TAM

Muley, I'm not trying to avoid your question, but I'm not going to be much help. I have no Idea where or what the "Plant" is? I live in Gilbert and don't spend much time in that country. In fact that's the first time I've hunted in that unit and to be honest I probably won't be back anytime soon. Not that the hunting is bad or anything, I just have other units that I focus on.

I'll bet Cheney's a little embarassed the words out that he shoots a 28-guage!

I tried it on several occasions during the December hunt while sitting in my tree stand. It didn't work or at least from what I could see it didn't work. However the rut was weird this year and I still believe it will and does work when the conditions are right. I think it's like predator calling for bears sometimes they come running in full blast and sometimes they can be in plain sight when you start calling and they just ignor you or even move away. There's a lot of variables.

Is it me or is he looking pretty thin? Ribs showing, no meat on his rump, back, or neck? I think that arrow is taking its toll.

Unit 18A

I went and did a little lion hunting with Josh and Randy Epperson over the weekend. Would someone be willing to post the pic's for me? Just post your email and I'll send them over. I'll give the details of the hunt after the pictures are up. TAM

I have a copy of the book and I know for sure that not all of the trick tanks are listed. I've found a few of them over the years that don't show up in the book.

Thanks for everyone's compliments! Yes we've got him at the butcher and we're planning on giving him a go as table fare. I've never tried eating a lion. Some say it's great and some say don't bother. I figured I'd give it a try and decide for myself.

I just emailed some more pic's to camerahunts. Hopefully we'll have a few more pictures for everyone to look at real soon. Thanks!

Just wanted to say thanks to Josh, his dad Randy, and Randy Bryant for all their hard work. I guess I shouldn't forget to mention that Hap, Rusty, Roxy, and Mike all did their part as well, those dogs are something else. Last Friday was the first day we hunted and we started the dogs at the bottom of a canyon where there was a day old lion scratch. They ran the trail for probably a couple miles to the top of the canyon. When we got to the top the dogs followed the track to the top of a ridge where they lost the trail. We circled around for awhile with no luck and called it a day. That night Randy Bryant called Randy Epperson on his cell phone and told him that he had run a lion off a freshly killed mule deer and that they never caught the lion and we were welcome to come run it on Saturday. We met Randy the next morning and he took us to the lion kill. The lion had been back that night and we turned one of the dogs out to pick up the trail. Soon we found tracks where the lion had crossed a dirt road and we turned out all the dogs and proceded to follow the trail to the bottom of a steep ridge with lots of rock bluffs perfect for a lion to bed up in for the day. We were all pretty optimistic until the trail went cold and we lost it. We tried to circle around and pick up some sign with no luck. This lion had been chased for two days in a row off a kill with no success. We decided to return in the morning to see if the lion returned to the kill during the night and give it another go. The next day we came back to the kill and sure enough the lion had come back and we were quickly on his trail. This time we decided to try and buy ourselves some time by circling to the other side of the mountain in the direction the lion was heading and try to cut some tracks coming off the ridge on the other side. After a little driving around sure enough Randy Epperson was able to find a couple of tracks in the dirt crossing the road. We had a pretty good idea which direction the lion was going so to save some time and wear and tear on our tired legs we checked some more dirt roads on the other side of the flat in the direction the lion had gone and before long Josh had found where the lion came off the flat and walked about 30 yards down the middle of the road and walked right back into the flat. We put a dog on the tracks into the flat and didn't get much. We were all pretty confused. We drove around for awhile looking for more tracks without much luck while Josh took a couple of dogs up on the ridge above the lion kill on a hunch that maybe the lion was just bedded up right above the kill. None of us were having much luck when Josh's dad Randy decided that we needed to check a road that follows the top of a ridge on the other side of the flat the lion had crossed. Sure enough before long we picked up the tracks crossing the road. We let the dogs out and they immediatly started working the trail and bawling pretty good. We let the dogs out at about 12:45 and followed as they moved twords a ridge with lots of rocky bluffs. A couple of times the dogs got hung up and we helped them along untill again we lost the trail. The dry hard dirt and rocks were not holding a lot of scent and making it difficult for the dogs to trail. While Josh and Randy Bryant continued searching the roads for sign. Randy Epperson and I decided that it was getting late and we just needed to go for it. We would take the dogs to the base of the ridge and side hill it and hope that we could find some sign or the dogs could pick up the trail. In no time at all one of the dogs named Mike hit the trail and started down the mountain back towards the road and all three other dogs followed right along. Randy immediatly knew they were going the wrong way and he quickly went down to get the dogs turned around. Pretty soon Hap and Rusty came running back up the trail towards me and right past me moving up the rigde barking as they followed the trail. Mike and Roxy came up a few minutes later and slowly worked the trail quite a ways behind where Hap and Rusty. As Randy was hiking back up the ridge to meet me Hap and Rusty went over the top of the ridge and we were out of hearing range from them but we could still hear the other two as they were moving a little slower. A few minutes later as we were hiking towards the dogs when Josh called us on the radio and said he could hear Hap and Rusty barking "treed" on the next ridge over. As we topped the ridge we could hear the same and quickly moved in to see what was going on and sure enough on the other side of the ridge Hap had climbed 3-4 feet up into the crook of a tree barking and barking. As we looked into the tree we could see crouched in the very top out in front of Hap was a big Tom. Randy and I closed the distance and I started to get my video camera ready to take some video footage and the lion got a little antsy so Randy told me he was coming down and I better shoot. It's a little embarassing to admit, but I missed the first two shots with my Ruger Super Redhawk in .44 mag, but the third shot was a solid hit which pretty much knocked the cat out of the tree but he caught himself and was just hanging there dangling so I hit him again and he crashed to the ground and half ran half slid about 50 yards or so down the steep sloap with all four dogs right on him the entire distance. We quickly moved up to find him laying there still fighting the dogs so I quickly shot him again right behind the sholder from about six inches away and finished him off. I had some serious adrenaline pumping through my veins and could not have been more impressed with the lion. It was a lot of hard work, and a lot of fun! Josh and Randy worked hard and their dogs are just incredible! I'll remember this one for a long time, thanks guys!!!! I've got some more good pic's I'd love to post if someone wants to post them for me. Just list your email and I'll send them over.

I just saw that Josh posted a pic for me in the miscelanious section.

The short answer on the deer head is not yet. We're trying to work it out with the G&F guy. There's a good chance we will and if I do I'll have you work it into the mount somehow.

quailchaser, I don't want to burst your bubble, but I've hunted that unit for pigs for many years and it's just got worse and worse. The last three years I hunted it I didn't even see a pig during the season. I mostly hunted the areas north of Florence Jct, north of Superior all the way up to the reevis trail head. I've covered every inch of that area at one time or another. Don't get me wrong, the pigs are still there just not in the same numbers they used to be. You'll have to hunt hard to find them. I think the drought and lions account for a great deal of the low numbers. I did not even put in for the unit this year or last year because none of my old pig pastures are holding reliable numbers of pigs. Good luck!

I was just on the website and don't see any mention of next years tags going on sale. Where is this information posted? Thanks!

Treestandman already knows my guess, but just for the record I'll post it here. 87 3/8" gross B&C.

I'm sticking with my .270 Weatherby Mag. 130 grains at 3400 fps out the barrel is like hitting those little guys with a bolt of lightning! They never take another step.

What will the main methods of hunting be? Glassing open hill sides a mile away or stalking through the trees hoping to jump a deer? In general what is the type of terrain on the ranch? If you don't have pictures of deer perhaps you could post some pictures of the terrain and landscape to give us a better idea what type of hunt it would be. Thanks.

I'll bet that squirrel tastes just like chicken!!!

Because of our mild winters here in Arizona bears don't always go into a full on hibernation like they do in most other parts of the country. On years like this one where the weather is warm and there is little if any snow they will stay active. Pregnant sows will den up to give birth and the boars will den up during the cold spells but it is not uncommon to see bear activity in Arizona year round. Nice pic's!

Pack your bow and sidearm into the field on any archery big game hunt and just tell the game warden you are varmit hunting. Coyote season is year round and you can legally use a gun or bow.

What an awesome buck!!!! He really has that old gnarly look going for him. Sundevil, I agree with your estimates, but you forgot to factor in the cheaters. I think I can see at least 2-3 inches from the picture and if there are additional stickers we still can't see as was mentioned in the original post then I think it's possible for this buck to hit the 120 gross mark. But..............you never know for sure till you put him on the ground. Good luck!

Not me, mine says BULZEYE.

If you "smoked him" on the 2nd shot why did you even take a 3rd, 4th, 5th, and last shot?

If you do go chances are you won't see a lot of deer. Especially compared to Utah. Deer numbers are pretty low in this unit but the genetics tend to be very good. I've personally gone several days without seeing any deer at all. Good luck!

I'll just add that in my two years of experience with several models of trail cameras (both film and digital) you will always get some false pic's. There is not much way around it. In my best guess I'd say as many as 10-15% could be nothing. If you are getting any more than that you may want to tweak your set up.