TAM

Two Guns, If I'm understanding you correctly your buddy was wrong to think that just because he hauled water, scouted the area, set up his blind, and left a nice note that he had first dibs on the tank. AZ G&F clearly states that the water tanks are on a "first come" basis. If this other guy beat your buddy to the tank on opening morning then your buddy should politely back off. I know that would be a difficult thing to do because of all the work and scouting he did, but we all have equal right to the hunting areas and if someone else has beat us there we should move on and go to plan B. In your post you ask the question: Why do some people act like they have the right to a spot, and totally throw out all courtesy and responsibility and ruin hunting experiences for others? I think it's your buddy that thinks he has the "right" to hunt this spot just because of his time and efforts, and that he's the one throwing out all courtesy and responsibility by expecting others to stay out of "his area". Regardles of how much time and effort we put in to scouting an area, any reasonable and ethical hunter would move on if they discover someone else has beat them to it.

From my experience establishing salt licks for carp, coues, or elk the number one most important factor is LOCATION!!! Salt is salt, it comes in different sizes, flavors and shapes, but if you put it in a poor location you will get poor results. Look for areas with lots of sign, bedding, water, feed. Before you just dump your salt on the ground make sure you have a good tree for a stand nearby. Once you have your location my preferred salt recipe is as follows: Take a shovel or a big stick and clear away debris from salt hole. Try to dig out the dirt 6-8 inches deep and 2-3 feet in diameter. Next pour in 20-40 pounds of salt pellets, then pour 1 bag of deer cocaine over the top. Next pour at least one gallon of water onto salt. Use a stick or shovel to mix the salt, water and dirt together. If you have a salt block then set it right in the middle. Up north in the pines I like to use the acorn flavored licks, but the larger mineral blocks work just fine as well. The next step is to set up your trail camera on the salt, then check back in 1-2 weeks to see what you got pictures of coming in. Without a camera you have no idea if it will be worth hunting. Replenish the salt pellets and block as they get absorbed into the ground. I only use the deer cocaine when I first get a salt lick started and right before the hunt. Also remember that the older your salt lick gets generally the more action it will recieve, so keep replenishing the salt year after year and you should always have a nice spot to sit a treestand during the hunt. I've also noticed that salt usually works better in the pines than in the desert. I'm not sure why but that's just what I've noticed.

What's the date those pic's were taken? I'm just trying to compare horn growth on some bucks I've been watching.

Here's a couple pic's of a buck I just got off one of my trail cameras. He's got pretty good eyeguards and seems to be past his ears. Hopefully he'll come back and I can monitor his progress.

That unit is loaded with whitetail!!! They've been getting lots of rain up there in the last month and perhaps it's washing away a lot of your sign? I was up there this weekend and most of the tracks have been washed away from trails and from around tanks from all the rain. All of the areas mentioned are good places to start.

Very nice!!! Cool little character point off the tip of it's left main beam.

If you zoom in real close to the back of his belt I'll bet you can find out what his name is.

Unfortunatly I think you're going to deal with clearance issues. I don't think many of the pop up type blinds have ceilings that are high enough to clear your long limbs. You may want to try some of the blinds they sell that don't have a ceiling? They've got a few on the Cabelas website that are kind of like a fold up camoflauge wall that you place in front of you and sit behind it. I have a pob up that barely clears the limbs on my compound while I'm sitting in it. There's no way you could shoot your bow in it, it's just to long.

Some people swear by the October hunts. The bucks are still bachelored up and if you can locate them in the summer and get them patterned there's a good chance you can get a crack at them during the October hunt. Often by the time the November hunt rolls around the bachelor herds start breaking up and the big bucks are more difficult to locate until the rut.

Classic!!!

Thanks guys. I didn't even realize this post was here until a few minutes ago. I guess I'm a day late and a dollar short to my own party!

Seems pretty logical to me. You never know...... if we find out who the right person is and mind our p's and q's they might just listen.

I've spent a ton of time in 24b. The deer will be in the same general areas as your December hunts. Coues deer aren't real migratory and for the most part you will find the bucks in the same areas you find them in the summer. There are coues deer in that unit from 3000 foot elevation on up, so don't rule out some of the lower more traditional mule deer areas. I've even seen a few at 2800 ft.

If it's an antler then where is the other one? You'd have a better view of the other side from that camera angle and there's nothing there. I say it's a split ear.

Nothing in AZ for me this year!!!! That's ok, I've already got a NM archery bull tag, a NM rifle deer tag and a trip to Mexico in January for coues deer. Not to mention AZ archery deer and bear.

The only animals you CAN NOT bait are bears and migratory birds.

Red Rabit, don't forget to pour some of that doe in heat or cow in estrus urine into your water bottle. It really helps to cover all the scent you breathe out. I personally like the urine they sell in little spray bottles that you can just spray directly into your mouth. Nothing will scare a big buck away quicker than burping up the half digested stench of last night's taco bell.

Red Rabbit, you're getting the two unit 23's mixed up! All the deer in AZ 23 moved to unit 45 because of the fires. The deer in NM unit 23 were all eaten by the family of Sasquatch that live in there. I guess the bottom line is still the same........ there's no deer in unit 23!

Not to beat a dead horse, but being someone that has had a couple cameras stolen, take the advise posted above and don't leave your cameras where other people will find them. I don't care how big your chain and pad lock are, or how camoflauge the unit is, if someone finds your camera and wants it bad enough they will take it, and if they can't take it they will destroy it while trying to take it. The sad part about the whole security issue is that for the most part it's other hunters that are stealing our cameras.

I had a moultrie and it only took pictures in the daytime. It would take a few pictures at night, but never as many as it should have. I know for a fact that it was not working properly at night because I put another camera right next to it that was taking pic's at night and the moultrie was not. I also agree with the others here that the security features are less than ideal. Go to www.pixcontroller.com and see how you can build a quality digital camera for under $200. I built two for about $180 each. If you buy a less expensive camera you could build one for less.

I've shot Muzzy 4 blade 90 grain broadheads for years and killed quite a few animals with them. They fly straight and the extra blade sure helps leave a good blood trail.

Nice work Josh! How far apart were they, and how far from the trail camera were they?

I know that Pine/Strawberry got some rain over the weekend, but does anyone know if they got rain last night (Monday 6/26)? From the radar on the news it looked as if they may have been hit pretty good. Thanks, Tim

Treestandman and myself have both had a couple of cameras stolen over the last couple of years. We really don't put them over water anymore. Water attracts too many people and that's when they get stolen. It's sad because I'm pretty sure that it's other hunters that steal them! Anymore we really only put them over trails and salt. Remember that no matter how secure your camera is that if someone wants it bad enough they will get it.

I drew a unit 17 archery bull tag for the late hunt, and a unit 23 rifle coues deer tag for the early hunt. It should be an exciting hunting season!