TAM

Nice buck... thanks for sharing!

Great buck, way to stay with it!!!

Thats a cool looking buck... congratulations!

Oh my! I don't know what to say.....

Make it a great one!

You beat me to it Amanda... I was thinking the exact same thing. Does calling a javelina a pig, a pronghorn an antelope, or a bison a buffalo fall into this same catagory? I think a lot of times in hunting or life we use slang terms even though they may be improper or just flat out wrong. It's just the way we choose to use the english language.

No, we couldn't feel the spike through his fur, but then again at that point we didn't know to feel for it. We really didn't notice anything until Mark Plunkett started to skin out the face when he noticed things were a little lop sided.

Way to get it done Gino! Congratulations to you and your crew of hunters and thanks for setting a good example of the determination it takes to pull it all together even after things got difficult.

Please accept my late happy birthday wishes!!!!

As usual I'm late... but hope you had a great Birthday!!!!

Great country, great comapny, and great food sums it up pretty well Phil It's hard not to have a great time when you've got those three things going for you. All though the deer are not rutting yet there were some signs that things may be getting started soon. I did notice that a few bucks were starting to show some interest in the does. The weather on this trip was also probably 10 degrees cooler than the week before. It's just a matter of time! I can't wait to get down there during prime time! Here's a picture of a young buck with good potential that I passed up at 252 yards. I glassed him up from about 900 yards away and watched him bed. Since it was the middle of the day I decided to sneak in and take a closer look. In another couple years I think he'll be a real bruiser!

In my experience the second half of January is better than the first.

Amanda, PM me your address and I'll get it to you on a DVD. I'm going back to the ranch the day after Christmas so I may not have time to do it between now and then. But for sure once I get back. I'm not sure if you have the ability to edit the video, but it is rough in places and could use some cutting. Thank you! Mike, I'm sure there are several ways I could do it, but I just don't have the time or desire to try and figure it all out right now. It is pretty neat to watch and I hope Amanda can get it posted to the site.

Maxis Bighorns are by far the best ATV tire I've ever had. Order them from Rocky Mountain ATV and you should get the best price going.

Mike is almost right on with his post... Yes the rancher gave us permission to shoot lions, but I've never heard him say the ranch is "over populated" with lions. I've killed a couple lions with Randy Epperson in Arizona and didn't feel like killing a female or one of her kittens. I was there to hunt deer, and besides we didn't have lion tags! I agree... lets not make this a shoot the lions post. It was my decision and I chose not to. Thx! For being so feminine I sure helped Mike drag his buck a long way As for the video, I have 18 minutes loaded on my laptop. I have no idea how to post it, and I'm pretty sure the file is way to large to email to someone and have them post it for me. Sorry, but I think you will just have to use your imagination!

Well we made it back from our first round of hunts. Josh, Gail, Mike, and myself hunted for four days and had a great time! There were a few minor set backs, but nothing we couldn't work out. Mike and Gail both shot nice bucks on the first night.... I'll let them post up their own pictures and stories. Josh and I both held off shooting anything this trip and will be heading back after Christmas. In my opinion the weather was pretty warm and there was zero rut activity. The deer didn't move much and while we were seeing deer things seemed slower than we would have hoped for. But I don't think it's anything that a little drop in temps and rut action won't cure. Back in August on one of our scouting trips Mike asked one of the ranch cowboys if he would start picking up the shed antlers and lion kills he finds while tending the cattle. Mike and I nearly choked when the cowboy brought these out!!! The skull in my right hand would go 122 or so if unbroke, and the shed if doubled would go 135 or so. On the third morning of the hunt Mike and I had one of the greatest hunting experiences of my life. We made a short but steep hike up this ridge to glass some country that neither of us had looked at before. As soon as we got set up to glass I scanned a ridge top some 675 yards away and immediatley found a lone javelina feeding away. No big deal... that is until Mike asked where it was and as I looked back to give Mike directions I noticed something moving below the javelina heading directly towards the unsuspecting pig. LION!!! Over a period of several minutes the cat stalked to within several yards. The javelina had no idea the lion was there and continued to feed. Finally the lion stalked to the point where the distance between the pigs butt and the lions nose was LESS than the body length of the pig. I'd guess it was only about two feet and the pig was clueless! Finally after several heart pounding moments the lion pounced, the pig whipped it's head backwards throwing the lion off its back and then chased the lion down the hill. The lion after 50 yards or so jumped in a large mesquite tree. The pig woofed at the lion for a few minutes before strolling off. Once the pig moved off the lion came down from the tree and continued to follow the pig, keeping a distance of 20 yards or so, untill the pig went into some thick brush under a rocky outcropping. At that point the lion went another 20 yards or so to the top of the ridge and sat down. Seconds after the lion sat down Mike and I were shocked when another lion suddenly appeared and came over to the first lion. As if two lions wasn't shocking enough, imagine our surprise when a third lion shows up! I guess at this point the lions were done playing games because now the three of them went over to brush where the pig had holed up and proceeded to tag team the poor javelina untill he became breakfast. Once the pig was dead the lions fed for a few minutes before one of them picked up what was left of the pig and carried it over the ridge top to the shady side of the mountain. I was able to get a couple of digiscope pictures and about 18 minutes of video of the lions. This was without a doubt one of the wildest displays of Mother Nature I've ever witnessed and a memory that will last a lifetime! I would guess the entire episode lasted 45 minutes or so and needless to say we didn't get much hunting in that morning. The clock is already ticking for the next trip.... Stay tuned!!!

Phil should be reporting back on the 18th or 19th. Hopefully they have some good stories and pictures. I'm leaving now to meet up with Josh, Gail, and Mike. We should be able to report back on the 22nd or 23rd. Adios!!!

Interesting post with lots of good points made. Got me thinking as hunters what other slang words or phrases do we use even though they may be incorrect? How about when guys call antlers horns. Bill, I always enjoy reading your posts... but if our use of the english language here gets under your skin then whatever you do, don't start text messaging on your cell phone. You'll no doubt loose your mind when you discover how jacked up the english text messaging language is!!!

Thanks for posting Scott... It's always fun getting lions on camera. You never seem to see them but you know their always lurking around somewhere!

Great hunt and great buck... Congratulations!

I've been waiting to see what the outcome was on some of the changes they were considering. Here are some of the more significant changes cut and pasted right from the NM Regs: What’s New in 2010-2011 This booklet contains information valid from April 1, 2010, through March 31, 2011. All dates refer to 2010 unless otherwise noted. New Application Deadlines Feb. 3 is the deadline to apply for oryx draw licenses, bear WMA permits, population management hunts, and turkey draw permits. Online applications must be made BEFORE 5 p.m. MST. Changes to applications will be allowed until the deadline. April 7 is the deadline to apply for public deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, ibex, Barbary sheep, javelina, and bighorn sheep draw licenses. Online applications must be made BEFORE 5 p.m. MDT. Changes to applications will be allowed until the deadline. New Application Fee The new nonrefundable application fee for residents is $10 and $27 for nonresidents. Full Fee Up Front Anyone applying for any public draw deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, oryx, ibex, javelina or Barbary sheep license, MUST pay the full license and application fee when applying. No Application Restriction-Year Holdout Hunters who successfully drew a Quality (Q) or High-Demand (HD) deer or elk license or any pronghorn license last year, are allowed to apply for a Quality (Q) or High-Demand (HD) hunt for deer or elk, or any pronghorn license next year. Deer Permits/Licenses There is no longer a Deer Permit. Hunters must only draw a Public Land Deer License or purchase a Private Land-Only Deer License. Good Luck with the draws!

Aren't the Dallas Safari Club and the Safari Club International two entirely different orginizations? And don't they pretty much fight like cats and dogs? It would be fun to go to one of the conventions when it comes through LV.

Congratulations on a couple of nice bucks!!!

Great looking buck... Congratulations!

I had the opportunity to help out on one of the coues deer hunts for a week right after Thanksgiving. My Garmin GPS has a a moon table built in which lists the "best" and "worst" times to hunt. I've never paid much attention to these time tables until this hunt. I have to say that from my observations they were right on. I believe the tables are based on what DubTee outlined above. I did notice that high winds and heavy rain would tend to reduce the effectiveness of the tables, and cool temps and overcast skys seemed to increase the effictiveness, but overall we saw more deer up and moving during these times. For what it's worth numerous deer were glassed up in their beds. I do not consider a bedded deer an "active" deer. These lunar tables are predicting times of high and low deer activity, and in most cases the times we saw bedded deer were times that were being predicted for low deer activity. It was really weird how close the tables matched our observations. It will be interesting to see how close they match up with deer activity and perhaps pre-rut activity during my hunt in Mexico next week. All of this was based off of one weeks observations, so an expert I am not!