TAM

Phil, yes his traveling team is registered with all the different clubs and organizations down in Phx and we play tournaments every other week. In fact we just took 2nd in a pretty big event over Memorial day weekend! The level of talent is much better in Phx versus here in Prescott so it's really healthy for the team to play up!

Thx Pine Donkey. "Eligibility = talent" never heard it put that way. I had never thought of any of that but my wife and I will schedule a meeting with Kade's counselors once the school year starts. His goal is to earn a D1 scholarship so it makes sense that we make sure he's on track academically... thx!

Thanks everyone! No football for this kid. He just started summer workouts for the highschool team here in Prescott Valley. He also plays for a traveling team which practices 3 nights a week and competes in tournaments (4-6 games) in Phoenix every other weekend. Plus he's signed up for 5 different training camps this summer. I made a deal with him that if he keeps his grades up he could play all the hoops he wants. As a parent of three boys that play sports I can honestly say that watching them play is one of my favorite things to do in life!

I got a 3rd season deer tag... can't wait!

I have both a Spot and an Iridum Satellite phone. In my opinion the biggest down side to the Spot is that there is no way to know for sure that your message was received on the other end. In addition there are places with an obstructed view to the sky where it won't work at all. With that said even my sat phone won't work everywhere. In both cases it's also important to remember that they both require a person to operate them, and if you are traveling alone and have an accident or medical condition that incapacitates you they're both useless. As long as you're aware of their limitations they're better than nothing!

Right on Becker!

Perfect shop dogs! Friendly to everyone and happy to just lay around and sleep allowing you to work.

Ha... My boys got a kick out of your names! Hog, I did my part so I'm leaving the names to my wife and daughter. At this point my daughter doesn't even know she's getting one. She knows about mom's but not that she is getting one too!

I didn't get to go down and see them (had to go to work so I can pay for all my wife's stuff). Pretty sure she picked out the two female butterballs on the bottom of DB's pic. She and my boys loved them all. Said the mama bulldog was beautiful!

I'm not sure if I should be laughing or crying!!! So I'm heading out the door pretty early this morning and I go to kiss my wife good-bye and she's wide awake grinning ear to ear. Normally at this hour she's sound asleep. So I ask her if she's excited about her new puppy and she tells me that she thinks we need two new bulldog puppies. Yes, two! One just as I had promised for her for mothers day and a second for my soon to be 9 year old little girls birthday (June 8). She already has them both named and just needs to go down to DB's house today to figure out which puppy fits which name. Happy wife = Happy life... Right? Poor Gus! He's our almost 7 year old nutered male bulldog that has been running solo the last 5 years. In for a rude awakening when the two newbies arrive. All he wants to do is hold down the floor and have some one pull on his rope toy and now he's going to have to put up a couple of girls that he doesn't even have the balls to play with! Looks like we're going to have a whole herd of bulldogs!!! Yes... only 2 left so you better hurry it up Becker!!!

Please consider the following expereinces before you purchase your next trail camera. Last summer I purchased a brand new Sttealth Cam STC-G42NG trail camera. I didn't actually take it out of the box and use it until several months later. To my surprise after having it set up over a water tank in Mexico for over a month it took nothing but black pictures... Jet black with nothing even close to discernable. I checked the SD card and messed with the settings to make sure it wasn't operator error and after several more weeks of black pictures I took it down. At this point it was obvious the camera was faulty so I made a call to Stealth Cam to see how I could send it back to get it fixed or replaced. I explained the situation to the operator and was immediately asked if I had a copy of the receipt or had filled out the warranty card? I did not have a receipt and I had never filled out the warranty card (my fault). The guy explained to me that without having a receipt and having never filled out the warranty card there was nothing they could do. I spent the next 20 minutes doing everything I could think of to get them to help me but in the end they did nothing! I have a $125 Stealth Cam paper weight sitting on my desk! This past January in Mexico I had two Browning BTC-2 trail cameras that had birds peck holes in the motion sensor. Not sure why or even what kind of birds they were but the sensors were not working properly as a result of these crazy birds! Not wanting to scrap a couple of otherwise perfectly good cameras I made the call to Browning to see what could be done. When I explained my situation to the lady at tech support she laughed about the birds but quickly told me the sensor covers were really easy to replace and she would just send me some more of the little plastic motion sensor covers. She even said she would send me some extras in case it ever happened again. I got out my credit card expecting to pay for the covers and postage and she told me it wasn't necessary. I asked again and she said it's no big deal they like to take care of there customers! Just over the weekend I got out one of my Browning BTC-6 cameras to get it all set up for a trail I wanted to hike in and put it on. When I powered it up I noticed something wasn't working quite right. When you flip the on/0ff switch to the on position it would go on and then turn off then back to on. Seems like something had gotten loose and it would not stay in the on position. So I called the nice lady over at Browning tech support and sure enough it was the same lady. I explained my situation and and she asked to send me an email with return/warranty instructions and quickly let me know that even though it sounded like an easy fix if they couldn't fix it they would just send me another one. Either way she said the warranty will be good for another full year after I get the camera back. I then told her I didn't have a receipt and she said as long as it's a Browning trail camera they were there to make it right and make sure there customers were happy. You all can come to your own conclusions

You better hurry Becker there are only 3 left!

Mama wants another Bulldog!

DB, PM sent. Call me ASAP please! - Tim

JLW, not sure who makes the browning cams but they are very similar to the Moultries. The older Moultrie M-880 with the square motion sensor is also one of my favorite cams. The newer version with the round motion sensor has a slower trigger and recovery time. Not sure why they would design a new model that doesn't perform as good as the previous model? Also kind of weird that the new generation 2 Moultries are twice the size of the older style. Seems like they're going in the wrong direction if you ask me. I've also had a couple of the older version Stealth cams that have corroded batteries. I always figured it was my fault but maybe there is a design flaw with the Stealth Cams?

For what it's worth... I think the Brownings are a better camera that will out perform the Stealth cam hands down! The customer service & warranty part is just the icing on the cake!

Congrats on a great season in Mexico. I'm happy that ranch seems to be out working for you and that you guys were able to take some nice bucks. Can't wait to see how things go next year.

Please post up or PM me your contact info. I have a buddy that is very interested. PM sent... Thanks!

Looks great! IMO nobody does a better job on deer than Dan Lee. I have 3 coues bucks and one mule deer mounted by him and I'm waiting on a fourth coues and a second muley. Now that he's done with yours maybe he can get started on mine? I love Dan's work!

Of course I'll be going back this year! I'm really excited because we have acquired some additional ranches adjacent to our main ranch that look really good. I have three trips planned. The first is a scouting trip the day after Thanksgiving. We will set up trail cameras and ground blinds and just try to see what the deer movement looks like. We will then go back again between Christmas and New Years with my three boys to hunt deer and pigs and see what the trail cams have picked up. The third trip is really when things get cranking. We'll go back the third week in January for the rut hunt. This year we will have a new moon which should help daytime deer movement. We will also have the results of our 50+ trail cameras to give us an idea of where the big bucks are hanging out. Who knows, perhaps we'll be able to find some of the same bucks we got pic's of last year. As usual, I can't wait!

What makes the Yeti better? What about a Grizzly, I've been looking at those as well?

Just got back from Nevada where I scored on a pretty cool non typical buck. Nevada has some great mule deer and has an "Outfitter draw" which I put in for every year through the help of my friend Thomas Brunson of Timberline Outfitters and Guide Service. It really increases your draw odds and gives you the chance to draw some great tags without waiting as long in the regular draw. Thomas and his guides spend the entire summer scouting and it really paid off. They chased this buck during the muzzle loader hunt and actually missed him twice (Lucky for me). On opening day of the rifle hunt we found him in the exact same spot he had been shot at the week before. We looked him over good to make sure he didn't have any broken points and made the decision to shoot him. I got out my range finder and pushed the button to range him and nothing happened... the batteries were dead! Without knowing the exact yardage I wasn't going to risk a longer more difficult shot so I moved on to the top side of the draw he was feeding through the bottom of about a hundred yards away. It was kind of sketchy getting in that close but without an exact range it was the only option. The plan was to wait for him to feed out and let him have it, but before I could get set up the wind swirled and he trotted up the other side of the draw about 150 yards away and stopped to look back. I had to quickly make the decision to sit on my butt and use my knees to rest the rifle. I settled the cross hairs, took a deep breath, squeezed, and put a 210 grain JLK from my 300 RUM into his front shoulder. I heard the whop of the bullet and watched him hit the dirt. A big thanks to Thomas and his guide Jake! This coming January Thomas is going to come to Mexico to hunt coues deer with me. Being from Nevada he has never even laid eyes on one before and being a full time outfitter he doesn't get a lot of time to hunt for himself. I can't wait to return the favor and help him kill a giant coues!

Brent, in response to your PM I love the JLK 210's. I've been using them since before the Bergers even came out. Between my own animals and my buddies I'll bet I've watched them kill over 20 animals and I've never seen anything that I'd consider close to a failure. The entrance is typically a 30 caliber hole and at close ranges they don't usually exit but at longer range they will exit the size of a golf ball up to a tennis ball. With this buck the shot was 150 yards and there was no exit. The shoulder was broke, the front shoulder, brisket, neck and inside the chest cavity was complete mush! If you look at these pictures you can see what the front shoulder looked like under the skin. The tip of the knife is the entrance. You can see how the shock wave moved all the way forward into the brisket and neck. Yes these bullets will ruin some meat but they make the tracking very short.

Happy Birthday Mike... we miss you!