tjhunt2

Happy belated Birthday and I too tipped a few back for ya last night. TJ

Hopefully Eddie will have some video clips of Sadie's turkey at the July OE4A banquet which I'm really looking forward towards since I missed last years. This is my favorite of all banquets. Did I mention the beer is free and more food than any one person can eat? Well, Amanda's husband, Paul, is an exception when it comes to food. TJ

Congratulations on a giant of a bull. TJ

Thanks for sharing some of your success with us and thanks again for being a sponsor here on cwt. Good luck to all your clients and to your success. Can't wait to see what this year brings from AZ Ground Pounders. TJ

Happy Birthday Coach and I hope this day is spent the way you would want it to be. Whatever that is enjoy it to the fullest my friend and I will definitely drink a cold one to help celebrate this very special day. TJ

Good luck finding that old buck. Thanks for sharing that cool video with us. Makes me want to jump in my truck and head for the mountains. TJ

Breau, what I took away from last night's meeting is that these are not recommendations yet as krp posted earlier in his post. However, with that said, and how I wish I'm wrong, something in the back of my mind makes me think that these are exactly what the commissioners have in mind and are bound by a set of rules that make these meetings reguired in a set of steps to let the public think their opinions really do count. Maybe I'm not making much sense here but for the sake of hoping I'm wrong I'm going to try and keep positive that these meetings just might make a difference. Breau, you have a very good point on the "premium hunts" and I encourage you to e-mail your exact comments to the department of g&f. I really want to stay positive so I've told myself I will and will continue to ask each and everyone of you to do the same with all your comments and opinions forwarded to azgfd. Not really sure I answered your question Breau. TJ

It lasted about 2hrs. TJ

Sorry for your stolen antlers. I have a friend who just recently caught a scum bag in the act in the Payson area. Pictures and story will be coming as soon as he gives me permission. Karma his way for sure. TJ

I'ld say you had to be excited finding them bad boys together. Thanks for sharing. TJ

Thanks for coming to the meeting Kent. I would liked to have met you. Where were you sitting? TJ

Nicely put Ryan, we only had 8 people that weren't from azgfd at the Mesa meeting last night. TJ

Thanks and I also encourage each of you to do so. I attended last night's meeting in Mesa and was surprised with a couple combo hunt/fish package that saves us money. I think what they are doing is giving us something that looks good in one hand hoping they get our blessings on the Premium hunts which I'm not in favor of at all. Just my .02 cents. TJ

Same here Robert. There's just something special about a boy and his dog. Shedhunteraz........great looking puppy and I like the name Camo. I have one just like him but a girl named Lexie Mae. cramerhunts...........awesome looking pup. I just love the coloring above her eyes.

My congratulations to all the winners in this years contest and big kudos to Doug for all his hard work along with Amanda's great web site. Thanks to everyone who donated prizes or money to make this all happen. TJ

I didn't get one of the surveys but I did attend the meeting in Mesa tonight. There were 31 in attendance with only 8 of us non azgfd personnel. When I first heard of this Conceptual License/Tag Structure & Fees I was furious and knew I just had to be at that meeting. It was very informative and I actually liked some of their new ideas towards license structure and fee increases. Before you all stone me to death I encourage each of you to read thru it. With that said I did not agree on the application fee increase from $7.50 to $13 and expressed my dislike along with the Premium Deer and Premium Elk Structure & Fees. All early elk hunts, sept & early oct, whether it's rifle, muzzle loader, or archer would be effected with a $200 price tag from our current $114. All deer hunts in units above the big river and all dec deer hunts in every unit would be considered a premium hunt with a price tag of $100 instead of our current $34.75. This does include archery. I know a lot of you weren't able to make the meeting but you can still express your opinion thru other meetings, letters, or e-mails to the azgfd web site. I know what most of you are thinking, they have already made up their minds, and I don't blame you one bit but I encourage each of you to do so. TJ

Ever since Peg and I attended Scott & Darr's turkey seminar, held at BassPro, Peg has been more excited as I've ever seen her about a hunt. Well, I forgot we had the early hunt so Peg missed out on the first half and had to wait till the second season came in on the 10th. I took a lot of heat over that blunder and was determined to make it up to her. We were up at 3:30am Fri. and was patiently waiting on the sun to rise with no gobbers or any sign of birds this morning. Back to camp for lunch and I was off to check some other spots I had picked out earlier in the season. As I was looking for a roost tree I hear a gobble over the hill not more than 75yrds I suspect. It was 1:30 pm and I quickly setup a blind while the tom continues to gobble at the noise I was making. If only Peg had been with me instead of taking a nap in camp. Peg was glad to hear I had found some good sign and we were off to our new location for the evening hunt. As we parked our quad and unloaded our gear we see a gobbler & hen walk across the ridge. Dang we were an hour to late. We rush to get in position but the birds had seen us and were off for parts unknown. This had always been a good roost area and I was hoping it still was even though I hadn't found the tree. We settled in our blind and I realized I had forgotten not only my box call but had left the decoy lying on the ground next to the quad in all the exciement. A tom shows up at 60 yrds. We were at the mercy of the turkies without all my gear. For over an hour before dark this gobbler and 4 hens put on a show and stayed just out of Peg's shooting range. We were lucky to have the tom fly up to roost for the night 125yrds from our blind. Perfect, I was thinking, and feeling pretty good about our location for in the morning. Peg and I waited for dark so we could sneak out of there. Peg normally has a hard time getting up in the mornings but not this morning. Watching the show that gobbler put on the night before had her all fired up. The reason for the blind is so Peg can do all her moving around. She can't sit still long enough for a mesquito to bite her. A quick breakfast, in the blind before light and the decoy in place with my call in hand. The tom gobbles several times as we wait for first light. We hear it fly down and I let out a call which he responded with a gobble. Then I start to hear hens and they continue their show from the night before. A hen moves towards our blind and passes within 20yrds with the tom in purusuit of her. I open a back window and there is the tom at full strut and Peg can't get the gun up in time before the hen heard us and game over. The hen takes her boyfriend with her over the ridge and out of sight. We both look at each other in disbelief. I tell her he might be back looking for the other hens and we sit and wait. I call a few times but nothing. After an hour I see him coming towards our setup. The wind has picked up and I give my best impression of a hen in need. He hears my call and approaches very slowly trying to locate a hen. He hangs up at 50 yrds and I call again. Bingo! He sees my decoy and slowly struts and gobbles to within 15yrds of an open window and Peg piled him up. I was out of the blind in record time and making sure he wasn't going anywhere. Hugs and kisses and one happy girl. First thing out of Peg's mouth was " you sucked yesterday as a quide but made up for it today and it's bigger than yours." Then she said it was like watching Scott & Darr's video all over again. There was a father & son group camped next to us and Peg shared most of her feathers from her turky with the kids. They took a few pictures and then we gave them a lesson in gutting. The kids were so excited with the whole process. It made our day to have shared it with them. Muley 22, from this site, was part of the group and he assisted Peg and I with the picture taking. Thank you Maxs and it was a pleasure to have met you and your two boys Eastman and Tellman. My computer is in the shop so pictures will have to wait. Sorry! Thanks for taking the time to read. TJ

Good write-up and congratulations to Rich on a nice bird and you on some nice trout. Now that's living the dream right there. Oh yeah, the bourbon had to of topped the evening off well. Thanks for sharing. TJ

Thanks for the pics. Can't wait to get a few of my cameras up. Hopefully I have better luck with the thieves this year. TJ

Now that's a way to start your first post. Dang nice buck indeed. Congratulations and welcome to cwt. You are in for a ride of your life here. Lots of good people with a ton of knowledge. TJ

Good job and thanks for sharing. I tried years ago but didn't use the dirt. Yours definitely came out better than mine. TJ

Thanks Kathi, we had the best time ever on this hunt. The two days were full of action packed turkey activity. Not quite as action packed as Coburn and Scott Outfitter's videos but more than we had ever seen. We were waiting for Jay & Darr's hunts to be over before we talked about booking a date and how many in a group, if any, we could put together for next year. Peg was thinking it would be great to have a few ladies go along. After watching the success they are having I might want to talk with them before they are booked. I'll keep you posted for sure. TJ

Jay, Peg and I just watched the video and it was awesome like all the other videos you and Darr have put together. This turkey had the same tail feather missing as Peg's turkey. Maybe distant cousins. lol We can't wait till we have the opportunity to hunt next year with you guys. We've been viewing other turkey videos on the internet but none stands up to Colburn and Scott Outfitters. Keep the turkey videos coming and thanks for sharing with all of us here on cwt. Can't get enough! TJ

I finally figured out how to load pictures from a loaner laptop.

That was awesome Jay. What a beautiful bird. Thanks for sharing that great clip. You guys certainly know how to get it done. TJ