TAM

Couesslayer, when you say you have quanity in 23 you must be referring to the Burros specificly because the areas I've hunted in 23 outside the Burros have extremley low coues deer numbers. In fact I would say that in 23 outside the Burros there is quality not quanity. For what it's worth the sheds in my avatar picture come from 23 outside the Burros, and with a 12 inch spread they would break 120 inches.

I think that anytime a area gets a reputation of having some trophy potential that many people assume that there are monsters everywhere you look. Even on my Kaibab hunt a month ago we all shot nice deer but not monsters by any means. If you work hard in these so called trophy areas your chances are better for shooting a big buck, but there is never a guarantee! I've never hunted the Burros but I'll bet there are some real good bucks there if you work hard.

That dude is a money hungry slob that thinks his $hit smells better than everyone elses!

I have never crimped any of my rifle loads. It's not necessary. You should focus more on finding the sweet spot for the seating depth and just don't worry about where the canalure ends up. You're not trying to make a last minute Mexico load are you?

Congratulations!!! A 93 inch coues is a good buck in anyone's book. I'm just curious what happened with holding out for a 100 incher?

Either your kid is really small, or that is a great big piece of bone!!!

OUCH........I think that's Matt Hughes way of B slapping Serra and telling him he's a wuss for backing out!!!!

I didn't realize that Hughes GSP III is a title fight. That makes it more interesting for sure! As for the next season of the ultimate fighter. I'm not a Forrest Griffen fan at all!!! I think he's a tuff dude and works hard, but he's nothing more than a whoppin boy in my opinion. I just don't think he's got real great skills. I think Jackson will destroy him. I think Chuck would destroy him. I'd rather see Keith Jardine in there than Griffen. JMO I think Pulver is next in line for Faber and that they're supposed to be fighting in three months. Should be a good fight! If Pulver can't beat Faber then I don't see anyone else beating that California pretty boy anytime soon.

I believe Chuck will be 38 before his next fight. I like like his raw style, but I don't think he has what it takes to work his way back up again. There are to many young tough guys to get through and I certainly don't see him taking the belt from Jackson if there ever was a third fight. You never know though...... look at Randy??? Unfortunatly Matt is in the same "old" boat as Chuck. If he looses to GSP again I see his career slipping away, and he may not ever get the chance to shut Serra's loud mouth. If he beats GSP, I'll bet he beats Serra in the spring and then goes on to get his title back for awhile. Either way he's still a stud! I wish we could have seen a Hughes vs. Gracie fight while they were both in there prime.

To me passing on a 108 inch coues is like passing on a 380 inch bull elk, or a 195 inch mule deer, you should be shooting 108 inchers anywhere! Great buck!

I love my .270 Weatherby Mag, but since that isn't part of your question I'll have to go with the 7mm. I like fast and flat and the 7mm should be able to push a 140 greain bullet faster than the .270. I think it also makes a better elk rifle if you were to load some heavier bullets.

That's a nice buck! I've liked him since the first time I ever watched him fight. I sure hope he puts a whoppin on GSP here in a couple weeks! Not to hijack your thread, but did you see Jens Pulver choke out Cub Swanson in his first WEC fight? I thought it would at least be a close evenly matched fight!!! I hope to see Pulver fight Faber for the title in the next few months. Faber is very talented, but I think Jens is much more experienced and may be the one to knock him off the top.

Just mind your p's and q's and remember they have a different way of doing things down there. Obey the rules and you should have a great trip!

Way to get it done!!!

Nice buck!

Beautiful buck!

RR is right! In fact you could even apply for a tag and draw it, you just can't legally shoot a deer.

I really don't believe that BPS is designed for the local hunters. I think it's a tourist trap!

I've already posted my Bass Pro mis-adventure so I won't bore you all with the details again. Needless to say I won't be shopping there anymore!

Karp are from the Kaibab, and Carp are from anywhere else!

Jason, I seriously think you should up your Mexico minimums to 95+ and then keep hunting for a monster. You have to remember we're not hunting state land in AZ or NM. You should be seeing a lot of deer and a solid 95 incher should be pretty realistic. JMO Tim

I just got back from my late hunt on the Kaibab and wanted to share my story and a couple pictures. After months of preperation pretty much everything I planned for got thrown out the window. During the late hunt the snow and rut is supposed to push the deer down to the lower winter range where the country is more open and a little legwork can put a hunter on a ridge top overlooking miles of country. I scoted the winter range and studied topo maps to look for good glassing points where I could hike in and get away from the crowds. I exercised in preperation for the long hikes in the morning darkness over rough country to get to a good vantage point to glass. I spend countless hours handloading the perfect load for pin point accuracy. I shot hundreds of rounds at ranges out to 700 yards in preperation for that long cross canyon shot. I was prepared with high powered German glass to find the perfect buck at distances over a mile away. I even brought a shovel and tow chain in case the roads were sloppy with mud from foul weather. The simple truth is that none of my preperation mattered one bit!!! The weather never came and the deer never moved. For the most part the deer were still in there summer range on top of the mountain. After the first day of hunting down low we realized we had to change our game plan if we were to be successful. Most of the deer we were seeing were up high and they were concentrated around water sources. As crazy as it souds we decided to sit water. After the first evening I had 9 does and 2 bucks come in but no shooters. One of the other guys in camp had 7 different bucks come in including a nice 170 class four point which he shot at about 5:20 in the evening. The next morning I sat the tank where the buck was killed the night before and had 11 deer come in, but no shooters. After a short break at camp to stretch my legs and get a bite to eat at camp I was back at it, sitting in my bright blue camp chair some 70 yards away with my rifle rested on my tripod kind of like a turkey hunter. At 4:40 in the afternoon six does came in followed by my buck which I proceeded to shoot at a mere 72 yards! I didn't even think to range the distance until after I killed him and I was curious how close he was. Kind of ironic I guess, all the preperation in the world didn' matter one bit in the end. We just had to tweak the game plan and make a few adjustments. Our camp went four for four in three days killing four nice four point bucks in three days. My buck is 27.5 inches wide with a score of 182 inches. We also weighed it guts and all at 236 pounds at the G&F check in station. I never would have imagined getting a late season Kaibab deer tag and killing a big buck off a water tank on the summer range at 7500' elevation in late November.

Welcome and thanks for sharing the pic's. Those are a couple of real nice bucks!

Matt, I think the answer to your question depends on your maximum shot distance? If it's over 600 yards, I'd go with the 1200. If it's 600 and under then the 900 should work just fine. Remember that even the Leica 900 won't pick up at 900 or even 800 every time. You have to leave yourself a little buffer space.

Perhaps you guys are right, I don't know. Perhaps it's related to weather? I can remember as a kid having much colder winters with more rain. I can remember having to scrape ice off my winshield quite regularly when I was going to school. I haven't had to do that for a long time. The summer monsoons hit hard each year every other day or so and lasted two months. We don't seem to get as extreme weather either way anymore. Just my observations anyway.