from anywhere, and a truck load of weed....so pretty uneventful I came home for a couple days to do the Christmas shopping, and then the weekend before Christmas I went back out with my brother Hunter. On the way in I experienced my second flat tire of the trip, this time on my truck. We decided to carry on with the spare to hunt that evening and the next morning and take care of the tire later. That Saturday morning we glassed up the first bucks of the hunt but they weren't what I was looking for....but then realized how cool it would be to take my first buck with my little bro there. By the time I came to that realization I turned to relocate the bucks but of course they had disappeared. Lesson learned on that one. We ended up cutting the trip short and coming back to Phoenix so I could take care of the tire since Tucson didn't have what I needed, and spend some time with the famdamily leading up to Christmas. The morning of the 26th I met Houston and dark thirty to begin the home stretch of my hunt. That afternoon we met up with Andy(flyfishmadison) who was driving out from New Mexico and set up our base camp that we would be using for the rest of the week. The morning of the 27th, which was Andy's first day of the hunt, he located a buck on the other side of the valley. We decided to move in and check him out, which turned out to be a good idea. Half way to our designated location Houston radioed to inform us that he was joined by two others, one of which looked to be a good buck. Here is the end result: (I'll let Andy expand on this one since it is his buck ) Over the next several days we hunted hard, tried different areas, hiked a little here and little there, even had Ron G my good luck charm come out for a day, but we couldn't locate any mature bucks. I've heard reports of bucks rutting in different locations across the state and in surrounding units but we just didn't see any of it in our area. All the bucks we located were hanging out in bachelor groups with the exception of few forkies that we saw sniffing some doe butts, but none of the bigger dudes were coming out of hiding. We saw a ton of deer and looked over a lot of amazing country. Even had a couple small bucks and a tall, goofy two point within bow range but I just couldn't convince myself to pull the trigger on them at that point. That finally changed the night of the 30th... December 30th was my 12th day of hunting during this late Coues season. That morning Houston had come back up and Andy went home after the morning hunt. Time was starting to run out on this hunt and it was dawning on me that eventually I was going to have to come back to civilization at some point. Didn't want to but I guess we can't spend everyday hunting That evening Houston and I decided to retry an area that we had hunted before but from a different location. We located a buck one more ridge over and after a few minutes decided that it was our best option at that point. We gathered our gear and started the trek over there and hoping that we would have enough light to make this happen. About 100 hard or so into the walk we had two deer spook from the bottom and start up the other side. "The second one has horns!" is what i hear. I dropped to a prone position and located the buck in my scope as Houston tried a deer grunt to get him stopped...and sure enough it paused him just long enough for me to pull the trigger, and one 400 yard shot later I had my first deer on the ground! It's amazing how quick it can all happen sometimes... (If you notice Houston is actually smiling in this pic) We got him processed by headlamp and we were able to get half of him in Houston's pack and the other half in mine, both with some room to spare. Not much meat to these little boogers This was a very successful hunt in the fact that I was able to learn a lot about these deer, the country, and of course share the experience with a lot of people over the past couple of weeks. I also shot my first deer at 27 years old Thanks to everyone who helped out and I hope that I will someday be able to return the favor. Now unfortunately it's back to reality for a while. School starts back up tomorrow and I think my fun time is over for the next couple of months.

I'd be interested in the beetle thing too.

When you get back, can you give me some information on that rifle harness that you have?

Fantastic! Congrats on a great buck!

Last night we measured the distance between the tips of the main beams and we weren't able to fit a dime in between them. Congrats again Jay, awesome buck!

Think the point has already been made. Your kids and their safety is your number 1 priority and if the guy doesn't like it then too bad for him. Besides, your kids will probably be your new hunting buddies anyway so it doesn't really matter And Jeffd, sorry to hear about your brother. Did this happen last year around the Flagstaff area?

Nice deer there! But 3 for 3? I see two deer and a set of small sheds....

Spent the first half of the week in the 36's and didn't see any rutting yet, except for 1 forky that was trying to chase some does around. All the does were by themselves and the bucks hanging out together still. Heading back in a couple hours and hopefully things have started to change.

Those k-9's are just too smart for their own good...

Thanks guys for your help. Well that's sort of the plan. I'm going to help him out opening weekend and then head over to 36a during the week. He gets my help but I have to recruit others to help me

Need some help with a good spot to camp during the December hunt. I've got a 36a tag and my best friend drew a 36c tag for the same time....we're either supposed to draw together or have only one tag between the two so we can hunt together. But guess we can't complain too much about our situation Anyway, does anyone know of a safe place to camp close to both units? I'm game to just put the trailer up right along Sasabe Hwy somewhere but he's a little hesitant of just camping anywhere down there with some of the stories we have heard. Any help would be appreciated.

That is an awesome bull!