Non-Typical Solutions

On the drive home from our hunt, Cole, who reads articles on this site, asked me if I would post pictures of his "monster coues". I had a big smile on my face as I told him indeed I would. We had 3 Unit 27 whitetail tags going into this weekend. Must I say, we had our work cut out for us. A last minute football game meant a late start and complete change of plans had us driving in to one of our favorite areas at daylight opening morning. Not a good thing when you see multiple cars parked at the trail head. My stomach dropped as did Coles and Wyatts. But what do you do......go hunting. Day 1 Spent half the day glassing with no results. Moved to a new area and glassed until dark, still no results except for two small mule deer bucks and multiple mule deer doe along the road, plus one bear siting. Day 2 Back to original trail, no cars today, we glassed all morning. Sitting on the hillside listening to Cole complain about how all we can find is mule deer while driving down the road. Most of you Dad's know the pressure of trying to get your kid a shot at a buck, it ain't easy. I finally let him have it, told him I "sucked" at finding deer and he could go find a new dad for deer season if wanted. Spent the rest of the day glassing til dark at a new area that we were not familiar with. Day 3 Sunday morning, I ain't getting out of bed to help that spoiled kid find a deer. Told him to just go walk the ridge there close to camp. He came back about an hour and a half later, no luck but had found a mule deer skull, small two point freak. He was pretty happy about that but still wanted to hunt. Wyatt came to the rescue, told Cole he would take Cole to another glassing area we had talked about trying. So, off they go. I am happy, Cole is going to have to find his own deer and I am going to recover from two days of hiking. My wife and I are slowly cleaning up camp, talking out loud, fire going, 9:00 in the morning and here come 5 mule deer doe walking 15 yards from the back of my parked truck, just passing through. Unbelievable.......... Still cleaning up camp, 10:30, here comes Wyatt and Cole in Wyatts truck....they are both giving me the "thumbs up".......I am thinking they are just messing with me. Low and behold, they had found this buck and Cole had knocked him down. I was pretty prould of him as he told the story. How he identified the deer before he shot making sure it was a whitetail, how he missed the first two shots but hit on the third. How he and Wyatt gutted the deer and properly took care of the animal. As you can tell, he ain't a monster, but for this kid he was pretty happy to find a buck and get his first coues whitetail deer. The weekend was spent telling deer hunting stories, failures and successes, stories about how sometimes it isn't the deer but the being together as a faimly and friends. To you young ones out there, thank those around you who take the time to get you out in the woods and hunt, tell stories around the campfire and enjoy our great outdoors. And thanks to my young ones who make it worth my time to go out and enjoy a passion I love but have little time to enjoy, and may we have many more hunts together.

Nice job on your deer hunt.............it ain't called the gray ghost for nothing.......way to get er done...........

I actually saw some kits in Bass Pro, look just like the old kits, plus there was another kit put out by Sawyer.......and I thought all of that type of treatment had been like, abolished or something as to the fact that it causes more damage than good. If that is the case then why would those products even be allowed on the market....they are a bit misleading......

Is that Etrek the basic no frills model???

Good info thanks........I have certainly learned alot from this discussion.......I appreciate all the input. Doesn't really make me feel any safer but maybe better prepared.....

Saw this on the news yesterday spewing from our leader and chief. "Don't vote on what I have done with the last four years, vote on what I am going to do for you in the next four years." Really....................................

One thing I remember for sure....my dad after killing a rattler warned us that the snake could still, "bite" you after the head was chopped off. Guess I never really knew if that was a fact of fable as I trusted the man to his word on that. I would be pretty spooked packing a rattler head out......gives me the creeps thinking about it. Matter of fact he always made us dispose of the head so the dogs couldn't dig it up and get messed up with it. Again, fact or fable I don't know .....................

I kinda hate to bring this up with all the discussion about baiting and ethical hunting. But has anybody ever called in a deer using a varmint call. I have called in besides varmints, pigs, cows, crows and antelope. Just was wondering..............

Anybody have an actual real life experience of getting help while out deep in no mans land??? Really appreciate the great info, I think it helps me out with my rattlesnake fobia........

We went out to check trail cams today, part of our "fall break" activities. We decided to take a differet route in just to see some different country. Lots of cows on the trail cams, plus one missing camera. Due to the bear population I am gonna blame the bears. We were able to stumble over some bonus antlers.........and it took the sting off the missing camera. Cole with our little pile for the day. Cole with his/moms combo matching set of mule sheds. We rarely find mule deer sheds so this was a pretty cool pickup. Mom found first side, Cole found the second. Set goes to Mom. Cole is spoiled rotten, he has found several antlers in his young life, he got to add this one to his collection. What a great day out. Seemed really dry with very little water in places we normally see water. Heading back out there in 4 days.

And I am Sad!!! :( :( :( :(

Thanks for posting that, that was my next line of questioning?? When I looked up SPOT Assist, one site had two prices for service. One was $30.00 a year but that was just roadside service. The other required you to go into more detail and seemed related to offshore type of assist. I am curious about the service cost for hiking etc.

Ben, Rodeo is a long ways from anywhere ain't it??? We use to go just west of Rodeo after a good gully washer of a rainstorm and look for rattlers. They would get pushed up out of the washes and be sitting under the mesquite and chapparal. Cold from the rains. Didn't think twice about getting bit back then, but now that I have kids out in the deep reaches of AZ I worry about it alot. I guess, I just wanted a plan of attack in place for just in case.

Nice job on the hunt and 300 yards with a kill like that is awesome..............

Man, lots of good info, I predict I will die from heart failure out there someday. Would prefer that method over snake bite. All the years growing up in southern NM we had many many encounters with big rattlers, but they always seemed to give fair warning and never once was any of us bitten. These little black mountain rattlers seem more passive and actually scare me more cause they don't sound the alarm quite so fast. Thanks for all the feedback, I think we can figure something out to ease our minds.

I could get cell phone service if I were to climb approximately 1000 ft in elevation or drive for about an hour. Sounds crazy in this day and age, but there just is no service. I don't know about the SPOT, I will have to google that and check it out. Last year deer season, we come into camp just after dark. Cole was helping me get supper cooked, he is using a flashlight. Our dog Daisy was with us. Cole just about steps on a rattler curled up right next to where my truck was parked not 15 feet away from the cooking table. Luckily it was cold and sluggish. I have no sympathy for a rattler, if you checked out the photo in the Vintage Photo threads you know why. This is not the first encounter and my wife has started getting a little paranoid about us being out there. I don't blame her, but tryy not to get too excited over it. Thanks for the info, I will check that SPOT out, could give us some relief, we go in there enough it truly is a concern. And like you said, not just rattlesnakes.

I hope Romney puts this guy away tonight..............can't stand any more of this crap we call a president............

That is some pretty awesome stuff there Scott, I have done several trips using my brothers mules and thoroughly enjoyed it. I like the ride in and out. Maybe a combo, mule to ride and goats to pack. That is great..............thanks for sharing your packing info..................

Congrats to you and the new bride. TJ and others have given you some great advice. Yep on the refridgerator Yep on the sold items for diapers Yep on who the boss is Yep on when momma ain't happy ain't nobody happy Yep on time does fly by Yep on fewer coyote trips My wife and I are headed into 30 years now and we just spent this last weekend walking through nasty weeds, grass, rocks, steep crap. She kicked my trash in the antler department................all I'm saying is I have had a blast and so will you two.......... Now we get to spend times with the grandkids and that is such a reward............cherish every moment....... You two looked awesome and what a great place for the wedding..............

Thanks.......

My first car ever. Has been sitting on the back lot, wind blown, Snowflake dust for 15 years. A guy calls me and wants to know how much I will sell it for. Anybody out there got some hints for me. I parked it cause it quit running and I didn't want to spend the money to get it running. THanks,

4 door, hard top. My little brother as little brothers do......drilled holes in the hood and put studs through to keep the hood down instead of fixing the original hood latches, etc. I am pretty sure the transmission is shot as well possibly as the motor.......paint job is completely messed. If I had the money I would restore it but that ain't gonna happen

The camera that usually had that buck was the one that disappeared..........I was really disappointed with the trail cam pics from the one that was still up and had pictures only of cows, grass blowing and shadows changing. We did a bad job of placement on that camera. Just have to go see if we can trip him up somehow this weekend......

Chirp.............Chirp

I fight the same battle every year with my boys and school and hunting...........and as an educator I fully support your keeping them in school. But this is where me and my wife always get just a little crossways............... Kids learn alot from their parents out there in the woods and sometimes it is every bit as important as the things learned in the classroom. My one son would take of days to go help his grandpa round up cows...........how priceless is that??? Having said that.......we only get 3 days on our whitetail hunt cause...........well, momma always wins........... Good luck on your hunt, holler if you need any help, we are right here in Snowflake............haven't been out looking for elk, but if you get in a bind holler.